We had a rodent in the kitchen. I finally figured this out after finding nibbled apple’s dragged to the edge of the kitchen at the stove. I was not entirely sure if it was a rat or a mouse, and so was unsure of what rat trap to get.
And so I resolved myself to ridding the house of these vermin. I hate poisons, since we have children, cats and a dog. And the traditional mice and rat traps very often miss and catch only a foot or tail which seems awfully cruel to these rodents. Glue traps are just wicked in concept and usage and seem to be designed for torture of the mouse or rat. So, the question is how to catch a rat with a trap, kill it humanely, and rid my house of rats and mice forever. And finally which is the best rat trap?
So I looked at the electronic traps which are supposed to quickly and humanely kill a rodent. Trouble is they are expensive, and the only electronic mouse and rat traps my local Home Depot and Lowe’s carry are the Victor model 240 Rat and Mouse Traps. Traditional spring traps, glue traps and poison are available in great abundance. There even seem to be a lot of those ultra-sonic traps which are supposed to repel mice, rats and even bugs. Right… and I have some snake bite elixir for sale.
Bit the bullet and bought the Victor Electronic Pest Trap, and that night, I baited it up with the recommended peanut butter. First I had to load it up with two C batteries. The battery compartment required a screwdriver to pry off, and the battery holder required a screwdriver to insert the batteries in the Victor’s battery holder. Not a good start.
After baiting the electronic rat trap, I turned on the Victor, and was immediately shocked, and I almost hurled that &*^%$#! Victor Mouse and Rat killing machine across the room. But I decided to give it one more try.
Placed the Rat Killing Machine next to the dog bowl, and went to bed. In the morning I found an empty electronic rodent trap and no dead mouse or rat. Hmmmm.
Tried re-baiting the Victor again the next night, and this time with a tasty morsel of smoked Tuna and nothing took the bait or got electrocuted by the Victor. No bait taken. No dead mouse or rat, and no flashing light on the Victor Electronic Rat and Mouse Trap that indicates a killing or tripping of the electronic circuit.
Tried re-baiting the Victor Trap again the next night, only I put it in the Garage next to the kitchen door. Next morning I was rewarded with one small dead and electrocuted RAT! Cool.
Going to use the Victor Mouse Trap a while longer and see if there are any more issues. I’ll review the Victor Electronic Trap after extended use, and report back my findings.
UPDATE: Rat number two has been dispatched by the Victor Electronic Rat Trap.
UPDATE: Rat number three has been dispatched by the Victor Rodent Trap.
UPDATE: Rat number three has NOT been killed by the trap. Instead it appears it was shocked non-stop for at least 15 minutes. When I made my way to the trap and dumped the Rat I thought maybe it was still moving. But creeped out, I took it outside and put into the garbage can. Next morning I went out and checked on the Rat number three, and found it alive and well. I ended up killing it with a shovel, and now I have that memory of it squealing as I killed it. Damnit.
I am finding that there are issues with this trap.
- Victor Trap Deficiencies
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- Very difficult to clean out the old peanut butter from the Victor
- The Victor 240 trap shocked me once, and I am now gunshy
- No indication that the batteries are no longer useful in the Victor
The last rat that got zapped, seemed to linger a while, and this makes me wonder about the humaneness of this trap.- The last rat did not die in the trap. Instead it got shocked for at least a quarter hour, and then I had to kill it myself the next morning.
Given the last experience, the shock I got, and the other poor design features of the trap, I DO NOT Recommend this Victor Electronic Trap. I am going to try and get a complete refund on this poorly designed product that is supposed to kill rodents. My Victor M240 Electronic Mouse Trap Review really tested my patience, and humane sensibilities.
Update: I continue to use the Victor Rodent Trap and have killed two mice in the past couple weeks in the garage. I did however spot a rat who did not venture into the trap. The rats seem to be getting a tiny bit smarter, and can’t be coaxed into the trap for the peanut butter, dog food, or my latest offering of a nice chunk of country ham. I fear that the electronic mouse trap is getting built up with the smell of dead rodent, and is helping the rats figure out that this is not a good place to go. Of course Victor did not make it at all easy to clean this thing. It does not come apart, nor is it convenient to stick your hands inside to clean. There is a lot of room for improvement here. Victor, are you listening?
Another update. The Mouse and Rodent trap has killed four more mice, and another rat. Today there were two very dead mice in the trap. I’ve not gotten shocked again, but I will say that I only turn it on when it is flat on the ground, and then I flip the switch without touching anything else on the Victor Trap. I’ve learned my lesson. The rodents however, have not. Sure am glad I’m zapping them in the garage before they make in the house.
UPDATE: 6/13/2012
Rats in the chicken run and chicken coop
I am not at all happy, and at least one chicken is not at all happy when the lights go out. She squawks her warning squawk to the other chickens, to us and to the neighbors that something is very wrong and dangerous! I go out at 3am to see what in the heck is the matter. Turns out rodents are visiting my chicken run. I saw a mouse and I saw a rat. The girls aren’t cleaning up after themselves I guess.
So I dusted off the Victor Electronic Rat Trap, and baited it with a chunk of peanut butter and jam sandwich, and a few pieces of dry dog food and place the Victor Electronic Mouse Trap along the wall I saw the rat. Rats run around the peripheral walls of a room or a building, and you will usually have best success using any kind of rat and mouse trap by putting it next to the wall. Turned it on, and locked up the chickens and went to bed.
Next morning the blinking light was blinking, indicating I had caught and killed a rat or mouse in the Victor Rat Trap. Well upon inspection I see that I did not get a rat, or a mouse, and the bait was gone. I assume the batteries are too low, or we had a super rat trip the trap. The Victor Rat Zapper did not work.
I’m annoyed once again. Are the batteries shot? Is the mouse trap not working as it should? You’d think that a Rat Zapper such as the Victor Rodent Trap would do a better job, have a battery indicator, and have the power to zap a rat.
Well, I ended buying another electronic rat trap and have done a Review of the Rat Zapper
Get a great deal on a Victor Electronic Rat Trap at Amazon.
And another rat falls to the Victor Electronic Rat Trap.
Try using popcorn kernal covered with peanutbutter. I had purchase one of the traps and it was broken too. The first 4 that I had worked perfectly so just write to Victor on Facebook and they might replace the malfunctioning trap.
I’ve had nothing but success with my Victor rat zapper. Did you read the instructions properly?
They specifically state things like not to put peanut butter directly into the trap and also obvious things like do not touch the metal bits on a device designed to shock animals to death.
Also they state that you need to use high quality batteries to ensure enough voltage to make repeated clean kills, that the light acts as a battery indicator, and that the device is less effective outdoors (moisture in the air and all that physics stuff).
Finally they also tell you that rats are very intelligent and cautious about new things, so a new trap that smells of human changing the bait every day is going to be less effective than one that’s been sitting there for a while. The instruction is even to bait the trap while off and let the rat have a freebie so they’ll feel safe and then get caught when you re-bait and turn it on.
Hope this advice is useful – good luck with your rodent control and don’t touch the metal bits!
Wow! You really had a lot of issues with your Victor trap. I had absolutely no such problems with mine. I never got shocked. Every time the light was blinking I found a dead rodent inside. I’ve had about twenty-five kills with this trap. I even got kills when e trap wasn’t baited. I’ve probably had it for eight years. Today it wouldn’t start when I turned the switch on, so I replaced the batteries. It still won’t start. That’s why I’m on this site today. Trying to find a solution.
Funny, a couple weeks ago the Victor Trap wouldn’t start even with new batteries. Wife got annoyed and chucked it before I’d gotten a chance to take it apart. The Rat Zapper is still going strong, and I have gotten three mice in three days by my chicken coop. A week ago I got a sizable rat. I want to order up another trap for the garage, but am sitting on the fence as to what to get. Another Victor? Or another Rat Zapper? hmmmmm.
Oh wait… looks like Victor bought out Rat Zapper. Curious.
And now I see new players on the market. Hoont Powerful Electronic Rodent Trap, PestZilla Electronic Rodent Trap, and the Eliminator Electronic Rat and Rodent Trap. All three of these look like they are made by the same folks. I think I may order up one of each and put them through their paces. We have an explosion of Rats and Mice this Summer, and they are getting under the house, in the garage, and in the chicken run.
Yes I had read the Victor Rat Trap instructions carefully. I did not get shocked by touching any metal parts. I picked the trap up by the plastic bits, and still got shocked as I turned the switch on. I suppose that somehow the high voltage electricity arced, and I got zapped. It happened only once. Still… it made me a little gun shy.
I have a mouse problem and I ordered three of the Victor Rat Trap Pro should be here in a few days. My concern is for my cat. If she sticks her paw in the trap will she get shocked?
Would peanuts be a good bait?
Peanuts, peanut butter, piece of apple, piece of bacon all will usually work.
It’s possible. I have two cats, and two dogs, and so far none have stuck their paws in (to my knowledge. Could be they did and got shocked and don’t mess with it anymore.) 🙂
? My 3 electric traps showed up last night and today I got all three loaded with good batteries and bait! I can’t wait to get some.
My Rat Zapper is not catching the rat. I’ve used it several times before and it worked. Now my rat cleans off all the peanut butter but doesn’t get zapped. And it is working.
Make sure all the metal plates inside are clean…
I did. Cleaned them real well.
Something isn’t right then. I’d check batteries to make sure they are fresh. If it’s still a problem I’d contact the company and see what they say.
It works. U make contact with the hot spots and it arcs the entire time. It must be a super rat.
I’d try something like taking a string, tying it around a piece of raw bacon, and tie it off to the trap. Make that sucker work for it.
Ha! I actually tie wrapped a small carrot to the back. I slathered it with peanut butter. The next day, the carrot was still there. Minus the peanut butter. Tonight I put a lot of peanut butter in the back all over the empty tie wrap. We shall see.
Hey, thanks for your review. I read in your review that you have trouble cleaning old peanut butter from your trap. This is a potential problem for any trap. Here’s a tip: when I retire or “rest” a dirty trap, I place it near an ant bed over night. The ants clean it right up for me, no muss no fuss! And they don’t even charge for their service.
I bought my first M240, set it out and nothing for 3 days. I guess the critters had to get used to it’s presence. Then I caught 2 in 2 days. Impressive. I went and got another. I set it out in a different location. I caught mouse the first day. A few days without any dead critter then another mouse. The first one did not deliver anything since the first two. On the 2nd I caught one more mouse and a rat. But then nothing. A month went buy. I regularly check the bait and hopefully a calling red light. I took the first trap, turned it off and on again to check the green light. Not a blink. I replace the batteries and checked again. Nothing. I checked the 2nd trap following the same procedure. Nothing. I went to the store I purchased the units from. No warranty, no exchange nada. I checked the web for possible solutions, causes. Nothing except that I found a large number of people having the same issue. Are these Victor traps worth the money. I spend more than $100 to catch 5 critters. $20 a pop is not a good investment. And Victor has the audacity to claim 50+ kills on a set of batteries. I got 1/10th of that with two units, 8 batteries. Even writing to Victor went fruitless. Victor customer service did not even respond to my e-mail.
I’ve given up on all of the electronic traps. My wife has dropped two and killed them dead, and I have a Chinese clone which has never caught a thing. The plastic snap traps work well for the mice, and metal traps mostly work for the rats. What I don’t get in traps, I bait, and then shoot with an air gun. I have kill way more rats with my pellet gun than traps. Set up a bait station on a tree near the house, and at night bait it with peanut butter. An Arlo security camera is set up and it tells me when I have a visitor. Bamm! Dead Rat.
My Victor Electronic Rat Trap has killed over 12 mice recently. It DOES WORK! Only thing is the bigger Rat trap is not triggered by baby mice, which are probably too small to trigger the field. But larter mice do not make it back out of the trap. I haven’t caught a huge rat yet. Our problem is mice in and around the house. **I will be ordering more traps!** The ad says it’ll kill 50 mice. But I’m at that number over time, and the 4 D Duracells are still going strong! (yes I have a battery tester) Sure beats paying an exterminator $500 just to set traps out, and $75 every 2wks to come by and check them.
Excellent! Good to hear, and thanks for sharing. Unfortunately my Victor trap went into the garbage after it got dropped onto a concrete floor. Never worked after that.
I have a mice issue in my house. But the thing I live with roommates and they are usually very messy. So the house is full of them. We would find them on food pantries, in roommates rooms and even my room! I try to keep my room cleaned but recently I just found out that they like to chew on bar soap!! But these lil fuckers are so fast that when I see them they are gone in less than 1 second! And its frustrating I want to make sure that it really works before I buy them. They like to come inside when its about to rain or during the winter since it gets very cold here in MN.
Mice and Rats are nasty. They like to pee everywhere and it stinks. An electronic trap is nice and is less icky for sensitive folks, but I really like to set out a bunch of the plastic snap traps loaded up with peanut butter. No mercy for these varmints. I think I now own 3 dozen of the Snap-E Mouse Trap that Amazon sells. I am finding it very difficult to catch any over by the chicken coop now. I’ve devastated the population.
I’ve had this Victor electronic trap for months and nothing will touch it. Tried PB, cheese, dog food, fruit… The wife went to the kitchen tonight and was met by a big rat running at her. I’m sure the neighbors thought someone was being murdered by her scream. I had filled in the hole in the wall with half a can of great stuff only to find it chewed back open the next morning. So I guess I’m gonna set up a sniper nest and Chris Kyle that bastard.
Rats are smart. They do not like change in their environment, and they are very careful about what they eat. Give them Peanut Butter and let them get used to it. Sooner or later they will give it a go. They might smell something on the Victor Electronic Rat trap they don’t like. I’d be tempted to take a little peanut butter and work it into a rag, and then carefully wipe the whole thing down. You shouldn’t even be able to see it applied, but the rat will smell it. Then from now on only handle the trap with the same rag, or wear gloves.
I set up a feed station outside for the biggest source of rats. That’s my neighbor who feeds the possums, raccoons, skunks, birds, squirrels etc. On a warm summer night I have see up to a dozen rats in the trees. So I made a safe backdrop, lit by cheap red L.E.D. light and sighted in my pellet rifle for 25 yards. I use a remote alarm system from Harbor Freight to tell me when they are eating the free peanut butter bait I use. Sneak outside and shoot them.
Shooting inside? Probably not a good idea. My airgun will put a pellet through at least 4 layers of drywall. 🙂
Another thing you can try is give them free peanut butter on a cracker for a while, and let them get used to the free food. Then put out the Victor.
I’ve had the Victor Trap for 3 years and never had a catch (was always bypassed until yesterday morning. It was a very small guy but very dead too.
The green flashing light caught my eye to alert my catch yet after emptying and resetting the green light is still flashing more than 24 hours later. I know it flashes for 24 hours with a catch but why is it still blinking green. I even turned off and back on but still the light keeping blinking every 5 seconds. Anyone a clue ? Thanks !
1. I’d make sure there was nothing in the trap that might close the circuit. 2. I’d turn rat trap off, then remove batteries, replace, and turn back on. 3. if the light is still blinking then there must be a short somewhere. Perhaps contact Victor for help.
Guidam thank you very much for your reply and help! 1. was correct ; on closer look i saw a bit of debris (hair and hardened fluid discharge) in the trap. Took it outside to clean with warm water; it was difficult to remove very hardened discharge from little mouse. tough to remove with warm water; wasn’t sure about using alcohol in there, wondering if it might ruin anything or keep new guys away. The green light did reset properly after cleaning and has not blinked since. I appreciate your insightful recommendation.
I have a Rat Zapper with new batteries that has done a terrific job. Now it won’t stop flashing red and green after repeated cleanings. Any ideas?