How long does rat poison take to work?

[sphil]

Or is that a 'how long is a piece of string' question?

First saw Ratty in the courtyard at the back of our house a month ago. It was completely my fault - put some old scones out for the birds and it attracted some blackbird fledglings, so kept doing it - might has well have put up a big ' Cream Teas For Rats' sign . Put out poison in three different places along the route where he/them seemed to be running. When we had them before (two years ago) I'm sure this worked in about two weeks, but although two bowls are now remaining untouched, one bowl still has a few pellets taken from it every other night or so. I saw Rat every day for four days after we put the poison down, but haven't seen any signs since then.

I guess this just means there are lots of them [yuk] There's nothing else that could be eating it, is there?

Oh and another question - if I keep the kitchen door open during the day, how likely
are they to come in? I've been keeping it firmly shut up to now, but am sweltering!

Have exactly the same problem and am about to put poison down (now that council charge a fortune for it).

Don't they go off somewhere to die? Not sure how much they need to eat before it kills them.

Have same worry about back door - also not enjoying sitting in the garden at the moment!

We have guinea pigs in the passageway to the courtyard, which I'm sure is part of the problem, as however much we clean up after them, they always kick a bit of food out of their hutches. So I have to go out to feed them (am making DH clean them out atm though!)

If there is only one rat, he's eaten a ton of poison and still not died

Oh dear, really feel for you. Suspect our recurring rat problem is neighbour's guinea pig and compost heap plus lots of streams running through village.

Back garden is only place to park so I have to make lots of noise when approaching the house in the hope that they'll run away [wimp emoticon]. DH doesn't believe they exist as he's never seen them.

Council pest control told me it took about 8 days for the rats to die - haven't seen a dead one yet, though. We have a similar problem (guinea pigs and all) and did have rats under the shed. Then the rats stopped taking the poison but my neighbour kept seeing them in her garden. The poison was taken last week, but then not again, so we may just have rogue 'fly-by-night' rats slipping in from the back alley for a quick poison snack!

Lol - reckon we must have the rogue fly by night ones too. You'd think they'd learn wouldn't you?
Oh well, at least we don't seem to have the bold-as-brass-skipping-round-the-garden ones any more...

Poison is disgusting you should be ashamed of yourself. You people need to realise rats have feelings. How can you actually live knowing that something is in unimaginable pain for 2 or more days???? You women need to sort your heads out.

Of course invite them in! In fact.. Lets allow them in restaurants..why shouldn't they be allowed? Rats need to dine too..
Ridiculous! They are vermin!

I sleep fine at night btw...

The only way to be sure is get a cage trap and bait with meat. If the rat is about it will come for the meat and be caught in the trap. I then humanely kill them once they are in the cage trap.

MoreBeta, how did you catch them in your cage trap? Where did you put the cage trap? We have had a cage trap out for 2 weeks now, mainly because we are not sure if the "visitor" is a rat or squirrel and it is apparently illegal to poison a squirrel, according to the helpful man from the Council, but we have not caught anything and I am getting desperate.

Do not leave your door open, they will come in. I left vegetable peelings and cabbage leaves in a bag for the compost heap-on my draining board! They came in and took some. They also climbed into the fruit bowl and took quite reasonable sized apples off.
Good luck.

As you are obviously keen on rats I will trap as many as possible and bring them over to your place. Just send address.

lord have mercy .. I saw one dart across my living room quicker then Usain Bolt , then a little grey one too .. I live in the country and never had this before I feel so sick knowing there around put stuff down and traps not that I and got one 1-0 thinking I had got one of them but turns out there is a few more , , i put poison under the sink and I'm sure they just go in it and do a dance and trot back off , i hear squeaking and more squeaking , i read that this is what baby mice do when the mother has left them or the other one is pretty much f**king and grooming and having more , i might consider a flame throw and grenade and rocket launcher at this rat .. i think its ridiculing me as i type this because its squeaking more and more

How rude is this person. Never mind the fact that we have had a rat running around our back garden for the last two weeks has made me quite ill. It is her that should ashamed of herself for putting rodents before human beings. What would she suggest then, letting them breed and run wild ??? And what about little ones being abled to play in their garden without these horrible vermin running around. As the lady said I would be happy for her to have them brought to her house to deal with or perhaps she would like to come and get rid of it herself !!!!

My NDN and I were feedings what we thought was a hedgehog that visited our two gardens on a night (we had just seen a shadow pitter-pattering by, and we delighted at the thought of dear little Charlie Prickles choosing our sheds to kip under etc. We took turns putting out cat food for our spine lodger.

Then one sleepless night I got up for a cuppa tea, and the dogs started going crackers "Oooh!" I thought "It's Charlie".

To my horror he was sitting there, on the edge of the food bowl, long scaley tail and sharp pointy nose - the biggest, fattest, sleekest RAT I had ever seen! He was bliddy massive! And I swear to God he gave me a thumbs up!

I let the dogs out but he was off like a shot.

We got the council out - every time they put poison out, he disappeared. When they took it in, he came back (he started coming out during the day and could often be seen on the bird table complaining about the quality of the peanuts.

We envisaged him bringing home a nice little lady rat and starting a family - the prospect was horrendous. Then NDN's jack russell got him (Well done Gizmo! You are a star!")

Rats and mice do not feel any pain when they are subjected to rodent poison. The poison thins their blood in the same way as warfarine does in humans. They get internal bleeding which results in heart and lung failure and their death in painless.

Completely agree with you @Fedupofignoranttits. But they will never see past their own tiny lives.

How can you think poison is inhumane. With the diseases they carry and being nasty rodents.

Ratty used to run up and down the lane (caught him on video), droppings on the patio. Then he came into the kitchen, explored and left. Now I keep door firmly shut. My husband caught him by making a barrel contraption with a roller smeared with peanut butter. He crawled along the roller and as it swivelled he fell into the oily base. Couldn't get out and drowned!

As I type this I’m lead in bed listening to the sounds of rats in the ceiling 😩 I live in a small row of houses and they got into an empty property two doors down and made their way through half the row. The most activity is in the house next to me and the cavities of the wall connecting my house to theirs, and in the loft. Pest man came out yesterday and has put poison down in the loft of the house next door as he said that’s where they seem to be gathering. It’s keeping me awake at night. Poison isn’t nice stuff, lets be honest (I was given a disclaimer saying it can harm the female reproductive system) but at the end of the day, these rats carry diseases. As others have said, what’s the alternative, let them run riot? My Nan always tells us a story of when she had her babies in the 50s, a baby was brought into the ward because a rat had been attracted to the smell of milk and chewed its lip. Living thing, yes, but harmful beyond belief to humans? Absolutely. It’s necessary.

Having seen one struggling and dying in my garden last night I totally agree that humane ways need to be used. It's a suffering creature whether you label it vermin or not. Wasn't so long ago that cats were treated with the same contempt and in some ways still are. That's why it's considered OK to run over a cat and not report it. Which is also disgusting.