Rat poison is one of Animal & Garden House’s best-selling products, but owner Jennifer McCarron has some concerns about it.

“The poison doesn’t leave the body of the rodent after it dies; it stays there,” Ms McCarron told The Royal Gazette. “If another animal eats the rat or mouse, they will also ingest the poison and become very sick and possibly die.”

The majority of rat poisons contain an anticoagulant that causes the animal to dehydrate and bleed out.

For this reason, Ms McCarron has introduced SenesTech’s Evolve, a product that takes the long-game approach to rat control, sterilising rats and mice using cottonseed.

A female rat can become pregnant at just five weeks old. After birthing between six to 12 pups per litter, she can become pregnant again within 48 hours of giving birth, sparking a multiplier effect that can lead to thousands of offspring annually.

Customers use Evolve much like standard bait, putting it into existing bait boxes, in bushes or anywhere else a rodent has been spotted.

It is non-toxic for other animals.

“It also fattens the rat up so they are less active in their movements,” Ms McCarron said. “They stay in their little areas, and you see them less and less.”

The Bermuda Aquarium, Museum & Zoo is one of her Evolve customers.

“They are concerned with the overpopulation of rats and mice at their facility,” she said. “They also have live animals there so they have to be very careful with what they put down to control rodents. They are one of our leading customers.”

Last month, the Ministry of Health urged the public to beware of rats and other pests, warning that summer would create conditions for them to multiply.

Kim Wilson, the Minister of Health, said the vector control team had seen increased reports of rodent activity, and encouraged the public to use proper trash bins with tight-fitting lids.

Overflowing or poorly managed rubbish provides more food sources and breeding grounds for rats.

Ms McCarron attributed part of Bermuda’s rat problem to once-a-week trash collection.

“Some people take their trash directly to the Tynes Bay Incinerator,” she said. “But other people have nowhere to take it.”

She also pointed to places such as restaurants, where food waste can be plentiful.

Ms McCarron said some people are reluctant to use the fertility-control bait because they want visible, immediate killing, not a slower, long‑term reduction.

“Some people with rats on their property just want to put the poison down and kill them,” she said. “This is reducing the rat population, slowly but more long-term.”

She said Evolve can be used alongside rat poison, or can be used as an alternative.