Pest Management Professional, August 2011

rodent management series PART 5 OF 6 S taying organized when servicing large numbers of rodent bait stations will save time which increases productivity Tools of the trade for bait stations and provides clients with clean audit ready equipment Here are must have items to maintain bait stations Bait bucket with organizer to keep tools in place Waste bucket with lid to prevent leaving droppings and bait bits on the ground Multiple bait station keys for all usage types Two inch putty knife two inch paint brush mechanics brush and a small dust pan for removing droppings and loose rodent bait Paint marker or extra labels Caulk gun with liquid nails adhesive anchor screws and duck bills Dedicated ink pen and note pad Nitrile gloves hand sanitizer and instant soap and water Extra inspection log cards barcodes lid screws rods and trays and Various products to control ants cockroaches and slugs SR enclosure is cheap and good customer service compared to replacing a contaminated tile The more traps PMPs place the more likely rodents will encounter them and be removed Too few traps can allow an established rodent population to continue to reproduce resulting in a vicious cycle of rodent harvesting PMPs should be prepared to vary trap attractants Peanut butter was the industry standard but because of allergens its no longer allowed in most food production plants and many restaurant chains and public school systems Instead technicians can use one of the marketed attractants PMPs also can try to determine what the rodents preferred food source is and use that Traps should be emptied and maintained frequently especially when dealing with large rodent populations Daily trap checks shouldnt be out of the question for sensitive accounts where the rodent populations must be reduced rapidly For example For one mouse problem in a hospital cafeteria technicians entered after the dining hall closed and placed the traps which were collected early the next morning so the patrons would be unaware This was done for one week and required many man hours and long days Note Prices should reflect the level of service PMPs should always price prebaiting for trap shy Norway rats into the management strategy and communicate this to the client Some companies use a three strikes strategy in which they allow the rat to feed twice off the trap before the trigger is set for the third strike Multicatch mousetraps come in an array of forms and sizes and like their simple snap trap cousins each can have features that benefit different placement situations Multicatch traps come in two basic types wind up traps and trap door traps Other traps doors are attached to the trap roof for easy cleaning underneath When selecting traps for dirty environments ease of maintenance durability and cost must be considered These traps are often deployed in temprid reduces callbacks Our use of Temprid helped result in a signifi cant decrease in callbacks over the previous year more than 8500 In fact last year was a very successful year Greg Weatherly Director of Technical Service and Training at Truly Nolen of America Inc mypmp net Pest Management Professional August 2011 35