The rodent bait station is the central technology used in rodent control, and its history is not well known. We present part of a historical and anthropological study of rodent control in which we detail why the rodent bait station was designed the way it was and how it has been taken up by the industry over the last 70 years. The current ecological crisis of secondary poisoning because of anticoagulant rodenticide use is, we argue, better understood when one recognizes that the bait station system ensures widespread use because of the way it has been designed and embraced in pest control.
