CO as ratkiller ?

[Mark]

you need a Rodenator

[harry]

At onetime you could get sulphur candles, far more effective. SO2 is deadly.

[Vir Campestris]

We've got a rat burrow. I got a bit of pipe, and redirected the mower exhaust down there. That'll have CO in it, especially as I pulled the choke... I'll have a sniff this weekend to see if it smells of live rat or corpse.

Andy

[Andrew Gabriel]

Deaths from this in industrial scale brewing happen from time to time.

[newshound]

One of the things I learned during fire extinguisher training was the distinct "taste" that you get as CO2 concentrations become dangerous. The advice was, if you taste this, get out.

[Martin Brown]

You still can on Amazon:

Works fine for sterilising the interior of a greenhouse but sadly doesn't kill red spider mite or mealy bug eggs. The pale blue flame of burning sulphur is quite attractive but the SO2 smoke is choking.

Not sure I would want to use one under a house though.

[Martin Brown]

High CO2 you notice very quickly and know to get out. Assuming that you can - volcanic lake CO2 explosive decompression has killed in the past.

The utterly lethal one is inert Nitrogen or Argon atmospheres displacing the oxygen in the air where you just pass out without warning. Worse still would be rescuers rush in without normal airsets on and end up as casualties themselves. There was a bad one not long since with apples:

[The Natural Philosopher]

I can see why.

On a school trip round a brewery poised over a fermenation tank of gargauntuan proprtions, I leant over to see what it smelt like.

Lungful of fire, I just stepped back in time

To fall in would without outside assistance have been fatal.

How many died in that volcanic CO2 emission that filled a whole African lake valley?

"In 1986, possibly as the result of a landslide, Lake Nyos suddenly emitted a large cloud of CO2, which suffocated 1,746 people[2] and 3,500 livestock in nearby towns and villages.[3][4] Though not completely unprecedented, it was the first known large-scale asphyxiation caused by a natural event. To prevent a recurrence, a degassing tube that siphons water from the bottom layers to the top, allowing the carbon dioxide to leak in safe quantities, was installed in 2001. Two additional tubes were installed in 2011.

Today, the lake also poses a threat because its natural wall is weakening. A geological tremor could cause this natural levée to give way, allowing water to rush into downstream villages all the way into Nigeria and allowing large amounts of carbon dioxide to escape."

[Wiki]

[Jethro_uk]

In the grimly fascinating "How to kill a human" episode of Horizon (with Michael Portillo) simple asphyxiation by Nitrogen was shown to be as humane as anything else - if not more so.

I would remain puzzled at the US insistence on continuing with methods that are distinctly not humane, except for the closing clip of that documentary where a US lawman smiles as he says that "we don't want it to be *too* humane.". Which tells me an awful lot about why I think it's fair to question the assertion that all of the US is civilised.

[Jethro_uk]

When I did chemistry, our teacher said "there are 3 things that smell like cyanide ... it's probably best you don't hang around to see which one it is."

[Martin Brown]

The one I remember from an industrial electroplating firm was that if you have smelt (hydrogen) cyanide and are still alive 15 minutes later you have got away with it. They were incredibly cavalier about handling loose cyanide eggs from 45 gallon drums back in those days.

[Jethro_uk]

That was referenced in a BBC documentary about volcanoes showing a mechanism they had placed in the lake to vent CO2. To my shame it's only your posting that reminded me of the original event as news ...

[Huge]

Usually caused by climbing into tanks full of CO2.

[Martin Brown]

There are one or two natural volcanic caves where you can see it too.

Grotte du Chien in Chamalieres for instance. Named because they used to demonstrate effects to tourists on the hapless stray dogs of the town.

These days they do it more humanely with candles (when it is safe to enter) - on some low pressure days the level inside can be too high.

[Marland]

I have wondered since they have had various areas cordoned off what may have become of any that may have been carried rain by rainwater run off into the river that runs alongside and under the seat and pub they visited which eventually makes its way into the Hampshire Avon and then into the sea near Christchurch in Dorset. If it isn?t easily removed by rain then and then a lot of dilution then the cordoned of area for so long seems to be a bit of overkill or its a problem that dare not be mentioned. The coppers guarding the area seem to be enjoying it ,they are from different forces all over the country and those that are from the big metropolis like London and Brum are finding standing by a Millstream watching Swans and having people chat to them a pleasant change from chasing tooled up gang members in some of the rougher areas they work.

GH

[Marland]

Get a similar problem occasionally,almost inevitable bordering fields and having compost bins and garden sheds. At least they are cleanish rats and not emerging from sewers of waste bins. Watching the interaction of Cats with the known runs using a PTZ camera with good night capability is interesting,the cats sniff around the the areas but never go for a grown rat and the that includes a large Maine Coone type Tom from up the road who I?ve seen stand up to a large dog and gives me a menacing ?Take me on if you are big enough stare ? as well. They will deal with small young ones so the best hope is that they get enough of those that the ones that get past that stage are not enough to be considered an infestation if they stay down the bottom of the garden . Those that come closer can be shot ,the PTZ is useful as it detects them moving and it saves time waiting for them to emerge and loiter eating some bait like cat food placed on the lawn. Then using an air rifle with a an NV scope I can get them from the house window or sitting in a shed with the PTZ on the I Pad.

GH

[Jethro_uk]

I think there was an awful lot of security theatre around the incident. Either by design to fool the Russkies as to how much we really knew, or simple incompetence.

[Martin Brown]

Given that it is a persistent nerve agent and its claimed LD50 being so very tiny I don't think the authorities have a choice but to be extremely careful about how they handle the decontamination process.

Something 10x more nasty than VX has to be handled with extreme care.

[The Natural Philosopher]

Thats why God invented terriers

Jack Russells are the bees knees

[newshound]

IMHO a baitbox and standard rat poison works as well as anything