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[sanrico AT highdesert.com]

Just for fun, Bev, I googled up the following. Of course, there's no
illustration, but it is curiously interesting - and, apparently, quite 
effective!
It's from the first search result. I only did this because, Marie, your 
situation
brings back images of my SO baiting traps with bacon and then crawling under 
the
mobile in the middle of the night to set them. He's 80, okay? The buggers were
eating the fibreboard walls, and keeping us awake at night. 
Sandy

Scientists have observed the rat population more in the fields that are in the
vicinity of sugarcane fields. They ascribe the increased infestation of rats 
in
zero tilled wheat fields to the 'migratory' phenomenon. Rice stubbles provide
good hiding for the rats, scientists are studying this new concern. Chemical
control measures are effective but expensive and time consuming. (Ground 
Cover,
Vol 1, 1998).

Nick Dexter has reported a simple and effective rattrap widely adopted by the
Zimbabwe farmers for control of rats. Nick Dexter says that he caught 934 rats
with 9 traps in 21 days. Mr. Shekhon, who worked in Namibia and now with the
Punjab Agro Industries, says that he tried the trap in Sangrur and it works 
very
well. It is very simple to make the rat trap.

To make the trap you need a 20-litre bucket or large clay pot, which holds 
water.
Bury this in the ground near known rat holes or leading sites.

Take a dry maize cob and cut off the ends. Push through it a thick wire, 
which is
one metre long. Make sure the cob can spin freely. Fasten the cob in position 
in
the center of the wire.

Bend the wire as shown and push firmly into the ground on either side of the
bucket. Put a depth of 15cm of water in the bucket.

Each evening, coat the corn cob with peanut butter, wetted flour or some other
kind of food which will stick to the cob.

Remove drowned rats each morning. The trap works best during the new moon.

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