My wife and I lived in a home in an old pristine neighborhood where trees were everywhere. We love trees because they provide cool shade during hot summers and if you have fruit trees they may fill buckets of fruit for family and friends. But in some communities out of control, trees can be a playground for wood rats which will also invade your home.

One night I heard commotion outside. At first I thought they were birds rustling in our backyard trees, but when I investigated by turning a flashlight on into our large tangerine tree, I saw a multitude of rats leaping from one branch to another and across to other trees in our yard. We had a serious problem. My wife shivered in fear after I told her what I had seen. I had to reassure her we would do something about them.

Not too long after seeing the rodents rustling through the trees, we began to hear strange thumps in the house and squeaks over our heads. The rats had invaded our home. My wife was even more terrified.

I was determined to rid our house of the pests. I went to a nearby home improvement store and bought rat sound repellants, electronic rat traps, modern rat traps, rat poison, and the old wooden style rat traps. I soon discovered which of these really worked. And which the rats toyed and had fun. But the focus of this message isn’t to sell any of these products; it is to warn you not to take rats for granted. They can endanger you and your family’s lives, if you try to poison them. Let me explain…

What I have discovered is not only are most of the poisons on the market are not effective, but rats will try to poison you with them. These products will kill a few of the rats, especially the little ones. But I have actually seen the big ones make a meal off the poison. What is dangerous for anyone who tries to kill them this way is the surviving rodents will carry the poison where you store and prepare your food. They will drop some of the poison in your cabinets on food boxes, dishes, silverware, and cookware. They will also drop their feces in these same areas. If you don’t pay careful attention to what these pests do, they could end up poisoning you, your family and anyone who happens to visit you.

When I first recognized this behavior, I thought it was just a coincidence. But I soon realized after finding evidence they were dropping the poison off in our cabinets. This is a frightening aspect of what they do. Could they be that intelligent? Or is it still something that just accidentally happens?

Rats are very intelligent. Another trait about them most people don’t know they are compulsive about grooming themselves, especially after they eat. The prospect of their eating poison at one location and cleaning themselves at another location almost 30 feet away and through tiny crevices, behind walls and underneath flooring is highly unlikely. But I leave it up to you to figure whether they plan or just luck up in your poisoning.

As for myself, I would never try to poison them again. I eventually got rid of those particular rats. The old fashioned rat trap really worked. But within 6 months more showed up. After I eliminated them more came and more again. My wife and I decided we didn’t want to combat this problem anymore. We had the house professionally exterminated one last time and sold the home. We moved to a community where the trees were at a distance from our new home. We never had another rat problem again.