What's the best way to catch a rat humanely and where should i take it once i've caught it? (have tried humane traps and they havent worked)?

Get (or borrow) a Cat .. even if it doesn't catch the Rat it will keep the Rat away.

But if that's not a option ..

It's probably not the humane traps that didn't work .. it's the bait you used.

The best bait to catch Rats is actually Peanut Butter .. they love the stuff.

If you catch one you need to either take it a LONG way away (and I mean 20 miles away)

or post it into the kitchen of a local restaurant .. and then never eat there again.

You can try building this humane trap, made from a plastic bottle and rubber bands: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZTrssT8dcg (really, I just wanted an excuse to build that, it just looked cool)

Or you can try something my mother tried. Get some peppermint oil an some cotton swabs. Soak the swabs in the oil and then set it on fire in the room where there are rats. BEWARE, because this will make the room smell like mint. That sounds pleasent, but the odor is so powerful the first day your face feels like it's gonna melt off. Because it's so powerful, rats, mice, dogs, cats and other mammals that have powerful noses won't be able to stand in that room for more than five minutes for a week.

If you catch a rat, take him a mile away. Somewhere in the middle of nowhere. Vermin rats tend to get eaten in the wild, really fast. Because they don't know how to hide in the forest or find food. If you don't mind that happening, middle of nowhere will suffice. If that sounds bad to you, find a dump or a sewer or a place with lots of discarded food. Rats love those places.

Rats are interesting creatures, they can swim underwater for long distances and are quite resilient....they are walking garbage disposals that will eat any type of food including their own dead and their babies. If you have one you generally have many and they are hard to get rid of. They will travel long distances and remember that it is not polite to share your problem with others so if you practice catch and release the release has to be in the wilderness probably a good 20 miles from human habitation.

If you have a rat problem, you need to kill them. Rats carry disease and pee and poop in grains and other food supplies, chew wires, cause fires, etc. Put out the poison and call it good...or you can all burn to death some night due to an electrical fire caused by those chewed cords. You will die smiling in the knowledge that you moved your rats to another location so they can either come back home or bug someone else.

In England it is said that no one is more than a few feet from a Rat (Ratus ratus ) so they are not an endangered species try a Squirrel cage trap

I don't know if you use Havahart traps, my friend had a chipmunk problem so he and I used those traps, caught lots of them. Honestly it's up to you how to kill it, I don't know if drowning is too "inhumane" to you, I found it kills them within 30 seconds. Or I guess you can drive 20 miles and release it.

Geezer's option of a cat is a good one, a rat will never live anywhere near where it can smell cats, they have total aversion to them.

Get a cat & they'll take care of the rat & mice problem, like mine do. Mike

Assuming you are referring to a typical Norway rat, you should kill it- they are a destructive, invasive species. Releasing it live would be far more harmful than the killing of one individual. Besides, releasing invasive animals is usually illegal.

I "humanely" let my python out for a while. He takes care of it the way God (nature if you prefer) designed!

That is also a good job for pet cats!