The study of rodenticide baits olfactory component and its attractiveness to domestic mice

Introduction. One of the most important tasks of modern deratization is to increase the palatability of rodenticide baits. A way to solve this problem may be to add a flavoring composition to the bait base, which will increase the attractiveness of the bait for target animals.

Materials and methods. The study assessed the effects of adding artificial flavors (of various origins) to a grain-based rodenticide bait on its palatability under free-roaming conditions by house mice (Mus musculus).

Results. The odorant "Almond" dose-dependently increased the grain bait palatability by mice. The odorant added at a 1% concentration raised bait consumption to up to 76.54%. Although an increase in consumption was already observed when adding the flavoring agent at a concentration of 0.1% and amounted to 58.08%. Adding the flavoring agent "Cheese" caused maximum palatability at a concentration of 0.1%. The odorants "Vanilla" and "Bacon" demonstrated a slight increase in the consumption of grain bait, but the figures did not exceed 40% for any of the concentrations studied.

Conclusion. Thus, to increase the palatability of rodenticide baits by house mice, synthetic flavoring agents imitating "nutty" smells should be considered first. 

Ethics approval. The study was approved by the Ethics Committee of the Disinfectology Institute of “FSCH named after F.F. Erisman” of Rospotrebnadzor" (No. 2¹, dates May 6, 2025), conducted in accordance with the European Convention for the Protection of Vertebrate Animals used for Experimental and other Scientific Purposes (ETS No. 123), the Directive of the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union.

Contribution:
Khirazova E.E. — data processing, writing the text;
Gevorkyan I.S., Sitnikova A.I., Kurashova D.I. — collection of materials;
Komarov V.Yu. — concept and design of the study, editing.
All co-authors — approval of the final version of the article, responsibility for the integrity of all parts of the article.

Funding. This study was not supported by any external sources of funding.

Conflict of interest. The authors declare no apparent or potential conflicts of interest related to the publication of this article.

Received: 09.09.2025 / Accepted: 15.11.2025 / Published: 10.12.2025

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