Rat Poison

Hello,
I have found some barn rats this year and wondering if poison is the most effective method of controlling population. Also do cats eat the poison? I have never used poison.

So, rats are smart. Sometimes you get a smarter than average one and they make you work.

Try trapping first, then rodenticides.

I've heard that cats may eat the poisoned rats, which can be a problem.

Hopefully someone with experience using poison in this situation will chime in.

I would think any animal or bird that eat meat would eat a dyeing rat. They always look for the odd one or weakest. JMO

But the problem is that with certain poisons, it will kill whatever eats the poisoned rat.

An animal needs to eat 10% of its body weight to get a lethal dose. A 14lb housecat needs to eat 1.4lbs of rodenticide!

An adult mouse is something like 20g. It will need 2g of rodenticide.

1.4lbs equals 453g

If that cat only ate mice killed with rodenticide, how many mice would it need to eat? Remember cats dont eat the entire mouse and would most likely supplement their diet with birds and cat food, etc.

Now this would take a while. We need to now figure out if the rodenticide accumulates in the cat without it getting processed out by normal means.

Good to know about poison. You say cats don't eat an entire mouse, but very close to it. Our cat leaves only mouse stomachs, eats all of the rest every time. When I went out on the porch to get firewood in the morning (and forgot to look first) mouse stomachs would sometimes squish between my toes, not the best way to start the day. This cat leaves but a few rabbit legs once in a while. Glad to hear pets have to consume a lot of poison to bother them. Once wondered if we had a rodent infestation. Had baby possums get into the poison boxes once. Couldn't figure out what ate all the poison until we set up a camera. Didn't seem to bother them at all, but they all look alike so no telling how many there were or if some died. Baby squirrel sized possums ate 32 bars of poison in 4 nights. Got them in squirrel traps.

There are many choices of Rat Poison. Works Best if you Pre-bait with non lethal to start. Some poisons require one feeding and rat will die. Some of those have no Anecdote. They all need to be put in lock bait stations. The others require several feedings. Hard to kill with those if they are also eating chicken feed or chickens. Vit K is anecdote for most. Heres a link with good description. read all the way down till you see secondary lethality. https://store.doyourownpestcontrol.com/contrac-blox-rodent-bait.
I recently got called to trap what they thought was mink killing chickens. Long story short, it was rats. Tried everything and Tomcat trap baited with almond started catching them.

Don't use poison. Birds of prey get sick. Raccoons, and Fox get sick & die. It's not worth it. Should be outlawed.

I have to agree, do not use poison. Try this make yourself a box about the size of a shoe box. Drill a hole in one end about a 1-1/4 inch and put a rat trap in it. Screw the rat trap to the box. Have a hook and eye for the lid so kids can not get inside to the trap. Safe, clean and can be put any place. Pets and not get at it our of site to the public. A rat will go in any hole it see's. JMO

A rat needs food and water every day. You'll have to remove the stuff he's eating first or he won't eat the bait. Clean up. I've heard them chirping at night sick, heading toward water i heard.