An easy way to reduce PIT‐tag loss in rodents

Passive integrated transponders (PIT‐tags) have been shown to be a reliable method for individually marking rodents in field studies. The loss rates of PIT‐tags vary, depending on the species, from 3.6 to 7.2%. We used PIT‐tags to individually mark a population of edible dormice. Due to a relatively high loss rate of transponders in the first year (7.4%) we used a tissue adhesive to seal the punctuation wound in the second year. With this method we could reduce the tag‐loss rate to 2.2%. We therefore recommend using a tissue adhesive, which is easy and fast to apply, after injecting a transponder.