Homeowners beware: NJ mice and rats are becoming immune to poison

You know that feeling when you see something move out of the corner of your eye in your kitchen at 2 a.m.?

You freeze.

It freezes.

Then it disappears under the stove and suddenly you’re questioning whether you should just burn the house down and start over. Or maybe that’s just me.

gray mouse on brown wooden surface

Bad news, New Jersey. The mice may be winning.

According to a new Rutgers University study highlighted by nj.com, researchers found that many mice in the Northeast, including New Jersey, carry genetic mutations associated with resistance to common rodent poisons. In fact, 84% of the house mice studied had at least one mutation linked to rodenticide resistance.

Of course they do.

These aren’t ordinary mice anymore. These are Jersey mice.

Everything in this state gets hardened eventually. Drivers. Workers. Property taxpayers. Apparently, rodents too.

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a mouse sitting on top of a wooden table

It gets worse.

This involves rats too. Now I’ve dealt with a mouse here and there. But I swear to God if I knew I had a rat in my home I don’t think I could stay there until I knew it was gone. It’s my kryptonite critter so to speak.

The Rutgers researchers analyzed mice and rats collected from urban areas throughout the Northeast and found evidence that decades of poison use may have helped create tougher generations of survivors.

The rodents that could withstand the poison lived long enough to pass those traits along. Gene mutations are making them impervious to those rodent poisons.

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A rat standing on its hind legs looking up

That’s an evolutionary success story for them but a horrifying reality if you’re the person hearing scratching sounds inside your walls.

And let’s be honest, mice and especially rats are creepy enough without becoming biologically enhanced.

The study’s authors say homeowners and pest control experts may need to rely more on sealing entry points, sanitation and trapping instead of simply depending on poison.

Which means if you thought the battle against household rodents was already difficult, it just got a lot worse.

The enemy just became mutant superheroes.

Opinions expressed in the post above are those of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Jeff Deminski only.

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