Brown Rat

The Brown Rat is considered one of the most serious mammalian pests ever known; it's opportunist lifestyle, intelligence, agility, omnivorous diet and prolific breeding potential make it one of the worlds most successful mammals. They carry dangerous diseases such as salmonella, weils disease and rat bite fever. Rats must be controlled as they cause serious damage to property and crops. Some rats have developed resistance to modern rodenticides and that resistance is expected to increase. Rats are very difficult to trap but relatively easy to poison with rodenticides.

Best Methods for Controlling your Pest

DIY or The Professionals?

Rat control is a serious business; but, if your follow our 'How to Control' section you should be able to control all but the most extensive infestation.
If you don't feel you can commit the time required to complete the steps referred to in our illustrated guide, you are better to call in the professionals.

In order of effectiveness, these are your options for rat control:

Rodenticides; if you have an established colony of rats, this is always the quickest, surest and most effective option.
Lethal Traps; such as 'spring traps' or 'break-back traps'. These can be effective if you have one or two casual intruders, but not for an established colony.
Live Catch traps; such as cage traps, can be effective for one or two troublesome individuals, but not for an established colony.
Electronic Kill Traps; as above, OK for an occasional visitor but of no use against an established colony.
Electronic Deterrents; these are completely ineffectual against rats and a waste of your money.
Glue Traps; are fine for insects but completely inappropriate for rodents. They are cruel and in-humane and should not be on the market. We don't sell them and urge you not to use them.

Rodenticides:

The reason rodenticides are so effective as compared to traps lies in the rat's intelligence and feeding habits. (The only time I advocate trapping before rodenticide use is when the rats are in your home as you do not want a rat to die in wall voids or under the floor boards - the smell is very unpleasant).

Rats are highly intelligent social creatures who live and feed together as a colony. They quickly learn from their own experiences and from their family. So, if they see their mate snapped in a trap, it doesn't take them long to figure out that traps are bad news.
Rats feed by taking only a small initial taste of something new, that way, if it disagrees with them they won't go back and eat more. However, if it was tasty and they feel just fine, the next day they will eat their fill. Rats don't find suitable food and then just sit and eat as we would, they are constantly on the move and will only stay for between 5 and 30 seconds before rushing off (preferably with a portion of the food) only to come back a few minutes later for more. This keeps them safe from predators and means they don't take too much of one particular food that turns out to be bad for them (rats can't regurgitate or be sick, so what goes down stays down).
Rodenticides work by thinning the blood and reducing its ability to clot. If rodents were to feel any pain or discomfort over the several days it may take for some of the more reluctant and 'picky' feeders to consume a lethal dose, they would cease feeding immediately - which does not happen. Don't take chances with rats - eliminate an infestation as quickly and humanely as possible - use rodenticides. All our rodenticides contain Bitrex - a bitter tasting ingredient which makes it unpalatable to humans - to avoid accidental consumption.
By the time the rat has taken a lethal dose, usually between of two and four feeds, it still has not associated the food with any problem. The rat then starts to feel lethargic and weak so it tends to retreat to it's nest where it dies peacefully.
Not only will that one rat have been feeding on the rodenticide, but the whole colony will gradually have joined in the feast. Within 10 to 14 days the entire colony will have been gently eliminated.
Because of this rat habit of eating a bit from here and a bit from there, it is essential to have several bait points in the rat territory so the rats will move from one bait point to another bait point, rather than one bait point to some other natural food, which results in a longer period before they have taken a lethal dose.
In order to protect the bait from being eaten by a non-target animal it is highly advisable to use a properly designed rat bait station.
There are occasions when rats subsequently die of heart failure above ground so it is essential that whilst conducting a baiting programme, you take a little time to check around for any dead rats in the surrounding area. Wearing gloves, and using a plastic bag collect the bodies - if any - and dispose of them in tightly tied plastic bags in your wheelie bin.

Lethal Rat Traps:

Rats are extremely cautious of new objects appearing in their territory and this is one of their great survival strengths.
Rat traps, such as the Snap-E Rat Trap can be an excellent method of catching the odd wandering individual.
Traps can be a good solution where you have a roving rat visiting your home.
Unlike the inquisitive and easy to catch mouse, the rat is highly intelligent and learns from the mistakes of other rats. If one rat sees another rat being caught in a trap, then it will forever be cautious about traps. That is why you are most unlikely to control an established family of rats using traps.
If you do decide to try traps, use several, and preferably use them inside Bait Stations that are also designed to hold the Snap-E Rat Trap. Not only do these bait stations protect the trap action from the view of other rats, but they also help to prevent non-target birds and animals accessing the trap.
Refer to our Illustrated Guide for advice on where to place the traps.
The objective of using bait stations is that you will bait the stations with a non-poisonous attractant bait and after a few days, when the rats are feeding happily, place the Snap-E Trap, or the T-Rex into the space designed for it within the bait station. You will almost certainly catch your rat at the first attempt and if you have several bait/trap stations in place, you may well catch several rats in that first night because other rats are not seeing what is happening inside the stations.
Dispose of the rats, well wrapped in plastic bags, into your wheelie bin.
Our top quality, professional choice traps and bait stations will last for years and over the long-term are the most economic way of controlling occasional visitors. Beware of cheap, budget quality traps that are designed to catch you with their low prices rather than to catch rodents.

Live Capture Rat Cages:

These cages can be used for catching the occasional intruder but are of little or no use against a colony of rats.
Before you decide to try cage traps, have a look at some of our rat videos and see how rats react to these cages.
Some skilled professionals claim to be able to use these cages to good effect but I don't think any of them would claim they are either easy to use or highly effective.
Even if you do catch the occasional rat, you still have to dispose of it. There is no virtue in releasing it into the fields or woods miles away from home. The first thing it will do is head back home and almost certainly it will die through predation or stress, long before if finds it's way back. It will be driven out of other rat's territories that it crosses on the way home and not knowing the environment it will almost certainly end up as dinner for some predator. Much better to save it all that trauma and deal with it properly with rodenticides or lethal traps in the first place.

Electronic Kill Traps:

These do work but only to the extent of zapping the occasional intruder. They are not effective against an established colony of rats.

Electronic Deterrents:

In the case of rats, these are a waste of your time and money. I know of no evidence to demonstrate that they work and you can see for yourself rat's complete disregard for them in our video clip.

Glue Traps:

I have said it all above. Don't use them. They are cruel and intelligent rodents don't deserve that fate. Check out our video if you are in any doubt, that should leave you firmly in the anti-glue trap camp.

Rats are a serious problem and they must be dealt with swiftly and effectively in order to prevent damage to property and the spread of disease.

Use rodenticides safely and always read and understand the label.