Indoor Electric Mouse Trap, Instant Eliminate Rodent Zapper with Pet Safe Trigger, Black, Small

I was over run with mice, and I think I saw a couple rats as well. I couldn't be sure, because I read that rats and mice don't mix. But, I do think that a couple of rats got in there. This caused me to order the rat sized trap, because, what if Mama Rat showed up? It was like a horror show.In the past, I have tried snap traps. These will get you one or two, until the rest learn how to steal bait without getting caught. This time, I didn't start with snaps. I just jumped to glue traps. Glue traps work for the most part, if you buy ones with the strongest glue. But if any part of the mouse can catch a solid edge, then they can pull out of it. In addition to this draw back, they don't die right away, but linger for a couple of days. You have to bash them inside of a bag to avoid this grisly detail. And that is just as bad as having them sitting there suffering for days.I moved on to electric mouse traps. Yes, this is a successful solution. The trap I bought is only meant for indoors. I was very careful with it, not wanting to get zapped myself. The directions are well written and easy to understand, except it is not clear which way to push the slide button to turn it on. Slide the toggle toward the back door to turn it off, and towards the opening to turn it on. The green light signaling it is on only flashes once for about 5 seconds. If you don't see it, just repeat the steps. Turn it off, then back on.The back door is vented. I once saw a mouse attempt to open this door, but he couldn't. Don't waste your time thinking that you add the bait here. I think that's what it's for, because the bait tray is right there. But, I didn't use peanut butter, and my bait wouldn't fit through the opening. It was much easier to add bait through the top. I do not think human scent ever deterred those guys from going for the bait.Let's say you're all set up. This trap takes 4 C batteries. 1. You turn off the trap. 2. You take the battery door off. 3. You take out one or two of the batteries (I always took out two.) 4. You take the trap top off. It comes apart using two hands, but so easy! 5. You put the bait in the bin. 6. You put the top back on. This can be done with one hand. This trap is well made and the plastic parts are thick and sturdy. 7. You put the two batteries back in. Put the battery compartment door back on. 8. Turn on the trap and watch for the green light to flash. Bingo, you're ready to go. You can do all these steps very quickly.I use a green pellet poison bait, the kind you buy in a bag. They love this stuff. I have one pellet in the trap. For some reason, this trap worked better when the pellet was not in the middle but on the left of the bin. I don't know why. Maybe they could smell it better. I always put another pellet right in front of the open entry way. The height of my trap kept me from seeing the alert flashing light, so whenever I saw this green pellet was gone, then I looked for the flashing light, which meant that one of them had entered the trap and tripped the circuit. I caught 12 of them in a row, one by one.The first one I ever caught scared me really bad. The trap set off with a sizzling sound, and the terrible smell of burning fur. It scared me so bad that I brought a fire blanket out to keep near the trap. I didn't need it except for peace of mind. I don't always hear the sizzle, but you can. The mice don't make any noise, because they are dead. When you go to dispose of them, all you have to do is go through the steps above and take the top off. The body can be dumped into a bag without any mess. If you smelled burning fur, you might see that left over, but no body mess at all.I had one incident of the trap being tripped without a mouse in there. Then again I saw this once: A mouse came flying out of the entrance, hit the side of the phone sitting there, and fell off the bookcase all the way to the floor. He disappeared somewhere, not dead. He did learn to fly. So, I think there's something about the mechanism that scared them so bad that they jumped out, avoiding getting fried. That only happened twice. I dunno. I'm not sticking my fingers in there! The bodies are always near the bait bin. The bodies are bloated immediately, like kernals of corn popping. But, they are intact.The difference, I think, between the mouse-sized trap and the rat-sized trap, except for size, is the length of time the circuit remains on. Mice get one-half the amount that rats get. I can't remember how long the rats get zapped for, except I remember that it's twice as long as for mice, which is 90 seconds?. This could account for the burning fur. There were no flames or char marks or anything like that. Nor was the mouse stuck to the floor. So, although it is disconcerting, I think it is safe. It also could be that the batteries were new, and now they are worn down a bit, although still working well. Less sizzling, but effective.I was surprised this trap worked so well. I think I got them all, but I'm keeping the trap ready to work just in case. Always wash your hands well, although you never have to touch the rodent. I'd buy this again. It's us against them, and I am not living with mice in my kitchen and walls. This is my home, and I'm protecting it.

I really apreciate this new, more advanced electric rat trap! It's my second time to buy a trap that electricutes, and this one has all kinds of improvements over the last one (which was an early model from a different brand). I LOVE that this one can be plugged into an electric cord/outlet! Well, with a USB adapter. I was a little annoyed at that, but I had an adapter of USB to normal electrical connection on hand so I was fine, but some people may not have this and then you're fully reliant on batteries.It's June 7, and I put my trap out on May 30. Have killed 3 adults, 1 young adult and 2 smaller ones. Very happy with this result as they were getting out of control after a wet spring.I've used so many kinds of traps the last 20 years, but this one works best so far. The benefit of this unit: 1) It's a bit longer, wider, and has a front entry that makes the rat turn left and go a bit deeper to find the bait, and is designed so that it's harder for the rat to turnaround and flee when the unit is triggered. But it's still too small to endanger dogs, most cats or other mammals except maybe squirrels. 2) It can be plugged in so I don't have to worry about changing out batteries after every trigger (like the old one). 3) It beeps loud enough to let me know it was triggerd that I could hear it from the garage while inside the house, and also flashes Green so you know for sure. 4) Has a bigger bait compartment that doesn't open outward so I can put a big glob of peanut butter (my rats ADORE peanut butter) and not worry about the them breaking down the door like they did the old trap. 5) The top plastic cover is a good addition in case there's any weather. 6) The controls are easy, one sliding lever, that tells you quickly you're plugged in and it's setting. Then a minute or so later there's a beep that lets you know you're good to go.One of the things I remember from my early experince with electric traps (years ago) is that rats can learn what to avoid. I'm pretty sure after seeing their buddies get fried a couple of times, they avoided both the one on the back porch and the one in the garage.So, with this excellent new model from Owltra, I set up only the one trap in the garage, and near an area I'd seen their poop (yuck, I know). They don't come into the garage in numbers like outside, just one or two at a time, so the full group can't see the electrifying results. I bait the trap with a large spoonful of peanut butter, sprinkle a few bits of seed like birdseed or maybe granola on the floor around the unit as a lure to the area, and make sure the electrical cord is out of the way. Every morning I check the trap, and every time when it has signaled it's been triggered, there's a dead rat (100%). I wear long leather gardening gloves, remove the plastic protective cover, flick off the unit, (suggest to unplug also for safety) remove the top part of the device (a little tricky) and take the bottom part with the body and dump it in the grass beside the open field next door. It's gone by nightfall as various predators come and go. Turns out quite a few creatures will eat fresh dead rat. (yuck, I know). Afterwards, I use Windex and papertowels, and clean the metal and plastic of the bottom tray so there's no smell of death and it's ready for newcomers. I only topped up the peanut butter once so far, but I do sometimes take a stick to stir it a bit so the next rat smells it better. I did notice that the smaller rats weren't fried as quickly and got to eat a bit more bait, probably their weight didn't trigger the unit like the heavier ones. But, I still got them.... which is all that matters to me!I prefer the electricution method as it's more humane than the sticky mats where the creature can slowly starve to death or you find a way to kill it (yuck!)..., or poisoned wth warfarin and slowly bleeds out internally... and then kills birds (owls, hawks) and other predators who eat the poisoned rats (secondary poisoning). (see recent story on favorite owl in Central Park, NYC that was killed in part due to rodenticide) The next most humane trap is the one that snaps shut tightly and breaks their neck. But I had an experience once where the creature didn't die immediately. All it took was one time where I had to listen to the piteous cries of the creature in pain and terror, and that was it for me. Although, since it was still alive and wiggling, the hawks had a nice bit of easy prey. But... yuck.