Natural Pet-Safe Rodent Poison With No-Kill Options

This recipe is for natural rat poison and mouse poison that’s safe for dogs and cats. You’ll be surprised when you find out how simple it is!

I keep chickens and goats and where you have livestock, you can get mice and rats. There were rats at our farm before we moved here and getting rid of them has been tough. I can’t use poison around the livestock since they may eat it, or the dead rodents. And traps only do so much so what can I do?

Luckily, I came across this natural rat and mouse poison recipe. And the good news is this rat poison is safe for dogs and cats, it works, and it involves zero chemicals!

Natural Rat Poison Secret Ingredient

The secret to this natural rat and mouse poison may amaze you. I know it did me. It’s salt! Yep, plain old table salt. It works in the rodents’ lower intestines, dehydrating them from the inside. Animals like chickens and goats digest their food differently so this won’t affect them, except to make them thirsty. And that has not been a concern. Besides salt, the recipe uses grains and peanut butter to entice the little critters to eat.

Natural Rat and Mouse Poison Bars

I used this to kill rats but you can also use them with mice. The bars are easy to make and store.

Ingredients

• 2 cups sweet feed, or birdseed, or anything else that mice and rats enjoy eating
• 1/3 cup salt (any kind will do, but finer grains blend easier)
• 1/4 to 1/2 cup peanut butter
• 1 egg

Instructions

1. Mix all the ingredients together. Peanut butter can vary from very stiff to loose and runny, so you may need more or less. Add just enough to get the dough to clump together.
2. Next, pat the dough out on a piece of parchment paper on a baking sheet. I make mine about 1/2 half-inch thick.
3. Now, cut into bar shapes or whichever shape you prefer and bake at 350°f for 30 minutes or so, just enough to set the dough.
4. Cool the natural rat poison bars and store them in a sealed container.

Notes

Be sure to mark what the bucket contains. Many times I’ve put something in a bucket, thinking that I’d remember later what it was, only to find that my memory has failed me!

Using Your Natural Rodent Poison

I take a few bars and place them in an old feed dish. Place the dish along a wall because mice and rats tend to run there for safety. I crumble them up a bit to make them easier to eat.

That’s all there is to it! You’ll need to replace the bars once in a while until you’ve eliminated most or all of the rodents. I have the best luck by using them for a few weeks, stopping for a while, then starting again.

The small amount of salt in this recipe may seem like it wouldn’t work as a natural rat poison, but it’s actually the optimum amount at a 2% ratio to the grain. This is just enough to kill the rodents without harming your livestock or wildlife. Also, you should not smell anything from the rodents that pass because the salt dehydrates them to the point at which no, or very little odor should be present.

Commercial Version

If you don’t want to make your own you can purchase MouseX and/or RatX. These commercial products are very similar to our recipe; they also use salt as the poison.

Alternative No-Kill Solution

Some people won’t kill pests even if they do cause problems with the animals or feed. For them, I’ve included this alternative solution.

If you don’t want to use the natural rat poison, you can use this trap approach.

Equipment

• 5-gallon bucket
• a metal rod like a shower curtain rod
• a drill,
• a drill bit large enough to make a hole the size of the metal rod and peanut butter.

Instructions

1. Make two holes opposite each other at the top of the bucket.
2. Thread your rod through, making sure that it can spin freely.
3. Apply a generous amount of peanut butter to the center of the rod. I leave a few swipes of peanut butter on the edge and even on the outside of the bucket. This will help draw them in.
4. Place the bucket where mice and rats can climb on top of the bucket. When they try to get to the peanut butter in the center of the rod, it will spin, dumping the rodent into the bucket.

Notes

The next day, take the bucket (I cover mine in case some try to jump out) to a field far away and let them go. I’ve done this numerous times and have had success with it. I never let them go where they can get into someone else’s home or barn, but rather a few miles away from people.

You can also purchase a commercial version of this trap.

Rodents are easy to control if you have this natural rat and mouse poison. And this rat poison is safe for dogs, cats, and livestock!

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Natural Pet-Safe Rodent Poison With No-Kill Options was written by Debra Maslowski.

* This article was originally published here