Selontra^® FAQs

Selontra^® is a highly effective, innovative, securable rodent bait that quickly controls rodent infestations, offering several unique advantages for applications in urban and rural environments, including shorter baiting regimes, no resistance, and high palatability. Selontra^® balances performance and environmental impact.

• Shorter baiting regimes and quicker rodent control compared to anticoagulant baits.
• Highly palatable even when other attractive food sources are available.
• The active substance in Selontra^®, cholecalciferol, is neither persistent in the enviroment nor bioacumulative, and is readily metablolised by rodents. Bird species tested (quail and mallard) have shown a 50-fold lower sensitivity to cholecalciferol than target rodents.
• Durable and stable under extreme temperatures.
• Effective against all AVK resistant strains of target rodents
• No known resistance, and development of resistance considered highly unlikely.

Pest Control Operators

With Selontra^® it is possible to control rodent infestations in as few as 7 days, up to 3-times faster than with anticoagulants. Therefore, Selontra^® is your best choice for all situations, where each day counts:

• Highly automated industrial production plants
• Food processing -storage and retail-
• Restaurants, cafes, and hotels
• Schools, kindergartens, residential areas, hospitals and other sensitive situations

Your customers will be very satisfied when you control the rodents much quicker than before.

Selontra^® can reduce the number of visits/inspections needed to control a rodent infestation, reducing treatment costs significantly and saving you time.

When you are dealing with sites that have a high risk of re-invasion and when other methods of control have proven insufficient, Selontra® can be used in a permanent baiting strategy, if permitted in your country.

Farmers

Protecting the biosecurity on your livestock farm is a key requirement and farm processes may leave only a small-time window for rodent treatment, e.g. in between flocks.

For stored crops: when there is rodent invasion, post-harvest protection is an urgent requirement.

With Selontra^®, rodents will then also stop contaminating and consuming your harvest much quicker.

Selontra^® stops the waste of resources (bait and harvest/food which rodents consume/contaminate on your farm).

Businesses benefiting from Selontra^® rodent control:

Industrial production plants (high tech production sites, IT hardware, pharmaceutical and biotechnological production). By gnawing on electrical cables, rodents can cause shortages and shut down entire production lines. For your plant, fast rodent control is at the essence.

Restaurants, cafes, hotels and food processing (storage and retail).

The food you are storing, preparing and even the waste are attractive food sources for rats and mice. These rodents threaten to contaminate your premises. Protect the reputation of your business with quicker and efficient rodent control.

Schools, kindergartens, hospitals, residential areas.

Thrown-away food is an attractive food source for rats and mice. That is why rodents are often found in and around buildings and facilities. Your school, kindergarten, hospital or residential area requires scrutiny by your pest control service provider. Whenever you detect rodent activity, you need a fast solution.

Selontra^® has been registered in the UK and a range of countries around the world including

• Europe
• Australia
• United States
• South Africa
• New Zealand
• Singapore
• Russia

The active substance in Selontra^® is cholecalciferol. Cholecalciferol is naturally occurring; it is present in all healthy mammals,  but lethal to rodents in high doses.

Cholecalciferol is a key regulator of serum calcium levels. At toxic doses, it can result in high concentrations of blood calcium (hypercalcemia), which causes crystals of calcium salts to form in blood vessels and soft tissues such as the heart, kidneys, liver, stomach and lungs and joints. This calcification disrupts normal physiological processes, leading to death.

In rats and mice, consumption of a lethal dose of Selontra^® induces the affected rodent to stop feeding after approximately 24 hours. Mortality usually occurs within two to five days.

• Controls rodents up to three times faster than anticoagulant rodenticides, and fewer treatments are required.
• Stop-feeding effect that prevents affected rodents from feeding on non-bait food sources or consuming additional bait, which reduces the amount of product required as well as consumption of the surrounding non-bait food.
• Different mode of action to most commonly used rodenticides (anticouagulants). No known resistance, and development of resistance considered highly unlikely. This contrasts with anticoagulants, to which the development of resistance in rodents has been reported.
• Effective against all AVK resistant strains of target rodents.

Yes, there is a risk to non-target species if they ingest the bait. Following the label instructions reduces the risk of primary and secondary exposure.

Selontra^® is produced in a securable soft bait formulation that allows the bait to be secured in bait stations, minimizing the risk of bait contamination around the site. A warning dye and bittering agent also helps prevent consumption by humans.

Acute oral toxicity data shows that the birds tested (Mallard ducks and Bobwhite quails) are 50 times less sensitive to cholecalciferol as compared to target rodents.

Acute oral toxicity data shows that the birds tested (Mallard ducks and Bobwhite quails) are 50 times less sensitive to cholecalciferol as compared to target rodents. In addition, Cholecalciferol is readily metabolized and not bio-accumulative.

• The time period from feeding on Selontra^® until the onset of the clinical effects is, approximately 24 hours, this is sufficient time to reduce the likelihood that the rodents do not relate the effects they are experiencing to the Selontra^® bait. Any bait that has its effects 24 hours after ingestion can be considered to be acting as a sub-acute bait. This is different from acute rodenticides, for which this period from ingesting to effect is from only a few hours up to 24 hours. To ensure a lethal dose of cholecalciferol is ingested quickly, Selontra® has been formulated to be extremely palatable.
• Results of Selontra^® trials show up to 100% control of infestations is possible within 7 days.

• Total daily food consumption of a 250 g rat is about 25 g.
• Bait LD50 for Selontra^® is 13.7 g. although field data indicates that as few as 10 g is sufficient to effect death.
• Thus a lethal dose of Selontra^® can be eaten by rats in 1 day if sufficient bait is made available.
• In palatability studies, Selontra^® outperforms the tested most attractive alternative feed as well as competitor products.
• Results of Selontra^® trials show up to 100% control of infestations.

• Cholecalciferol is not a new rodenticidal active substance. What is new, is the unique combination of cholecalciferol and the highly palatable bait matrix that is Selontra^®. This super-palatability is essential to deliver a lethal amount of Selontra^® in a single day, before the stop-feeding effect of cholecalciferol occurs. BASF’s experience in the development and production of rodenticides over the past 40 years has enabled us to successfully develop Selontra®.
• Thanks to the unique formulation of Selontra^®, up to 100% control of large infestations can be possible within 7 days.
• In the past cholecalciferol-containing rodenticides were not sufficiently palatable for a lethal dose to be ingested before the stop-feeding effect occurs. The high palatability of Selontra^® overcomes this. Studies on other competitor cholecalciferol baits have shown that Selontra^® is at least 4 x more palatable than these competitor baits.
• Results of Selontra^® trials show up to 100% control of infestations.
• Numerous PCOs across Europe have had the chance to test this product and are very impressed with its performance.

BASF is committed to providing innovative, sustainable solutions for pest control operators, farmers and the public. Selontra^® offers several unique advantages as a rodenticide including shorter baiting regimes, high palatability and no resistance issues.

Yes, BASF has granted patents in the US, Australia and China and further pending patents in several countries including in Europe.

Yes. Selontra^® is the global BASF brand in the professional and agricultural rodent control markets.

Selontra^® is a new, innovative solution for rodent control that will change the way pest management professionals approach rodent infestation control in urban and rural environments. Selontra^® is a complementary addition to BASF’s strong rodenticide portfolio.

BASF will continue to focus on a wide array of active substances, including anticoagulants, as long as they support our goal to create chemistry for a sustainable future. Our portfolio will drive economic success combined with environmental protection and social responsibility.

Any product has the potential to cause harm if the label directions are not followed.

BASF is committed to providing innovative, sustainable solutions for pest control professionals and farmers.

There is no clear benefit at this time to combine cholecalciferol with other active substances.

Selontra^® will be available as a ready-to-use soft bait and is suitable for bait stations and covered and protected bait points (if applicable in your country).

No. Selontra^® is highly palatable and readily accepted by rodents.

The application rate for each bait station is:

• 20 - 40 grams or 1-2 units every 1-2 meters to control mice
• 100 - 140 grams or 5-7 units every 5-10 meters to control rats.

As the available food is so palatable, this can be a problem for any bait. If the available food cannot be removed (e.g. feed stores etc.,) then good hygiene and sanitation should be practiced to minimise availability (e.g. remove spillage, lids on containers, etc.,). Our data shows that Selontra^® is accepted even when highly palatable alterative food is available. If Selontra^® is placed in new bait boxes, then any neophobic rat (or even mouse) may take time to acclimatise to the new bait boxes before entering to consume the Selontra^®.

Burrow baiting is not on the Selontra^® Label. The reason for this is two-fold. Firstly, Selontra^® is a soft block (paste) bait and such baits are not the most physically robust for using within burrows. A more durable hard block bait such as Storm Ultra Secure or Storm Secure are far more physically suitable to the environmental conditions within burrows. Secondly, is the bait point size. Selontra^® has a bait point size of 100 g to 140 g, that is 5-7 blocks. This bait point size is too large to place within a burrow as is likely to block the burrow hole and/or cause a neophobic reaction from the rats. Thus, burrow baiting with a bait that has a smaller bait point size is recommended, such as Storm Ultra Secure or Storm Secure. Both Storm Ultra Secure and Storm Secure have burrow baiting on the label in countries that permit this practice. For Selontra^®, we recommend to place the bait close to the burrows, at covered and protected bait points (if permitted, check the label) or in bait boxes.