Definition
Rodenticide is the general term for any product formulated to kill rodents, primarily rats and mice. Rodenticides fall into two broad categories. Anticoagulant rodenticides, the most widely used type, work by interfering with the rodent's blood-clotting ability, which causes fatal internal bleeding over the course of several days after the rodent has fed on the bait multiple times (or, with newer single-feed formulations, just once). Non-anticoagulant rodenticides use different mechanisms entirely, such as disrupting calcium levels or the nervous system, and are typically used as an alternative when a rodent population has developed resistance to anticoagulants.
Because rodenticide is genuinely toxic and needs to be, in order to work, professional-grade product is never just scattered loose around a property. It's deployed inside locked, tamper-resistant bait stations: small, weighted or anchored enclosures with narrow openings sized for rodents but designed to keep out children, pets, and non-target wildlife. A pest control company will typically place these stations along known rodent travel routes — against exterior walls, near entry points, in crawl spaces — and check and refill them on a regular schedule as part of an ongoing rodent control program, rather than as a single one-time application.
- Anticoagulant baits are the standard first-line option for most residential rat and mouse control programs.
- Tamper-resistant bait stations are a regulatory and safety requirement for professional applications, not just a best practice.
- Rodenticide is one tool among several in an effective program, which typically also includes exclusion (sealing entry points) and sanitation measures.