Pest Perspectives - November/December 2015 - (Page 18)
feature
Best Practices for Exterior Bait Stations
By Bobby Corrigan, Ph.D., Urban Rodentologist, RMC Pest Management Consulting
s every Florida pest professional
knows, exterior rodent bait
stations play an important
role in helping to monitor, control
or prevent the commensal rodents
(house mice, Norway rats and Roof
rats) from invading our client's homes
and buildings.
But how do you know if you are
getting the most from your exterior
rodent bait stations? This article
addresses tips and techniques for
helping you to achieve maximum
effectiveness from your bait station
installments.
Rodent and Bait Station Behavior
Before discussing on-the-job tips
and techniques for installing bait
stations, a few comments are worth
noting about how rodents typically
behave when they encounter a
bait station.
In recent years, scientists have
studied rodent behavior when they
encounter new objects (i.e., a new
bait station) that suddenly appear
within their home ranges. The
behavior can be complex and varying,
requiring days and even weeks for
a rodent to enter. But it may also be
as simple as the rodent entering a
brand new bait stations during its
first encounter without any hesitation.
A shyness towards new stations
and objects tend to be particularly
strong with the adult females
(i.e., breeders).
Installing bait stations around the exteriors
of commercial facilities should first be
planned out according to the results of a
good inspection. Simply installing stations
according to some yardstick spacing
scheme does not match to the science of
rodent pest management.
18 November | December 2015
Rodent odors of individual rodents
and that of the local colony members
deposited on or around a bait station
can also affect how rodents may
behave around the station. Rodent
odors often contain pheromones
and these can dramatically affect a
rodent's reaction to a your stations
(same is true for their responses to
various traps). In studies with rats on
farms, those bait stations installed at
areas that contained high amounts
of urine, droppings and body sebum
received the highest number of visits.
What's more, the social interactions
among the rats affected which
specific stations the rats visited, and
which rats within the colony were
permitted to feed in the stations.
In addition to rodent exploratory
behavior, rodent feeding behavior
around new objects is also important.
In general, the commensal rodents
prefer to feed at sites within or close
to cover. If food is discovered in
open and exposed areas, rodents
commonly drag the food to some
type of cover. In severe infestations,
rats will feed in groups of a dozen or
more at the same spot. When a large
bait station is installed in the right
spot, several members of a family will
often feed inside the one station.
2.
3.
OTJ Bait Station Tips
The following are eight of my
favorite techniques that have proven
successful repeatedly for me over the
years. I can't promise that they will
entice every rodent of a colony to
enter your bait stations quickly. But,
one thing is for sure: just putting out
a bait station in any old spot along a
wall, simply because "rodents follow
walls" (see photo) has a low chance
of enticing the more cautious rodents
(often the breeders) that exist within
nearly every infestation.
1. Study, like a detective, each
and every infestation before
you install a bait station is
4.
5.
important. Try to answer two
important questions: 1) Where
are the rodent's food and water
sources? And, 2) where are the
suspected rodent harborages?
During your analysis, consider the
following words: warmth, cover
(shadows, hard-to-reach narrow
pathways), quiet zones, as well as
the structural elements the rodents
prefer such as corners, utility lines
and structural voids.
Once you've studied the
situation, then investigate the
affected areas to pin-point the
rodent's high activity areas.
This can't be stressed enough.
Keenly observe for droppings,
belly smears, gnaw marks, hairs,
obvious rodent trails and the like.
In those areas in which the above
signs are numerous, think of such
areas as the little red balloons you
see on a Google map for where to
"drop" a bait station.
Pre-baiting bait stations with
foods familiar to the rodents in
that specific area can sometimes
cause rodents to overcome
or reduce their cautiousness
toward the newly installed bait
stations. Once the presence and
location of the stations become
familiar to the rat colony, and they
readily take to the pre-baiting
food, then stations will begin to
contain the "colony scent." The
pre-baiting foods can then be
removed and replaced with the
rodent bait.
When active trails are noted in
vegetation or in the dirt,
snow or dust, install
stations directly next
to (not on) the active
trails. Missing a rodent
colony's favorite trail by only
10 feet may mean the rodents will
never visit your station.
Observe for areas that provide
obvious cover (low hanging
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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Pest Perspectives - November/December 2015
Message from FPMA Headquarters staff
Indecent Exposure: Stories of Pesticide Exposure
presidential perspective
The Advantage of Minimum Risk Pesticides
Best Practices for Exterior Bait Stations
capitol concerns
marketing matters
operational excellence
FPMA corner
advertiser index
Pest Perspectives - November/December 2015
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