Liquid baits for rodent control: A comparison of wild Norway versus wild ricefield rat response to glucose plus saccharin solutions

Field evaluation of some bait additives against Indian crested porcupine (Hystrix indica) (Rodentia: Hystricidae)

“…However, when saccharin was used in a concentration of 2%, there was no statistically significant increase in the consumption of the bait, yet a general trend of increasing acceptability of the bait persisted throughout the experiment. Sweeteners have been reported to have different values as bait additives for different rodent species, improving bait palatability in field rodents [Microtus californicus (Peale, 1848)] and other species of rats and mice (Rao & Prakash 1980;Yamaguchi 1995;Shumake et al 1997;Johnston et al 2005), whereas no such study is available on the Indian crested porcupine. Based upon possible acceptance of sweeteners by rats and mice, molasses has been used as an additive at a concentration of 5% in cracked maize (Khan et al 2006;Khan & Mian 2008) and broken rice and wheat flour (Pervez 2006) for successful poison baiting of Indian crested porcupine in different tracts of Pakistan.…”

“…However, no data was available about the consumption of the additive baits. Saccharin has been used in place of other organic sweeteners to increase the food or water intake in rice-field rats (R. rattus) (Shumake et al 1997) and laboratory rats (M. musculus) (Valenstein et al 1967), and in general rodent baits (Hseum et al 1978).…”

“…These were common salt (crude rock salt, available from local markets, mined from the Khewra Salt Mine System), fish meal (crude form available from the local market mainly as an ingredient to constitute poultry feed), bone meal (leg bone of goat purchased from local markets and ground to a powdered form using anelectric grinder), saccharin (Saccharin Soluble, Choheung Chemical, Seoul, Korea), yeast powder (Instant Yeast, Saf-Instant, S. I. Lesaffre, 59703, Marcq, France), egg shell powder (egg shells collected from bakeries and blended to a powdered form using an electric blender), egg yolk (freshly prepared from poultry eggs purchased from the local market), mineral oil (heavy white oil, MP, Biomedicals, California, USA), peanut butter (Crown Products, Metairie, Louisiana, USA) and coconut oil (coconut purchased from the local market and oil extracted using local commercial oil expellers) were used in 2 and 5% concentrations to test their potentials to enhance bait consumption. All the above mentioned bait additives have been tested in bait for the control of rats and mice in different parts of the world, including Pakistan (Rao & Prakash 1980;Ahmad et al 1994;Yamaguchi 1995;Shumake et al 1997;Robards & Saunders 1998;Jacob et al 2003;Johnston et al 2005;Pervez 2007) but never tested for their potential in enhancing the bait acceptance against porcupine, apart from a sweetener (molasses), which increased the consumption of the bait (Khan et al 2006;Khan & Mian 2008).…”

“…Although some studies are available on the food preference of Indian crested porcupine under field conditions (Mushtaq et al 2009(Mushtaq et al , 2010, comparative studies are lacking on bait efficacy enhancement through incorporating various bait additives. Several studies are available where the bait consumption has been enhanced by incorporating different additives for various rat species, such as Rattus norvegicus (Berkenhout, 1769), Rattus rattus (Linnaeus, 1758), Mus musculus Linnaeus, 1758 and Bandicota bengalensis (Gray and Hardwicke, 1833) (Shafi et al 1992(Shafi et al , 1993Yamaguchi 1995;Shumake et al 1997;Pervez et al 2000Pervez et al , 2003Johnston et al 2005;Pervez 2007). …”

Development of the Gusto Facial Reflex in Perinatally Undernourished Rats

“…Because acceptance or rejection of taste stimuli depends on the hedonic rather than the sensory aspect, the hedonic component of taste stimulus may be indirectly evaluated by using relative fluid consumption tests or by analyzing taste mimetic responses [19][20][21]. Furthermore, the initial activation of specific taste receptors in the oral cavity triggers electrical impulses which are transmitted along two separate sensory and hedonic afferent pathways that are constituted by different relays and that ultimately reach the insular and the orbitofrontal cortices, respectively [22][23][24].…”