When you see a rodent bait trap outside of a restaurant what are your thoughts?

Most restaurants have an ongoing issue with rodents, merely from the daily placement of food in dumpsters. So when I see those, I figure they are taking steps to address it.

I don’t recall ever seeing one, but I can’t imagine I would feel any different for seeing it.

I’ve had rodents in my own house and I don’t have near the smorgasbord a restaurant can offer a mouse family. It happens. No big deal.

I don’t bat an eye. They’re precautionary bait stations that are monitored by a professional extermination company. If the exterminator noted an increase in activity, stronger measures would be taken. It’s not an indication of a rodent infestation, but protection against one.

And after all, they’re outside the building. I have made my own stations at home. All you need is bait and a Pringle’s can.

Having just gone through my own Mousapapocalypse, I would probably feel sympathy.

“I sure hope it works”.

If the restaurant is smart, they hide or mask them somehow. But I mostly agree with @janbb – it can happen anywhere.

Rodents go with the territory, I’d be glad they were taking action to eliminate the problem.
I just saw a mouse scurrying along the bottom of the shelves in a Safeway the other day. It was in the cereal section, probably enjoyed some Honey Nut Cheerios during the night. lol

I’m ok with it. The trap means they are working on the problem.

@LuckyGuy…. unless there are a couple of dead rodents that have dried out after dying in the trip.

They stations are not an indication of a problem, and they they’re not traps.

The one pictured is a bait station, offering any mouse the chance at a poison meal, outdoors. Traps are the indoor solution, as the last thing you want is a poisoned rodent wandering around in a food establishment.

You can make your own bait stations with a Pringle’s can, a can opener and a bait block. Make a triangle opening in the bottom of the can and a similat hole in the top. Drop in your bait, put the lid on, level it out, and place against the house under the eaves.

I’d stick to the restaurant’s vegetarian selections.

Rodents love fruit and veggies too. Oh waiter there’s a mouse in my pie. haha

As mentioned several times above, bait stations are a good sign. I live in a ratty neighborhood. Not a ghetto, it sure ain’t cheap., it’s simply dense and old.

If you put out the bait, rats can’t resist eating it and they die. Any new rat immigrants meet the same fate.

We had rats digging under our garage. We maintain the bait boxes. We deny them food by getting rid of trash cans in the alley that have holes in them.

Ta da! Haven’t seen a rat for a while.

Poison bait is also very bad for causing secondary poisoning in cats, dogs, birds of prey or anything that might pick up a dead, poisoned rat. Really, trapping is best. Good old fashioned mouse and rat traps with peanut butter.

Here in the city, there aren’t many loose cats & dogs & raptors to eat the poisoned rats. And my exterminator asked about pets access to the baited area.

We actually do have a number of coyotes in the city. If I were mayor I would gladly favor coyote funding over rat-baiting funding.

@jaytkay Yep, natural rodent control is best. We have an invasion of ground squirrels that have burrowed under the walls of the hen house and are eating all the feed at night. We bought a live squirrel trap but no luck catching any.
We have to carry the damn chicken feeder down and out it in the garage every night.

Then there are the rats that get in the garage, a never ending battle. lol
We’re going to get a big container to put the feeder in at night with a kid. Rodents on the ranch are just as bad as rodents anywhere. haha

Those advocating traps as opposed to bait stations forget that while the sight of a bait station might be disconcerting on entering a restaurant, it pales in comparison to that of a dead rat in a trap, eyes bulging in gruesome agony. The thing I object to about the bait stations, even more than the resulting deaths of the animals scavenging the dead vermin is the truly horrific suffering the animals including the rat must endure. I would like to think the bait involved has been updated from the stuff that induced massive internal hemorrhaging in the victim. Even a rat deserves a better fate than to be driven to insanity by a thirst so severe that they will break their teeth chewing through galvanized pipe

@Coloma Agreed, and, I also happen to love rats. Not in my house or in my food, obviously, but for their size they are incredibly intelligent, resilient and cute little guys. Our country rats are beautiful here. Gorgeous shiny coats, fat and healthy, living the good life on chicken feed, waterfowl pellets, horse grains.

I hate to kill, them but we do trap them now and then if they invade areas that are off limits, like the garage. I have kept pet domestic rats in the past and they are very smart and charming little guys.

@stanleybmanly The thing I object to about the bait stations, even more than the resulting deaths of the animals scavenging the dead vermin is the truly horrific suffering the animals including the rat must endure

I don’t like that, but in my case the alternative is rats burrowing into the apartment building. We had that on my block. Rats INSIDE the homes.

Gotta side with the humans on this one.

The poison is the quickest way to end the infestation, killing the fewest rats.

@jaytkay Yeah – after doing the spring loaded traps myself and killing one by one which was very upsetting, I ended up calling in an exterminator.

I’m having pretty good luck with these for mice lately, but you still have to drown the mouse.

Cheap, effective and reusable.

@ibstubro Aaaah, no way. Can’t you gas them or something, like use C02 or?

You just throw the trap in water, walk away, then dump out a dead mouse later, @Coloma.

You could throw it in your toilet, use gloves to open the trap and shake it empty, then flush without ever seeing a critter.

@ibstubro You are evil! haha

Not flush the live critter, @Coloma. After it’s drowned. I’ve tried to get a live mouse out of a live-trap before, and it’s known as “release”.

@Coloma Oh waiter there’s a mouse in my pie.
Reminds me of the half cockroach I once found in a slice of restaurant pie!

@Yetanotheruser Ewww…I once found a green striped beetle in my veggie chow mien from a restaurant.Looked like a large bean sprout head at first glance. Gag!

This crawled up out of my St. Louis Bread Company salad as I was eating it.

Check this out! We are going to try it here.
Rodent birth control!

www.senestech.com

I need one for moles, @Coloma.

@Coloma That info on Senestech is interesting.

The US Department of Education should be told about it. We could drastically increase high school graduation rates by sprinkling some of the stuff on all school cafeteria tables. :-)

I don’t like it, @Coloma, after thinking about it.

We kill rats because they are destructive and spread disease.

“Mmmmmmmmmmmmm, Fresh meat!”