The Colorado statesman., 1924-04-26
HOW TO GET RID OF
RATS IN THE HOUSE
Thorough Cleanliness Dis
courages Presence.

Prepared by the United States Department
of Agriculture.)
Thorough cleanliness and orderllness
discourage the presence of rats and
constitute strong incentive for them
to seek other quarters. To eliminate
food and hiding places entirely is to
eliminate rats. This is not always pos
sible, but the nearer the approach to
this condition the more simple the rat
riddance problem becomes.
The most important means of elimi-
mating food and shelter are to store
foodstuffs in rat-proof containers, to
dispose of waste and garbage in tight
Uncovered vessels and to prevent the
accumulation of trash, refuse and
other similar material. Not only does
lack of food and shelter reduce the
breeding of rats, but increased hunger
renders poisoning aud trapping more
effective.
The most efficient means known to
the department for destroying rats is
by poisoning. and poison is recon-
mended for the purpose wherever 1t
can be used with safety. Powdered
mineral, and seems best adapted for
poisoning rats. 1t is both odorless
and tasteless, and baits containing 1t
are readily taken by these pests. 1t
also has the advantage of being slow
in its action, so that rats affected by
1t usually have time to leave the prem
ises in search of water or to return
to their burrows before they succumb.
A variety of balts used separately
not only gives the rat choice of foods
but tends to make 1t less suspicious.
One kind of each of the following
classes Of food mixed with barium car
Donate is recommended:
(1) Meat or other animal substance
Hamburg steak, sausage. fish, liver,
bacon, or cheese.
(2) Vegetables and fruits.-Thin
slices of muskmelon, apple. tomato,
or cucumber, canned corn, or squash
or pumpkin seed; or mashed banana.
boiled carrot, or baked sweet potato.
q Cereals-Rolled oats, bread, corn
meal, flour or cake. Kitchen scraps
and garbage can be worked into the
ration to advantage.
Bats should be fresh and preferably
of good quality.
The powdered barium carbonate
should be thoroughly mixed and
worked into the soft bats in the pro-
portion of 1 part of the mineral to 4
parts of the selected food. Add water
when necessary to make the baits
moist. Bats moistened to the consist
ency of a soft mush are particularly
acceptable to rats in dry weather.
Barium carbonate should be sifted
over sliced bats and rubbed well into
them with the fingers or a knife. The
slices should be thin and should be
moistened if necessary in order to at
tain as nearly as possible the 1 to a
ratio. Soft bats may be mixed with
the hands or with spoon.
A teaspoonful, or it's equivalent, of
each of the three or more kinds of
bats prepared should be exposed in
places frequented by rats. In build
ings bats should be set on strips of
paper or boards where they may be
easily removed.
A convenient and successful method
of exposing baits is to place tea
spoonful in each of number of small
paper sacks and drop them in places
accessible to rats or frequented by
them. The sacks should be closed by
twisting the top. Bait distributed in
this manner serves to allay the suspi-
cion of rats and will be taken by them
more readily than If exposed in the
open.
Barium carbonate is a relatively
mild poison. but the danger from acci-
dents cannot, be overemphasized.
Keep it out of the reach of children
and irresponsible persons and from
domestic animals and fowls.