In article .com,
"Al Bundy" wrote:

99windstar wrote:
a pet safe rat poison? Is there such a thing?
Thanks!

That's a pretty dopey question really. A rat is much tougher than your
the average house pet. If a poison will kill a rat, how could it be
safe for your pet? If you want safety you will have to think in terms
of trapping the rat or killing it mechanically.



I agree that trapping is the safest option, but the original questions
is not so dopey.

The lethal dose of a poison is dependent on susceptibility of the
species and Weight of the animal (usually expressed as LD50 - Lethal
Dose where 50% of the animals under test are killed per Kg of animal
weight). So if you take appropriate measures and put the bait in bait
stations that only rodents can enter, the rodenticide can be used quite
safely used around other animals.

For more info on common rodenticides and their LD50 see:

http://www.vspn.org/Library/misc/VSPN_M01287.htm

Good general advice at:

http://www.hort.uconn.edu/ipm/genera...pm/usepest.htm

The following link also simply explains the LD50 concept:
http://www.schoolpestfacts.com/rise_poision.htm

Finally, a tamper resistant bait station can be found at

http://www.pestproducts.com/rodent_baiters.htm#ProRat


as can glue traps that are child and pet friendly:

http://www.pestproducts.com/rat_tray.htm

Roland