Rat Poison

Get rid of rats with Rat Poison.

Warning: Rat Poison is deadly! It can kill people and animals too! Place all rat poison out of the reach of pets, farm animals and children. Always use a tamper proof rat baiting station!

Rat Poison will kill any rat that injests it! Getting rats to eat the poison can sometimes be difficult. Rat poison should always be placed inside special designed stations that let the rats in but keep kids and pets out. New federal laws now require rat poison to be sold in tamper proof stations and manufacturers are now offering sealed units where you never even see the rat poison indside. You can still get rat bait poison in bulk from professional pest control supply stores. If placing rat poison outside of a tamper proof station, use common sense, or someone or something other than the rats can die. Vitamin K1 is the antidote to most rat poisons, but in any case of injestion, contact poison control immediately with the name and manufacturer of the rat poison as well as the required EPA registration number. Do not mess around - seek medical attention immediately.

Rat poison can be placed outdoors directly in the rat holes, depending on the product label, but be careful - they might jump out on you. When I do rat control, I usually bring a nice shovel along and kill anything that jumps out on me. Its also not a bad idea to take a snake bite kit along, because yes - snakes live in similar looking holes too!

A single rat can eat quite a bit of rat poison, but for most, a single gram or less is usually enough to kill a rat. You might be tempted to put out a lot of poison, to kill all the rats in the area, but 2 or 3 blocks per hole or light dusting of powders like DiTrac is usually enough to start things off. Only replace poison after it has been eaten or becomes wet or moldy. Continue to check any bait stations or holes regularly. Eventually you should see a decline in the amount of poison eaten and you will know your rat control program is working.

Rat poison will also attract or kill some insects, so it is not uncommon to find waterbugs and slugs dead or dying in your bait station. You want to put your rat poison stations always back in the same place. If treating holes, after the population of rats have been killed off, fill them in so other neighborhood rat families don't move into their underground caverns later.

Keeping your yard free of debris and anything that can contain water is essential to rat control. Eliminating hiding places and sources of food and water are imperative, but make great places to put out poison in the initial stages of control.