# 02 May 2021 - Rats

We've been having unwelcome visits from rats for a few months now. We first tried poison - it seemed pretty effective, but we were uncomfortable with it and it didn't seem to completely resolve the problem.

We tried traditional mousetraps, with peanut butter and chorizo wired onto the trap, but they were completly unsuccessful. In fact, we even saw on our security camera footage the ravens fling the traps to set them off, and feast on the bait.

Recently, we bought a trap that attached to the side of a bucket, and tipped over when a rat stood on a platform to access the bait. Peanut butter enticed a rat up on the trap, but it spooked the moment it touched the platform and it wobbled a little. Our current strategy is to bait the trap but fix it so that it doesn't tip over for a few nights, then re-set the trap when the rats get bold.

It all sounds great, but we noticed today that the bait was completely gone. We checked the cameras, curious to see whether the rats took the bait this time...turns out the ravens got a feast again.