Proceedings of the Vertebrate Pest Conference

The house mouse is a common indoor pest found in the urban environment. Low-income communities often have the highest house mouse infestation rates due to inadequate pest management practices. We conducted an 18-month long study evaluating the effectiveness of three house mouse management strategies in a low-income community in New Jersey, U.S. Six buildings containing 156 apartments were divided into three groups, T&B, T&B+E, and control. The T&B treatment included the installment of traps and rodenticide baits. The T&B+E treatment included using traps and rodenticide baits, plus interior and exterior exclusion of the buildings. Researchers applied baits and traps inside apartments, crawl spaces, and basements and followed up until no mouse activity was found. Exclusion was completed by contracted vendors with oversight from researchers. The apartments in the control group were serviced by an existing contractor which used rodenticides and glue boards for mouse control and their treatment was offered only to residents who complained about mouse infestations. Building-wide inspections were conducted at 0, 6, 12, and 18 months to evaluate the effectiveness of the programs. T&B and T&B+E were more effective than the control in reducing house mouse infestations. The infestation rate in T&B, T&B+E, and control at 12 months (May 2023) was 2, 2, and 44%, respectively. The infestation rate rebounded in all groups from 12 to 18 months, which was probably related to lower temperatures in winter. T&B+E treatment caused faster reduction of mouse infestations than T&B treatment, but did not result in lower new infestations than T&B. The palatability of different rodenticides varied significantly. Kitchens had a higher amount of mouse activity than living rooms. A median number of three mice were caught by snap traps per infested apartment. Additional studies are suggested to determine the benefit of rodent exclusion.