Killing Rats with Baking Soda | Does it Really Work?

Who would not want a pest-free home with your clothes, appliances, and furniture safe from damage? There will be no worries about the pests running around! 

Despite that, you should not feel too confident. These pests can attack any minute without you knowing. Don’t be surprised if rats are secretly rummaging through your stuff! Plain rude, isn’t it?

You should prepare a home remedy that is available anytime in your kitchen. Yes, a budget-friendly solution! 

What if I tell you about baking soda for rat control? Sounds interesting, right? Let’s find out if this chemical can completely eliminate rats.

About Baking Soda

Before diving deeper into your homemade rat poison, we should know first about baking soda.

Baking soda is one of the most used raising agents in baked goods. It can serve multiple purposes. It is sodium bicarbonate that, when combined with an acid, will produce carbon dioxide gas.

Baking soda is an adaptable ingredient that has a purpose in baking, but it also shines when it comes to odor neutralization and house cleaning. 

Despite its many purposes, there are still questions that we want to be answered.

killing rats with baking soda

Does Baking Soda Kill Rats?

Yes, baking soda kill rats. You may be asking how does baking soda kill rats, and here is the concept:

This homemade rat poison reacts with the rat’s stomach acids, producing carbon dioxide gas right after.

Given that the bicarbonate in the baking soda reacts with the acid, it does the same with the rats. If the rat consumes the baking soda, they cannot pass gas from their body, which means the gas builds up in their system and eventually causes internal blockage and suffocation.

Rats’ Resistance to Baking Soda

Technically, killing rats with baking soda is possible, but its concept is much more complicated than you know. 

“What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger,” if your baking soda poison doesn’t kill the rats, it will only make them immune to it. If you want to kill the rodent in your home, you also need to note their immunity.

Rodents can quickly develop immunity or become highly resistant to poisons. Their immune system can make it a bit harder to kill rats with baking soda since you aren’t confident about the outcome of the rat poison you just made.

How to Use Baking Soda to Kill Rats

rats baking soda poison

Baking soda alone may not attract rats, but there are methods to utilize baking soda. You can use baking soda and vinegar to create gas that will asphyxiate rats, and you will need a container trap, sealed bag, tube, and elastic to accomplish this easy method. Here are the steps to follow:

  • Pour vinegar in a sealed plastic bag depending on how much you want to put. Ensure that when you pour the baking soda into the vinegar, the baking soda has a higher ratio than the vinegar.
  • Prepare your container trap. This trap will act as a euthanasia chamber, and it should be a trap where rats can enter, and you may or may not include a bait inside to let them enter. Make sure that this container trap will close right after the rats entered inside it. You may manually close the trap if it doesn’t close by itself, but ensure it’s deep enough that rats can’t hop out of it.
  • The trap should have a hole that the tube can fit in and connect the tube to the baking soda and vinegar mixture. Seal the tube connected to the trap to ensure it doesn’t come off. 
  • Slowly pour the baking soda into the vinegar, and make sure there’s a great concentration for the asphyxiation to work. The trapped rat will inhale the carbon dioxide it produces, and it will cause a rupture in the rat’s system eventually.
  • Immediately connect the tube to the baking soda and vinegar mixture, and watch the rat inhaling the carbon dioxide gas your mixture produces.

Aside from baking soda and vinegar, you can also use another method to utilize your baking soda. You will need cornmeal and a chocolate mix or sugar for the sweetness trap and the baking soda.

  • Mix your cornmeal and the sweetener of your preference with the baking soda, but make sure the baking soda has a higher ratio. Take note that you can lure rats with sweets, and so these three ingredients can attract them.
  • Put in areas where you think rats pass by to ensure they will come in contact with the baking soda mixture.

It may take time for rats to be killed with the baking soda or, worse, higher resistance. They need to consume a lot of baking soda for them to die, and it should be consumed in a short amount of time for the baking soda to react instantly with their system.

Final Words

Rats can be a pest in your home, and using home remedies to kill them may help you get rid of them.

While many people try many DIY methods like killing rats with bleach, or with anti-freeze, etc., baking soda is an option that is widely explored by many homeowners.

And if you plan on using baking soda to get rid of them, you should also take precautions to keep yourself safe from possible risks.

Killing rats with baking soda make takes time, but surely it can be a way to eliminate them from your home.

And we hope this guide has answered all your questions about killings rats with baking soda.

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Author

Daniel White
I'm Daniel White, and I live in Jacksonville, Florida. The warm and humid climate of Florida gives an ideal habitat for many different kinds of pests. So, if I had to live in Florida, I had to learn how to deal with these pests. Now, I have 7 years of experience in Pest Control.

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