Squirrel or Rat?

[wvchics]

I didn't expect you to change my mind. And I honestly was looking for a better solution. However, I know from experience about animals eating poisoned rats. You can actually buy just a box of poison, and they always have one of those two or arsenic listed as active ingredients. Rats can eat holes in your house so I definitely don't believe they cannot get it out of the box. Rodents take food stores home with them. They stuff their cheeks and leave with it. I know you aren't finding dead rats inside the boxes. They take the poison somewhere else to eat it, meaning it's not staying there. If I put this in a box the rat would be there. To me using a poison you cannot contain just increases risk. Please note I'm not at all saying any poison is safe because there is always some risk involved but when I can guaranteed keep it in a two foot radius then I at least can keep it contained. Also with the boxes it may not stop them from taking it but it does limit how much they take just prolonging their suffering. I don't think she was on the fence I'm pretty sure she went to buy some already. I think it's just been mostly people trying to talk her out of it. However she needs a solution now being that she lives in town and is worried about the neighbors getting upset. I simply provided her a quick solution to her problem and advised her about the best precautions to take. Then people started offering she should use rat poison. I just feel rat poison is impossible to monitor and regulate. It's too easy for them to carry off, and it can take longer for them to die. Either way though I always hear people out because I am always willing to learn. Did you check the ingredients on the rat poison. I'm just guessing but I'd bet it says one of the 3: Arsenic, strichnine, or cyanide. They are all pretty much the same thing. They all have C and H bonded together, and they all have cause of death by asphyxiation. Basically it shuts your body down and there have been cases where people died from handling these poisons. I'm not saying it's right for everyone but I didn't have to feel guilty about them suffering or leave poison laying around. I told everyone, put it out, and cleaned everything up in the morning. Problem solved and risk over.

 

[Howard E]

I'm not a betting man, but in this case, I might take that bet.

As shown in the links provided, active ingredients in the Rat X is listed as corn gluten meal and NaCl.....aka, salt.

In Terad3, it is "cholecalciferol", aka vitamin D3......used as both a rodenticide and dietary supplement for humans.

Strychnine might still be found in some super secret profession grade rat poisons, but not something you are likely to find on the shelf at TSC. Arsenic, of course, is found in foods we eat everyday. Not in large amounts, but there just the same.

Here is yet another summary of all the rodent killing options (Rat X not being one of them.......nor is Golden Malrin fly bait).

http://npic.orst.edu/factsheets/rodenticides.html

If I was going to suggest a bait to use, other than one of the two shown above, it would be one of the anticoagulant type baits to start. These are low dose baits that accumulate in the rat over time.

If I had to suggest a bait station to use, this would be the one I would buy:

 

[Hensndoes]

wait just confirmed... its rats

What the heck do I do???

Get barn cats. Remove all access to feed and water. Not easy considering chickens are messy eaters.

 

[wvchics]

Thanks for the answer like I said I don't use it so I couldn't check I was wondering if maybe someone had some to look at. I suppose salt could kill just about anything in high enough doses though I've heard of people dying from it. And my grandma said her chickens ate a bunch once and they died. She said there was nothing anyone could do to save them.

 

[CapricornFarm]

Sweetie what do you think rat poison is? It is cyanide which is strict 9. And it is not indiscriminate. Read the ingredients on your rat poison. As I said this is very slow acting. Rats do not go lay down when they are sick they keep going until they drop dead making it easier for pets to kill them and risking their lives as well. Rats are not mammals they are rodents. I had to pull my dead cat out from under my parents bed I will never forget that. His eyes were wide open as well as his mouth. He had green foam all around his mouth, and it was very clear he suffered a horrible death. I will never do that again. And refused to use any kind of poison for the longest time. I thought maybe you had a better solution, but it seems you don't even know exactly what you are putting out. The poison you are saying is safe can kill you just from handling it too much. I don't have to touch this stuff and everything is in one spot for easy clean up reducing risk. Thanks for your answer but I've tried that and I still feel this is better than that. And I gave up on traps after the last one disappeared into my floor with the rat only for my daughter to ask a few days later what that smell was, and I had to explain to her what happened and put a big hole in my floor. I would gather that rat suffered and I know the one before that did when my fiance had to kill it with an arrow because it's leg was part ripped off and it was bleeding everywhere. My homework was experience. I tried everything else I could think of and this was the best solution I found.

A rat is a mammal as well as a rodent. There is no such thing as strict 9 . Strychnine, yes.

 

[kwhites634]

Sweetie what do you think rat poison is? It is cyanide which is strict 9. And it is not indiscriminate. Read the ingredients on your rat poison. As I said this is very slow acting. Rats do not go lay down when they are sick they keep going until they drop dead making it easier for pets to kill them and risking their lives as well. Rats are not mammals they are rodents. I had to pull my dead cat out from under my parents bed I will never forget that. His eyes were wide open as well as his mouth. He had green foam all around his mouth, and it was very clear he suffered a horrible death. I will never do that again. And refused to use any kind of poison for the longest time. I thought maybe you had a better solution, but it seems you don't even know exactly what you are putting out. The poison you are saying is safe can kill you just from handling it too much. I don't have to touch this stuff and everything is in one spot for easy clean up reducing risk. Thanks for your answer but I've tried that and I still feel this is better than that. And I gave up on traps after the last one disappeared into my floor with the rat only for my daughter to ask a few days later what that smell was, and I had to explain to her what happened and put a big hole in my floor. I would gather that rat suffered and I know the one before that did when my fiance had to kill it with an arrow because it's leg was part ripped off and it was bleeding everywhere. My homework was experience. I tried everything else I could think of and this was the best solution I found.

I'm sorry, but rats certainly are mammals, as well as rodents

 

[perchie.girl]

speaking as one who has had a full house invasion of the rat persuasion. I built my own bait stations with One bite.... Used a pickle bucket drilled 1.5 holes about three inches up around three sides. and One on top to view. I filled those feeders four times.... Then I started getting cadavers all over the house and inside the walls and attic. Did I say Invasion...

Three I found were the size of Bedroom slippers, the ones in the videos look to be juvies. Where you see one rat there are at least five more... Dog didnt suffer nor the cat...

Truely the best way to do rat control is to make it difficult to set up a presence... Clear out places they can hide.... Set things up off the floor No crawl spaces... Feed duringt the day

Both rats and mice can get through holes the size of their skull... thats less than a half inch for mice and a half inch for Rats.

For what its worth... Cats wont manage the rat population... your best choice is a pair of Rat Terriers or some sort of Terrier.... Expect them to dig in their job... My girl rosie moved a yard of soil getting to three rat nests... We saw only one rat. I moved the couch off the dirt and she killed three Juvies right away. In the nests were four juvies and two adults.... she killed each and dropped them when I asked. She dug out the nests and there were six pinkies in each nest. I moved the whole nests into trash bags and sealed Galvanized cans.

deb

 

[lazy gardener]

speaking as one who has had a full house invasion of the rat persuasion. I built my own bait stations with One bite.... Used a pickle bucket drilled 1.5 holes about three inches up around three sides. and One on top to view. I filled those feeders four times.... Then I started getting cadavers all over the house and inside the walls and attic. Did I say Invasion...

Three I found were the size of Bedroom slippers, the ones in the videos look to be juvies. Where you see one rat there are at least five more... Dog didnt suffer nor the cat...

Truely the best way to do rat control is to make it difficult to set up a presence... Clear out places they can hide.... Set things up off the floor No crawl spaces... Feed duringt the day

Both rats and mice can get through holes the size of their skull... thats less than a half inch for mice and a half inch for Rats.

For what its worth... Cats wont manage the rat population... your best choice is a pair of Rat Terriers or some sort of Terrier.... Expect them to dig in their job... My girl rosie moved a yard of soil getting to three rat nests... We saw only one rat. I moved the couch off the dirt and she killed three Juvies right away. In the nests were four juvies and two adults.... she killed each and dropped them when I asked. She dug out the nests and there were six pinkies in each nest. I moved the whole nests into trash bags and sealed Galvanized cans.

deb

Good DOG!!!

 

[ThatParrotLady]

My dog eats all the mice and rats and hides all his chew toys in the chicken coop, they've since stopped coming into the coop because he considers that his space and I think it's funny.

But he's also a jack russell and he's very good at his job and protecting the girls.

But I hope you get your rat problem done soon because they will kill baby chicks and steal their eggs if you have any, my sister lost a few and told me about it because the rats were coming out of the woods and burrowing through the baseboard wood to get into the coop and eat them.

But another option is to drown them, bucket with wire across the top and a pepsi can, leave a way for the rat to climb up and try to walk the wire to the can which will spin and throw them into the water below without any of the peanut butter that was on the can. It'll drown itself shortly after in the sitting water beneath, just make sure the drum is high enough the girls won't decide to hop up there for a bath, or leave the water shallow enough that a chicken can stand without drowning, but a rat can't, nor can they jump out.

 

[perchie.girl]

Sweetie what do you think rat poison is? It is cyanide which is strict 9. And it is not indiscriminate.

""There are four common active ingredients in mouse and rat poisons: long-acting anticoagulants, cholecalciferol, bromethalin, and phosphide rodenticides. Each has a totally different mechanism of action of poisoning,""

the rat or mouse consumes enough for itself and can pack away enough to feed its family. That dose is Barely enough to make a dog sick but there is an antidote.

Cyanide and Strychnine are both blood stream killers... I would not use them OR have them on the premisis. Also California law has placed the anticoagulent poisons on the "for professionals only " list...
https://www.mercurynews.com/2014/09/23/california-law-limits-sale-of-rat-poisons/

By the way IF you want people to actually read your posts please try to make paragraphs...

deb