When dealing with rats (as opposed to mice), always be sure to let them take a few free meals before you ever turn the Rat Zapper on. Rats are exceptionally wary of new objects in their environment. We recommend using about twenty pieces of the dry pet food that we provide with each Rat Zapper.

Place the twenty pieces all the way in the back of the Kill Chamber and then place a few pieces completely out in front. When all twenty pieces disappear (this may take several nights) from the back of the Kill Chamber, you can re-bait and turn the Rat Zapper on.

We call this technique "pre-baiting" or "conditioning." Pre-baiting is sort of like Russian Roulette for rodents. They never know which visit will be the last visit. This technique is also great for larger rodents like squirrels. You may need to use this technique periodically to ensure the highest effectiveness of the Rat Zapper. Remember, the rodents are in this for survival, so this is a battle of wits and we are here to help you win.

Also, see our page Battery Info page for an easy way to test the Rat Zapper and our page on Cleaning the Rat Zapper

Tips for Tricky Mice

With mice, you want to keep them guessing. Keep moving the unit, turn it around, try different foods for bait. With this strategy, you will have consistent zapping over time.

In addition, there is a delay in the trigger mechanism and a small, fast moving mouse may be able to get to the bait area without triggering the Rat Zapper. On his way out, he probably triggered the zapper and got launched to safety. This may occur with smaller mice, but they always come back (mice are fairly dumb) and they will get zapped.

One thing that you can do with mice to stop this from happening is: place several pieces of food directly on the Kill Plate (you can use a screwdriver to place them). Leave only about a 1/2 inch of the front of the Kill Plate available to the mouse. This way it will be forced to slow down and make good contact between the grounding plane and the Kill Plate.