If you are looking for the answer to the question “does baking soda kill rats?” — you might already have a severe infestation in your house. This article will help you to find the best way to use bicarbonate of soda to get rid of the pests in your house. Almost everyone has baking soda in the kitchen. This is an affordable instrument without any toxicity. Although it is widely used in bakeries, this product has a huge impact on rodents. If you are trying to figure out what kills rats instantly, you come to the right place. Use the information to get rid of rodents in your home for good.
Using Baking Soda Against Rats
Bicarbonate of soda kills rats only when they ingest it. It can’t kill the rodent by its smell. Moreover, rats can hardly recognize the smell. Instead, they consume the poison with their favorite food. The stomach produces large amounts of gas, which kills rats from inside.
Guide to Baking Soda Effect on Rats
If you are looking for DIY rat poison, pay attention to baking soda or sodium bicarbonate. This remedy has been used by homeowners against pests for ages. The lack of toxic chemicals makes it family-friendly. To kill rats with sodium bicarbonate, you have to find out the most suitable way for you.
How Baking Soda Works
Baking soda is something we usually associate with pastry, not with a powerful weapon against rats. This is why using baking soda as a poison might confuse lots of us. Yet, bicarbonate is a tool you can’t miss in your fight against rodents. While it is totally harmless for people, it is deadly dangerous for rats.
Before you learn all about the baking soda rat killer and how to use it, you need to understand that it is not the easiest way to eliminate rats. The powder gets inside the intestines, causing the blockage. It reacts with the acids inside the stomach and creates carbon dioxide gas. Rat can’t pass the newly created gas and explodes from inside.
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Natural Immunity
Pay attention to the fact that there are rare cases of rats resistant to baking soda. Some rats have a strong immune system and the ability to adapt to any conditions. If rats were feeding on bicarbonate of soda in small amounts for some time, they might have immunity to it. It works similarly to any other poison rats eat. The pests can easily get accustomed to them if they try the poison in small portions in the first place. It complicates your task.
Amount Matters
You will not be able to kill rats with just a few drops of baking soda. You need to make sure that the rat ate 0.7 or 0.10 ounces of the poison. Apart from that, it must be consumed in a short period of time. Nothing will happen if the rat eats it piece by piece. On the contrary, small amounts of baking soda can help rats to produce immunity to it. Don’t give the pest enough time to recover.
While the plan sounds simple, it is not quite right. Why will rats eat sodium bicarbonate? This substance does not attract pests and does not have a pleasant smell so rats can’t resist it. Moreover, rats have a natural feeling of poison and prefer to stay away from it. Unlike bleach, baking soda does not have an extreme odor to scare rodents far from the house. So, all you can do is try to feed the powder to the pest. The best plan is to find food that no rat can resist. You have to mix the soda inside and see whether the rodent eats it or not.
Slow Death
Prepare yourself to witness painful and slow rat death. It does not happen in a minute. How long does it take a mouse to die from baking soda? The creature can stay alive for weeks. During the whole time, you will see rats running around the house, trying to survive. Before it dies, the rat hides. Once the rat is dead, you have to find the corpse and get rid of it. If the corpse starts to decay, you will have numerous problems with the smell inside the house. If you miss the time, you will lose the track of the rat, and it will hide in a place you will not find. Some rats prefer to live inside the walls, so it will be challenging to get the corpse out.
Don’t expect to see all your problems gone in a moment. Once a rat dies, there are other relatives present there. Baking soda can’t be transmitted from one rodent to another. You need to make all the rats in your house eat the poison. If you stuff it into rats’ favorite food, you can expect that some of them will eat it but not all. After this case, they will be more careful and avoid making the same mistake. You will have to change the strategy.
Once some of the rats die, don’t relax: Others can return. There are still traces of rats, including feces and urine that smell luring to other members of the rats’ family. They will come back to their favorite house and even to the same nest if you don’t do anything about it. Your goal is to make sure that they will not return since they will not be able to find any traces of other rodents.
Rat Poison Recipes With Baking Soda
If you still want to use this method to kill rodents, you need to learn how to do it. Find out how to create a homemade mouse poison with baking soda, and you will succeed. The most popular recipes are:
- Poison mix. Combine 1 cup of baking soda with 1 cup of flour and 1 cup of sugar. Mix everything and sprinkle the solution in the areas of rats’ common attendance;
- Peanut butter mix. Use 1 cup of peanut butter and 1 cup of baking soda. The smell of peanut butter will attract rats, and they will eat the bait. Put it close to the rat’s nest or on their usual route;
- Chocolate mix. Take 1 cup of chocolate mix and 1 cup of cornmeal. Add 1 cup of sodium bicarbonate. Mix everything. Put it into a container and leave it close to the nest.
The more bait the rat eats, the better for you. You can continue to make the very same recipe or switch between them every night until you see that the droppings disappear. Follow the rodents to see whether they are not dying in the hidden spot. If you are worried about not being able to find this place, use simple oil. Pour it on the floor, near the container with poison. The rat will step into the puddle, and you will easily notice the traces of the nest. You can use other markers, just choose those you can wash away later. Once all rodents are dead, get rid of their bodies and clean your house carefully. There must be no traces left.
FAQ on Baking Soda and Rats
I bet you have some questions left. Here are the most popular of them I have found online. Hopefully, my answers will help you to become a professional rat exterminator.
How Long Does It Take for Baking Soda to Kill Rats?
It depends on the amount of powder the rat ate, its general immune system, and even weight. There are numerous factors that can change the calculations. Yet, the most common theory is that one rat starts dying right after it eats baking soda. The process can take several days or weeks. During that time, the rat stays active.
What if the Baking Soda Didn’t Affect Rats?
This situation can rarely happen. Rats are pests that are dangerous to humans. They carry numerous diseases. It is only natural that people have been trying to kill them for many centuries. Since then, rats have become resistant to a wide range of poisons. Baking soda might be one of them. If the rat has immunity to it, you will have to find another poison to kill the pest. There are lots of specific products on the market. You might not even kill but scare rats away with ultrasound or unpleasant smell.
When Shouldn’t You Use Baking Soda to Get Rid of Rats?
If you are not sure how to find the rat nest, you can’t use this poison to keep rats under control. Once the pest dies, you will never find the corpse. If you have decorative rodents who live in the house and can potentially eat the poison, search for another way to get rid of rats. If you need to kill rats instantly, baking soda is not your option either.
Do You Need Baking Soda as Rat Poison?
Since sodium bicarbonate causes painful and slow death to rats, many homeowners prefer to keep this powder as an extra option, just in case nothing else works. Yet, it is completely eco-friendly and safe for humans. It does not cost much too, and you probably have all the instruments you need in the kitchen. Follow these recommendations if you need a working recipe against rats.
Also read:
- Investigating Termite Feeding Habits
- Identifying the Signs of Termite Infestation
- The Role of Gut Microbes in Termite Digestion
- Factors Affecting Termite Life Cycle
- How Landscaping Can Help Prevent Termite Infestation
Have you already used baking soda as a poison? Was it effective? Express your thoughts in the comments below.
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