10 Best Rat Poisons in 2022
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Many cities are infested with rats, causing all sorts of problems in homes and commercial spaces. There are many different ways to dispose of rats, but one of the most effective options is to use rat poison. This is not a perfect and foolproof option, but as long as you make sure you’ve purchased the best rat poison available, you should be able to successfully exterminate problematic rodents and leave your home, store or another rat-infested environment 100% rat free in only a few days.
Choosing the best rat poison can be difficult, as different types of pest and different environments can require a wide range of various rodenticides in order to obtain an effective and complete kill. It is essential to consider such questions as to where you plan to put the poison, whether or not you have pets in your environment, and where the rat might go after being poisoned.
We’ve considered all of these questions when researching the best rodenticide available in 2022 for you, and have put together a list of our top 10 rat poisons in 2022 to help you choose the right option for your personal needs. No matter what your situation may be, there should be a great option in our list of best rat poison reviews below that could help you to exterminate your pests, bringing peace of mind and satisfaction in a matter of days.
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View the Best Rat Poison, Below.
- Best Overall: MOTOMCO Tomcat Mouse and Rat Pack Killer
- Farnam Just One Bite II Bait Pellet
- Best Value: D-Con Corner Fit Mouse Poison Bait Station
- NEOGEN RODENTICIDE Ramik Nuggets
- JT Eaton Rodenticide Anticoagulant Bait
- Pest Control Rat Traps
- Tomcat Rodent Station
- EcoClear Products RatX All-Natural Rat Poison
- Rat Zapper Ultra Rodent Trap
- Havoc Rodenticide Bait Place Packs
1. Best Overall: MOTOMCO Tomcat Mouse and Rat Pack Killer
The MOTOMCO Tomcat Mouse and Rat Pack Killer is a highly effective pellet rat poison. Containing human food-grade ingredients, the bait is exceptionally appealing to rodents and comes in an easily consumed size to maximize the chance of consumption. This type of rat poison pellet effectively attracts and kills rats and mice of any size, generally killing them in 4 to 6 days.
As a standard rat poison type, this bears the common risk of contamination, so it is important to find and dispose of the rodent corpses after extermination, as any predators that consume this poison could potentially be killed via secondary poisoning, causing a significant ecological impact if not used responsibly.
Killing rats effectively and relatively efficiently, the MOTOMCO Tomcat Mouse and Rat Pack Killer is a simple and straightforward way to exterminate rats and mice with minimal effort required.
Check Price on Amazon ➞2. Farnam Just One Bite II Bait Pellet
Designed specifically for use in and around agricultural buildings, the Farnam Just One Bite II Bait Pellet is not appropriate for domestic home rat poisoning use, and should only be used in an agricultural environment. This powerful rat poison can kill most rats and mice in a single feed, and even effectively works on warfarin resistant Norway rats, disposing of them with equal efficacy as it does to other rodents.
The pellets are designed with nibble ridges, promoting chewing from rats and house mice, and feature central holes to ensure compatibility with most leading brands of bait station to reduce the risk of accidental exposure.
Farnam Just One Bite II Bait Chunks are designed for powerful and efficient extermination in agricultural environments, effectively disposing of rat infestations in only a few days.
Check Price on Amazon ➞3. Best Value: D-Con Corner Fit Mouse Poison Bait Station
Featuring a secure bait station design with 20 bait refills included, the D Con Corner Fit Mouse Poison Bait Station is a small, compact poison station designed for mice and smaller rats. The secure design of the bait station ensures that household pets and children cannot be accidentally exposed to the poison, and the low profile weather resistant design ensures that this poison station can be used either inside or outside with no issues and minimal risk of environmental contamination.
In addition to this, the poison used in the D Con Corner Fit Mouse Poison Bait Station contains no neurotoxins or anticoagulants, significantly reducing the risk of secondary poisoning of predators or birds of prey.
The D Con Corner Fit Mouse Poison Bait Station is a safer rat poison distribution method that reduces the risk of accidental exposure and contamination of the environment significantly.
Check Price on Amazon ➞4. NEOGEN RODENTICIDE Ramik Nuggets
The Neogen Rodenticide Ramik Nuggets are exceptionally versatile rodent poison pellets for use in any environment necessary. Formulated to kill voles as well as the more common rats and mice, this rat poison option comprehensively exterminates most common home and agricultural pests with no need for more specialist traps and poisons.
These pellets are formulated for indoor and outdoor use, providing far better results in poor weather and damp or wet environments than most competing brands of rat poison pellets and making them an exceptionally good choice for outdoor rat poisoning use.
Most forms of rat poison will dissolve in wet environments, but the Neogen rodenticide Ramik Nuggets are specially formulated to remain whole and effective even in wet or damp areas.
Check Price on Amazon ➞5. JT Eaton Rodenticide Anticoagulant Bait
Coming in larger blocks than the more standard pellet type of rat poison bait, the JT Eaton Rodenticide Anticoagulant Bait is a powerful and effective anticoagulant rodent poison ideally suited for most species of smaller rodent. This large 9 lb pail contains 144 bait blocks in a peanut butter flavor that effectively attracts rodents in order to eliminate them, containing a powerful anticoagulant poison to kill via internal bleeding in only a few days.
JT Eaton Rodenticide Anticoagulant Bait blocks effectively attract rats and mice and eliminates them, making this type of bait block a good choice for most situations and users.
Check Price on Amazon ➞6. Pest Control Rat Traps
This set of 6 Pest Control Rat Traps from Kat Sense offers efficient, humane, and sanitary rodent killing power in a user-friendly and reusable package. The body of this design of rat trap is made from extra sturdy polystyrene, promising an easy to use, easy to clean functionality that will continue to operate at peak efficiency for years to come.
The base of the rat traps includes an integrated bait cup, designed to securely house whatever your chosen bait may be in order to lure rodents under the killing arm, allowing easy attraction and elimination of entire infestations of unwanted rodents.
While most spring-loaded kill traps cause mess and blood in the process of killing a rat, the Pest Control Rat Traps by Kat Sense provide carefully calculated force to efficiently kill a rat without breaking the skin.
Check Price on Amazon ➞7. Tomcat Rodent Station
The Tomcat Rodent Station is a versatile, safety minded rodent killing option suitable for a wide range of different situations. The body of this station is small but has enough room to insert either poison bait or snap traps for exterminating rats or mice.
This allows you to dispose of rodents in whatever manner seems most appropriate to you without worrying about children or pets becoming accidentally exposed to the traps, as the Tomcat Rodent Station safely encloses any trap necessary, keeping it away from anything other than a rat or mouse.
The risk of children and pets becoming accidentally exposed to rat poison and traps is a major disadvantage of most extermination options, and the Tomcat Rodent Station's helpful avoidance of this problem makes it an excellent choice for those with pets or children.
Check Price on Amazon ➞8. EcoClear Products RatX All-Natural Rat Poison
The EcoClear Products RatX All Natural Rat Poison is a rat poison option formulated specifically to kill mice and rats, with no risk of harm to people, pets, or other wildlife. There is no risk of secondary poisoning to predators or birds of prey that consume the poisoned rats, helping to reduce the ecological impact of the rat poison.
This specific formulation gives a narrower range of uses, as gophers, moles and voles have a different digestive system from rats and mice and therefore will not be affected by this brand of rat poison; if your pests are anything other than rats and mice, you will require an alternative extermination option.
By eliminating the risk of secondary poisoning or contamination, the EcoClear Products RatX All Natural Rat Poison effectively removes one of the main issues with most rat poison options, helping it to stand out above the crowd.
Check Price on Amazon ➞9. Rat Zapper Ultra Rodent Trap
Rather than requiring rat poison pellets like a more traditional rat trap, the Rat Zapper Ultra Rodent Trap kills rats in a 100% mess free manner with powerful electric shocks. This model of rat trap is large enough and features a powerful enough electrical current to kill even larger rodents with ease, and the closed design allows for no touch, no view disposal, meaning that you do not even have to see the rat during disposal of the body.
This is a far more humane type of trap than poison traps or spring-loaded traps, efficiently killing rats with no prolonged suffering. In addition to this, it also keeps the body contained inside the body of the trap, rather than leaving the rat running free to die elsewhere in your home.
The Rat Zapper Ultra Rodent Trap is a powerful and efficient electronic rat killing trap that humanely exterminates rats with no poison needed and no need to touch or see the rats, making it an excellent choice for more squeamish users.
Check Price on Amazon ➞10. Havoc Rodenticide Bait Place Packs
While most anticoagulant rat poisons require multiple feeds to kill rats and mice, the Havoc Rodenticide Bait Place Pack promises a high enough dosage of poison to kill most rodents in a single night's feeding with no need for additional poison or traps. This powerful anticoagulant rat poison is contained in small pellets inside a paper bag, making it easy to deliver to rodents; simply place a bag of pellets in a high rodent traffic area, and the bait will attract rats or mice and dispose of them with ease.
This product is a mixture of brodifacoum anticoagulant poison and a special formulation of attractive bait ingredients, combining a high attraction rate with a powerful poisoning effect.
Killing far more efficiently than most anticoagulant rodenticide products, the Havoc Rodenticide Bait Place Packs are an efficient and powerful choice for getting rid of pests quickly and simply.
Check Price on Amazon ➞Rat Poison Buyer’s Guide
Pets and Rat Poison
If you have cats, dogs, or other free-roaming pets that might encounter the poison directly or consume the rats after they have been poisoned, you should always avoid using any type of rat poison. The risk of accidental collateral damage with most types of rat poison is significant, and for the safety of your pets (or small children!), it is essential to avoid this risk entirely by using non-toxic methods to eliminate a problematic pest infestation.
Safety Precautions
Rat poisons are designed to kill rats and other pests, meaning that they contain a range of unpleasant toxins. While some rat poison options are formulated to be specific to rodents and have no effect on other creatures, many contain broad-spectrum toxins that can cause illness or, more likely, death in other animals that consume the poison.
This can also apply to secondary poisoning; if a rat eats poisoned bait and then a hawk or other predator eats that rat, then the poison will enter the bloodstream of the predator and will in all likelihood kill it. This means that rat poisons used without care can cause a significant ecological impact, killing far more than just the rats.
As such, it is essential that you follow all safety directions for use on the packaging of your rat poison. These directions will always be present, as they are required by US Environmental Protection Agency regulations. If your chosen rat poison does not feature these instructions, then it does not conform to these regulations and could contain all sorts of dangerous and environmentally harmful substances and should not be used under any circumstances.
If you have cats or other free-roaming pets on your property, you should avoid using any type of rat poison, as the risk of cross-contamination or accidental exposure is significant no matter how carefully you use your poisons.
Dosages
All poisons have specific lethal doses, meaning that you need a particular amount in order to kill the target. The problem here is that rats and mice are very different sizes and have different physiologies, despite both being rodents, and therefore the lethal dose of each poison required to kill them will differ between mice and rats.
As a result of this, it is essential to determine what type of pest you are dealing with before purchasing a poison; if you have mice, then use a mouse poison, but if you have rats, then use a poison formulated especially for killing rats. The size of the droppings you find in your home can provide a good indication of what type of pest you are dealing with, with rat droppings being noticeably larger than those of mice.
How Does Rat Poison Work?
Different types of rat poison work in different ways, killing rats in a wide range of different manners. Some types of rat poison contain the toxin bromethalin, which interacts with the mitochondria of the rodents’ cells, inhibiting their ability to produce energy and effectively shutting down their bodies completely.
Other rat poisons contain zinc phosphide, a toxin approved only for use in agricultural areas and not appropriate (or legal) for domestic use, which causes a reaction in the stomach acids of rats and mice, causing the production of toxic gases, which build up until the rodent in question dies.
A third common type of rat poison is that which contains calcium releasers, adding an excessive amount of calcium to the bloodstreams of rodents that consume this type of poison and causing organ failure and death. The most common type of calcium releaser rat poison is vitamin D3, a safe option that carries no risk of secondary poisoning in the event that the rat is consumed by a predator, and therefore having a minimal ecological impact outside of the targeted rodents.
The final, and most common, type of rat poison contains anticoagulants. These cause internal bleeding when consumed, causing the rat to die slowly. These require a relatively high dosage in order to work, and often need the rat to consume several doses of poison in order to take effect.
In addition to this, the risk of collateral damage from anticoagulants is significant, as they are not specific to rodents in any way and can cause death in a wide range of smaller animals and other health problems in larger creatures.
What is in Rat Poison?
There are many different types of rat poison, but all of them are made from some sort of rodenticide and a delivery method to encourage the rats to consume the poison. These delivery methods include forms such as pellets, poisoned seeds, powders for mixing with water, or larger paraffin wax based blocks.
The three main types of rodenticide found in rat poison are calcium releasers, which cause organ failure, acute toxins, which build up levels of toxic substances in the bodies of the rats, and anticoagulants, which prevent vitamin K production and cause internal bleeding.
All of these are unpleasant substances, and most are not specific to rats, giving a high risk of secondary poisoning, ecological damage, and cross-contamination. As such, rat poison should only be used as a last resort when more humane options with less risk of collateral damage have been exhausted with no success.
How long Does Rat Poison take to kill a Rat?
The length of time it takes for rat poison to kill a rat depends on the size of the rat and the type and age of the poison, with older rat poisons that have been left in the cupboard for a while generally being less effective and taking longer to kill rats. In general, though, most rat poisons take an average of 2 to 3 days to kill a rat as long as it has eaten enough of the poison. 4 to 6 days is perhaps a more realistic expectation, as rats will not always eat enough of the poison for full efficacy.
In order to speed up the process of a rat’s death as far as possible, there are a number of steps you can take to encourage the rat to consume as much poison as possible. Placing the poison in the optimal position and making sure that you remove any spoiled poison as soon as possible can make a difference, as can removing all other potential food sources in order to direct the rats towards the poison.
It is also important to always put the poison in the same place, as most rodents are driven by familiarity and are much less likely to try to eat something unexpected that they do not recognize.
Expert Tip
Many types of rat poison can cause secondary poisoning of predators and birds of prey that consume contaminated rats. Looking out for wildlife safe rat poisons can significantly reduce the ecological impact of your rat poisoning activities!
Did you know?
Decomposing dead rats can give off a powerful and unpleasant odor, so when using rat poison, it is important to find and dispose of the bodies as quickly as possible!