Do Scent Lures Increase Visitation of Bait Stations by Urban Roof Rats?
Roof rats (Rattus rattus) are invasive commensal rodents that pose a significant threat to both natural and manmade environments. Like other commensal rodents, roof rats are often controlled with rodenticides placed within bait stations, but rats can be slow to visit stations or avoid them altogethe...
Main Authors: | , , |
---|---|
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | unknown |
Published: |
eScholarship, University of California
2024
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | https://escholarship.org/uc/item/6hp4g3h5 https://escholarship.org/content/qt6hp4g3h5/qt6hp4g3h5.pdf |
id |
ftcdlib:oai:escholarship.org:ark:/13030/qt6hp4g3h5 |
---|---|
record_format |
openpolar |
spelling |
ftcdlib:oai:escholarship.org:ark:/13030/qt6hp4g3h5 2024-09-30T14:41:46+00:00 Do Scent Lures Increase Visitation of Bait Stations by Urban Roof Rats? Bosarge, Miles A. Stapp, Paul Quinn, Niamh 2024-01-01 application/pdf https://escholarship.org/uc/item/6hp4g3h5 https://escholarship.org/content/qt6hp4g3h5/qt6hp4g3h5.pdf unknown eScholarship, University of California qt6hp4g3h5 https://escholarship.org/uc/item/6hp4g3h5 https://escholarship.org/content/qt6hp4g3h5/qt6hp4g3h5.pdf public Proceedings of the Vertebrate Pest Conference, vol 31, iss 31 California commensal rodents pest management Rattus rodent activity rodent behavior rodenticide bait stations scent lure article 2024 ftcdlib 2024-09-13T00:05:02Z Roof rats (Rattus rattus) are invasive commensal rodents that pose a significant threat to both natural and manmade environments. Like other commensal rodents, roof rats are often controlled with rodenticides placed within bait stations, but rats can be slow to visit stations or avoid them altogether. We tested whether the addition of a scent lure (Airzonix; VM Products) would increase visitation and use of bait stations in 36 residential yards in Orange County, California. We placed two EZ-Secured (VM Products) stations, one containing a scent lure and non-toxic bait (treatment) and one containing bait only (control), in each yard, and monitored them continuously with digital game cameras for three weeks. We compared time to discovery and entry, bait consumption, and nightly roof rat activity between scent lure and control stations. The addition of a scent lure did not reduce time to discovery or entry significantly, nor did it increase bait consumption or rat activity, although rat behavior differed around scent lure and control bait stations. Overall, although roof rats discovered bait stations fairly quickly (median time to discovery 124-195 h), they entered and consumed bait in only a fraction (50-60%) of the stations, and were slow to enter stations (median time to entry 318-387 h), underscoring that additional techniques are still needed to improve the attractiveness and efficacy of bait stations. Article in Journal/Newspaper Rattus rattus University of California: eScholarship |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
University of California: eScholarship |
op_collection_id |
ftcdlib |
language |
unknown |
topic |
California commensal rodents pest management Rattus rodent activity rodent behavior rodenticide bait stations scent lure |
spellingShingle |
California commensal rodents pest management Rattus rodent activity rodent behavior rodenticide bait stations scent lure Bosarge, Miles A. Stapp, Paul Quinn, Niamh Do Scent Lures Increase Visitation of Bait Stations by Urban Roof Rats? |
topic_facet |
California commensal rodents pest management Rattus rodent activity rodent behavior rodenticide bait stations scent lure |
description |
Roof rats (Rattus rattus) are invasive commensal rodents that pose a significant threat to both natural and manmade environments. Like other commensal rodents, roof rats are often controlled with rodenticides placed within bait stations, but rats can be slow to visit stations or avoid them altogether. We tested whether the addition of a scent lure (Airzonix; VM Products) would increase visitation and use of bait stations in 36 residential yards in Orange County, California. We placed two EZ-Secured (VM Products) stations, one containing a scent lure and non-toxic bait (treatment) and one containing bait only (control), in each yard, and monitored them continuously with digital game cameras for three weeks. We compared time to discovery and entry, bait consumption, and nightly roof rat activity between scent lure and control stations. The addition of a scent lure did not reduce time to discovery or entry significantly, nor did it increase bait consumption or rat activity, although rat behavior differed around scent lure and control bait stations. Overall, although roof rats discovered bait stations fairly quickly (median time to discovery 124-195 h), they entered and consumed bait in only a fraction (50-60%) of the stations, and were slow to enter stations (median time to entry 318-387 h), underscoring that additional techniques are still needed to improve the attractiveness and efficacy of bait stations. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Bosarge, Miles A. Stapp, Paul Quinn, Niamh |
author_facet |
Bosarge, Miles A. Stapp, Paul Quinn, Niamh |
author_sort |
Bosarge, Miles A. |
title |
Do Scent Lures Increase Visitation of Bait Stations by Urban Roof Rats? |
title_short |
Do Scent Lures Increase Visitation of Bait Stations by Urban Roof Rats? |
title_full |
Do Scent Lures Increase Visitation of Bait Stations by Urban Roof Rats? |
title_fullStr |
Do Scent Lures Increase Visitation of Bait Stations by Urban Roof Rats? |
title_full_unstemmed |
Do Scent Lures Increase Visitation of Bait Stations by Urban Roof Rats? |
title_sort |
do scent lures increase visitation of bait stations by urban roof rats? |
publisher |
eScholarship, University of California |
publishDate |
2024 |
url |
https://escholarship.org/uc/item/6hp4g3h5 https://escholarship.org/content/qt6hp4g3h5/qt6hp4g3h5.pdf |
genre |
Rattus rattus |
genre_facet |
Rattus rattus |
op_source |
Proceedings of the Vertebrate Pest Conference, vol 31, iss 31 |
op_relation |
qt6hp4g3h5 https://escholarship.org/uc/item/6hp4g3h5 https://escholarship.org/content/qt6hp4g3h5/qt6hp4g3h5.pdf |
op_rights |
public |
_version_ |
1811644214763585536 |