# I pit people using rat poison unnecessarily. (Mercy killing of mouse) **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [July 8, 2012, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-people-using-rat-poison-unnecessarily-mercy-killing-of-mouse/627615 "2012-07-08T18:42:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 10
**Author:** ![armedmonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@armedmonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/armedmonkey)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2012, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-people-using-rat-poison-unnecessarily-mercy-killing-of-mouse/627615/181 "2012-07-12T19:18:09Z")
**Blake** , I stand corrected. I apologize for calling you an idiot. ---
**Author:** ![Cheshire\_Human](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Cheshire\_Human](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheshire_Human)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2012, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-people-using-rat-poison-unnecessarily-mercy-killing-of-mouse/627615/182 "2012-07-12T21:24:05Z")
> [@Jules27](#): > > … > But moving a few pieces of wood is hardly anything, certainly not comparable to cutting holes through a wall, dismantling sections of a wall (because the animal would be dead by the time you get to it). Though a few pieces of wood… hmm… yeah. Obviously the opinion of someone who has _absolutely no_ familiarity with the many hours of heavy physical labor that making, and thus dismantling a woodpile takes. Any rodent sufficiently injured to be unable to escape the dismantling of a woodpile will be dead before you get to it. Any rodent sufficiently intact to still be alive will have crawled off hours before you get to it. You demonstrate yourself to be an utter clueless idiot with the above quoted statement, as anyone who has _actually_ stacked wood knows. ---
**Author:** ![StarvingButStrong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/starvingbutstrong/32/335_2.png) [@StarvingButStrong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StarvingButStrong)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2012, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-people-using-rat-poison-unnecessarily-mercy-killing-of-mouse/627615/183 "2012-07-12T23:07:53Z")
An aspect I don’t think has been addressed yet is the OP’s complaint that people who DO use poison don’t follow through and administer ‘mercy killings’, thus leaving it up to others. The thing is, a critical point of kiling with poison is that it happens ‘automatically’, as in, you have no way of knowing when a mouse snacks on the bait. Generally it happens at night, since that is when the mice come out to forage. So how COULD you follow up on a mouse that 1) you don’t know has been poisoned and 2) which has then left your house (likely) in its search for water? Are you supposed to scour the ground for, oh, 100 feet all around your house every morning, searching under bushes and grass and everything for an impaired mouse? Because mice are damn small and not conspicuously colored. My guess is that in a suburban or rural area, impaired mice are quickly noted and picked off by cats/dogs/birds. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2012, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-people-using-rat-poison-unnecessarily-mercy-killing-of-mouse/627615/184 "2012-07-13T01:55:43Z")
Has it been proven the mouse in the OP was poisoned? Could it have been succumbing to a natural cause, maybe cancer? I seem to recall hearing that all sorts of things cause cancer in mice. ---
**Author:** ![Cheshire\_Human](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Cheshire\_Human](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheshire_Human)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2012, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-people-using-rat-poison-unnecessarily-mercy-killing-of-mouse/627615/185 "2012-07-13T02:54:20Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > Has it been proven the mouse in the OP was poisoned? Could it have been succumbing to a natural cause, maybe cancer? I seem to recall hearing that all sorts of things cause cancer in mice. We’ve left the OP far behind. We have already established that the OP is a moron. Now we are poking the n00b, **Jules[some numbers]** with these sharp sticks [-----\> : poke :, we’re “hunting” the idiot] Because s/he/it is _also_ a fucking moron. More pokes for **Jules** …, [-----\> : poke :][-----\> : poke :] you clueless idiot. If you think it’s so easy, why don’t you come here and _move_ my fucking woodpile. As you say, it’s only “a few pieces of wood”. I intend to laugh at you when you find out that those “few sticks” happen to weigh 1 and a half _tons._ Here you go. Show me how to do it, you fucking moron. I’ll worry about the fucking chipmunk, when you can show me how to dig through that pile in “minutes”, as opposed to the _days_ it actually takes. You _really_ are an idiot, aren’t you. ---
**Author:** ![kambuckta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/53a042/32.png) [@kambuckta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kambuckta)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2012, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-people-using-rat-poison-unnecessarily-mercy-killing-of-mouse/627615/186 "2012-07-13T03:12:42Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > Has it been proven the mouse in the OP was poisoned? Could it have been succumbing to a natural cause, maybe cancer? I seem to recall hearing that all sorts of things cause cancer in mice. I’m prepared to accept that the mouse had been poisoned, as I’ve noticed identical behaviours when mice have taken baits at my house. But I always thought they did their carking-it outside in search of somewhere cool. Now I understand the motives better. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2012, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-people-using-rat-poison-unnecessarily-mercy-killing-of-mouse/627615/187 "2012-07-13T05:49:35Z")
> [@Blake](#): > > . . . House mice can actually survive on a diet that contains absolutely no water at all, as in eating food that has been completely dessicated and has 0% water content. The metabolic water liberated from simply digesting food is enough for them to survive on . . . I was gonna cite the kangaroo rat, or desert rat, that might well go its entire life without drinking any appreciable volume of liquid water. But I didn’t know that ordinary house mice were also able to live a dry life. Cool. Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![armedmonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@armedmonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/armedmonkey)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2012, 6:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-people-using-rat-poison-unnecessarily-mercy-killing-of-mouse/627615/188 "2012-07-13T06:48:12Z")
I want to apologize to **Blake** , again. I think I was overly skeptical, and also mixing him up with some other poster. So two things: Well, three: I don’t think I was remembering **Blake** right because the poster I thought he was wouldn’t have offered a single cite - much less a dozen of them. I haven’t been in too many threads with **Blake** , and I apologize for having some vague notion that he should be discounted. It was misremembered and I jumped to judgement. Second, I want to thank him for telling me something I didn’t know. Mammalian kidneys are fucking fascinating. I knew whales and dolphins could do that, but I had no idea that freaking _mice_ could. Consider ignorance fought. And thirdly, I just want to apologize for being a dick. I’m sorry. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2012, 10:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-people-using-rat-poison-unnecessarily-mercy-killing-of-mouse/627615/189 "2012-07-13T10:40:34Z")
> [@Cheshire\_Human](#): > > We’ve left the OP far behind. > > We have already established that the OP is a moron. Now we are poking the n00b, **Jules[some numbers]** with these sharp sticks [-----\> : poke :, we’re “hunting” the idiot] Because s/he/it is _also_ a fucking moron. I don’t have a stick.:(. I got a magnifying glass, tho, . . . ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2012, 11:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-people-using-rat-poison-unnecessarily-mercy-killing-of-mouse/627615/190 "2012-07-13T11:54:09Z")
> [@A Monkey With a Gun](#): > > I want to apologize to **Blake** , again. I think I was overly skeptical, and also mixing him up with some other poster. So two things: Well, three: I don’t think I was remembering **Blake** right because the poster I thought he was wouldn’t have offered a single cite - much less a dozen of them. I haven’t been in too many threads with **Blake** , and I apologize for having some vague notion that he should be discounted. It was misremembered and I jumped to judgement. Second, I want to thank him for telling me something I didn’t know. Mammalian kidneys are fucking fascinating. I knew whales and dolphins could do that, but I had no idea that freaking _mice_ could. Consider ignorance fought. > > And thirdly, I just want to apologize for being a dick. I’m sorry. Now go mercilessly murder some mice and sin thou no more… ---
**Author:** ![Labrador\_Deceiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Labrador\_Deceiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labrador_Deceiver)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2012, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-people-using-rat-poison-unnecessarily-mercy-killing-of-mouse/627615/191 "2012-07-13T13:24:16Z")
> [@A Monkey With a Gun](#): > > I want to apologize to **Blake** , again. I think I was overly skeptical, and also mixing him up with some other poster. So two things: Well, three: I don’t think I was remembering **Blake** right because the poster I thought he was wouldn’t have offered a single cite - much less a dozen of them. I haven’t been in too many threads with **Blake** , and I apologize for having some vague notion that he should be discounted. It was misremembered and I jumped to judgement. Second, I want to thank him for telling me something I didn’t know. Mammalian kidneys are fucking fascinating. I knew whales and dolphins could do that, but I had no idea that freaking _mice_ could. Consider ignorance fought. > > And thirdly, I just want to apologize for being a dick. I’m sorry. Well done. I honestly couldn’t figure out why anyone would call Blake an idiot. ---
**Author:** ![GrandWino](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grandwino/32/67_2.png) [@GrandWino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrandWino)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2012, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-people-using-rat-poison-unnecessarily-mercy-killing-of-mouse/627615/192 "2012-07-13T13:33:05Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > Has it been proven the mouse in the OP was poisoned? Could it have been succumbing to a natural cause, maybe cancer? I seem to recall hearing that all sorts of things cause cancer in mice. The autopsy was inconclusive, and we’re still waiting on the toxicology reports. ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2012, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-people-using-rat-poison-unnecessarily-mercy-killing-of-mouse/627615/193 "2012-07-13T13:47:35Z")
> [@Bob Ducca](#): > > The autopsy was inconclusive, and we’re still waiting on the toxicology reports. Maybe it was partying with Whitney Houston? ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2012, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-people-using-rat-poison-unnecessarily-mercy-killing-of-mouse/627615/194 "2012-07-13T14:56:52Z")
> [@Jules27](#): > > An animal lover would realise that a swift blow to the head is far, far more quicker than drowning. And yes, shooting it would too be more humane, as would a shovel. Mice are small fragile animals, destroy the brain quickly and they won’t have time to think/panic/feel pain. You on the other hand, treated the suffering animals like a piece of poo - something to flush down the toilet. That’s being an animal lover?? Yeah right. Jules, you’re a moron. These are VERMIN we are talking about. They are not worthy of pity; they are to be killed by any means possible. But, as posted earlier, if you’re looking for quick, painless deaths: [zap 'em](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J0T-DceJlg0). ---
**Author:** ![Sparklenshine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Sparklenshine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sparklenshine)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2015, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-people-using-rat-poison-unnecessarily-mercy-killing-of-mouse/627615/195 "2015-08-27T20:46:49Z")
> [@BrotherCadfael](#): > > On a completely unrelated note, I take 5mg of rat poison (warfarin) daily. > > By the way, the name “warfarin” has nothing to do with “warfare”, although it certainly seems as though it should. The drug was actually named for the **W** isconsin **A** nimal **R** esearch **F** acility. The name “warfarin” isn’t pronounced war-fare-in. It’s pronounced WAR-furr-in. Just as coumarin isn’t pronounced coo-MARE-in, but COO-muh-rin. The name of this drug wasn’t “actually” inspired by or named for the Wisconsin Animal Research Facility. Warfarin sodium is a generic name, Coumadin & Jantoven are brand names. The “warf” comes from the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation., also abbreviated as WARF. In the 1930s, a farmer named Deer Park brought a dead cow and and the moldy, spoiled sweet clover hay she’d eaten to the School of Agriculture in the hopes of finding out what had happened. Park also brought in blood that wouldn’t coagulate. Karl Link, PhD, an associate professor at U of W, isolated an anticoagulant factor in the hay – it was dicoumerol, a naturally occurring chemical, and it was used as an oral anticoagulant for many years. Warfarin sodium is one of the several compounds that was synthesized during the research of dicoumerol. Please don’t refer to this drug as “rat poison”. It’s rat poison only when used in high mg/kg doses and when it’s an ingredient in rat poison, but when dosed to prevent thrombi (IV heparin treats them), it’s a valuable medication. ---
**Author:** ![LavenderBlue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e95f7d/32.png) [@LavenderBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LavenderBlue)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2015, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-people-using-rat-poison-unnecessarily-mercy-killing-of-mouse/627615/196 "2015-08-27T21:28:38Z")
Zombie mice are still mice. And mice deserve to die. Anyone who thinks humans are cruel to mice has clearly never woken up to a living room full of assorted mouse parts and one smugly happy cat. ---
**Author:** ![XRaeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/f14d63/32.png) [@XRaeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XRaeth)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2015, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-people-using-rat-poison-unnecessarily-mercy-killing-of-mouse/627615/197 "2015-08-27T21:47:01Z")
Hopefully no one has a problem with killing zombie mice, no matter how adorable their little zombie mice moans are. ---
**Author:** ![Balance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Balance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balance)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2015, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-people-using-rat-poison-unnecessarily-mercy-killing-of-mouse/627615/198 "2015-08-27T21:49:28Z")
> [@XRaeth](#): > > Hopefully no one has a problem with killing zombie mice, no matter how adorable their little zombie mice moans are. “Grains…” ---
**Author:** ![watchwolf49](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9c0ed/32.png) [@watchwolf49](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/watchwolf49)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2015, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-people-using-rat-poison-unnecessarily-mercy-killing-of-mouse/627615/199 "2015-08-27T23:04:46Z")
> [@LavenderBlue](#): > > Zombie mice are still mice. And mice deserve to die. Anyone who thinks humans are cruel to mice has clearly never woken up to a living room full of assorted mouse parts and one smugly happy cat. … or a smug happy _sharing_ cat crawl into bed with you with her “catch”. ---
**Author:** ![adhemar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3da27b/32.png) [@adhemar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adhemar)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2015, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-people-using-rat-poison-unnecessarily-mercy-killing-of-mouse/627615/200 "2015-08-27T23:23:28Z")
> [@Maastricht](#): > > I hate people who use that kind of poison instead of using alternatives. Is it really so difficult to buy some airtight containers to put your foodstuffs in? To pack nesting materials in sturdy plastic bags? > > . Rats can chew through plastic. even heavy plastic. like the plastic jars that jasmine rice comes in. they can squeeze through the tiny crevice between the window air conditioner and the window. And then will chew through everything in the house. Tell me how to make my house airtight against the disease carrying rodents so they will stay out of my house and i will quit poisoning them. I am by the way quite phobic of rodents so the “humane” traps that would rquire me to touch the trap is out of the question. So pit away, I don’t give a rats ass. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-people-using-rat-poison-unnecessarily-mercy-killing-of-mouse/627615.md?page=9) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-people-using-rat-poison-unnecessarily-mercy-killing-of-mouse/627615.md?page=11)