Doing this job now for rats.Been about a month.To start with I am not certified ,so I can't use poisons repellents,or grandma's home recipe....I have been trying to catch what I think is just one rat.No one has seen it .The amount of droppings is slight.There are a couple of holes chewed in the walls .
When I first took on the job .I crawled under the deck and found the entry point.I closed it up with hardware cloth and aluminum sheeting .This area was an add on over a slab that was now the kitchen .The deck off the back was put up later where old concret steps had been .This very poor construction job made it very difficult to close up where the rat(s) were entering.
After closing up ,I st traps inside .The finished off basement has a partial drop ceiling,the rest is drywall. I set traps all around up in the ceiling under cabinets where no kick plates are.Behind couches.Any possable hiding space along the walls.
Before I got the job the owner had glue boards set where she had found some droppings and insulation.
No matter what I have tried so far for bait .Peanut butter ,bacon,cheese.This rat avoids all the traps .I even had a live catch trap set at the opening of a hole rigged with a funnel. Never entered it . It just piled insulation in the entrance of the hole.This lady has a little dog that will bark at various places in the house.
Just recently ,the owners did not hear any noise inside .This is after I had set everything from snap traps to #1 foothold stoploss to 110 bodygrippers in the ceilng and under deck where dog can not get to them.So I went under deck found another spot it had chewed through ,and set a body gripper in front ,with 4 footholds all around it.This morning she called me , said she heard something eating the dry dog food .The dog was in the basement. She did not see anything,but set some dog food up to see if it would come back and take it .It did ,she never saw it.I went there this morning and looked around in the kitcken again .i found a new hole under the cabinet.So now I set two footholds infront of the hole and lined the beginning of the area under the cabinet with glue boards.I used some of the dog food for bait. Also threw some under the deck where my other traps have been sitting untouched for a week now.
I did a rat job up the road from her .Caught 6 rats 5 subadults and one adult female. The young ones all fell for the snap traps. the big female figured out how to take the bait from the snap traps without getting caught. So I set up three of the foot traps under his deck and had her the next day.All on peanut butter.
What am I doing wrong at this other place,I hate to ask for more money even though I am lossing on it.I just can't leave without catching something.I have instructed them to keep things cleaned up,don't leave dog food out ext.....This I know they have not been doing .The persone living in the basement is a slob.I found a box of rat poison ,peanut butter flavored ,figured that is why they did not touch my bait.
Any Ideas?

This may not help but I've caught a lot of rats in a 110 or 120 Conibear and they may not recoginise it. We also use Protecta bait boxes with a T-Rex inside. ( This is legal for you ) I know you can't use bait but if you left a few Final Blox scattered inside the place, and didn't charge, you might be legal. ( Usually pest control is only illegal if you charge ) And if you have doubts about the job, a trailcam would be a good idea.

From what I understand commercial use has nothing to do if you charge or not. For example, apartment landlords need to have certification...

Best advice...ask your Regulator first.

We were actually told this by a guy giving a seminar and I've heard it before. ( Of course it was a Wisconsin seminar so it may not pertain to other states ) We used to poison attics all the time for free. Since you can walk into any Fleet and Farm and buy this stuff by the pails full, I can't see the problem. ( By the way, whatever happened to that law that was going to prohibit sales of loose poison to the general public? )

As far as I know .The only time I can use anything such as pesticides,is to spray a wasp nest in the way of where I have to work .Such as doing a bat exclusion.The customers usually get a free wasp extermination.I do not know if it is legal for me to throw poison cubes up in the attic or ceiling ,even if i was not to charge ,how do I prove that?I do know Target was just fined a good deal of money for selling pesticides in new york that are illegal here. Honestly I do not want to have anything to do with any kind of chemical.I even try not to have to spray a wasp nest I will just caulk over it .i only spry when I fell I have no other option.

Paul - I think stores can sell existing inventory...

I've had good luck with putting gophinators in the hole the chew through. Rats haven't seen that one.

Try a Rat Zapper baited with dog food right by the dog food.

get rid of the traps for a while and pre bait the heck out of a few spots with wet dog food,rats are very weary critters.they are suspicious of everything.

Thanks all for the advice.I will try the idea of pulling all my traps and prebaiting.I just ordered the gophernators from trapline supplies .I'll give them a try .

Dave, I get the feeling that the existing stock will be around long after I'm dead.

Has the rats food sorce been removed . Kinda hard if not

No it has not.Been stressing this to them..Still they offered to pay me till I get them ....job security.

Did not read the long post,,,,,,

Have you tried cage traps?,,,....prebait open maybe?

kina what Mister Paul said I use a fair number of 110 and 120's as well the best bait I have found is soy based bait, baby formula ,chicken feed etc some times you have to use a different type/style trigger if the rats are juvis

Nope you can not have even a small can of bug spray! Like for mosquitos(in your work truck that is).. In your personal bag didderent story... It is considered illegal and requires a license.

You can get rid of the food source (That's known about) and they could have years of it already stored away...

They don't need much to survive, also water source . I like the Game Camera comment above.