How anticoagulant bait works
Anticoagulant baits are one of the most common rodenticides used to kill rodents. Rodents include a broad species of animals within their range and are not just limited to rats and mice. They also include animals like chipmunks, squirrels, beavers, porcupines, woodchucks and other similar animals. Today, many professional pest control companies use anticoagulant baits to eliminate rodents from commercial and residential properties.
This article will give you a brief overview of the types of anticoagulant baits that are in use today and how they are used to kill rodents.
Using baits is effective rodenticides
Rodents contaminate food and cause damage to the property where they reside in. They are also the carriers of many diseases. Hence, it is only natural that you get rid of them in the safest way possible. If you are looking for an odour-free and mess-free way of getting rid of rodents, baits are a great choice for you. You can use foods that attract rodents, like cheese, sugar, fruits and more.
These foods are induced with specific chemicals to kill rodents before they are used to attract them. Always keep these baits as far as possible from pets and kids. If ingested, these baits can cause severe health issues.
What are anticoagulant baits and how do they work?
Food baits that arrest the blood clotting process in rodents are known as anticoagulant baits. These anticoagulants disturb the normal blood clotting process, as a result of which the rodents experience internal bleeding. Severe internal bleeding causes death in these pests. However, these anticoagulant baits don’t cause immediate death. Rodents will start experiencing internal bleeding problems anywhere between 3 and 10 days after having the first dose of the baits.
When a rodent ingests anticoagulants, the enzyme that recycles Vitamin K doesn’t function properly. As a result, there is a disruption in the blood-clotting process, leading to death due to internal bleeding.
Why using anticoagulant baits is a good idea?
The common anticoagulants used in baits are warfarin, difethialone, chlorophacinone, bromadiolone, pindone, diphacinone and brodifacoum. Why are many pest control companies opting for these anticoagulant baits to get rid of pests? It is because these baits offer the following advantages:
- Almost all anticoagulants cause no impact on the rodent’s system immediately upon consumption. So, you can expect them to return to the baits every day until they get killed because of severe internal bleeding.
- When compared to other types of pesticides, anticoagulants are not considered too dangerous for pets and kids.
- Since it takes a few days for the symptoms to set in, it is quite possible to treat the problem immediately if humans or pets have accidentally ingested the toxin.
Types of anticoagulant baits
There are two types of anticoagulants baits. First generation anticoagulants such as warfarin, diphacinone, chlorophacinone which might require multiple feed in order to kill rodents. The other type is second generation anticoagulants baits such as brodifacoum, difenacoum, bromadiolone which are more commonly used in current times and can deliver death after single feed.
