Effective Mice Poison

Mice are nocturnal animals.

Signs that you have a mouse infestation include bags of food that have been chewed open, chewed papers, soaps that have been nibbled on and droppings around the house. Mice are nocturnal so you may hear them inside your walls at night, or notice your pets clawing at the walls. To reduce your risk of mice infestation, you need to keep a clean and uncluttered house.

Pros

If you have a mouse infestation you need to take steps immediately to fix the
problem. Mice are carriers of disease and bacteria. There are many ways to remove or kill mice, but poison is perhaps the most effective. Poison plays to the mice's search for food and is a good way to effectively kill multiple mice. With traps, you can kill or remove only one mouse at a time.

There are two types of poison: those that kill in one use and those that work over a period of several days. It is best to leave multiple poisons around the house in places that show sings of infestation. If you have no luck with a location after two or three nights, change the location of the poison.

Effective Poisons

Effective poisons for killing mice, called rodenticides, include warfarin, diphacinone, pivalyl, chlorophacinone and fumarin. For each of these poisons you can find many different products. Most of these poisons come in wax blocks, pellet form, meal form and liquid form. They are generally dyed green.

How They Work

The most common rodenticides on the market are anti-coagulants. These poisons inhibit the mouse's ability to make vitamin K. Vitamin K is needed to help clot blood. After a few days, the mouse's body runs out of vitamin K. The poison induces internal bleeding and damage to the blood vessels which the mouse cannot combat because it has no vitamin K. The mouse dies from internal hemorrhage.

Warning

Because poison works slowly, the mice do not die at the site of the trap. The mice will probably die in their nests, or in the walls, or in some other inconvenient, unreachable places. If a mouse dies in an unreachable place you simply have to deal with the smell until the body decomposes. Using fragrance sprays or deodorizers can help reduce the smell, which will only go away with time. In addition, poison may not be the best choice if you have a household with pets and small children.

Alternatives

Alternate ways to get rid of a mouse infestation include humane mousetraps, electric mouse repellents that emit ultrasound and mousetraps that kill. Humane mousetraps are more of a time commitment as you have to then find a place to release the mice, and they are not effective for removing multiple mice. If you choose to use a killing trap, make sure to spray with disinfectant before you clean up mouse droppings or dead mice in traps. This will ensure that bacteria do not get released into the air.

References

• Extoxnet: Diphacinone
• New York State Department of Health: Mouse Control
• Mar Visa Animal Center: Anti-coagulant Rodenticides
• Scorcard: Coumafuryl (Fumarin)