Are Cage Traps a Good Option for Rats?

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They can be, but they rarely are. I used live exclusion one-way door cages for rats in the early beginnings of my career, around the time I tackled with all sorts of methods and approaches. I pretty quickly discovered that there’s no rules with cage traps – they sometimes work, and sometimes don’t. After experimenting a little with different trapping methods, cage traps weren’t my final choice, and I don’t personally use them. Here’s what I can share with you about cage traps:



Cage traps are often too large to deal with rats. Rats will often use hard-to-reach access points to get in and out of your home or your business place. Most of the nooks and crannies where you can detect rat holes are rather inaccessible without equipment, and a lot of these holes will be in a place that’s too small or narrow for a cage to be installed correctly. Some rat holes are located in open space areas, and are big and hard to miss – cage traps could work with these types of points of entry.

Rats are timid and can be cage-shy. Especially if they still have other passages to use in order to get in and out of your home, chances are that the rats will be too shy and too afraid to push through the cage door. Again, if proper home repair is not performed prior to mounting the trap, there’s little chance the cage will be efficient.

Learn what wildlife rehabilitators do with rodents.

Relocating rats is pointless. If you trap a rat with a one-way door cage, and don’t leave it there to die of heatstroke or starvation – which would be a really unwise thing to do – you’re now left to deal with a live rat. Killing the rat now is kind of silly, and most don’t have the stomach for it. Relocating it away from your property won’t do the rat any good – it will probably die in some horrible manner shortly after being released. Messing around with live rats will also put you at risk of being bitten or scratched. More so, handling live rats can be dangerous, as they are quick and agile, and can escape if you’re not attentive and know what you’re doing.

What to do if you hear a rodent on the roof.

What can you do if a cage trap is not something you would want to try? If we’re still talking about live exclusion, the one-way funnel door has a higher success rate than the cage, but there are still some issues with this approach, and it won’t always work. In addition, you’re still left with a live rat that you now have to dispose of. My preferred method of eradicating rats from a client’s property is via lethal snap traps. Learn more about the deadly snap trap by further browsing through these pages. You will also be able to find more about other rat removal tactics, how they work, or why they don’t work. Whatever you do, stay away from poisons and glue traps – they’re unsafe for you, your family, your pets, the environment, and borderline inhumane towards the rats. For more information, you may want to click on one of these guides that I wrote:
How much does rat removal cost? - get the lowdown on prices.
How to get rid of rats - my main rat removal info guide.
Example rat trapping photographs - get do-it-yourself ideas.
Rat job blog - learn from great examples of rat jobs I've done.
How to Keep Rats Out of My Garbage
How to Get Rats Out of the Attic
What to Do About a Rat on the Roof?
New York City rats are getting bigger
What Should I Do If I Find a Nest of Rats In the Attic?
What Is a Rat’s Natural Diet?
Do Mothballs or Ammonia Help Repel Rats?
If I have one rat are there more?
What Is a Rat’s Mating Habits?
Why are there so many rats in NYC?
How Long Does It Take To Remove Rats In A Building?
Is It Legal for Me to Trap a Rat?
Will Homeowners Insurance Pay for Rat Damage?
What If a Rat Got Inside My House?
Can rats hurt you?
What Are Some Humane Ways to Kill a Rat?
How smart are rats?
Home Remedies To Keep Away Rats And Get Rid Of Them