There are reasons to love packrats.

They are cute and they are a part of our ecosystem.  However, they also can be a nuisance to homeowners for a variety of reasons. So often the impulse on the part of homeowners is to poison packrats. This is a bad idea.  The following information explains why it is a bad idea, and what you can do to control packrats safely, for your pets, your family and for your environment.

The negative effects of packrat poison.

1. Direct poisoning: Other animals will pick up poison too. Although packrats seem to be the most bothersome, we have a variety of rodents in the Sonoran Desert. These include Kangaroo Rats, Pocket Mice, Rock Squirrels, Harris’s Antelope Squirrels, Desert Pocket Gophers, Round-tailed Ground Squirrels, Cotton Rats, Desert Woodrats, White-throated Woodrats and Cactus Mice. These and all other wild animals are a part of the Sonoran Desert ecosystem.
2. Indirect poisoning: Any poisons used outside work their way up the food chain beginning with animals that prey on live rodents; these include the owls and raptors of Sabino Springs, snakes, coyotes, and bobcats. A National Park Service research study showed that an extremely high percentage of each species of mammalian predators (including mountain lions) have ingested rodenticides.  For example, a coyote eats a packrat that was poisoned, and then a mountain lion eats the coyote and gets poisoned, and so on. The local food chain also includes animals that eat small carrion such as the Common Raven, Turkey Vultures, coyotes, badgers, and Gila Monsters. Other local creatures break down carrion. These include various species of scavenging insects, arthropods, bacteria, and fungi.
3. Dogs and children are at risk, too, because the poison gets spread.

How should packrats be controlled?

The key to controlling packrats is eliminating food and shelter. A few examples follow.

1. Remove potential rodent homes like yard debris, wood piles, and trash.
2. Eliminate food sources like bird seed and pet food and keep garbage sealed and in the garage.
3. Use exclusion traps to get packrats out of spaces in your house.
4. Install mesh over access points to your property like a wrought iron fence.
5. Remove packrat nests.
6. Park your cars in the garage.
7. Use snap or electrical traps to catch and remove packrats. Do not use glue traps; they can catch other animals like lizards.
8. Purchase a Western Screech-Owl nest box where nature works best at controlling rodents; then everybody wins!
   Click here to visit the Tucson Audubon web site.
   Click here to visit the Sabino Springs webpage on Owl nesting boxes.
9. If all the above options aren’t successful, consider getting professional help that does not utilize poisons.

References

Mr. Pack Rat – Problems with Poison

Desert Museum – White-throated Woodrat