Data on flea control using fipronil baits with cricetid mice on prairie dog colonies, South Dakota, USA, 2018-2019 and 2023-2024

We evaluated the efficacy of edible fipronil baits for systemic flea control with two cricetid species on colonies of black-tailed prairie dogs (Cynomys ludovicianus): the western deer mouse (Peromyscus sonoriensis) and the northern grasshopper mouse (Onychomys leucogaster). Namely, we tested grain bait with 0.005% fipronil by weight (Scimetrics, Wellington, Colorado, USA) and “FipBit” bait pellets with 0.46–1.52 milligrams fipronil/pellet in the Conata Basin and Badlands National Park, South Dakota, USA, 2018-2019 and 2023-2024.We conducted two experiments as randomized before-after-control-impact assessments. The first experiment, conducted in the summers of 2018-2019, involved 0.005% fipronil grain and "FipBit" bait pellets, the latter each containing 0.84 milligrams fipronil. The experiment was conducted on prairie dog colonies named South Exclosure (452 hectares) and Prairie Wind North (233 hectares). We sampled mice on two 1.22-hectare plots on South Exclosure randomly selected for treatment with fipronil grain, a 1.22-hectare plot on South Exclosure randomly selected for treatment with FipBits, and three 1.22-hectare nontreated plots on Prairie Wind North as baselines.The second experiment, conducted in the summers of 2023-2024 involved FipBits with 0.46 or 1.52 milligrams fipronil/pellet. The experiment was conducted on two prairie dog colonies. The first, called Pinnacles (28 hectares), included a 1.66-hectare plot randomly selected for treatment with 0.46 mg FipBits, a 1.86-hectare plot randomly selected for treatment with 1.52 mg FipBits, and a 2.06-hectare nontreated plot. The other colony, called Prairie Wind South (27 hectares), included a 1.74-hectare plot for 0.46 mg FipBits, a 0.85-hectare plot for 1.52 mg FipBits, and a 1.09-hectare nontreated plot.Fipronil bait treatments occurred in July of 2018 and 2023. Fipronil grain was applied aboveground in early morning at one-half cup per prairie dog burrow opening. FipBits were applied aboveground in early morning on grids at 125 pellets/hectare, with 9-meter spacing between adjacent baits.In the first experiment, we assessed flea prevalence (detection/non-detection of at least 1 flea) on live-trapped mice from 12-56 days before treatments, 30-44 days after treatments, and 324-413 days after treatments. In the second experiment, we assessed flea prevalence on mice from 5-7 days before treatments, 11-15 days after treatments, and 349-351 days post-treatments on Pinnacles, and from 3-5 days before treatments, 11-15 days after treatments, and 369-378 days post-treatments on Prairie Wind South. We live-trapped and sampled mice on 0.81-hectare square grids centered on the prairie dog plots noted above, with 100 traps per grid and 10-meter spacing between adjacent traps (123 traps/hectare). Flea prevalence was assessed via combing of anesthetized mice for 30 seconds each.The release includes one combined dataset, Fipronil_Mouse_Flea_Prevalence.csv. Each line of data is from a sampling occasion with a mouse. The dataset includes information from the first and second experiments (Experiment = 1 or 2), the period of the experiment (Period, each defined above), and flea prevalence (Prevalence = 1 or 0).