Bait for rats?

A friend of ours has a rat problem, what bait should I use?

Thanks, Cole

I've always found them harder to trap than most animals. Their guard can be lowered by bringing in the familiar. Bait it with the same food that they are eating. Also, place their droppings on the trap or in the bait container.

Given the choice, I like to bait, and throw the familiar in with the bait to bring their guard down.

Ok, so I should bait the unset traps for a few days before setting?

I never saw the point in that, but I know those who do. Prebaiting attempts to familiarize the rat with the trap by letting him crawl on top of it. If he's crawling on top of it, he can set the trap off and we can be done earlier IMO.

I use my own bait, but if you're looking for something you can make at home, nutella and peanut oil is very effective on rats. Normally don't have to prebait or do any of that either.

We don't usually have a problem with rats unless previous attempts have been made at capturing them prior to our arrival. We use our own commercial baits and lures for all ground rodent set ups. If you don't have any commercial food materials to use, experiment with what is available to you and test different components to see what is most acceptable to the rats at your job.

Due to the high probability that many and at times most rat calls that we receive the rats have been exposed to rodenticide baits and some type of snap traps and glue boards. We use small cage/rodent size traps for all of our rat set ups in most cases due to that situation.

Ok thanks guys! I appreciate the help.

BOOM! winner winner, chicken dinner.

I followed a guy who pre-baited his cage traps for raccoons. He wired the door open. Told the customer it would take 3 days for the coons to get familiar with the trap before he could catch them. From day 4 to 14 he baited that trap every morning and fed the coon every night. IMO the coon had 3 days to "learn" that trap and then they didn't get caught.

I caught three coon in three nights in the same type trap, I just changed my bait presentation.

IMO pre-baiting is a waste of time and has the potential to make you look bad.

Now if you're fur trapping and pre-baiting before the season opens, well that's a horse of a different color.