@edgarblythe,
edgarblythe wrote:
I have lived here for over 25 years. In that time, I have had the occasional rat tunneling behind the kitchen cabinet. I repair the holes and try to rat-proof it, but these 1982 models of trailer homes are not well constructed. In the past, the rats have been a smaller variety that are easily gotten rid of. Today I am dealing with some monsters.
My first clue that this big rat had moved in was when it chewed up my new vinyl flooring right at the pantry door. It got under the door and made holes in a bag of dog food. It also found some cracked corn that we have been giving to the ducks in the park. It ignored the Decon I had placed in strategic locations. I got rid of it rather easily by baiting a trap with the dog food and a bit of the corn. I could guess by the smell deep out of my reach that it left a litter to die. I killed the smell by flooding over the area with bleach. For a couple of weeks, I saw no new activity. But then it began all over.
This rat chews the flooring and seems to be seeking food, but it avoids dog food, rat poisons, corn, bread, cheese - everything I put down to attract it. I have some sticky traps down, but it avoids those. A website recommends putting down amonia, but then I would also be breathing it. The same site recommends other repellants, including dryer non static strips, which do not work.
Does anybody here have any experience that can help me?
Have you considered a live-trap? You hang a little piece of something tasty in it and when the rodent goes into it to take the food, it triggers a spring-loaded door that closes behind the animal.
You can then take the sprung trap someplace without any buildings and set the rodent free where it will probably get eaten by a predator.
