So, if you remember, in Mid January, I posted about a great new Philadelphia Property Management tool which I came across – the Rat zapper. For those who don’t remember, the Rat Zapper sends an electronic charge through the rodent, and is activated by a motion sensor. By far this is the most humane and clean way to catch and dispose of mice and rats. It all sounded great, and for approximately $50 per unit, it’s not too expensive either (when compared to purchasing glue and poison over and over).

However, the real question is does it really work as advertised? I’ve used the unit in two Philadelphia properties which I manage, the first was an office space which had a small mouse problem due to holes in exposed brick which where providing access for the mice. The unit caught a mouse every single night for a couple of weeks straight – that’s 14 mice! The mouse problem seems to be eradicated. In this circumstance, I couldn’t have been happier. I just put a few pieces of my dog’s food in the back, and it worked wonders.

In the second property, I had very different results. Despite putting the rat zapper out for a couple of weeks (the first week with dog food as bat, and the second with peanut butter), I caught nothing. I know there were rodents present, as I could see their droppings. I moved the unit around to several different locations, thinking that my placement might have been the issue. Ultimately, my guess is that in the second property I had rats, rather than mice. Rats seem to be a little bit smarter, and harder to be tricked.

In conclusion, if you’ve got a mouse problem – I highly recommend this product. However, for rats, I would recommend that you keep on searching for a safe alternative!