RAT POISON THAT DOESN"T CAUSE SECONDARY POISONING!!!

[Cassandra]

Quote:
My husband is deathly terrified of them, too. Even the little ones. I have managed to pinch the side of my finger in one, one time. Got a nasty blood blister. They are definitely to be respected. I'm sure one could break your finger if it caught you right.

I have one live trap, too. And I have used glue traps. Never caught or killed anything expect with the old spring traps.

My bosses put one in their restroom at work (the mens room)--one of the big ones. They had to show me one morning that it had caught two big rats at one time. It was quite an unnerving sight! One of the rats which, because there were two in there, hadn't got caught as tightly as the first one was still sort of writhing around. (can you tell I was traumatized by the sight? LOL I still remember it vividly and it was at least a year or two ago.)

There is a reason, I think, why there is that old cliche "build a better mouse trap." The old spring loads are still the best.

Cassandra

(edited for spelling)

 

[ams3651]

One winter my dad decided to store his unused sunflower seed (for planting) in the basement, this was 2 pallets worth. Well......

thats the only time we had rats in the house. Got to where he would sit in very dim light with a pistol.....you get the idea. But on the other hand, we had a little rat terrier that caught 5 times as much as the cats. If its outside and you can find the holes where they live drop rodent bombs in the holes, thats how we took care of our groundhog problem (RIP) but now the rabbits moved in the holes

 

[tnkinhunting]

We got rabbits too, my husband has declared war on them but I can't seem to get him too enthused about the rats! If I wasn't such a coward I would sit in the barn with a pellet gun and shoot them myself, but we have coyotes and bear's in the area and I just know I would have a heart attack if I saw or heard something big!!!!!!

 

[Beekissed]

This may sound funny but it's worth a try....I have read about this several times and have spoken to folks who swear by it. They put out shallow bowls of Coke. They say that the mice/rats are unable to expel gas and they get too distended and die. Says they leave it out a couple of days, freshen it with fizzier batch each day....end result, no more rats! Anyone else try this? I haven't but may the next time I have a problem. My dog and cat kills every vermin that comes around now, so I don't need to poison or trap anymore.

If you can build a cage that only mice and rats can enter and the chickens can't get to....I always use the poison that comes in bars, called "One-Bite". They have to nibble it off and, by doing so, ingest enough to kill. It uses warfarin and they just bleed to death. Would have to make sure other pets can't get to it as the bars have molasses and taste good. Incidentally, if a dog eats one(mine snuck into the cellar and snatched a bar) you can pour peroxide down their throat to induce vomiting. It works immediately and they will throw up last weeks food!!! And they will KEEP throwing up until every last bit is out! Its sad to watch but it saved my pup's life. The vet told me to do it. Much better than ipecac!

 

[claud]

They DO make rat poison that's not supposed to cause secondary poisoning. I use some called "wipe-out"(there are probably other name brands). Ask at the store wherever you buy poison - they should know if they have some. It says on the packaging if it doesn't cause secondary poisoning.

 

[LynneP]

You might also consider an electronic repellent like the Riddex device. I haven't rried it, I wonder if anyone here uses it. We use feral cats and have no rats or other rodents.

 

[ARPcPro]

I'm aware that this is an old topic, but I'm reading here a some misleading information that I would like to clarify. Last weekend one my british show racer pigeon got killed and eaten by rats. During the night these pests dig a hole in the wooden cage and reached one of the females that was in the nest. So I went to search for more effective ways to deal with them and found this topic with some myths like the coca cola method that really seems some hoax spread by rat lovers.

I will use regular rat poison to deal with them in these poisoning stations: _ww.all-about-chickens.co.uk/killingrats.html
and also the method of leaving poison in their holes covered by a brick. I will also leave a water source reachable to the rats because they get thirsty after the poison and that way they won't drink in the birds water.
The spring traps are good but I can't put them near the holes in places were the chickens or cats/dogs might play.

Regarding the myths I found a study that might be usefull - MYTHOLOGY OF VERTEBRATE PEST CONTROL

Plaster/Cement and Rats
Boelter (1909) states that plaster of paris (calcium sulfate) mixed with sugar has long been recommended as a rat poison. This bait is placed near water. When the thirsty rat drinks, the plaster hardens in his intestinal tract and "literally stiffens him." Fitzwater (1990) fed caged rats (Rattus norvegicus) plaster of paris mixed 50% with their dry feed. He also fed a mixture of portland cement in the same ratio to a second set of rats. After 14 days on these diets, there was no mortality in either test and the animals appeared perfectly healthy except for sore rectums due to their large bowel movements. It is probably safe to assume the digestive fluids in the alimentary tract prevent these substances from hardening. Other suggestions along this line, such as dehydrated potatoes and bath sponge or cork pieces soaked in butter or bacon fat, can be presumed to be equally ineffective.

Carbonated Soft Drinks and Mice
Ingestion of carbonated drinks is supposed to cause mice to bloat up to the point of exploding. A university laboratory fed mice (Mus musculus) a liquid diet of a commercial cola for 8 days without any mortality. Once a bottle is opened it goes flat rapidly.

Electromagnetics
Devices claiming to put out an electromagnetic force capable of driving pest animals out of an area received great publicity a few years back (Fitzwater 1978). They supposedly drove out pest species, from aphids and cockroaches to coyotes and pocket gophers, with no effect on humans or domestic animals. While electromagnetic forces can change the behavior of animals, experimental support data are based on confined animals and higher intensities than is possible in the field units. The devices in use generate no more electromagnetic impulses than what is put out by a household refrigerator.

Ultrasonics
Sounds above the range of human hearing (over 20,000 Hz), as they can't be checked without special equipment, are difficult to evaluate. One such device is SAV-A-LIFE which, when mounted on the front bumper of an automobile going 45 mph or more, is supposed to send out a high-frequency sound alerting deer crossing the highway. Russell Reidinger (DWRC, pers. comm.) had this checked by A. L. Kolz. Using compressed air at different pressures, they concluded the device is no more complex than a whistle. The frequency was determined to be about 3,400 Hz, with no significant ultrasonic frequencies present. The amplitude was 65 dB at a distance of 6 feet, which is little better than a shout. There are also "ultrasonic" devices that reportedly repel birds. The author observed an unperturbed pigeon resting on a rafter within 3 feet of a commercial ultrasonic unit in an open barn. This is not exactly surprising as studies have shown the range of pigeon hearing to be between 200 and 7,500 Hz (Brand and Kellogg 1939). In a more specific test Woronecki (1988) was unable to repel pigeons from a vacant building after 20 days’ treatment with a commercial ultrasonic device. Some mammals we do know hear ultrasonic frequencies are bats and commensal rodents. Hill (1970) with highfrequency dog whistles (4,000 to 18,000 Hz) drove bats out of a building with 48 hours continuous play. Peterson (1974) found bats were initially disoriented and agitated when a commercial sonic device was turned on. However, by the end of the studies, counts showed no appreciable loss in numbers. There is considerable literature available on the use of ultrasonics to repel commensal rodents. While they may work under certain conditions, the cost/benefit ratio is questionable.

Mothball Repellencv
Mothballs (naphthalene) are registered repellents for bats, cats, dogs, house sparrows, pigeons, rabbits, starlings, and tree squirrels. Indoor use recommendations are 5 pounds per 2,000 cubic feet for attics, etc. (Fitzwater 1972b). Similarly PDB flakes (paradichlorobenzene) are registered as repellents for cats, dogs, ground squirrels, moles, pocket gophers, and Norway rats. The dog and cat registrations usually are combined with other chemicals and carry instructions that they need to be used with disciplinary action to reinforce the repellent effect. The efficacy data on these chemicals, despite a long history of use, are questionable. In test conditions naphthalene showed no repellency against (1) penned deer (Payne and Palmer 1985), (2) starlings in a nest box, though the naphthalene was well above the recommended concentrations for enclosed spaces (Dolbeer et al. 1988), or (3) bats exposed to direct sprays of 7% naphthalene or PDB...

 

[TedJan92_in_Idaho]

I use a galvanized trash can. Put a bale of hay or something they can climb against the can. Dump some feed or peanut butter in it and it would catch them as fast as they decided to eat. They jump in and the sides are to slick to climb out.

 

[Mattemma]

Get some rat traps.I like the wood ones,but the plastic T rex ones are even better.

 

[WhiteMountainsRanch]

Yes you can ether use trash cans that they can't get out of, or try a hav-a-heart live trap, no danger of any other animals getting into poison and you can dispose of the rat afterwards however you'd like. Harbor Freight had them on sale for $5.