Victor M201 Metal Pedal Sustainably Sourced FSC Wood Snap Rat Trap

We have a full blown rat infestation in my neighborhood. I hear them scurrying away when I take out the trash; we see them at night if we are sitting outside. They are taking over. I set out a Havahart trap for a groundhog the other day (another issue around here), and on the first night I had caught a rat that may have well been a groundhog. It was HUGE. Our cat, who stays in our postage-stamp size yard, caught three small ones in two days.This 12-pack arrived this afternoon. I set out four of them - kind of a preliminary test. I had read that peanut butter or other vegetable based baits can attract squirrels or chipmunks, so I used some small (1/2") cubes of leftover ham that was a little too old for us to eat.I set these out at 10:00 PM in some fairly obvious areas, then went back inside to watch TV with the windows open. Within about 20 minutes, I heard a definitive "Snap!". (One of the traps was set near the open window). My show was over by 10:30 and I went outside with a flashlight - I was four for four, all within a half hour!One of the traps had snapped without catching a rat - it's possible that I hadn't set it correctly or that it was triggered by a smaller one that escaped the large jaws of this trap - but nonetheless I'd say so far so good.The traps are very easy to set - the metal triggerr has a die-cut triangle in the middle which I bent up with a screwdriver to pierce the bait cubes. The springs are quite strong - it's a little fearful getting these things set and setting them down - it seems like a small movement could set them off. But that's the point, right? I handled them carefully and set them down gingerly and had no premature triggers. I think they are well designed - they look a little cheap and simply stamped out, but the configuration seems to work fine.I've used the smaller Victor mousetraps before, which are cheap enough to throw out with the mouse, but these are just a little to expensive (and we have way too many rats) to do that - so I put on a pair of gloves, picked up the traps by the wood, and dangled the rats over the trash can as I lifted up the kill bar and I'm just re-using them.This is war. I did a little research on how to get rid of rats, and one article I read said that one pair of rats can produce 12 offspring per month. Another said that rats are nocturnal, so if you see them during the day it's an indication of a serious problem. So right now I have baited the full dozen and am about to set them out - if I'm successful I'll buy another case and maybe one for my neighbor - maybe 36 traps per night every night might help us make a dent.Interesting note about rat poison - I absolutely don't want to use that because it can be eaten by other animals (the "cute" ones we don't want to kill), but mostly because i'm afraid a rat will eat the poison and my cat will snag it before it dies, and will get very sick. My neighbor recently put out little cakes of rat poison and, believe it or not, a squirrel picked up one of the cakes, went right up on his front porch and dropped it by his front door! His security camera picked up the incident.We'll see what tomorrow brings - I'll post again if there's something new to say but - so far so good!

after quite the outdoor rat infestation, we are now living rat-free :-) ... thanks to these very effective Victor traps! (and, other items & measures taken below) ... the following is what we learned, during our lil' rat war this past 2017 summer;| rat intel |• bait type matters!: we first tried peanut butter with no results on the rats, but it resulted in some very unfortunate collateral damage to other rodents... so, we switched to raw bacon, and, while the other rodents were disinterested, the rats can not resist... and, snap!so, if it is outdoors, do not use peanut butter, unless you want to eliminate chipmunks and squirrels, as well ... rather, try raw bacon...• fresh bait: freshen your bait and reset as frequently as possible. we found that when we freshened the bait and reset the traps "every" day, we had a much higher rate of success.• neighborhood activism: get your neighbors involved, as the problem is very unlikely limited to your property... rats eat dog feces, compost, grille remains, bird seed... and just about anything, but, in our neighborhood, they were feeding (or are still feeding) at a neighbor that does not clean up after their dog and a neighbor composting... and, living at another neighbor that has let their garage and yard go to squaller…. thus, our yard was a traffic route between feeding and nesting. but, it is a city wide problem, as we have learned via nextdoor website for our city… so, neighbor involvement is a must, as you may eliminate them from living or feeding on your or adjacent property, but they will still be in the area and will likely return. if you do not know your neighbors and do not want to do the door-to-door thing, then join nextdoordotcom for your city and post something like "Unwanted Neighbors - Rats!" ... this is how we learned that it is a pervasive, city-wide problem and we were both receiving and disseminating information via this site… though i appreciate that most of us no longer “need” neighbors in this era, you do NEED your neighbors as allies in this war!• multi-front approach: utilize some additional artillery besides these Victor traps: we are using outdoor bait boxes with "Bromethalin" bait, so they will eat and go back to their nests and perish in a few days...…here are some links to good outdoor rat bait boxes and a good rat bait with Bromethalin (the ingredient claimed to be the best to poison rats):• Compact Rat Bait Station TWIN PACK (Bait Not Included)• Tomcat 0370910 Tier 1 Refillable Rat & Mouse Bait Station• MOTOMCO Tomcat Mouse and Rat Bromethalin Bait Chunx, 4-Poundadditionally, we had placed Peppermint Oil (which we still use to keep them at bay) in all the areas that were absolutely off-limits to rats and that was immediately effective. they stayed clear of areas where we distributed the Oil and began moving only in distant areas of the property, where we had the traps (and bait boxes) …so 2 👍 to Peppermint Oil; Pure Body Naturals Undiluted Essential Peppermint Oil, 4 fl. oz. OR Radha Beauty Peppermint Essential Oil 4 oz - 100% Pure & Natural Mentha Peperita Therapeutic Gradeif you want to keep it cheap and simple, then these original Victor traps can not be beat, especially in the economical 12 pack.lastly, best wishes to your soon rat-free life…. :-)Thank you.