By Milesron
United Kingdom 
Hello
a month or so ago I noticed holes in my compost heap and concluded rats were the culprits. I called out Pest Control who came out and confirmed this. The Pest Control man filled the holes with blue rat poison. He returned in two weeks and reported that some of the poison had been taken and I would not be troubled further. This is ok but when I began using the compost I found quantities of poison in the old holes and it was difficult to dig out the compost without getting some of the poison.
My problem is: When I put this contaminated compost on my veg patch, will it affect the plants and importantly, will the produce be safe to eat?
Ron Miles
31 Jan, 2011
Answers
I think that the main problem will be to animals and birds that take in the poison that you are spreading on the garden. I am surprised that the pest control person just put the poison directly onto the compost. I would have expected the man to have used bait containers that could be easily removed.
31 Jan, 2011
Rats need 2 things warm home and food,breck the cycle there move on
Poison kill so better to be safe than sorry
31 Jan, 2011
As far as I'm aware, the bait they use is not taken up by plants, but as you don't know quite what they used, best not to get it on your skin. Remove as much as possible - modern bait is harmless to humans (or so they say) but is usually placed in bait boxes - given that your rat control person didn't follow procedure, one wonders what he used as bait. Chances are, if it was blue, it is actually modern bait mixed with peanut butter, but I'd check with him to be sure.
31 Jan, 2011
If harmless to humuns why do you have to wear gloves it kills mice/rats and an other aminal which eat the poison and if another animal eats the dead body
31 Jan, 2011
Personally, if it were me, to be on the safe side, I wouldn't use it on the vegetable patch.
It is better to be safe than sorry.
Very bad to have just placed it there without a bait container or baitbox.
31 Jan, 2011
Jiffy, when I asked the pest control man (here to rebait the boxes for mice) why he wasn't wearing gloves any more, he told me the new bait was not poisonous to humans. Well, unless you ate tons of it, that is...
31 Jan, 2011
here here bulb . better safe than sorry i say .
1 Feb, 2011
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not to mention the animals that could eat the poison that you dont want to kill .i guess its possible to be taken in through the roots but i dont know for sure .
31 Jan, 2011