Successful Rat Poison ?

[gilli]

Hi Folks,

Just discovered burrows in garden near house, now confirmed to be caused by rats as our cat has caught 3 in last two days.

I think I am at fault in encouraging them by putting out food for the birds without using proper bird feeders.

Fortunately, she seems not to eat the rats and I am thinking of putting out poison.

I am going to ask advice of our county council authorities as they offer a service for a reasonable price and I must protect the poison from the cat and the dog, but I would be interested to know if anyone has any positive evidence of the effectiveness of poison for rats.

I looked at rat traps (the killing type),but not sure if the sort which are cat-proof are effective long term.

Thanks for your help.

David G.

[Peter Crosland]

Some councils will deal with rats free of charge. The bait is certainly effective but you will need to stop bird feeding for a couple of weeks and even using feeders there will always be bits that drop to the ground.

Peter Crosland

[R]

Squirrel traps. Catch em, Kill em or let em go near a river or whatever

[Phil L]

Don't think that it's just a matter of putting down a bit of poison and that will be the end of your problem, because it sounds like an infestation - I had one at a house I used to live in and I never managed to kill them all off. The council will come and put down wax poison for free, they did with me, he put down a good few Kg's of the stuff and told me it would be a few days before they ate it all - it was gone in six hours.....he came back a few weeks later and did the same, but it was a wasre of time, as those who had survived the first blitz had bred like wildfire in that time, meaning that there were as many again. What you will find is that one or two rats will eat most of the poison, so what you need to do is spread it out over a large area - under plantpots, between boards and such likes so that most of them get dosed, then do the same every day for a week, or until the posion doesn't get eaten.

and obviously, stop feeding the birds.

[Al]

I'd be amazed if they didn't do it for free.

Well, the council contractors will set traps that cannot be invaded by pets. They'll also use an effective poison. Don't worry about it. Job done.

FWIW, when we had a minor rat 'issue' I found that BFO spinesnappers worked reasonably well, bog standard 'blue' poisened grain worked very well, and humane traps were a waste of time. Airgun was potentially vaible, but the buggers kept hiding from me ;) Didn't get chance to try the sticky mats as I'd killed 'em all by other means before I had a chance :)

My advice? Council. Much as most gummint bodies are a waste of oxygen, the environmental guys seem to be really on the ball.

Al.

[Tim Lamb]

In message , Peter Crosland writes

I use Townex sachets of bait. The idea is that the rats take the bait into the burrow. Clearing an infestation with this type of cumulative anti-coagulant poison can take a week or more as the dominant rat gets the pick of the food.

A professional rodent operative will probably use a fast acting poison and have to be much more careful about avoiding collateral damage:-)

If you know where the holes are (not under habitable spaces) you could use Phostoxin tablets. Nasty gas (phosgene?) and you would have to sign the poisons register.

regards

[Clive]

If there are any holes use a mixture of broken glass and sand to fill them up. They will bleed to death when they chew through it. It's similar to the way conventional poison will make them bleed to death internally. So no more cruel. Leave your cat to it too. Call Rentokil and they will tell you how good or bad poisons are. You could always pour some petrol down the holes and throw a few matches in.

[David]

The council done ours for free, but when we had mice inside they charged us.

Fixed the problem but we only had two rats, they were unusually brave and could be seen climbing the tree to get to the top of the shed!

[gilli]

Hi, Thanks everyone. I am grateful for the input so far. Best wishes to you all and thanks for anyone else who wishes to add on their advice. David G

[ransley]

Sure poison for rats works, a pack can kill 2 dogs, treatment cost me thousands for 2 dogs that are ok.

[Peter Elsden]

In article , gilli writes

I've just recently successfully dealt with an infestation of rats, caused by bird feeders in the garden, by purchasing three Protecta low profile bait boxes, strategically placed around the garden, and filled with Neosorexa bait blocks.

No sightings of any rats for some time now and no signs of new burrowing.

These bait boxes can only be opened by using a special widget, or levering open with the end of a screwdriver, so our dog wasn't able to get to the bait.

Have a look at

I have no connection with them other than as a satisfied customer, but they were an excellent company to deal with.

[Vortex2]

NEOSOREXA Bait blocks:

for us.

[Tim Lamb]

In message , Peter Elsden writes

Somebody once told me that rats are not able to sick up ingested poison. Cats and dogs do not have this problem so are reckoned to be safe from cumulative poison. Not a good reason to take risks though.

regards

>

[jack.nelson27]

i heard there are certain poisons which makes rat leave the house and then kills it..

[Peter]

I had rats living under the garden shed and they had burrowed under the patio. Council put poison 'boxes' out twice to no avail. It was when the enviroguy said something about wet winter causing the rats to leave their preferred habitat and seek new homes such as mine that got me thinking. I put the hose under the shed in the evening and left it to flood overnight. Seems the rats preferred drier homes elsewhere. Its worth trying and its free.

Peter

[Clint Sharp]

In message , Peter writes

With the added bonus that you can earn enough money from your new boating lake to pay for poison and traps.

[Dymphna]

In areas where other animal might get it, here is a better solution. Cat's don't eat dried potatoes, but they do. Put out a couple piles of dried potatoes and let the rats eat them. Then when they drink water, the spuds expand in the stomach and pop. Then when the other animals you want around find the remains and it it, they don't die from the poison.

[Tim Downie]

I strongly suspect this is complete b*llocks.

Dried potatoes have been used in rat experiments (to look at the effect of genetically modified potatoes). If feeding them dried potatoes killed the rats, the experiment wouldn't have got off the ground.

you'd do is feed the rats.

Tim

[Alang]

We used an ordinary spring loaded trap baited with buttered bread. Broke the little furry bastard's neck :)

Poison is iffy as they eat it then retire to a quiet place and die. The quiet place may be under your floor and a stinking decaying rat is not a pleasant odour.

We did consider one of these

was after it chewed through carpet, a cupboard and the burglar alarm.