Max Rodent Zapper - SUPER DUTY Electronic Rat Trap / Mouse Trap Humanely Exterminates Rodents

Living in West Baltimore is not just about looking out for Omar; it also means dealing with an overpopulation of rats. To deal with a recent infestation in the backyard, we purchased this Raticator Infared Rat Trap as well as the Australian-designed Rodent Terminator. There were two prominent rat holes dug under the fence and we placed one trap by each, rotating the placement every 24 hours. We tracked durability, ease of use, and (most importantly) effectiveness, as measured by number of victims. Both traps were easy to set up. The Raticator Max has a very clear on/off switch. However, unlike the Rodent Terminator, it does not have an indentation to store bait. Also, it is a bit difficult to clean (compared to the Rodent Terminator that can be disassembled into two pieces for easy wiping down). Initially, I was skeptical that the Raticator could compete with the Rodent Terminator because it is not as hefty in size and visually does not appear to be as weather resistant. We put the Raticator Max into a plastic bag to cover part of the trap from the elements. However, the Raticator max had no trouble with rain, sleet, snow, fog, or dew. The unit was often accidentally left out in storms and kept on ticking with no false positives. On to the unit's performance: superb. We caught a rat almost every night for a month. This trap caught over 20 rats. We kept painstaking records of the performance of the rodent terminator vs. the raticator in regards to number of captures. The raticator had a slight advantage of 1-2 rats. However, it should be noted that the Raticator is more difficult to clean and dead rats would sometimes not slide out as easily (vs. with the Rodent Terminator, you can disassemble the unit with one hand to dispose of larger rats that don't easily slide out). After about a month, captures became less frequent and winter set in. We switched out the batteries before returning the traps to the yard this spring (however, the batteries lasted through over 20 kills and may have still been good, but didn't want to take any chances). The traps have already been busy capturing the spring rodent litters that wander into the yard. I had initial concerns about using an electronic trap because I have a dog and there are occasional stray cats (and stray children) wandering through the yard. However, there were no safety concerns with the electronic traps for pets or people. The entrance (while large enough to accommodate even the largest 'hood rat) can not easily be maneuvered by a dog or cat paw or nose. Overall, I highly recommend both the Raticator Infared Rat Trap and the Rodent Terminator. There is a slight advantage in regards to effectiveness for the Raticator Max, but the difference is minor. If you are dealing with urban rats, this is definitely the most clean and humane way to address the problem. If every Baltimore resident used one (or two!) of these traps, the park benches proclaiming Baltimore as the Greatest City in the World could be true.

We had a nasty rat problem out in the chicken coop so I did not want to use any poison. It was right after this past winter so the rats had made a nice home all around the coop and they were invading the chicken's outside fenced area even in the day to steal food. When I read all the other reviews about the Raticator, I was so excited and thought our rat problem could be solved! We put it out at night where the chickens could not have access to it and tried ALL kinds of bait. We knew the exact route that the rats would take into the coop and put this trap right where they would congregate. No rat ever went into the Raticator and the rat problem just got bigger. We gave up on this product outside and decided to use it indoors in our storage building. We have found mice droppings so we set up the Raticator with a little cat food bait. It has been MONTHS. We find mice dropping all around the trap but no one ever goes in it. I actually have to check it to make sure that it is ON because I can't believe that it absolutely does not work. Save your money and don't buy the hype. Rats seem pretty smart-they were able to avoid the big spring traps and still get the food out and they also do not go into the Havaheart traps. Why would a rat go into this contraption. It looks nothing like what they seem to be attracted to. It has a mirror on the floor and it's made of shiny red plastic. It's a really bad product and I really wonder how anyone has had success with it! We did get rid of the majority of rats by sweeping the outside of the coop of all left over grain every night as well as removing their water source each evening but the biggest thing that I did was get rid of our huge uncovered compost pile that was close to the coop-that is where the rats were thriving and nesting. OK, hope you find this helpful.

History: I had a group of DC subway rats chew through my foundation and take up residence in the ceiling of my basement. I have 6 cats and these rats only ever entered the rooms where the cats do not patrol. Previously used methods: I tried snap traps with cheese, bacon, cat treats, peanut butter, blueberry jam...no success. They knew how to spring the traps, take the food and run. They were also quite bold and would stroll into the kitchen right in front of me, but too fast or too large for the BB gun to take them down. Tried the water bucket trap, still no dice. 100+ sticky traps, still nothing. Know your enemy: I spent countless hours researching rat extermination methods and every source mentioned how smart rats are, that they are quite shy of new objects, and how quickly they learn to avoid the types of traps they know to be deadly. My chances of success seemed brutally grim, while the costs kept rising. They had chewed through the drainage hose from my dishwasher for water, made holes in my floors and walls. They also brought fleas (and potentially spreading diseases to my cats) into my house, which was the final insult. In desperation, I ordered this trap, which was pricey at 80$, but now that I know how well it works, it was worth it and then some. I also used a 99$ ryobi snake inspection camera to identify their paths of travel. I closed off all entry points to the kitchen except for one with diamond plate steel sheets. I waited until I heard one in the kitchen and then sealed off that last exit by sliding the steel plate over the hole like a guillotine. Once I had the first one localized I removed all potential sources of food except the bait. I even put my canned good into the refrigerator. This way, he couldn't leave the kitchen and go die in my walls somewhere, and the others couldn't identify (and subsequently avoid) the new deadly trap. I used the cat treats they had been feeding on and added bits of coconut and white chocolate chips. Critical points for success: 1) always wear thick (dishwashing) gloves when handling the trap so it doesn't smell like you. The same applies for the bait. 2) put the batteries in, turn it on to test them (light flashes once) and then turn it off. Once they go inside and it is familiar to them, you want to move it as little as possible so put the batteries in ahead of time. 3) give them one free meal. Leave the trap off until they eat that first bait. Once they've been into it and eaten unharmed, they will assume it is safe, and it will be marked with their scent. This may take a couple of days, but be patient. After the first bait is eaten, add more bait to the far end of the trap, flip the switch to 'on', and wait. It took about two days for the first rat to gather the courage or get hungry enough to take the first bait. Once that happened, I turned the trap on, went to work, and came home to find the first dead rat. No blood, no gore, just dead. Turned it off, disposed of the body, added more bait, turned it on, removed the steel sheet covering the access/ entry point, waited until I heard the next one in the kitchen, and repeated the process until I killed off every last one. Rat problem - solved! Note: these rats were enormous, at least 10 inches long from the tip of the nose to the butt, not including the tail. Weighed at least as much as a 15.5 oz can of kidney beans. Utterly disgusting and very very clever, but no match for the Raticator!

In terms of extermination Raticator Max works. I recommend it over the cheaper Raticator Plus (which uses smaller AA batteries which will have to be changed frequently). Simply toss in a piece of dry dog food (or biscuit) making sure it is at the inside end of trap (near vents). Place trap in position then turn on. Green light will come on momentarily indicating that is active. Come back next day to find the light flashing red indicating trap was triggered. Dump rodent out of trap into garbage bin or bag. Rebait trap, position and turn on. It's that easy! THE GOOD: + Product is effective at killing rodents via electrocution. + You never need to touch the dead rodent to remove. + Trap is more humane than snap-type traps or glue-type traps. Even though we all hate mice/rats please don't buy glue type traps as they as inhumane (mice either starve/dehydrate until they expire or struggle and damage themselves, sometimes leaving body parts on the glue trap). + Uses 4 "D" type batteries which gives longer life between changes (manufacturer specifies approx 50 kills per set of batteries). Compare to the Raticator Plus which uses 4 "AA" batteries. Max specifies a battery life of 1 year (in standby) compared to Plus which has a 6 month battery life (in standby). + Max also is heavier with the batteries installed, so the trap will not be moved by rodents. + Raticator Max uses a different trigger technology that the Plus. Max uses infrared detection so it will only activate when a rodent is inside the trap at the right place. Plus does not use infrared detection. I consider Max's technology to be more reliable in operation. + Most people wouldn't need it but there is an optional corded Raticator Remote Rodent Indicator that plugs into the Raticator and allows you to place the trap in a hard-to-check location but still have an indicator of when the trap triggered. Amusingly it looks like a plastic mouse and the "eyes" are red LEDs that flash to indicate trap triggered. THE BAD: - Trap is not waterproof and is NOT for use in direct exposure to the elements (particularly water/rain). Raticator makes the Raticator Gimme Shelter partial enclosure for outdoor use. - Production quality control is a little off. On one of my Max traps the battery cover doesn't fit tightly as it should. On another the nut that holds the optional indicator connector to the trap body was loose. Still, these are minor problems that don't detract from device operation. OVERALL, it's a little expensive but works. If you have a rodent problem you NEED this product. I hope you have found this useful!

We had a rat problem in our chicken run, where rats had been tunneling up through the dirt floor and consuming enormous amounts of expensive, organic poultry feed. We already had a concrete foundation on the run, so we excavated the floor (found a number of rat nests with about 30 baby rats) and poured a concrete floor. Over the next week I found a few holes where the rats had chewed thru the wood around coop windows and such to gain entry. We eventually blocked all these holes and I'm pretty sure the rats can't get in anymore, but I do find them at night sitting outside the coop windows, hanging onto hardware cloth or running across the roof. I really want to kill these rats. I set the Raticator up underneath the coop, and it took 3 days to get my first kill. I used chicken feed as bait. It took a few more days after that for my second kill, then I got a few more every night in a row, along with a mouse. From what I've read, you rarely have just one or two rats; you've got a whole colony. So I figure I'm in this for the long haul. I've also read that rats are afraid of new things, so you should bait the trap with food that they've been eating already, and expect it to take at least a few nights for your first kill. I was worried that the Raticator wouldn't work at all, am very pleased that it does. One thing to note tho is that I haven't been able to just shake the dead rat out of the trap like they show on the instructions. The rat tail hangs out but the rat itself always gets stuck. I had never dealt with rats at all and this was a bit horrifying at first, but I've found that the best way to get it out is to step on the tail and yank the trap away with my hands. Chickens love rat meat, so no way do I want to use conventional poison, but there is a rat poison called Terad3 that's made of vitamin D, which will kill a rat or mouse, but not chicken, dog, cat, human. Along with the Raticator, I set up 2 bait stations with Terad3, and it took a week or so, but something's definitely eating it regularly now. My goal is to keep rats out of the coop entirely, so I lock up feed every night. In the morning I put the feeders on the concrete floor of the run, where I can sweep up anything that's spilled. If a rat makes it into the coop I don't want it to find any reason to hang around. This rat trap works very well set up under my chicken coop, but I would also be comfortable using it inside the coop. The opening's not so big that a chicken could harm itself. I wouldn't set it up near chicks tho. I have cats that spend some time outside during the day, so I shut the Raticator off during the day. I think it's possible that a cat poking around with a paw could get a shock - and with the dead rat smell, the cats are always interested in the trap.

I set two of these traps up a few days ago. One was under the house in a very tight crawl space (exhale to get under one of the ducts) and had a Foscam IP camera watching it. The camera photo sequences showed a pair of rats going by a foot above the trap on a ledge and drain pipes. In both traps I tried peanut butter in a bottle cap with a small chunk of bacon, and then buttered toast with sardine. Didn't work. What I finally did and would suggest to others is identify what they are feeding on and use only that as bait. Im my case they had found a box of dog treats. I put a few pieces in the back of the trap, one small piece (pea sized) two inches inside the trap, some crumbs around the outside and a few more tiny pieces on top. I also moved the trap immediately adjacent to their travel path and perhaps the most important addition was moping up some of their dried urine with a damp paper towel and wiping it on both inside and outside of the trap. An hour later I sat down to check the camera and wow, there he was sniffing the top of the trap. He reached out and took a crumb off the top and disappeared. He returned and this time had to put a foot out inorder to reach the next crumb. A couple more passes and now he was bold enough to walk on the top of the trap and look down at the treat in the entrance. A minuet passed and this time he was on the ground licking up the tiny pieces of dog treat. Then a careful grab of the one inside, smelling the inside top and bottom of the trap, then one foot in, departed, back, another foot in, departed, and finally just walked in. ZAP! Quick and clean. Sorry for the dramma but I've lost a lot of money and sleep to these guys. My advice is do everything you can think of including putting their scent inside the trap. These guys are super smart and very cautious. Once they identify a safe food source and a safe path they stay with it. Four stars because it finally worked, but not 5 because they really don't explain how hard it can be to make it work. A week later: Unfortunately more than one rat to catch. This (these) are much smarter. Every night they have taken the dog treats around and 3" into the trap, but never gone to the back (which activates the trap). We are closing in on a week of no success. Today I go to pick up a few ugly old wooden ones (much better that the Tom Cat clam shell ones). Update: A knowledgeable person tells me a clean trap is better. I am delighted to say I have run out of rats to test this on but feel it is important to add the info directly to this review. Good luck to all. Update: Another comment advises this: Rats tend to be very cautious, as you observed on the camera. We recommend pre-baiting the trap, and leaving it off for a day or two. This will get the rats used to going in and out for a free meal ticket. When you replace the bait, turn the unit on, and you will likely start catching your rats quickly, often multiple times per day.

I put this product into service a couple months ago on a kitchen counter and have trapped and killed 3 rats so far. It has been as easy and clean and effective as it was advertised to be. This is by far the best solution I have found for eliminating rats. I live in a rural setting with an ongoing, year-in and year-out rat problem -- not a lot of them, but one is too many. They chew entry holes in the screened window in my kitchen and come in through the hole; if I patch the hole, they just chew another one. I have used poisons but then find disgusting decaying rats in hard-to-reach places in the kitchen -- what a huge mess to clean up. I have also used glue traps -- they work fine -- but again, there is no easy or humane way to to dispose of a live rat trapped in the glue tray. This product seemed too good to be true -- but it is true! The instructions are very clear to use dry bait, so I tore up a few small pieces of Orowheat 100% Whole Wheat Bread (the rats were occasionally breaking into bags of this same bread that I had left on the counter all night, so I knew they liked it). Within a few days I caught a rat -- the blinking red alert light is very easy to see when a rat has been trapped and killed. After killing that first rat, I did not see or hear evidence of more rats for about a month, but just in case I still kept the trap activated and loaded with more bread. (Even when the bread pieces are a month old and dry, they still seem to work fine as bait.) It's a good thing I kept the trap active and loaded because about a month later, I caught another rat. And then a month later (just yesterday) I caught a 3rd rat. I was concerned about the dead bodies leaving liquids, waste, whatever -- but there is nothing. Just the dead body of the rat. You just tip the machine up and the rat slides out into a plastic bag for easy and very clean disposal. This machine is truly amazing and works perfectly, exactly as advertised. After 3 rats in a couple months I am convinced this is a great trap and can recommend it wholeheartedly to others.

It works amazing. First night of use and kill #1. Disposal was easy. Simply tip and shake over garbage can to loosen and remove rodent. Concern #1. When I received the trap I noticed a rattle. Not knowing exactly how it works or the way it is assembled I decided to try it and it worked great. When I went to dispose of the first mouse, I felt something knocking inside the case of the trap as I shook it. I took a closer look and shook it again and a small screw came out. I open the unit to make sure there are no more loose screws when I find the the capacitors unsecured. There is a capacitor that is attached with two zip ties to the circuit board inside the case. Mine were broken or cut which left the capacitor loose and banging against the board (could cause damage or short the electronics). I then remove the board in order to re-secure the capacitor only to find another concern. Concern #2. The boss (molded mounting point on case) previously had a screw inserted. The hole on the board for the screw that corresponds to the boss still has the clear coat that is sprayed on the board after assembly . Meaning that a screw could not have been inserted through that hole on the board in order to have caused the boss to become damaged. I do not know if this is from poor quality control during fabrication or if these units are refurbished. The rest of the unit looked new. The parts you cannot see are what looked re-furbished. Reassembled unit with secured capacitors and a modified food holder inside the chamber. Kill # 2 and #3. I give it five stars because the unit works amazing 3 mice in two days. TWO STARS for the poor quality control on part of the mfg or for not disclosing that the units are refurbished with poor quality control.