Fixman 196052 Rat Cage Trap 300 x 150 x 130 mm

In 4 weeks I’ve caught 26 rats - we do live in the country! This is absolutely a value for money trap. I’ve had to take a couple of stars off for sturdiness because I found the bigger rats could actually push their way back out of the door as the springs weren’t quite robust enough and the door doesn’t lock/latch once the trap is sprung, and there were no instructions with it which had me scratching my head for a few minutes to figure out how to get it to stand up square and how to fasten the door at the bait end, but once I’d sorted that it’s certainly done it’s job! I would add that it’s always good to make it as attractive as possible by covering the cage floor with dampened cardboard or half-rotted leaves. I started by placing a piece of apple or carrot on the hook, sometimes smeared with peanut butter, but now I just sprinkle peanuts, particularly around the hook, amongst the leaves. Eventually they knock the hook and spring the trap. I’d definitely recommend this trap but I would suggest there needs to be either a stronger spring or a latch mechanism on the trap door.

The instructions were faded however the device was simple enough to build, the cheese was too crumble to used a bit of a sausage roll and set it out last night.This morning comes and we have caught Roland the sneaky bugger!Let him loose in a field to live the rest of his life, the only issue I have is the release mechanism is quite close to the cage and I didn’t want to get bitten, so used my key to pull that out but apart from that worked as expected

I keep 4 chickens and a family of rats (2 adults and 4 youngsters) decided to join the party. This trap got the youngsters and the mum. All I released at an undisclosed location far away from my home (and other homes).You need careful set up otherwise the rats can dance inside and nothing happens. But once you got the hang of it some bread with peanut butter works like magic.PS. the dad got trapped with another trap - the plastic tubular one. Pretty uncomfortable for him. Even the cat pitied him. Took few hours until I found him and released to join his family.

Bit flimsy but does the job, had to use cable ties on the opening end the critters kept getting out as the locking bar worked loose,Also if I set it through the day I keep catching magpies so only set it at night.

The media could not be loaded. the springs on door far to weak and not fit for purpose also got refund from Amazon as no reply or contact from manufactuers

Brilliant bit of kit. Fairly simple to assemble and an absolute bargain.I'd tried bait boxes for a few weeks but ratty hadn't found the all you can eat buffet and was still busy hopping around my garden, between the shed and wendy house.I had done some research and knew I needed to feed the rats so they would accept it as safe food source before you then introduce the trap. Apparently they go back to the nest and the other rats can smell the food on its breath. I tried cheese to start with but caught next doors cat scoffing it within half an hour. I then sprinkled a few raisins on the grass where I'd seen a lot of activity. They kept disappearing so I replaced the raisins a few times and then introduced the trap. I left the door open to start with and didn't bait the hook. I did a hansel and gretel style trail leading into the trap and had watched a rat go from the shed to take a raisin, perhaps 6 times, backwards and forwards, so I knew they were feeding and accepting the cage.I then baited the hook with raisins. It says use something quite tough so they have to tug at it, thus ensuring the mechanism is triggered. The trap was activated once but it was a false alarm. Reset it and within a couple of hours, we had a rat! It went mad when anyone went near the cage and was obviously incredibly stressed but my husband let it go in the woods and a week later, we haven't seen any ratty activity at all, although the trap remains in the same position and baited. In total, it took about 72 hours from feeding to catching.

Highly recommend

It was a bit tricky to figure out how it works at first, but eventually I got there. I zipped the back permanently to the sides because it was very loose and rather useless. After setting up the trap, I was very hopeful, but despite waiting for a few days, no results. It may not be the trap's fault, I may have approached it wrong. The trap itself seems fine. Definitely value for money, considering the low price.