... There were droppings in the bucket in the morning but they could jump out.
Last night put a few inches of water in the bucket and a cardboard tube with the bait, peanut butter AND bacon grease, at the end of the ramp...
This morning it was untouched...
Another possibility is the rat is smart, and learns not to fall for the same trick again.
That is the case with my super rat. I forgot to tell about the incidence that happened before I discovered there were rats in my garage attic.
This year, I was successful in raising a few tomato plants. As I anxiously awaited picking my first homegrown tomato, it got chewed up just as it ripened. I had put a nylon mesh over the plants for bird protection, so suspected it was a rat. There had been roof rats seen recently in the neighborhood, but at that point I did not know some lived above my garage.
Anyway, I set out the electric rat zapper. Next morning, its light blinked, but no rat! Apparently, the rat survived the shock and escaped.
Some days later, when I was out of town, my son stopped by my home for some tools, and said he saw a rat in the garage. I asked him to set up the trap in the garage with some peanut butter. Nope, no rats, and the bait stayed untouched.
When I got back in town, I switched to blue cheese. Besides the bait inside the trap, I also had a bit of blue cheese and a blueberry outside of the trap. The food outside the trap got eaten, but the rat would not enter the trap. I believe it was the same rat that survived the shock at the tomato plant.
Later, the rats I got up in the attic were some younger rats that were not as smart. I believe the big and smart one escaped. It was the same one that got snared by the snap trap I set at the garage wall hole, and managed to extricate itself. It must be a monster rat!
Did you guys ever think about just getting or borrowing a cat? No rodents inside but if we leave the cat door open at night we may find a "present" in the doorway in the morning.
I see some neighborhood cats outside during the day, but not recently. It's too hot even at night for cats to venture out. Or perhaps people lock them inside at night.
I am not too far from the desert foothills, and have seen coyotes running around. They pounce on cats!
I do not have a cat now, but mine were indoor cats, and they would not know to catch anything. They were almost vegetarian. One loved to eat corn. She was very sweet.
