We have a rat problem. We thought it was squirrels, and that seems to have been part of it, because shooting them helped, but there are also rats. We see them sometimes. I trapped one in the chicken coop, but nothing since. We just saw fresh rat poo on my son’s truck frame. I have some 2.5” round body grip traps and a bunch of foot hold traps for fox/coyote. I caught the one rat in a foot trap and it nearly cut it in half. That rat weighed about a pound or close to it. The other that we have seen, if it is only one, is about the same size. They seem to be very shy of any kind of trap. I had to use a “dirt set” to catch the one in the coop. I put it under the hole and covered it with straw and it stepped right in it. The rest of the traps seem to be left alone. We found a nest of baby rats when cleaning under the rabbit hutches, about 10 babies. We got rid of them. I would like to hear from anyone who has successfully trapped rats what the best way is. I have heard cooked bacon is irresistible. I set a pipe set in the barn and they clean up around it but will not go in. I am tempted to set one outside buried under some hay or straw and see if they will go in. We have a bucket trap set up in the coop with peanut butter and dog food and it has been empty for over a week. I would love to use a thermal and get them at night, but those things are $$$$. I am looking at thermal scopes and would consider one if it is decent and under 1k.
Good ones are expensive yes. There’s cheap ones on Amazon etc but I’m not well versed in night vision scopes. On the bright side you’d be using it at fairly close range so a cheapy may work. What were you considering mounting it on? They say air rifles are very hard on scopes because they have a double reversed recoil. Also something I’m not well versed on.
I wonder if you need to de-scent the traps and also make sure your hands do not touch them unless wearing de-scented gloves.
Spring powered air rifles are hard on scopes because the lenses are usually only braced for recoil in one direction. The recoil is very harsh going forward because the piston is very heavy. I used to have a couple and sold them to get my pcp airgun. I would be putting the thermal on my 22lr and/or 22-250. The 22lr would be for rats and the 22-250 for coyotes.
Is poison an option? My cousin raises chickens and has rat problems, they get smart real quick to traps. She uses a slow acting poison as rats are smart enough to associate fast acting ones with the bait and learn to avoid it. Slow acting apparently they can't associate with eating it and then dying. Good luck...they are smart!
I’ve been battling them for years. I found it easier to cut off their food source than to keep shooting/trapping them. Once access is gone, they’re forced to move on. They breed rapidly. They are incredibly intelligent and a new trap might nab one or two, but the survivors learn quickly how to rob a trap without springing it.
We had a rat or 2 in the 10 years we had chickens. They are definitely hard to catch. I had to bury thick gauge wire all around the exit of the coup into the run to prevent them from tunneling in to get to the food. That worked for me but no advice for your situation. I’ve watched vids of the thermal image sniping. Looked like fun, at least for a while. Good luck!
