We had one in our house in Carlsbad, and I kept putting stuff out on the trap and the wile sucker was able to get the cheese or Peanut Butter every time. I actually think the feller got trapped inside when the pest control closed off a vent. He was climbing the back of the stove and grabbing stuff like if I left some cheese out after cutting off a hunk.
Finally I took some string cheese and tied it around the trap so that he’d need to tug on it to get it off and sure enough, Whammo, and the damn trap didn’t quite get him. So I have this poor rat thrashing all over the counter bleeding and yelling with the family sleeping. I had to hit the little thing with a hammer and it wasn’t easy. Super glad that the crap was finished but seeing those little eyes looking at you as you get ready to bash him was tough. However he couldn’t have lived in that state, a leg was crushed and the side of the head was hit.
Another time I whacked a Raccoon in the garage. Our rental in Dallas had an attic Raccoon issue and it was really scaring the toddlers. So I set out a can of Tuna and sat in the garage. Now I assume a Raccoon would destroy a house cat in a fight, but my huge ass mean cat came out there with me (garage with attic door down). Interestingly the cat never stopped eating the tuna. He looked up saw the raccoon and went right back to eating tuna. Do coons and cats have an alliance? That could been the wussiest little yipper dog on earth and my cat’s hair would have been raised and the cat screaming and hissing would have started. However with the coon, nothing. All I had was a 9-iron when I finally shooed away the cat, and didn’t catch the coon flush. Not proud of it, but I had crying babies and one with asthma that completely went away after moving to the midwest. One exterminator trapped one, and shot him with a 22 right in front of me but the next time out he said it was one of gods creatures and dropped him off somewhere in the wild. Then the coon trap kept getting the neighbor’s cat, so we gave up and moved.
