• You can choose from several different baits to catch the rat in your home.rat image by Henryk Olszewski from Fotolia.com
  
  You've seen it lurking in your basement: a fat rat. Now you're struggling to fall asleep at night, worrying about the rodent that's taken up residence in your home. It's time to set some rat traps. But what, exactly, should you bait your traps with? Fortunately, there are several types of food that will attract your rat. In this case, it's good news that rats aren't exactly picky eaters.
  
  

Peanut Butter

• Many pest-control experts swear by peanut butter. In fact, they say that rats far prefer peanut butter to cheese. Peanut butter has a strong smell that will attract rats. It's also quite sticky, meaning that it will be more difficult for rats to pull it off a mouse trap. This prevents rats from snatching the bait and fleeing before the trap catches them. It's best to dab just a half teaspoon of peanut butter on your rat trap.
  
  

Wet Dog Food

• Wet dog food works well as rat bait because it has many of the same properties as peanut butter. It is highly aromatic, which attracts rats. And it's sticky, meaning that rats will have to work to get it off the trap, giving the trap ample time to catch the rat. Again, just a small amount of wet dog food, perhaps a teaspoon, should attract your rat.
  
  

Dried Fruit

• Because it gives off a powerful scent, dried fruit is another powerful rat bait. Rats also enjoy the sweetness of dried fruit, and will be attracted to any with which you bait a trap.
  
  

Bacon

• Again, this food has a powerful and distinctive odor that attracts rats. An effective way to bait a trap with this food is to tie a small piece of bacon to the trap. This will prevent a rat from quickly snatching the bacon and escaping before the springing trap snares it.
  
  

Chocolate Candy

• You know that the scent of chocolate candy is hard to resist. It's not easy for rats to refrain from a bite of chocolate, either.