How to get rid of rats

Re: the story “Rats, it's getting cold outside”

The article said “snap traps, live traps – where the rats will then be relocated – or poisons are the only way to wage war on rats.”

In my yard, the rats set off my snap traps and steal the bait, or avoid them completely. They also somehow step over the trigger on the live traps and eat all the bait. 

The silver bullet for these creatures of the dark is a Victor electronic trap with a bird seed trail and a blob of peanut butter at the end. Two C-cell batteries zap them as they cross the floor. Then, it zaps them another mercy shock about 30 seconds later.

Mine connects to WiFi and sends me a pop-up message to my phone, saying the trap has been triggered, and I remove dead rat and rebait when I get home. 

I slip the trap into the far end of my useless live trap so the dogs can’t reach the electric floor of the trap. 

My app says I have caught 16 rats since I set the trap in September. I also have caught 21 mice. 

I got mine at Canadian Tire, but I’m sure one can find them at multiple vendors. 

Scott Jackson