Proceedings of the Vertebrate Pest Conference

The object of this study was to find an alternative rodent repellent to take the place of endrin when direct seeding to regenerate coniferous forests. Compounds with aversive conditioning repellent attributes were screened. Even though still falling far short of endrin, which also acts as a lethal rodenticide, alpha-naphthylthiourea (ANTU) treated seed produced about twice as many seedlings as did the untreated seed. Both the laboratory and field evaluation procedures and results are discussed. It is hoped that with more research the efficacy of ANTU as a seed protectant can be further improved. The compound is much too promising to abandon as a candidate repellent for deer mice and possibly other rodent species.