Subject: rat poison
Date: Mar 13 14:36:40 2003
From: Michael Dossett - phainopepla at yahoo.com


On a side note, some rats are resistant to warfarin so
there are other poisons out there which are blood
coagulants which causes the rat to die of a heart
attack after getting blood clots. In any event its
important to know what the active ingrediant is and
what the possible effects might be for any type of
poison which is put out.

Plain 'ole spring loaded rat traps while slightly
messier also do the job nicely and don't require the
use of poison.

Michael Dossett
Bothell, WA
Phainopepla at yahoo.com


--- Michael Donahue <mgd at u.washington.edu> wrote:
> Rat poison is warfarin (also known as coumadin)
> which is a blood thinner. It works by not weakening
> rats per se, but by thinning their blood so that
> when they're squeezing through tight spaces, blood
> vessels in the skin break and rats bleed to death.
> Matter of fact, that seems to be the cause of the
> major complaint I've heard about warfarin: rats end
> up dying in people's walls and stink!
>
> Warfarin is also taken by humans to help prevent
> blood clots. The medication needs to be taken every
> day in order to maintain a therapeutic effect, i.e.
> it has a rather short half life. I'd be the first
> one to caution against secondary poisoning, but I'm
> not sure rat poison is an instance where other
> animals are at risk.
>
> I'm very happy to hear from Jamie that Barred Owls
> are feasting on rats!
>
> Mike Donahue
> Seattle
>


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