The Best Fluffy Pancakes recipe you will fall in love with. Full of tips and tricks to help you make the best pancakes.
Rats may be resourceful survivors, but that doesn’t mean they’re welcome guests in your home or garden. If you’re dealing with a rodent problem and want to learn how to get rid of rats without poison, here are alternatives. You can avoid toxic chemicals—for the sake of pets, kids, or the environment.
This guide explores humane, effective, and poison-free strategies to send rats packing for good. From sealing entry points to using natural deterrents and clever traps, we’ll help you reclaim your space without compromising safety or sustainability.
DON’T MISS Pantry Passion’s Complete Article List for Mouse & Rat Prevention!
Table of Contents
- Ways to Get Rid of Rats and Mice Without Poison
- Rat Poison Alternative: Rat Birth Control
- Will Rat Birth Control Bait Affect Fertility of Humans and Pets?
- Does Rat Birth Control Bait Work?
- In Conclusion
Ways to Get Rid of Rats and Mice Without Poison
Poison is certainly a relied upon method of killing rats and mice. The question is, do you want to “get rid of” or “kill” them?
Your options to get rid of rodents without poison include:
- snap traps (death)
- sticky traps (often death)
- live traps (catch and release, then death by predators or Mother Nature)
- electric traps (death)
- ultrasonic traps (sound chases off mice, but I cannot in good faith recommend these as they don’t work)
- bucket spin traps (death by drowning)
- rat birth control bait (reduction in litters of newborn rodents)
- use natural deterrents as in this article on keep rodents out of cars, trucks, sheds, home, etc.
- mouse and rat-proof your home and buildings to prevent rodents from entering
Rat Poison Alternative: Rat Birth Control
Honestly, there are not a lot of alternatives to rat poison – but here is one curious concept: rat fertility control.
Upon doing some research, I stumbled across the product Evolve Rat Birth Control. It claims to be long-term rat control: “2 rats in 1 year can become 15,000. Scientifically proven EVOLVE Rat Birth Control begins reducing rat populations after just one breeding cycle (4–6 weeks) and helps prevent rebound infestations when used as directed.”
Evolve Rat Birth Control is a product that prevents rats from reproducing by providing a contraceptive soft bait that is consumed by both male and female rats, thereby reducing the population over time instead of killing them.
It also claims to not be a poison and made with food-grade ingredients (cotton seed oil), so there’s no risk of secondary poisoning. EVOLVE Rat Birth Control is designated by the EPA as a FIFRA 25(b) minimum-risk pesticide and is safe for use around people, pets, and the planet when used as directed.
Expect a noticeable drop in activity within 2–3 months, with long-term control over time. For faster results, use in conjunction with mouse traps.
Will Rat Birth Control Bait Affect Fertility of Humans and Pets?
This article from DIY Pest Control goes into more detail, and is a good overall reference for questions on the EVOLVE Rat Birth Control product.
The question regarding affects on humans and pets wasn’t answered satisfactorily in the FAQ document. The sheet did offer this: “Evolve has low gossypol levels as it is designed to reduce fertility in rats and is reversible upon cessation of treatment.”
Does Rat Birth Control Bait Work?
Here’s the deal: sustained consumption is necessary for effectiveness. That means you’ll be continuously putting this bait out… you are feeding the rats – period.
I read consumer feedback like it’s my full-time job and the reviews for this product are not great. Some people reported that it worked, while the majority of users said to save your money. I fear that people who don’t want to harm rats will buy it, and temporarily knock down the population until they realize they can’t afford the solution long term.
In addition, I often browse for an appropriate Youtube video to embed in my blog posts. I found plenty of news stories about cities trying this, but zero follow-up stories that it actually worked. Even the famous Youtube mouser Shawn Woods featured a trial with rat birth control a few years ago. Shawn never complete his test to show us the results.
In Conclusion
Poison has its place combatting rats, especially in high infestation/contaminated areas. Folks have their reasons not to use rat poison. I get it – just remember, the snap traps are always ready to go if you change your mind.
