There is a commercial product out that uses a capacitor to deliver a deadly shock to rats and mice and I would like the build several to place around my property. Our neighbors have horses and our back neighbors have barnyard animals so we do get a few mice and rats. We have precious dogs so we do not want to use any kind of a poison either. The zappers that are sold commercialy are way over priced for what they really are and could be made into a piece of 4 inch PVC pipe quite nicely, and even smaller pipe could be used for the small field mice too. I have looked inside of one of the traps and it is just a capacitor charging circuit and two plates so that the critter has to stand on both to receive the shock. Anybody got a schematic or suggestion for such a circuit. The caps appeared to be fairly small so I assume that once they get across the circuit that the batteries keep charging the caps and keep the zap flowing. Any ideas?

Wheelchair Bob

 

I've built rat and mouse traps.

One of your big problems is the intellect and waryness of the critters. Even with a non-lethal trap, the moment it catches one rat it will be filled with scent compounds of fear/extreme danger etc. Then after that no other rat will go near it. Multiple washings of the trap after use are needed and even then they may not go near it for weeks.

If you electrocute one to death inside a trap, I can only imagine the scent will be many times worse! And an operating high voltage trap may also contain ozone scents or some electric field their little whiskers can detect etc.

I made traps for the sole reason of being able to re-locate the critters without having to kill them. Once you have made the decision that killing them is the best option, then a trap is a poor choice. You are better with commercial rat baits, that smell/taste good, and they will carry back to their nest so will kill their young too. The baits can be placed in a small steel pipe etc so dogs cannot eat the baits.

Possibly the best way to get rid of mice and rats is to remove their food source, they eat a lot of calories so they only breed and thrive when there is a food source. Things like open bags of chook food, dry dog food, grains, open trash containers are what attracts the rats and allows them to breed up.

 

I don't know how many people want to participate. Most are not familiar dealing with varmints.

I do, I didn't know their was even a product, this has merit. The design has to be very efficient and needs to be clean, the problem with it, there is a chance for the critter to survive, inhumane.

Once that's solved, I think it's a good build. History of the Electric Chair is chilling.

 

Possibly the best way to get rid of mice and rats is to remove their food source, they eat a lot of calories so they only breed and thrive when there is a food source. Things like open bags of chook food, dry dog food, grains, open trash containers are what attracts the rats and allows them to breed up.

I have bate boxes, they do carry it back to the nest. It's unfortunate but, true.

 

During WWII. my dad built an electrical rat zapper. It was 2 pcs of sheet metal attached to a board so they formed a shape like a vee. Bait was just outside of the apex.

It caught the first rat, but no more. No amount of cleaning helped catch another rat.

 

Working as a pest exterminator, we are using this traps:

http://www.wisecon.dk/wisebox.html

It can hold up to 25 mice and a dozen rats. One of my traps has caught 19 rats. After I placed it out, took 7 hrs for the first rat to get caught, the next was only a few minutes later.

They are neophobic and sceptic too all new things but their curiosity is bigger.

Happy huntin'

 

I've built rat and mouse traps.

One of your big problems is the intellect and waryness of the critters. Even with a non-lethal trap, the moment it catches one rat it will be filled with scent compounds of fear/extreme danger etc. Then after that no other rat will go near it. Multiple washings of the trap after use are needed and even then they may not go near it for weeks.

If you electrocute one to death inside a trap, I can only imagine the scent will be many times worse! And an operating high voltage trap may also contain ozone scents or some electric field their little whiskers can detect etc.


Rats often cause house fires by gnawing through the insulation on electrical cables, so its unlikely electrical fields or faint ozone will deter them.

 

2 pcs of sheet metal attached to a board.

It caught the first rat, but no more. No amount of cleaning helped catch another rat.

Sounds like a job for something non-porous.

I find this interesting. It conjures ideas about how to get a rat to walk into a place without feeling fear or pain. Only after he is well past the point of no return is he allowed to discover there is no exit.

I once saw a place where the rats had made lots of tunnels in the ground, a serious colony with lots of escape routes. It provoked an emotion in me. I wanted to nuke the place! Really. Ideas about a directional gamma ray source that would cover a few hundred square feet.

Fortunately, it was miles from where I lived. All I could do was marvel at what kind of people would allow this filth and contagion to continue right next to their home.

ps, When a rat got into my attic, I gave him some rat bait with Warfarin (blood thinner). The dirty rat got his revenge by snuggling up against my air conditioner to die. Every time the air conditioner started, the smell of dead rat permeated the house. Luckily, he was on the side I could get to and I found his rotting corpse in only a few seconds. Then, I found the entrance and fixed the situation permanently.

 

The commercial boxes my wife bought while I was in Iraq are very effective. The jolt is instant and there is no struggle at all. The issue is they are 49 bucks a piece and they do not discount for multiple quantities. I have been nothing less than amazed because they work so well. Place a few pebbles of dog food inside, let them get good and comfortable with it, then turn it on. One night we caught 4 rats in about 2 hours. They were the large brown kind that is found around grain storage and stables. The mice are a little more wary, but also easily trained by simply allowing them to eat for a few days before turning it on. It is the time of year when the critters are looking for a warm plce with a good food and water supply for the winter, so we get a regular stream of little visitors since we do have open bowls of water and dog food always availaible for our girls. We rescue and raise German Shepherd Dogs and currently have 2 new placements who are 2 years old and smart as the dickens. So poison, or bait or anything that they could possibly eat is definitely off the menu. They will also hunt a critter and have been hunting our back patio so I know that this years potential crop is probably large due to the mild winter last year and a warm summer. That means they have the potential to eat a poisoned rat or mouse so that makes poisons doubly off limits for sure. I found a pretty simple charging circuit on you tube and just need to build a couple and see how they do. I'll get a drawing of the device and maybe I could get a little help with getting the correct component specs. Thanks!!!!

Wheelchair Bob

 

ps, When a rat got into my attic, I gave him some rat bait with Warfarin (blood thinner). The dirty rat got his revenge by snuggling up against my air conditioner to die. Every time the air conditioner started, the smell of dead rat permeated the house.

That's why I never use bait in or nearby houses where people live. A rat can smell for months.

As a side note: In Europe, government are planning on prohibiting rat bait. In 3-6 years, you are not allowed to poison then...


Good luck, Bob. And please report back.

 

Good thing! I was afraid we were going to run out of rats.

 

i built one some years ago, very simply with a 16" square piece of steel plate, a piece of 1/2 rubber sheet and an old car hub cap. the rubber sandwiched between the steel and cap and glued. then i got the transformer from an old insect zapper (the type used in food shops ) and connected the output one to the plate and the other to the hub cap. the hub cap filled with chocolate pieces (chocolate spread works well too )
Now be very careful, there is in excess of 30,000v from some of these transformers.
as soon as the rat stands on the plate and puts his nose into the bait.... ZAPPP !!!!
the rats heart stops instantly, but still has enough muscle life to run away before it has chance to leave any scent.
Alternatively, there is a safer option http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AG1CDiLcznc

 

@ Rbeckett and #12, thought the rats is why you Florida guys let the Pythons loose?

 

@ Rbeckett and #12, thought the rats is why you Florida guys let the Pythons loose?

Unfortunately, rats ain't the only things the pythons are eating...

 

In Europe, government are planning on prohibiting rat bait. In 3-6 years, you are not allowed to poison then...

Good luck with that. I guess Europe is getting a little crowded again and could use a good plague to open things up a bit again.

 

Good luck with that. I guess Europe is getting a little crowded again and could use a good plague to open things up a bit again.

In the UK; the Toraidhe Pikeys already have the matter well in hand - we're expecting a cull of the poor any day now.

 

Man you folks have some discriminating rats! I use a live trap and have no problem catching rats over and over. I re-use mouse traps and only wash with detergent between uses and have no problem.

I'm using Victor electric mouse traps while I'm away from home. I'll know in a couple weeks if they work as advertised.

 

i built one some years ago, very simply with a 16" square piece of steel plate, a piece of 1/2 rubber sheet and an old car hub cap. the rubber sandwiched between the steel and cap and glued. then i got the transformer from an old insect zapper (the type used in food shops ) and connected the output one to the plate and the other to the hub cap. the hub cap filled with chocolate pieces (chocolate spread works well too )
Now be very careful, there is in excess of 30,000v from some of these transformers.
as soon as the rat stands on the plate and puts his nose into the bait.... ZAPPP !!!!
the rats heart stops instantly, but still has enough muscle life to run away before it has chance to leave any scent.
Alternatively, there is a safer option http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AG1CDiLcznc

You can get 600V versions of those high current gas-discharge surge arrestors that they use in commercial Telco equipment - put one of those in series with a diode/capacitor voltage multiplier, with no load the gas tube stays O/C - as soon as a rat completes the circuit, the gas tube breaks over and you have an instant ex-rat.

Years ago when I repaired PC monitors for a living, I gathered all the scrap boards together and made one *BIG* voltage multiplier from all the reservoir electrolytics & bridge rectifier modules - with capacitors as big as 560uF each, I never dared discharge the estimated several thousand volts, I put it on a high up shelf and waited for leakage to bleed the charge away.

 

Man you folks have some discriminating rats! I use a live trap and have no problem catching rats over and over. I re-use mouse traps and only wash with detergent between uses and have no problem.

I'm using Victor electric mouse traps while I'm away from home. I'll know in a couple weeks if they work as advertised.

Our Aussie rats are smarter? Nope, all rats are smart.

I think it comes down to the size of the rat population vs resources? If rats are scarce they are more wary, and there are more options for them to hide and source food. They are hard to catch and if the population is down because of predators they are also likely to be smarter as the smart/wary ones are the only ones remaining.

But if the rats are overpopulated/plague etc they compete harder for food, are less scared of a scent trail or a predator and will be much easier to catch. If the numbers are very high they might even run around past your feet etc, almost tame in your environment.

Where I live it is semi-rural with large blocks and there is much more chance of seeing rat droppings out in the back shed at the bottom of the yard where nobody goes, then in or around the house where a rat would be never seen.

Of course, some of the neighbours have chickens and dogs and their sheds have bags of feed, which can draw the rats. They are not getting into houses, which are brick with concrete floor slabs.

 

I prefer a trap that will torture the rats for a while before killing them, any ideas?