Cookies Anyone?
Since D-Con rat poison isn't being sold in the State of NO anymore, I was looking for alternatives. I brought it up here before and at least a couple readers offered some homespun suggestions for rat poison. Borax seemed an easy one to try since we already had some out in the laundry room. Other suggestions are using plaster of paris or powdered concrete.
I tried a borax/ cornmeal mixture some months ago. Equal parts borax and cornmeal, mixed together with milk. I didn't cook it, just setting the little doughballs in a tray under the house. Rats didn't seem interested first few times I tried it and I threw them away after they got all rotten. Then the last few doughballs disappeared the night after I placed them out. Not sure if it killed any rats, or not.
Gave up on it for a while, until we started hearing rats underneath the house and in the attic. Yesterday I asked the wife to get some cookie mix at the store so I could try that with borax. She already had a small package so we used that and baked up some up.
Just a quarter cup or so of borax with the small amount of cookie mix in the package. It made maybe a dozen cookies. Hope that's enough borax.
Put three of the smaller ones in the tray under the house yesterday afternoon. They were gone by 10am this morning. I just put two larger ones in. Let's see if they disappear, too. Then we'll see if the joyful sound of rats prancing around the house stops.
I'm not sure if they live here all the time. I didn't hear them consistently until the last few weeks- well, maybe months. I'd usually put D-Con out and it would sit undisturbed for weeks. Then you'd see them feeding on it and I'd replenish the bait until they stopped feeding. You wouldn't hear any rats for some time after that. I get the impression they rove around until they find a nice place to stay.
What gets me is we have four cats that frequent our yard. You'd think they'd get at least some of them, but I've never found a cat killed rat, with maybe the exception of one many years ago.
I was just reading this morning of a recipe of just mixing borax with chicken broth. Then you just lay the doughballs out where the rats frequent. I'll probably try that next time. In the meantime, cookies anyone?
posted by Fred Mangels @ 2:16 PM
6 comments
6 Comments:
It's worth a try.
I use these little green balls you can get at Nilsens or green squares from schafers. The balls worked wonders.
You should make them in a wierd shape so some idiot or child doesn't think they're really cookies.
I was thinking of something along that line. Maybe using a black dye so they'd seem very unappealing. But, Connie knows and we rarely have visitors, although I suppose if there's someone sleeping under the house I don't know about...
Connie said she heard the rats in the attic last night. I got up this morning and it was very quiet. Then when I was in the bathroom I could hear it or them above me, but they weren't moving around much. Heard a couple noises later and that's about it. Went out and checked my bait station this morning and the two big cookies I had in the tray were gone. I'll put out two or three more today.
Maybe they're not feeling good, but I'm worried I might not have used enough borax. Still, too early to say for sure.
Maybe rats and humans just need to find a way to interact that is beneficial to both. Rats--friends! Just kidding.
Post a Comment
<< Home