Selontra® Rodent Bait Ends Landfill Rat Infestation

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 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.”

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.

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.