Tag Archives: rat extermination

Effects of Rat Poisoning

get rid of rats

In order to become licensed foster care parents in our state, my husband and I were forced to completely reevaluate the safety of our home, and learn all kinds of fun facts like the effects of rat poisoning in the body.  So, we put safety covers on all the electrical outlets, installed child safety gates on the stairs, and quickly locked up all the poisons in the home.

Learning about the effects of rat poisoning on the body left us particularly cold, thinking about all the awful things a child would go through if they get into anything poisonous, especially rat poison.  I thought the idea of having a rat in the house was bad enough, with all the diseases it carries, the parasites that can infest your home, its destructive capabilities, and the contamination from its droppings.  But, the products used to poison rats can do terrible things to humans and pets.

Rat poison is basically a blood thinner, because it reduces the levels of vitamin K in the blood.  Vitamin K affects the blood’s ability to clot, so when you seriously reduce it, the body bleeds abnormally.  This means whoever ingests it can bleed from their nose and mouth, they can have bad diarrhea or vomiting streaked with blood, they get extremely dizzy and lethargic because their blood is too thin, and death is most likely from hemorrhaging or heart complications.  It’s awful to think about any animal experiencing the effects of rat poisoning, but when it comes to a loved one, an innocent child or a pet, it’s horrific.

Incidentally, it can take days before a rat feels the effects of rat poisoning.  Rats are extremely intelligent, and quickly learn to avoid dangerous or harmful food or situations.  Since it can be days before they feel the poison’s effect, they continue to eat the poisoned food source, thereby ensuring they consume enough to finally kill them.

Unfortunately, it can also mean a child or pet may not experience the effects of rat poisoning in their body for days.  And, if the child is too young to communicate what they ate or how they’re feeling, it can mean the parent doesn’t know to get them help until it’s too late.  Or, a parent may discover a child has consumed some rat poison, but won’t do anything about it right away, because they don’t see any immediate symptoms.

The instant you suspect a child has ingested any amount of rat poison, get immediate emergency help.  You can also contact the National Poison Control Center at 1-800-222-1222 anytime night or day.

My husband and I really looked forward to becoming licensed foster care workers, and we locked up things like paint and oil for the car.  But, we completely got rid of the rat poison.  It was too risky.  Instead, if we ever have a rat problem, we will get a professional exterminator out to our house.  I just couldn’t bear the thought of any child in our care accidentally consuming it.  Better to just let a professional handle a rat problem if and when we ever needed it.

Rat Problem

get rid of rats

It’s a rare sunny day in the middle of a long winter, and you decide to enjoy the break in the weather by relaxing a little in your backyard.  You take the cover off the deck chair, settle down with a hot cup of cocoa and watch the dog run around.  But, then, your frolicking dog changes his behavior.  He’s barking wildly at the gas grill, nose to the ground, running back and forth.  Curious, you approach, grab a large stick, thrust it under the grill, and leap back in shock as a huge Norway rat streaks out and runs under the fence, barely missing your dog’s snapping jaws.  You throw the stick down in disgust.  This isn’t the first rat you’ve seen on your property.  In fact, lately, there’s been a lot of them, more than normal.

How could you possibly have a rat problem?  You keep a clean yard, a clean home.  This is a nice neighborhood, so why are there so many rats?

Residents of an upscale neighborhood in Salt Lake City, Utah are asking themselves the same question, and some think they have the answer.  Recently, Chevron Oil cleaned up an oil spill in Red Butte Creek, running right through the neighborhood.  Some people believe the remediation displaced the rats and they fled to their backyards and homes.  Others believe this is just a natural cycle to rat populations.  A 1948 study found that undisturbed rats populations naturally fluctuate in numbers, but found no consistent trends.  In other words, it is normal for rat populations to surge from time to time, and no one knows why.

So, was the Chevron oil spill cleanup to blame for the upsurge of rats along Red Butte Creek in Salt Lake City, Utah?  What about people all across the country who notice there are more rats than normal in their area?

Whether you have 20 rats or just one in your home, business, yard or commercial property, there are a few things you should know.  They are not just “socially unacceptable” creatures.  They can transmit diseases, such as rat-bite fever, to humans.  They often have parasites such as fleas, ticks, mites or worms, which then infest your home or business, and which can transmit other diseases, such as Lyme disease.  They can get into your building through a hole no bigger than a half quarter.  As rodents, they must continually chew things in order to keep their teeth filed down, so they’ll chew through plastic, soft metals and wiring, which damages your property and creates a fire hazard.  They can nest in vents, which contaminates the air you breathe.  They contaminate your food and water sources.  Outside, they’ll burrow up to 4 vertical feet under ground, and tunnel through yards and gardens, destroying grass and plants.  They’ll eat bulbs and vegetables out of the garden.  And they attract predators onto your property, which cause further damage or safety risk.

If there is a rat population upsurge caused by something like a new housing development or an oil spill clean up, you may be at a higher risk of finding one or more in your home or business.  Upsurge or not, though, it is important to get a professional wildlife removal service to get rid of the rats, safely clean up after them, seek out entry points and seal them up to prevent the rats from returning, and properly clean up the disease-bearing urine and feces out of your business or home.

Get Rid of Rats

rat removal

These people, these cats, dogs and stupid birds all think they know how to get rid of rats, but the only way I’m leaving my home is if a real professional rat trapper comes in here and drags me out, kicking and screaming.  I’ve been here long enough to have established my residency, so they can just kiss my little furry rat tail if they think they can run me out.

I was drawn to this place when I was a young rat.  There’s a feed mill nearby, and even though it was tough to get inside the mill itself, because it was protected against me and my friends like they harbored told inside, there was still enough grain that blew away in the wind, fell, or was left out long enough for us to feast like kings.  Our lean days were over.  Not only that, but there was a perfect little farm nearby, with lots of perfect places in which to nest.  While some of my bolder friends chose to dangerously nest inside of the barn, I preferred a tunnel and burrow in the ground, under a nut tree.  The people who own the place got rid of the rats inside the barn, but there are still a few of us around who remember what it was like to live in the fields, chased by the machines and cats, and merely hoping we could enjoy a meager meal each day.

The feed mill still operates, but the barn cats, the guard dogs, and the rat traps that people set out got rid of most of the rats long ago.  There are still a few of us that were wiser in our choice of home, and are more secure.  We feast, and I admit, I’ve gotten fatter than I’d like, but I’m still lightning fast and can strike quickly when I need to.

Recently, a huge flock of blackbirds discovered the feed mill, and realized there wasn’t as much competition for the food as exists in other places.    It started out with just a few birds, which didn’t bother me much.  But, birds talk and yammer more than any other creature I know, and before long, there were hundreds here, gossiping and cawing and taking over the place.  They acted like they discovered it first.

Until then, my little burrow under the tree had been a perfectly quiet spot.  Then, it was taken over by these bird pests, and they got increasingly more aggressive.  Before I knew it, they were eating all the feed before I had a chance to get to it, and they were guarding the entrance to my burrow to keep me from getting out.  What wild cats, guard dogs and rat traps had failed to do, these birds just might pull off.  They were going to get rid of rats just by being annoying.

Fine, I’m going to fight for it.  Show these birds who’s boss.  That’s why this morning, I crept up to the entrance of my burrow with all the stealth I could muster, and then pounced on one of those annoying birds!  Made the other ones think, I can assure you.  Like I said, it’ll take a professional trapper to get rid of this rat.