OWLTRA Indoor Electric Rat Trap

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.

Something fishy is going on with the reviews. Amazon shows "no reviews" but then there ARE a few reviews. I think they've deleted all of the unfavorable reviews and put up a few of their own, or some old ones from when this product worked at some previous time. I bought both the mouse and rat version of this-- small and large. Baited with peanut butter and turned on. Mice and rats have helped themselves to the peanut butter, licking up every last bit and going on their merry way. I contacted support, and they told me to perform a test to see if the trap makes a buzzing noise when I put a piece of damp paper towel inside (pushing it in with a dry piece). It does start buzzing-- and keeps buzzing even after taking out the towel, until I manually turn it off. Support agent told me sometimes the mice have dusty feet, so I should put a damp cloth in front of the entrance to clean their feet as they go in (I joked that I'll put a little sign that says "Please wipe your feet"). I have not tried this, but it should not be necessary to add this step. I've used other electric traps, even in my dusty dry chicken coop, and BAM they always killed mice and rats instantly. It's strange that both traps I bought seem to have the same defect. Despite the noise it makes, I don't think it's shocking the rodents at all-- otherwise they wouldn't stay in there and eat every bit of the bait.

I've had this for about 8-9 months and have caught countless mice! The source of our problem: we have those double cellar doors that open outward, with a gap underneath that cannot be sealed and still be functional. I had tried EVERY kind of mousetrap, nothing was ever consistently successful (they're too smart!) I found this, thought it was a little pricey, but would probably pay itself off quickly if it actually worked. It did! At first, I would bait it with pb, cheese or a chocolate chip, place it inside near the top of our basement stairs and would catch them here and there, I wasn't too impressed. Until this one mouse tormented us for about a week, (running around while we were in the room!!) So I moved it around a few times that week, paying attention to where it would hide in between scurrying. I found the "sweet spot" thanks to that mouse bc once I caught that one, I caught several per week for the next couple weeks!! I emptied it so often, I stopped putting bait in it and it was still working! I haven't baited it since and its still working excellently. There are no signs in my home of any mouse activity now. The only signs are the green flashing light and the smell if i forget check it. (It fit under a kitchen counter that someone neglected to put a piece of wood on the front of the base). I would highly recommend this as the only solution to anyone with uninvited house guests! You will save so much money (and stress), not continuously replacing those cheap traps that they steal bait off of or get stuck to but arent always sticky enough to prevent their escape. It is so easy to use and to clean, just turn off, dump mouse/rat out, slide lid off and wipe it down with a paper towel/cleaner or hose it out and dry it. (Dry is important) Then bait it (or not, it's STILL mind blowing, to me, that bait is optional!) Flip the switch on, it will flash to indicate that it is on, then it will not light up til something has wandered into it. Once a mouse/rat enters, there is no escape, it's literally toast! And anyone that isn't having success with this, just try relocating it until you find your "sweet spot"

Updated: After dispatching my nemesis rat I found chipmunks were living under my air conditioner. They dug out under it and it started to sink. They were persistent in that every time I filled it they dug more holes. I used it outside even though it is the indoor one and it was fine but I didn't leave it out overnight or if the weather looked wet. It has no problem taking down chipmunks. I used sunflower seeds. Squirrels seemed to be able to get into the trap and eat the seeds from the bait tray without triggering any shock most of the time. Pretty sure a few got zapped but they were not gravely injured. ___ I've been through every rat killer from the basic traps, to various poisons, to the upgraded plastic snap traps, to bb gun and finally decided to get this one. Never glue traps though. We back up to woods and the rats find their way into the basement every now and again and each of various methods above would work for a while and then stop working. The plastic snap traps worked very well for a long time but somehow it seemed like the knowledge to avoid them got passed on. Same with the poisons. The basic wood traps were mostly a waste of time. There was - and I mean was - one rat left that knew everything. It wasn't destructive like other rats, it didn't bring in other rats and you wouldn't know it was here if you weren't specifically looking for the signs. I sort of accepted it in a live and let live kind of way for a year and a half. But it tore a couch open one night and I needed to seal up all the holes in the crawlspace/basement because the cold air was getting in. It made more holes. It took about 4 days for this rat to stop avoiding this trap. I use bird seed as bait, especially sunflower seeds in the shell. First I kept the lid off and placed it in a spot I knew it went to with some seed around the trap and a few pieces inside. When it finally grabbed a few pieces from the from of inside the trap I put the lid on and kept baiting the front of the trap. It got less cautious and so I knew it was time. The rat has to enter all the way into the trap with the lid on so dropped a heaping handful of seed inside and all the way to the back. They say not to allow bait to touch the metal bottom plates and only use the bait tray in the back but the way I got it the seed was all inside and it didn't interfere with the function. The last night it went in and all the way to the back and got zapped. Farewell fella. When you catch something it flashes a green light on the top which isn't too obvious. There's no sound which is a good thing because if you have more than 1 rat the sound will teach them there is danger. So you gotta go look at the trap to see if you caught one. Disposal was easiest of all the methods because there was no mess. Did not even need to remove the top - it just slid out. It's a bit deeper than a snap trap so placement needs to fit it but since it says the batteries will last multiple zaps I hope it will continue to do its duty with little worry.

Great when they work, BUT I've bought 4 of these and only one left working. Working one has caught 13 mice this summer. Easy to dump them out, haven't cleaned it this year, using parmesan cheese or quaker oats. Used D batteries which is a negative cost wise. Victor brand uses AA batteries (bought 100 of them on morning save for less than $50. This brand doesn't have ac compatibilty or an indicator that it has caught a mouse; but when working I sprinkle a little bait at the entrance and know i have a mouse when it disappears.

I bought this after getting too frustrated with trying to set traditional snap traps without injuring myself, only to have the little devils manage to steal the bait and snap the trap while escaping unharmed. My brothe- in-law told me about these electronic ones that he’d had success with. I have managed to trap two rats, and with the first one, I was able to dump out the rodent into a paper bag without really even having to see it. (Win!) When I opened the trap to reset the bait, I did have to wipe out some fur and it was kind of gross, but manageable. However, with the second rat, it zapped it so hard that there was a blowout of fur all over the place outside of the trap, and it appeared to have blown off the tail. I was far too grossed out to be able to deal with it, and had to wait five or six days until a guy friend could come over and take care of it for me. By that point, the trap including the inside of the battery case had apparently been infested with maggots, so I’m out an almost $40 trap because it no longer works (although I get that it’s on me to have not disposed of it immediately). I don’t usually write reviews, but wanted to make people aware that although it is certainly an effective product, it definitely is NOT the non-messy item it claims to be, so if you’re squeamish like me and don’t have someone on hand to dispose of the rodent right away for you, you might want to figure out another option.

This trap does what it’s meant to do without dragging things out. Setup is simple, and once it’s placed properly, it works quickly and consistently. The design keeps everything contained, so you’re not dealing with a mess afterward. I like that it’s enclosed and has a safety-focused trigger, so it feels more controlled compared to traditional traps. It’s also reusable, which makes it more practical long term. Only thing to keep in mind is placement matters—you’ll get the best results putting it along walls or in areas where you’ve actually seen activity. Overall, it’s a reliable option if you want something effective, cleaner, and more modern than the old-school traps.

Another update, 13 months on. It worked really well. I would say -best one. I tried another 2 brands, not even close. BUT - now it always blinks red-green together, when i want to use it. i cleaned it, cleaned connections. no improvement. as it says - self-test failed. and it does not catch anything any more. just dead, like rats it killed. And, as usually with these things - it is just 3 weeks over warranty, so i can do nothing about it. Why things are made to work for so short time these days? I would keep 5 stars, but i have no use for not working one, so - down to 2 stars. Sorry. Update after a month: i gave it 2 stars due to production shortcomings. But after couple of weeks i need to say - IT WORKS! I will skip how i dislike killing any animals, and this seems a more humane way than poisoning rats - which is one factor I like about this. lets go to details of this system. on first couple of nights no rat got caught. i thought it smells plastic and is not familiar enough, not "safe" to enter. i did put around and inside a few rat droppings i found, some fresh peanut butter inside - and bingo. got a big one. And since i had a rat in it, all other rats possibly find the scent convincing that it is ok to go. so i don't clean it, and i catch a rat per night. for two weeks i got 14 rats. wow! this thing works. i heard it at night once - a buzz for some 2-3 seconds. I think it is better than rats suffering for days being poisoned. and also, less damage around the house. instant solution. I am getting another one since i seem to have too many rats to handle... if not for my original issue below, i would give it 5 stars. Easy to empty, easy to change batteries. wow! original review below - still valid: I had no chance to use it yet, so this review will be adjusted later. But - straight off the box - I see it is not properly assembled. Bait door were separate, loose in box and dislodged from the unit. And the way it is designed - I see no way of installing it without breaking flimsy plastic hinge. it broke. So, i have no choice but use without it. It may work, but maybe rats will try to grab bait from the other side as now it will not be as well protected. To me looks like nobody bothered to check it when packing.

We put this in a couple places in the house and one day my wife decided to put it in the babys crib (no baby inside) where she found some droppings. In the middle of the night I was confused as there seemed to be a flashing light in the room. I finally came to my senses and realized it was the TRAP! Oh man, there was 3-4" of tail sticking out of it. I didn't have the heart to open the trap so I held on to the whole trap and launched the rat into the forest. 2024-August Update: we have caught like 6-7 rats in this and each time we set the trap it probably takes a few days to catch one. We put it on the car seat inside the car as a rat got in my wife's brand new subaru and was chewing the kids seat. BAM! Another dead rat. We have never even changed the batteries in this thing either. Such a good product. In fact I only changed the bait today after a year+ of use.

فعالة مئة بالمئة خلال ليلة واحدة اصطدت سبعة فئران بها واكثر مايعجبني هي طريقة التخلص من الفئران عندما ارميها دقائق وتأكلها القطط

this trap works ! it is very easy to re-bait and to remove the dead rat. because the lid on the top can be opened. we have a way more expensive trap which can not be opened at the top, and that is to difficult to clean and put new bait in.

Mit einer Schlagfalle hat man mehr Erfolg.

This product is incredibly impressive. The build quality is excellent, although the cost is quite high. One potential drawback is the use of C-size cells, which can add to the overall cost. I believe the brand should consider moving to a rechargeable option, as this would likely be well-received by customers.