Rethinking rodent management for and beyond 2022
Popular techniques, trapping, and baiting, are just two among many treatment options
The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted rodent behavior changes during the lockdown in cities. Rodents that depended on trash for food no longer had access to such nutrition sources. There were reports of aggressive rodent behavior, including cannibalism and aggression in search of food.
PCOs who were denied entry into buildings in keeping with lockdown restrictions realized they had no way of checking traps or bait stations. On the other hand, the smarter PMPs who had adopted remote monitoring of rodent devices found it easy to continue such practice as their practices did not require physical checking for rodent activity.
Rodents are among the most destructive pests whose damage does not get adequate attention as the loss our industry quantifies is an estimate that is several times lesser than the actual one. Being Rodents are highly adaptable and increase in human environments to occupy every possible niche human niche.
The traditional practices of trapping and baiting rodents to manage them are very inefficient, which the pest management industry must rethink. Glueboards for trapping rodents are inhumane as the mice and rats stuck on such devices remain alive long after the glue binds them. Many countries have outlawed glueboards, and even those that have not, vocal animal rights organizations call for stopping glueboard use. Also, there is no certainty that glueboards inside stations along walls effectively trap all rodents within a structure. When there is a heavy rodent infestation, equidistantly spaced glueboards capture a few individual rodents, leaving most of the population to continue their damage.
Baits also have limitations, whether they are toxic or not. Food baits tend to become moldy and can quickly become a source of microbial growth or insect infestation. A PMP has to keep checking and replenishing food bait to monitor rodent activity or causing the death of the rodents which ingest such bait. Toxic baits also become moldy and a source of fungal and insect growth. One of the less known facts about rodent baiting is that very few baits that PMPs use attract rodents or have the target pest consume it.
Toxic baits create environmental challenges as they disintegrate and pollute the soil and water around them. They also are prone to consumption by non-target species and causing accidental poisoning not intended by the PMP who used them.
Knowing the above limitations of traditional rodent management, it is a surprise that few PCOs attempt any change in approach when offering it to customers. The rodent management choices are indeed few, but for the enthusiastic PMPs, there are many options in the market today to deal with rodents. We discussed a few options today and will follow up with more details in future PCO Mentor issues.
Monitoring: There are highly innovative options to monitoring rodents, including video cameras. Video footage of rodent activity at night, in particular, reveals the number and spread of an infestation helping a PMP to zero in on the population with control methods. With electronics costs reducing rapidly, rodent detection and monitoring cameras are now a reality that the pest management industry can access.
Cameras are just one rodent mo0nitoring option, and a PMP can use them in some situations. However, cheaper options are useful for finding out rodent activity by using products that attract rodents. For example, PMPs can determine if their rodent stations had a visitor by using strips or blocks that emit rodent attractive odors. The materials with attractants make rodents gnaw and leave marks that indicate to plan rodent trapping.
Electronic devices that track and report activity in a rodent station are the latest development of the past decade which enormously improve PMP efficiency. Instead of routinely visiting such stations at pre-determined frequency, a PMP can get alerts about rodent activity in them on their smartphones or web browsers on a computer. Though remote monitoring rodent stations is expensive, it economizes on the costs by focussing a PMP to visit only those devices that had activity. The payback of electronic rodent monitoring devices is short as every country has increasing technician costs.
Proofing: Preventing rodent entry is a simple technique to minimize their activity and damage inside a structure. Many manufacturers have developed materials that protect a structure against rodents leaving the PMP to focus on a few stray ones that may still find their way inside a structure. Rodent proofing does not rely only on specialized products but can use common construction materials that are strong enough to withstand rodent incursion. As the cost of trapping or baiting is substantial, PMPs must start a customer’s rodent management program by offering proof. Rodent proofing also offers the additional advantage of preventing other pests that use the same routes as rodents from entering a structure.
The future of trapping and baiting: Between the two, traps that instantly kill rodents humanely are the future of rodent management. Many manufacturers now have traps that quickly kill rodents, and PMPs have started using extensively in some European countries and the United States.
Poison baiting’s biggest limitation is that it is very difficult to ensure the consumption of the entire bait that a PMP uses. Further, depending on the bait, there can be secondary poisoning of non-target predators of rodents. Numerous food baits are now available, but they do have the limitations of attracting rodents to consume them and not spoiling them when in use.
For too long, the global PMPs have relied on trapping and baiting as their choice tools to tackle rodents. However, both those techniques are now dated and create numerous challenges when PMPs use them. The availability of odor attractants, video cameras to continuously track activity, and electronic devices to remotely monitor rodents give numerous options to PMPs to switch to cost-effective, safe, and effective rodent management tools.
We shall share details of each of the three rodent management approaches, monitoring, prevention, and trapping in our future issues.