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How Alberta Eradicated Rats

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Re: How Alberta Eradicated Rats

#81

I wonder if we stopped trying to eradicate coyotes we might have an easier time with rats. I personally would rather see a coyote than a rat.

Around here the coyotes eat mice. I'll see a golf ball size blob of crushed bones and fur on the driveway now and then. A few years ago, a coyote mom with her 5 pups set up shop on my front lawn. She'd keep a weather eye on me, and me on her, and we got along fine. Over the summer, the number of pups dwindled. I saw a severed head of one a ways away, I think it was done by an eagle. I think only 2 survived the summer…

Over across the sound, we get bald eagles stealing salmon off of people's grills :)

Re: How Alberta Eradicated Rats

#82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The dose makes the poison. Warfarin is prescribed as a blood thinner for humans.

Is it only the dose? I think I read somewhere that rodents are especially vulnerable to this substance for some genetic reason. To lazy to check again. Not to lazy to pronounce my ignorance in a comment. Oh my.

I mean, however close we might treat them as, they're still fundamentally diferent animals

Since they can't throw up or burp, something that produces enough gas (More than a regular soda) could in theory kill a rat, but just make a human slightly inconvenienced, or on the same idea, you could wrap the poisson on an emetic agent to make it safer while not affecting the rat at all

Re: How Alberta Eradicated Rats

#83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The dose makes the poison. Warfarin is prescribed as a blood thinner for humans.

Is it only the dose? I think I read somewhere that rodents are especially vulnerable to this substance for some genetic reason. To lazy to check again. Not to lazy to pronounce my ignorance in a comment. Oh my.

>Is it only the dose?

I think they meant, for humans, the dose makes the poison. We would have to eat a very large amount of warfarin to have trouble. Rats get hurt from a small amount.

Poison is dose dependent, but the actual dose dependency is different between species.

Re: How Alberta Eradicated Rats

#86
post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is it only the dose? I think I read somewhere that rodents are especially vulnerable to this substance for some genetic reason. To lazy to check again. Not to lazy to pronounce my ignorance in a comment. Oh my.

>Is it only the dose? I think they meant, for humans, the dose makes the poison. We would have to eat a very large amount of warfarin to have trouble. Rats get hurt from a small amount. Poison is dose dependent, but the actual dose dependency is different between species.

[deleted]

Re: How Alberta Eradicated Rats

#87

> But it was easy to prove warfarin was safe: a pest control officer held a series of local meetings where he ate warfarin-treated rolled oats while discussing rat control. Got to love those live demos. Eating rat poison in front of the audience to prove it is safe!

The dose makes the poison. Warfarin is prescribed as a blood thinner for humans.

Poor guy, must of had so many complications

Re: How Alberta Eradicated Rats

#88
post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Around here the coyotes eat mice. I'll see a golf ball size blob of crushed bones and fur on the driveway now and then. A few years ago, a coyote mom with her 5 pups set up shop on my front lawn. She'd keep a weather eye on me, and me on her, and we got along fine. Over the summer, the number of pups dwindled. I saw a severed head of one a ways away, I think it was done by an eagle. I think only 2 survived the summer…

Over across the sound, we get bald eagles stealing salmon off of people's grills :)

Nice try Bob. I know it's you, and I know you stole my salmon that one time.

Bald eagles indeed!

Re: How Alberta Eradicated Rats

#89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is it only the dose? I think I read somewhere that rodents are especially vulnerable to this substance for some genetic reason. To lazy to check again. Not to lazy to pronounce my ignorance in a comment. Oh my.

I mean, however close we might treat them as, they're still fundamentally diferent animals Since they can't throw up or burp, something that produces enough gas (More than a regular soda) could in theory kill a rat, but just make a human slightly inconvenienced, or on the same idea, you could wrap the poisson on an emetic agent to make it safer while not affecting the rat at all

[deleted]

Re: How Alberta Eradicated Rats

#90
post #30
post #3

Every so often I'll mention online that Alberta has no rats, and inevitably there will be an American responding in absolute disbelief saying I'm full of shit. I may not live in Alberta, but luckily rats aren't really a thing in my neck of the woods. Travel an hour down the highway and it's a different story. Also, as an aside, people often don't believe me when I say I've never seen a cockroach before in my life. No…

> I've seen pictures of em, and I'm pretty sure if I saw one of those things irl I would absolutely shit myself. I always thought this was interesting (how many people are super scared of cockroaches). I'm absolutely terrified of bugs, I see cockroaches very rarely, and while I wouldn't pet one... They're not too bad? There's tons of bugs that are way scarier. Spiders, house centipedes, camel crickets. And that's jus…

Cockroaches make me uncomfortable, but I would not say I fear them. As a kid I was the designated person in the family to deal with all manner of bugs and just whatever.

Except for whatever reason, I am absolutely terrified of moths and butterflies. I don't want to be touched by either of those ever and I don't want them inside my house. I can appreciate butterflies are pretty and colourful and all that but I still don't want them to be near me.

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