4 Humane Rat Trap Solutions

Coping with a rodent problem is near the top of the list of many homeowners’ worst nightmares, and with good reason: It’s icky knowing that rats or mice are scurrying around your property. But with so many options to deal with your rat problem, which one is best? Especially when the traditional ways of dealing with rodents are downright awful. That is where quick-kill rat traps come in to play.

Snap traps don’t always work as intended; instead, they can severely injure a rodent and force it to endure a long and painful death. Glue traps are actually designed to work this way: The mouse or rat walks over the trap, gets stuck, and then slowly dies of starvation or dehydration.

Poison isn’t much better: Not only does this option potentially expose your children and pets to a hazardous substance; it also ensures a painful, drawn-out death for the unassuming rodent.

Humane Rat Trap Alternatives

However, there’s a growing number of homeowners who want to eliminate rodents in a humane way. You may not want to coexist with rats or mice, but it’s not like you want them to be tortured either. Luckily, there are several ways to humanely trap rodents—some more effective than others.

Today we’ll take a closer look at four popular quick-kill rat trap solutions to deal with a mouse or rat problem.

1. Getting a cat.

Many animal lovers immediately think of this option for humanely disposing of rodents. After all, it’s natural, right?

Unfortunately, getting a cat isn’t always the fail-safe, quick-kill solution you might imagine. Many house cats aren’t interested in hunting rats and mice; after all, they’re used to being fed in the comfort of the house. Even if your cat does like to hunt, that probably won’t mean a quick kill for the rodents. if you’ve ever seen a cat toy with a mouse or rat, you know that many of these encounters are pretty gruesome.

In addition, you need to consider the safety of your cat. If you live in a city or suburb, your neighbors may have put out poison the moment they spotted a rodent. This could be deadly for house cats. Plus, many mice and rats carry serious diseases, so it’s best to keep your pets far away from rodents.

2. Trap-and-release products.

There are a wide variety of trap-and-release cages on the market. Much like a snap trap, these traps use bait to lure a rodent into the cage; when the mechanism is triggered, the door of the cage closes. Then you can release the animal outside, a safe distance from your home.

Unfortunately, these traps present a few problems. First, they are only humane if you check them frequently. After all, there’s nothing humane about a rat languishing in a trap-and-release cage for days at a time.

Second, releasing a rodent too far from its home can also lead to an inhumane death. PETA asserts that releasing an animal more than 100 yards from its point of origin is likely a death sentence for it. On the other hand, if you release the rodent too close to your home, it can very easily find its way back, which puts you exactly where you started.

3. DIY traps.

A quick Google search yields countless articles and videos explaining how to build a homemade rodent trap. Many involve simply luring the mouse or rat to a shelf or ledge equipped with a board or plastic bottle, which then tips the rodent into a trash can or bucket waiting below. Then you would release the animal outside.

This solution presents the same limitations as the trap-and-release cages. Plus, let’s face it: Many homemade rodent traps are going to have some glitches. Your best bet may be sticking to products that are backed by research and development.

4. Traps with an instant, CO2-powered striker.

If the trap-and-release approach isn’t effective over time, how should a homeowner handle a rodent problem? A quick kill ensures that a mouse or rat won’t return to your home and won’t procreate, which is what makes rodent problems worse over time.

The Goodnature™ A24 Rat and Mouse Trap is designed to humanely kill rodents with a CO2-powered striker. A rat or mouse is attracted to the trap by a rat lure that was designed by bio-attractant specialists. When the trap is triggered, it fires a CO2-pressurized piston, which strikes the rodent’s head and kills it instantly. The trap then automatically resets itself, so it’s ready to quickly  take care of the next rat or mouse.  

This type of trap ensures that a rodent will never experience a long, painful death. Instead, the striker will do its job before the mouse or rat even knows what is happening. As a result, you can rest easy knowing that your rodent problem is being managed effectively—but also in a quick-kill method..