rat question - is it sick?

[lehouseofdog]

so if a rat is out during the day....that means it's sick right? The rat was laying just under the edge of the shed and I thought it might be dead so I took a stick to pull it out and it woke up and crawled back under the shed. Now it's in the center of the shed where I can't reach it.

I pulled up the ramp to the shed today and put dry ice in all of the holes I could find and filled them in. In addition to the poison bait I've had out all week. when I just went out with the dogs, the rat was under the shed but in view (it's 230pm in Richmond VA - hot sunny day)

 

[BabyandCotton]

Yes, I think so. It could have rabies. I'd suggest you kill it
-Liv

 

[lehouseofdog]

if only I had a stick long enough, it's in the center and I can't reach it. Wondering if it was the CO2 from the dry ice that flushed it out or if it has eaten poison this week and is dying. Either way the hens are put away until I can recover a body. I don't want it to crawl out and they get it by accident.

Update: as soon as I let the hens out again when my unsuccessful raking under the shed was finished. I saw it crawl into the bushes. It's now under a metal bucket with a cinderblock on top. Waiting to get enough courage to go smash it.

 

[Folly's place]

If you've had rat bait out, that's a likely explanation. Rats very rarely get rabies, but do get a number of other diseases nobody wants. Mary