How to find RATS?

I’ve busted hellla rats with my Wyze brand Wi-Fi cam pointed at my food pile in my rat “kill zone”. The best baits results I’ve had have been with rice soaked in bacon grease … and grape nuts soaked in beef grease …they won’t run off with the bait and will have to feed at the pile .. Also a handheld thermal could definitely be helpful… th
I had rats that wouldn't go for PB but really loved some horrible stinking blue cheese, this stuff was HORRIBLY tasting too. The rice is a great idea.
 
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Interesting. Most people never want to find rats, but you are looking for them.

I have the same problem and gave up because I have a lot of rats in my yard, but not enough to get a good shot at one without waiting days for one to show up and 30+ mins to give it some lead. Went back to traps that work while I sleep.
 
Interesting. Most people never want to find rats, but you are looking for them.

I have the same problem and gave up because I have a lot of rats in my yard, but not enough to get a good shot at one without waiting days for one to show up and 30+ mins to give it some lead. Went back to traps that work while I sleep.

I agree, for small and timid populations traps are the best. My rat population isn't zero, but it's close-enough.
 
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Whats the fun in trapping? LOL
Ray

When the rat population gets out of control they eat the wires on my wife's car, they eat the chicken's food, it's just a huge drain of time and money. So it's not about fun for me.

In the beginning the pellet gun was a primary source of pest control. Now it's a bit more of a niche item -- I use it more for the bold but "too smart for traps" raccoons, more than anything.
 
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I find raccoons much easier to kill than rats. Most of them tend to be like pet dogs. Put a bowl of food out they will chow down without much fear, giving you plenty of time for a good shot. Bigger rats on the other hand at very cautious and don't readily eat bait or trigger traps. They tend to just smell them for quite some time before becoming bold enough to bite and they always are on the move not giving you a easy sight picture.
 
If rats are present in an area, you won't have any issues finding them after sundown. I would always scan right after sundown. Rarely if ever did I have to bait.
I've shot two diffrent rat permissions, one was a private lot with a small pheasnt pen and the other was smaller hog farm. Between both poisoning efforts by the owners and me shooting a mega ton the issue on both these properties were resolved and I now don't have any others which sucks.
 
When the rat population gets out of control they eat the wires on my wife's car, they eat the chicken's food, it's just a huge drain of time and money. So it's not about fun for me.

In the beginning the pellet gun was a primary source of pest control. Now it's a bit more of a niche item -- I use it more for the bold but "too smart for traps" raccoons, more than anything.
Sorry mate, didn't mean any harm in my post. I understand not everyone shoots for fun.
Ray
 
Sorry mate, didn't mean any harm in my post. I understand not everyone shoots for fun.
Ray

I didn't take offense, just trying to give you my setting.

My primary device for keeping the rat population down is trapping. As mentioned by BlackICE, rats are relatively tricky to shoot. You can often get some, but rarely can you get them all. With traps, I keep the rat population so low I rarely see them or even their scat.
 
F****** rats! This is what I saw today when I opened the hood of my pick up this parked outside. It doesn't get driven too often so evidently there's a rat nest in there. I don't know what damage they caused yet but I was opening the hood to fix the AC system.

PXL_20240308_015540249.jpg
 
F****** rats! This is what I saw today when I opened the hood of my pick up this parked outside. It doesn't get driven too often so evidently there's a rat nest in there. I don't know what damage they caused yet but I was opening the hood to fix the AC system.

View attachment 443565
Wild rabbits like to crawl in a parked warm engine compartment and chew wires. One Saturday I drove to work sat and enjoyed my coffee in the parking lot, a few of the "cute" bunnies come out to greet me.......Their chewing days ended!
 
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F****** rats! This is what I saw today when I opened the hood of my pick up this parked outside. It doesn't get driven too often so evidently there's a rat nest in there. I don't know what damage they caused yet but I was opening the hood to fix the AC system.

My wife had to get braided steel sheathes to go over all her engine wires. Not cheap!

I think rats only consider eating the rubber coating around wires when there's absolutely no other food sources.
 
Most of the wires made today have insulation made out of soybeans. That is what attracts rodents to chew on them.
The auto industry did a study when they were replacing harnesses due to the damage. They had switched from the more expensive plastic based insulation to cheaper soy based at the same time that the complaints about rodent damaged increased.
It was also discussed on several of the radio talk shows for cars.