The poisons we sell are anticoagulants that reduce the ability of the rats blood to clot. Rats need to feed several times on a Difenacoum poison for it to take a lethal effect. This means you have to regularly check and top-up your rat poison to ensure an adequate dose is always available. Our Bromadiolone and Brodifacoum based poisons can kill in one feed. These latter rat poisons are generally in block or sachet form.
Difenacoum is a compound that was developed to deal with warfarin-resistant rodents and can be used indoors or outdoors.It is a multi-feed compound as used in our Rat Poison 1Kg packs
Bromadiolone has a higher toxicity to rodents than many other anticoagulants and can be used indoors or outdoors.It kills warfarin resistant rats and is effective in one feeding. Can be used in wet or dry conditions in block or pellet form. Bromadiolone is used in our Contrac Rat Poison Sachets
Brodifacoum is the most potent of the anticoagulants and it can be effective in one feed. It is approved for indoor use only. It is available if you contact us and is advised for professional use only
Wheat Based Poison
Wheat based poisons are the cheapest to buy and usually contain difenacoum. They work well but should not be used where they could be found by poultry or birds. You should not use wheat based poisons in open bait trays outdoors. Open bait trays are too dangerous to use outdoors anyway.
Use wheat based rat poison in locked bait station boxes. Topping the boxes up is a chore and you can prevent spillage of the rat poison by paying a little more and buying it in sachet form Rat Poison Sachet. Always anchor you bait box with wire or a brick to prevent it being knocked and spilling bait.
Block Based Poison
Rat poison in block form has many advantages. Rats and mice like to knaw and find it very appealing. Block bait is easy to handle and is more weather-proof than wheat based products. Poison spillage is also very unusual if you use bait boxes with wire block holders in them. If you are baiting in a garden where pets or children are present you should use block bait in a good quality lockable rat bait box.
Rat poison blocks can also be threaded on home-made wire hooks and hung under floorboards, down drains and in other locations where a rat poison bait box cannot be placed. Make the wire hook easy to retrieve so that you can check that bait is being taken. Our rat poison blocks can be bought in 36 Block Packs of Rat Poison or 12 Block Packs of Rat Poison. We also stock 8Kg drums of block bait for the commercial user.
Try not to use rat poison indoors (especially near food) as the rats may die under your floors or in your wall cavities. Whenever possible use a good quality rat trap. Humane rat cage traps are not normally practical for indoor use because of their bulk. The best solution is to kill the rats using a conventional trap such as a Quick Click Rat Trap and afterwards keep the premises rat free using a good rat repeller.
Look for evidence of rat droppings and check whether these are a mixture of large and small that indicates a breeding family. The entry point for the rats is usually through pipe-work gaps in kitchens or other holes such as air-bricks. If you know the entry point, block it with wire mesh (a brillo-pad can be improvised) .
Bait your rat traps with our specialist rat bait or bacon for example. Set the rat traps around the known entry point (outside the building if you have blocked the entry) or where you found the rat droppings. If you have seen several rats you should set a number of rat traps.
The rat traps are most likely to be triggered at night. Check them before retiring and check them again each morning. If you trap no rats, try another bait and/or move the trap to another location. If you still have rat droppings and no trapped rats, they still have access to a better food source somewhere. If you have no rat droppings and no trapped rats you have successfully excluded them from your premises.
If your rat problem is large and rat traps will not cut the numbers quickly enough you can try rat glue traps. These are not pleasant and are for professional use, but they are effective and easy to place. You must check these at least twice a day and deal humanely with the trapped rats.
The most common food sources for outdoor rats are bird-feeders, food compost heaps or animal feed troughs. Remove bird-feeders and food compost heaps before starting a baiting or trapping programme otherwise the rats will bypass your traps and bait.
Do not use open bait trays outdoors always use rat bait boxes. The wheat based rat baits are not weatherproof and open trays harm wildlife such as birds and hedgehogs.
Take care to select the position for your rat traps or rat bait boxes. Rats like to run along the side of walls and fences where there is plant or debris cover. If you have seen rats and noted their path, place your poison or trap along it, so that the rats will naturally run through the trap or bait box.
Check bait boxes each day and move them if bait is not being taken.
Once there is active feeding inspect and load the bait box with fresh rat poison each day. There will come a time (usually within 7 to 10 days) when bait will stop being taken. Keep laying fresh bait and inspecting the bait boxes for at least another week.
Once bait has not been taken for a week you can assume the problem is past. The rat bait tube poison holder makes it easy to see at a glance whether rat bait is taken.
Outdoor rat traps are very effective against the young population who are not as wary as the adults. It is useful to set at least one trap along with your rat poison, just to knock down the young rats and confirm that you are baiting in the correct location. Our rat traps work really well with our non-poisonous rat bait.
Rat cage traps work well outdoors with certain limitations. Use them with weatherproof rat poison blocks or with bait such as bacon which is durable. Put a little bait at the entrance to the trap to tempt the rats in. If the cage is on soft soil, bed it in a little to make it appear more natural. Rat cage traps are good at capturing adult rats. Small young rats can enter rat cage traps and not trigger the door if they are lucky.
If your rat cage trap has not been triggered but the bait has gone, young rats are the most likely reason. Using a conventional rat trap along with a rat cage trap will generally cover all the options.
Leave traps baited for at least a week after the last catch before concluding that you have dealt with the rat infestation.
Poisoned rats will sometimes be found out in the open around your property, but most will die out of sight in their nest or burrows. All dead rats you find should immediately be double bagged and placed in a sealed rubbish bin. Leaving rat poison around endangers pets, wildlife and birds of prey.
