Thread: Anyone made their own red light for outside/rats?

Been shooting Rats at my brothers place on the farm at night, heaps of the buggers.
But having a few issues.
They simply don't come out with a white outside light on, so I thought 'd be clever and put some red cellophane over a portable LED outdoor light. This helped a little, but it's hard to get the bright light/enough vision mix just right to be honest.

The red torch on the air rifle works a bit, but I only get 4 hours max out of a $17 battery!!

Last night I turned off the LED light, and threw the best bait for them on the lawn (plain $1 bread), turned the torch light on and there were half a dozen of the little shits on the lawn then!

So, I'm a hunting/red light dummy, but know the rats are shy of a "bright" red light and scarper when the red rifle torch is aimed at them. GTried putting cellophane over a standard cree torch but it's useless.

I have ordered a couple of red party incandescent globes (40W) today, hoping to hang them in a tree close to where I biff the bread out, hoping these bulbs give out enough light so I can see the little shits, but not too much as to scare them.

Any other ideas guys for red bulbs? Tried a red sharpie on a small 15w oven bulb, but still glows too bright. The cellophane is either too bright with a single sheet covering the light, or too dark with another sheet applied.

Hoping someone may think of something simple I haven't..(wouldn't be hard).

Last night I shot one and left it there, went back to that spot an hour later for another shoot, and his mates were busy eating him....disgusting little pricks.

Also...would a decent .177 be more accurate at such short distance compared to a .22 air rifle? I seem to miss a bit at this close range, and read about the .177 being more accurate at close range?

Cheers guys, thanks for any advice, appreciate it....I absolutely LOVE rat shooting, becoming an obsession. And for anyone wondering about baits, they have completely ignored my Peanut butter and Nutella, ignore fish heads, ignore mixed nuts, vegetable oil etc...but go mental over plain $1 white bread. Go figure. Suits me, it's cheap!
As for pellets it's accu-pell, or JSB Exact Jumbo suiting my air rifle the best.

Cheers