Traps work, but as others have said, you sometimes catch a bird or something you don't want to harm. I set a spring type trap out about a 6 weeks ago and caught a beautiful male cardinal (bird). It killed him deader than a doornail. I hated that.
So, I got the idea to use the live trap that I have. It's one of those wire cages with a trap door that you can use to catch squirrels, rabbits, and other small game. I placed some bait in there and have caught 4 rats so far. I have no idea where the rats are coming from, but they're in my yard at night. Yes, I have 3 palm trees.
BTW, I tried the poison bait before the live trap. The poison bait works, but it's very slow working (several days) and then the way you know it's working is when you smell something dead in your yard. Then you have to look under bushes to find it.
Anyway, the live trap works better. If you catch something that you don't want to harm, just set it free. If you catch a rat, then dispose of the varmint. Don't take it somewhere and turn it loose. I put about 10" of water in a large plastic storage tote then set the trap and rat down in the water. Come back about 5 to 10 minutes later and remove the dead rat and dispose of him.
BTW, the bait that I used was the same poison cubes that I bought on Amazon. It's called J. T. Eaton peanut butter flavored bait. It comes in green cubes approx 1" size. It will also work as just poison bait, but it's very slow working and leaves a stinking dead rat(s) to find in your yard.
Also, I saw a cardinal pecking at one of the cubes when I used it just as a poison, so clearly, birds are attracted to the bait too. Also found a dead squirrel in the yard that was apparently due to eating the bait. That was before I started using the live trap.
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