Case Study

Selontra® Rodent Bait Ends Landfill Rat Infestation

When a regional landfill became overrun by Norway rats, Hyde’s Termite & Pest Control Inc. saw a great opportunity to put Selontra rodent bait from BASF to the test.

Hyde’s Termite & Pest Control Pest Division Manager Tony Rose.

The technical team at Hyde’s Termite & Pest Control Inc. in Paragould, Ark., isn’t fazed by rodent issues. Serving residential, commercial, industrial and farm accounts, this third-generation pest management company has made short work of plenty of overwhelming infestations. So when a large local landfill recently asked Hyde’s to treat a particularly heavy infestation of Norway rats, nobody flinched.

 

“We had been providing the offices on this property with monthly pest control service for quite some time and had managed an infestation at the weigh station when rats were chewing through the wires on their bulldozers. It was no surprise to us that the next step would be broader control,” says nine-year industry veteran Tony Rose, who services the account. “During one of our regular monthly service visits, our customer asked us to evaluate the landfill area.”

The Challenge

The infestation was severe. Norway rats scurried everywhere as tractor operators scooped up the trash and placed it into trucks that hauled it up a hill to be buried, Rose said. The primary trouble spot was a “transfer building,” a structure designed as a holding area for trash when the wind was too strong to leave it out in the open field. 

The Opportunity

The landfill challenge called for a strong solution. Shannan Hyde-Prince, vice president of Hyde’s and manager of its Paragould office, recognized this as an ideal opportunity to test Selontra rodent bait, which Hyde’s BASF representative, Jared Harris, had recently discussed with her. “It sounded like a great product, but you never know until you take it into the field,” says Hyde-Prince. “We’re always open to testing the latest products when manufacturers provide us with product samples, because we want to be sure we’re always providing our customers with the best possible solutions to their pest issues.”

Moment of Truth

Rose placed bait stations around the transfer building, as well as in various locations inside the building. One-third of these stations contained Selontra rodent bait, while the others each held one of two baits Hyde’s had traditionally relied on. “We placed 14 outside and six inside. The rats started hitting the bait stations after a week-and-a-half; we checked them twice a week after that,” he says. “We kept finding that the rats were eating the Selontra bait but hardly touching the other two types. They showed a clear preference for Selontra.”

 

That’s not surprising, given that Selontra rodent bait has proven to be palatable even when desirable food sources are available. And the stop-feed action of the active ingredient, cholecalciferol, can make a little bait go a long way: Rodents eat only enough for a lethal dose, leaving more for the rest of the colony.

 

Just to make sure the rodents’ preference for Selontra wasn’t a matter of placement or accessibility, Rose rotated the baits in the stations throughout the property. No matter where the Selontra bait was in the mix, the rats found it, walking past the other bait stations to get to it, he says. “I was sold on Selontra, based on the rats’ reaction to it. Once I was certain the Selontra was performing better than the other products, we swapped the bait stations out to be all Selontra. Now the same operators who were facing hundreds of rats at a time tell me they’re gone,” says Rose, who continues to monitor the rodent situation monthly.

The Proven Solution

Hyde-Prince says that Selontra rodent bait is now Hyde’s go-to for not only rats but all rodents. “We’re starting to use it on residential properties and achieving similarly positive results; as long as it continues to perform at this level, we plan to keep using it,” she says.

 

“It’s amazing,” Rose adds. “That was by far the worst infestation of Norway rats I’ve ever seen. They showed a real preference for Selontra, and it controlled the population efficiently. I haven’t been using our other rodent baits at all since seeing what Selontra can do.

“Going forward, Selontra rodent bait is my first choice,” he says.

 

SELONTRA RODENT BAIT: GOOD FOR BUSINESS. BAD FOR RATS AND MICE.

Selontra rodent bait is designed to quickly control rodent infestations in residential, commercial, industrial, poultry and livestock applications. Selontra rodent bait offers:

 

  • Fast colony kill — as little as seven days — as demonstrated through U.S. field trials.1
  • The stop-feed action of the active ingredient, cholecalciferol, makes a little go a long way — rodents eat only enough for a lethal dose, leaving more for the rest of the colony.2,3 This stop-feed action causes rodents to lose their appetite, so sub-dominant rodents can feed sooner. As a result, shortened baiting programs and less bait required to kill populations.
  • Effective against anticoagulant resistant rodents.4
  • A patent-pending formulation with proven palatability even when competitive food sources are available.1
  • Durability and stability even under extreme temperatures (0°F to 177°F).

 

Selontra rodent bait is available in durable, re-sealable eight-pound pails, which contain 182 square 20-gram sachets (35mm x 35mm x 12mm).

 

1 U.S. Field Trials (Indiana Grain Farm, 2017; NC Pig Farm, 2016; New Orleans, LA, Urban Study, 2016) demonstrated control of rats and mice infestations in as few as seven days, in the presence of abundant, competing food sources.

2 Prescott, C.V., El-Amin, Vusa, and Smith, R.H. “Calciferols and Bait Shyness in the Laboratory Rat.” Proceedings of the Fifteenth Vertebrate Pest Conference 1992. Paper 64.

3 Whisson, Desley, “Rodenticides for Control of Norway Rats, Roof Rats, and House Mice.” University of California Cooperative Extension, Poultry Fact Sheet No. 23, 1996.

4 E.F. Marshall. Cholecalciferol: A Unique Toxicant for Rodent Control. Proceedings of the Eleventh Vertebrate Pest Conference 1984. pp. 95-98.

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