Mold on bait still attractive to rodents?

[MRG]

The most effective bait I've ever used was peanut butter Ho-Hos. Apparently the combination of chocolate and peanut butter (plus whatever other flavorings Hostess uses) was irresistible to rodents.

It attracted them so fast you didn't need to worry about it growing moldy. The time between setting the trap and a mouse triggering it ranged between 2 and 60 minutes. If it hadn't tripped after an hour, it was because there weren't any mice left.

Many of those foods will not mold. I had the cover from a pink snowball, after years it was like a rock, it never got moldy.

 

[Lsbcal]

Drill a hole in the wood and tie a string. Makes it easier to retrieve a hard to get trap.

I too notice that as the bait ages it does not work as well. Cheese may last longer. I use shredded. Sometimes Mexican blend. LOL.

I do something similar. I drill a hole in the wood base and using a piece of wood with a nail in it, I thread the nail through the hole to loosely couple the two. Makes it easier to handle the trap too.

 

[NW-Bound]

In my battle with the roof rats, using the surveillance cameras I observed all kinds of behavior. Rats have individual tastes, just like humans or cats or dogs.

Once I used Kraft cheese. None of the rats went for it. When I switched to imported French blue cheese, got a couple right away. Their sense of smell is amazing. If the bait failed, it was not because they did not know about it, but it was because they did not care. They could detect an almond in the attic with no problem.

Roof rats are vegetarian, so I never used meat. They went for nuts and fruits. In neighborhoods where people have citrus, pomegranate trees, or date palms, the rats have an abundance of food source. Or they eat dog or cat food that people leave out in the backyard.

It took me a long time to track down their route and find out how they got into my attic. The roof structure is complicated with lots of nooks and crannies, and I had to move the camera around to find their paths. The cameras are WiFi with motion sensing. I set them up to record via FTP into my file server. No way I can watch it 24/7.

Roof rats are nocturnal. They sleep during the day, and go out to eat at night. They like to be high up off the ground. Hence roofs and attics are their preferred spots. Mature roof rats can chew through metal wire mesh. Plywood is like butter to them!

 

[travelover]

I've heard that Tootsie Roll chunks work as trap bait. Unfortunately, when I tried them it was hot and they melted, so never got a fair test. Theory is that eating it requires more force on the trap trigger so they can't gently lick off bait.

 

[Mdlerth]

Gross, but entertaining!

Many of those foods will not mold. I had the cover from a pink snowball, after years it was like a rock, it never got moldy.

Mold or no mold, I would be cautious about how long to leave out such treats. They can attract other kinds of pests. It would be a shame to drive out the rodents only to have them replaced with ants and roaches.

 

[ERD50]

...

It's just that to rebait means more handling (and possibly snapping your hand which happened once) plus a few traps are in a hard to access space that I can see without going into.

Get these - they work great and are 1000x easier to handle than the wood snap traps:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0797948RH/ref=s9_acsd_hps_bw_c_x_1_w

Being at a 90° angle means you just pull back at the top part, you don't need to get in under the snapping part. Your fingers never need to be in the snap area, and it is far easier to use. Effective too. I've bought some other brands that sometimes caught the mouse by the side, never happened with these.

I do something similar. I drill a hole in the wood base and using a piece of wood with a nail in it, I thread the nail through the hole to loosely couple the two. Makes it easier to handle the trap too.

Yes, mounting on a wood base makes it far easier to handle, and if the mouse does get caught but not killed, they won't drag the trap off and die somewhere in the house.

For the rat trap size, that I use outside to keep the gophers out of DW's flowers, I add wood side, back and top to keep it getting tripped from the back or side, and the top to help keep larger animals out. Keeps the rain from washing away the bait too.


-ERD50

 

[Lsbcal]

Get these - they work great and are 1000x easier to handle than the wood snap traps:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0797948RH/ref=s9_acsd_hps_bw_c_x_1_w

Being at a 90° angle means you just pull back at the top part, you don't need to get in under the snapping part. Your fingers never need to be in the snap area, and it is far easier to use. Effective too. I've bought some other brands that sometimes caught the mouse by the side, never happened with these.
,,,

In recent years I've gotten 2 rats for each mouse. I have a few small traps like that plastic trap design. But mostly I use the large Victor traps like this: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004N46F9E/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I think sometimes the mice can eat the bait off the trap without setting it off. Does not happen too often.

 

[NW-Bound]

Get these - they work great and are 1000x easier to handle than the wood snap traps:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0797948RH/ref=s9_acsd_hps_bw_c_x_1_w

Being at a 90° angle means you just pull back at the top part, you don't need to get in under the snapping part. Your fingers never need to be in the snap area, and it is far easier to use. Effective too. I've bought some other brands that sometimes caught the mouse by the side, never happened with these...

That's a mouse trap. No good for much larger Norway or sewer rats. Even the strongest conventional traps may not be good enough for super-duper rats.

 

[NW-Bound]

I have had good luck with this Tomcat Secure-Kill trap. Absolutely no danger of hurting your fingers. It is probably not strong enough for a Norway rat. I have had one roof rat pulling itself free from this trap. Caught it all on the surveillance camera, of course.

 

[Qs Laptop]

So the question is: Does mold on top of peanut butter become less attractive to rats or mice?

Probably. But it might not matter.

I have an annual mouse problem. In the fall around the first frost or first snow and in the spring when it warms up really nice the first time. I put two traps side-by-side in a known traffic lane. Typically I'll get four or five mice in the fall over a couple weeks and then nothing for the rest of the winter. Maybe one or two in the spring over a week or so. (I don't know why they would come into the house in the spring, but they do.)

Last spring I forgot to take the traps down so they were baited and set all summer long. Sure enough, the first cold snap hits and with it the first *SNAP* of the mouse trap spring. I pulled the trap out with the mouse pinned to the wood board and the bait area was all brownish-green from the peanut butter getting moldy over the summer. So, yes, they will hit a trap with rotten food on it.

Another thought: Is there a coating for peanut butter I can use that will limit the mold growth and still attract the critters?

I don't know.

 

[CardsFan]

Once I used Kraft cheese. None of the rats went for it. When I switched to imported French blue cheese, got a couple right away. Their sense of smell is amazing.

Apparently, this proves MOLD is NOT the problem. But I still think the mold on the PB DOES limit the odor, and thus, the attraction.

 

[ERD50]

That's a mouse trap. No good for much larger Norway or sewer rats. Even the strongest conventional traps may not be good enough for super-duper rats.
...

Right, you need the larger ones for rats/chipmunks.

Wow, hard to believe that rat got out of that trap at that point! But as some commenters said, the trap was nailed to the floor, so the rat could push against the floor to get out. It the trap was mounted to a board with a rope/wire he couldn't do much to push against it.

You can also see why I put sides and a back on my larger traps - when the rat/chipmunk comes over the back or from the side, they have a better chance of getting a glancing blow and might not get caught.

-ERD50

 

[MRG]

Just get a big cat. There's a great big one down below us, it left a mule deer leg next to our fence.


Here kitty, kitty.....