rats in the kitchen with gas stove/heater?

[Petunia]

I am getting a new cage for my girls and I'm trying to decide where to put it.

The kitchen is the warmest and most used room, but I've heard that I shouldn't have them in the kitchen because I have a gas stove and gas heater. Gas heaters are common in New England.

It's natural gas, not propane.

If I moved, I would probably also have a gas heater in the living room, would that also be unsafe?
(where I am now there's electric baseboards in the living room, but they were installed improperly so I don't feel safe using them)

what makes natural gas unsafe for rats? or IS it unsafe?

 

[victoria]

Do you have a hood fan for when you use the stove? I know they weren't common before, but when my mother in law installed hers, the contractor told her it was mandatory to install one as per current construction standards.

I would think the danger with a gas stove or a gas heater would be carbon monoxide poisoning. I don't know though, if the stove or heater pose a greater risk than a gas furnace for central heating, which I have had and had no issues with in respect to my rats. If you don't already have one, I would get one and put it in your kitchen so it alerts you right away if the CO levels reach dangerous levels. Even then though, toxic levels may be different for rats and humans and the detectors are programmed to detect levels toxic to humans.

If the kitchen is well ventilated, either with the help of a hood fan or a window you can open for a short time regularly or by the nature of apartment layout, I don't think there would be a problem. But I don't know if there are other reasons why the gas appliances would be toxic to rats.

 

[jorats]

This is the first time I hear of gas stove being an issue with rats around. I can't help you there... might have to do a google search about them. If they warn against having birds near gas stoves, then I'd probably not have the rats near them either.

 

[Moon]

I'd think that as long as they weren't too close to the stove, you should be fine, and that the risks of a gas stove would be risks to the whole family and anyone in the room.

 

[mamarat]

I know it's suggested that people with asthma don't get gas appliances.

 

[user 1946]

Make sure you get a CO detector is all our contractor said when he put in our propane system.

 

[victoria]

This is the first time I hear of gas stove being an issue with rats around. I can't help you there... might have to do a google search about them. If they warn against having birds near gas stoves, then I'd probably not have the rats near them either.

I think carbon monoxide is a much bigger risk to birds than it is to rats or us. That's why they used to use canaries to test the safety of coal mines hundreds of years ago. My first post wasn't well articulated, (maybe because it was way past my bed time when I wrote it) if the heater and stove are in good working order and there is a decent amount of ventilation (especially when you're cooking) and you have a CO detector (they start at $20 or $30 here - if you're renting it's likely your landlord's responsibility to provide one) then I would put them in the kitchen if you think that's the best spot for them. If you ever notice they are lethargic, their skin is flushed, or any other symptoms associated with CO poisoning, move them out right away and get them into fresh air.

 

[Petunia]

thanks everyone, well I did a search and couldn't come up with anything, I just know that *someone's* told me not to keep the rats in the kitchen with a gas stove (can't remember who that someone was LOL)
It could've been the same person who has a bird, who said that birds need to stay away from gas stoves/heaters.

I found this about birds: Homes often contain many items toxic to pet birds. The list includes several house plants, aerosol can propellants, natural gas when a pilot light fails, rodenticides, mothballs, cigarette butts, and denture cleaners.

Overheated non-stick frying pans or fumes of burned meat or fat have been reported to cause sudden widespread avian deaths in some home aviaries


if it's the mercaptan that's the problem (the odor they add to the gas), it would actually be worse to keep them in the room off the kitchen, because the air is very stagnant in that room. The kitchen has two windows, three doors and four doorways LOL it's a very drafty room.
one door goes to a porch, two go to the hallway/stairwell and the door ways go to the living room, both bedrooms and the pantry.
sometimes a pilot light will go out, but that doesn't happen very often any more now that I've figured out how to clear them out (they get this white dust in them)

yeh, the more I think about it, the more I think the kitchen is probably ok for the rats.
I had a fire safety inspection done once and the fireman said that I didn't really need a carbon monoxide detector because my place is so drafty- he said those were more important for well insulated homes.
I'm in a very old building with very old windows.