What to with a rat after catching it?

If you catch a rat with a trap, it is advisable that you unset the trap as soon as possible after removing the rat, in order to ensure that the trap catches more rats. Rats are scared, especially when they are caught alive, thus they may injure themselves especially when trying to escape from a trap. Don’t make any attempt to kill a captured rat, because of the environmental side effects they pose, it is better to call a domestic animal handling agency, who can evacuate the rat immediately. Secondly you must not handle a capture rat with your bare hands, the reason being that the furs of rats may harbour certain diseases, and you may suffer certain allergic reaction when you come in contact with feces, urine , saliva or air around the rat.



If you are not ready to call an animal care agency, then you can keep the rat safe and still trapped by simply slipping a bucket or cardboard under a trap and gently release the string of the trap while the rat falls into the bucket or cardboard. If you are transferring the rat into a bucket, you need to make sure that the bucket has a lid because rats can gnaw quickly upward and jump off. If it is legal to kill a rat in your region then you can knock off its head – this is the most humane way to kill a rat. For animal handlers, incineration could be the only option of eliminating rats without causing any significant side effect to the environment- in this case; the rat is lethally injected or burnt in a special chamber.

Alternatively, you can train a rat to become your pet, if you are not afraid of having such an animal around your home. You can contact special animal training center to help you in this regard, otherwise you may have to spend time by yourself in training the animal. Remember, rats are scared, and any little freedom may provide an opportunity for them to escape and wreck more havoc in your home.

It is important that you disinfect the area where you find a rat, this will ensure that their remains do not trigger likely allergic reactions or diseases. Make sure the feces, urine and fur are vacuumed off and the area disinfected before you seal off the entry points of the rat. Rats tend to multiple in areas where they have access to food and can be least detected, they stay away from places where human traffic are rampant or where they hear sounds of movements. It is not advisable to release a caught rat into the environment because it will always find its way back.

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