Rat!! How do I get rid of it???

[captpete]

We have several chipmunks running around our yard. We like watching themfeeding them peanuts. One of them has become pretty friendly and brave(we call him Alvin). He has kind of become my drinking buddy. I'll be sitting on the back patio drinking a beer and he will show up. He will pickup & eat peanuts within inches of my feet.

I noticed a hole in the ground and just figured it was from the chipmunks. The wife wanted to make sure it wasn't from a snake(I didn't care for that idea either). I set up the trail camera over the hole, left it sitting for 3 day and nights. I was really suprised at what I saw. Lots of pics of the chipmunk(s) using the hole & running around in the general area. The 1st night was a cat, (no big suprise) and a possum(again no great suprise, but don't like it). The second night I get a pic of small rat/ big mouse.

Here is the problem....how do I get rid of the rat without killing the chipmonks?  Anything I do to catch the rat will more than likely end up catching the chipmunk. They are both basically rodents and eat pretty much the same things. Thoughts or ideas??

RAT




Alvin enjoying some peanuts while I enjoy my beer



Waiting for more peanuts

[hookedspur]

That Alvins pretty cool . A gamo will take care of the other problem 

[savduck]

Sit up late one night with a 22 and cb caps.

[alloutdoors]

When I was a kid I would throw a handful of grain on the floor of our barn to draw out the rats and shoot them with my pellet gun. Put out some corn and you will probably have the rat(s) coming out within an hour or two. The other option is putting a live trap (box trap) out at night time.

[Woodsman4God]

I like the live trap idea also, however I believe chipmunks are daytime animals where as rats are also nocturnal, rat trap set after dark just be sure to get up well before sunrise and check/disarm it before the chipmunks get up.

[Devastator]

Just to let ya know chipmunks can be as bad or worse than rats in the house.That said I HATE RATS!!

[TnTurk]

Run some water from a hose down in the hole and see what runs out. If it's a rat, whack him with a hoe. We used to do it all the time when I was a kid in the diary barns and grain bins, except we used .22 rat shot. Loads of fun back then. BTW, usually where there is one hole, there is usually another way out as well. Good luck and God bless, Steve

[redarrow]

Bacon makes good rat bait. Although it might attract possums and coons.

[beagler]

land mine 

[RutnNStrutn]

That's a rat, not a mouse!! The only way to kill him without harming Alvin, who is pretty cute, is to selectively target him. Put out some bait, and wait him out at night with a .22 with rat shot or a pellet gun.

[captpete]

Thanks for the ideas everybody. I'm going to try the live trap and set it only at night. That way if Alvin does happen to get caught I can at least let him go. I might try the bacon for bait in the live trap and set a bigger live trap in the same area for the possum.
Thanks again for the ideas.

[RutnNStrutn]

Good luck!!
Post up pics so we can see what you caught!

[West Augusta]

Peanut butter on a stale slice of bread is good bait for both the rat and the possum.

[socalturkeyman]

We have killed about 30 rats since the begging of the summer with a pellet gun and flash light. Hunting has been tough so we have been using the traps, so far I think we have about 8 with traps. The only thing that's weird is that the traps are all gone lol. I don't know what has happen to them, only thing I can think of was a Coon step on them. Cause my aunt and I were looking around our yard and she spotted coon poop and I found the tracks. But I would have thought we would hear the ruckus outside. I had them set in tight areas where if a coon did get caught,and freaked out there would have been lots of noise. So I am still stumped with whats taking the traps lol.

[captpete]

Just a quick update.  I started with small live trap(the size for a squirrel/rabbit) for the possum and live trap for mice hoping the rat will fit it. I used peanut butter for bait in both. I have been pulling "mouse" trap in the morning to keep from catching Alvin(chipmonks) and leaving the possum trap set. The other day when I came from work I saw the possum trap was set off. Inside was Alvin & he wasn't liking it. I bought an actual rat trap the other day . I haven't set it out yet. I have had to work some 15 hr days this week and didn't want to leave it set all day so I wouldn't end up killing Alvin. I also switched my from peanut butter to bacon grease...as suggested above. I put my camera(3)back up yesterday also...now I will be able to see if the rat & possum are still around. Will post pics if I get anything .