Ensuring your rat trap works

The A24 trap has gone through extensive real-world use and testing. This means that it's both reliable and has a solid user base which has encountered just about any unusual situation you could imagine. Troubleshooting your trapping site doesn't have to be a difficult process. You simply need to look through some of the more common issues and see which one is most applicable to your situation. 

Thankfully, most of the troubleshooting options are fairly easy to work with and our comprehensive list has you covered! 

1. Pre-feeding 

 Rats are neophobic (afraid of new things) and will take awhile to warm up to new food sources. It is recommended that you pre-feed your trapping area with our Lure Tasters, Lure Pouch, or squeezing out a small amount of Lure in and around your trap. This will help the rodents develop a taste for your lure to go along with the smell from the A24 trap. After rats and mice get a taste and our comfortable with your lure, they are more likely to approach the source found in your trap.

Sign-up to receive the latest information from Automatic Trap including discounts and flash sales!

 2. Food Competition

The promise of an easy meal is a large part of how the A24 traps lure a rodent in. As such, food-related issues are a common problem when the trap isn't providing solid results. It's a good idea to consider how the local rats and mice are getting food. You should try to remove as many potential food sources from the trap's general vicinity as possible. It's even a good idea to go through your kitchen cupboards to make sure no packages are accessible to rodents. This process is known as eliminating food competition. 

3. Test Fire Your Trap 

Make sure the trap is firing properly. You can use a sturdy stick to test your trap. Just use the stick to trigger the trap from above, by grazing the leaf trigger. You should hear a loud "thwack". Please make sure to have your trap attached to a tree mount or portable trap stand before testing, while ensuring your fingers are kept safe. You should never, ever, try to use your fingers to test the A24 trap. 

4. Replace Your CO2 & Lure

Our CO2 canisters deliver 24 strikes. At that point they need to be replaced. The traps are automated to a point where it's often easy to forget that human interaction is needed at all. But if the trap doesn't seem to be working, then it may be time to replace the CO2 canister. Remember that when you screw in the CO2 canister it should emit a short hissing sound which indicates the gas has been released. 

The ALP, or Automatic Lure Pump, also needs to be replaced on a regular basis. The ALP will typically attract rodents for about six months, but at that point you should swap out the ALP for a fresh replacement. 

If the ALP is new but doesn't seem to work then you might have forgotten to activate it. The 10-cent piece in the ALP keeps it in an inactive state. You need to remove that piece in order to activate the ALP. When the piece is removed the ALP's lure is ready and for the next six months. 

5. Checking Your Digital Strike Counter 

Finally, if you're using the trap in a scavenging environment and are using a digital strike counter, it's important to check the trap's counter. Traps may well be dispatching rats and mice, but are being scavenged by wildlife.

If your trap has a counter then you should double check that it's been installed correctly. The trap may well be functioning properly and catching rodents. But it's difficult to tell at a glance if the trap's counter isn't marking the successful runs. Verify rat trap success by manually checking the A24 on occasion rather than entirely relying on a counter. 

In the End, It’s Usually Just a Matter of Time 

It's also important to keep in mind that a rodent infestation doesn't come out of nowhere. It takes time for a rodent population to build up. Likewise, it takes some time to clear out the rodents with traps. But this also means that it's important to act as quickly as possible before the rodent population has a chance to grow. This doesn't just mean that you should get a trap as quickly as possible. It also means quickly taking action to troubleshoot traps, order replacement components, and ensure the traps are working correctly.