August 2008 / Vol.5 / Issue 8

Hello and Welcome to the August Greenpest News. Each month we aim to provide you with some useful information, keeping it short, sweet and pertinent.

Contents

1. Pest Talk.
2. Rat control measures Part 2.
3. Gold Coast Show
4. Monthly Special.

Pest Talk

Last month we talked about a termite bait product that was being sold illegally - in breach of APVMA regulations. We are able to report that it is now withdrawn from sale. We didn't mention it by name, but several of our readers knew exactly what we were talking about and were quick to contact us with examples of how the product had failed to live up to its claims.

If there is any lesson to be learned, it is simply this: Don't just believe the marketing hype. Ask around and see what others have to say. Often the quickest way to discover the weakness of a product is to ask their competition. Of course, you'll need to check back to see if what the competition says is true too, then draw your own conclusions - hopefully the right one.

Over the years we've heard some pretty blatant lies about our Green Termite Baiting System promulgated by jealous competitors desperate to make a sale of their inferior product. We always ask that if you do hear anything derogatory about our product, please bring it up with us so we can clear it up with you.

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Rat control measures Part 2.

Last month we discussed the reasons why it is preferable to use a professional to control a rodent problem rather than DIY.  In summary the main points are:

• Professional bait placement ensures success.
• Long term value for money backed by a warranty.
• Safety issues – both children and pets must not be placed at risk.

Of course you can simply walk into a supermarket and buy your own rat poison and DIY.  If that is your personal preference here are a few tips:

Buy at least three different brands of rodenticide.

Rats live commensally with humans.  They share our food and our shelter.  They continuously forage for food including anything we leave out, such as fruit, pet food, scraps, or they may be partial to our morning cereal and simply chew their way into our cereal box to access the goodies inside.  Rats like variety in their food just like we do and similarly, not all rats like the same thing.  They too have preferences and they can also develop feeding habits which means they return over and over to their favourite food.  So, if you are going to offer a group of rats some poison, first you must remove their current source of food and then offer them a choice of bait so there is something to appeal to all the rats in the group – a mixed platter.

We professionals make up what we like to call a ‘rat kebab’.  It consists of three different types of bait blocks threaded onto a wire.  Our research shows that in general the rats will prefer one brand of bait over another.  This works in our favour as some is eaten and some is ignored.  The initial infestation of rats is wiped out, yet there is still some bait left over for the next round of rats that visit your home.  Unlike the initial rats that were established and already had a choice of food, the oncoming rats are usually somewhat more desperate and will take the remaining bait without a quibble.  (A bit like people really; most people in developed countries throw out food that would be eagerly devoured in a third world country.)

Using rat kebabs (three bait combination) is a baiting method that succeeds as both a short term and long term remedy because it not only kills the rats you had initially, but also kills the rats that come along later, whether it is in one month, three months or 9 months time.  Dead rodents don’t return.  In fact, it is the new rodents following the scent trail of the initial rodents that is the reason you’ll need ongoing rodent control.

In fact, the sooner you can eliminate rodents that visit your home, the better off you will be, simply because you are denying them the time needed to establish strong scent markings.  Our experience shows that people who procrastinate and tolerate rats until they become simply impossible to ignore, have the more difficult long term problems.  The rats have been able to establish such strong scent trails over extended periods of time that it is often many years before the scent disappears and the home returns to normal.  In these cases, only long term ongoing rodent control will succeed and again it is best handled by a professional.  How long?  At least 3 years.  So it truly pays to beat a rat problem the moment you become aware of it.  Knock them out early before they become established, before the scent trails are defined and before they nest in your walls and ceiling.

Secure the bait.

It is vital that the bait is tied down.  There are two reasons for this.  The first is safety.  Loose bait scattered in a ceiling can find its way to a pet or a child. 

Here’s how…
The rat may be nesting in your garden (in a rock wall for example) but it enters your home at night looking for food etc.  If it finds a loose bait block in your roof it may decide to store it at home rather than eat it immediately.  It’ll pick it up (as best it can) and take it home.  However, if it is half way home, travelling across your lawn and suddenly frightened by a predator (dog, cat, owl, snake) it will drop the bait and run for safety.

Now there is a rat bait left in the middle of your lawn!  If your pets or worse still your very young children should find it before you do…

First Aid: The antidote for rat poison is vitamin K.  The immediate first aid is to induce vomiting to expel as much of the undigested bait as possible.  Rush a child to a hospital or if it is a pet get it to a vet ASAP.

The second reason to secure a bait is linked to the first.  Well fed rats may simply horde the bait and not consume it immediately.  As professionals we come across this often.  The customer sees us baiting the roof void and comments in exasperation, “Don’t bother, that won’t work, I’ve thrown a ton of bait in the roof and it keeps disappearing, I think their immune to it! And the rats are still there.” (So they must be eating it – wrong!)

Apart from not securing the bait, here are some other reasons it fails to work:

• What the customer considers a ton of bait is usually not enough!
• The bait is not particularly desirable or it’s unpalatable (regardless of what the label on the box says) and the rats ignore it, play with it or horde it.  But they don’t eat it.
• Some rats may eat it and die, but others don’t fancy it, so they survive and the problem continues.
• Some rats nibble a little, but not a lethal dose.

When the bait is tied down, the rats must stand there and eat it.  It can’t be dragged away.  Due to their competitive nature for food, the rats will all have a go at eating it, even if they have to wait until the dominant rat (usually a male) is done.

The second advantage of tying down the bait is that you can check it in a week or two to see if it has been effective.

As professionals we also use a couple of varieties of grain or pellets for rodent control.  This is placed in boxes that can accommodate the rodents while they eat.  Once again it is not practical for them to try to transport the small pellets home for storage, so they eat on the spot – ensuring their demise.

Positioning of baits.

By nature rodents are timid creatures.  They are always on the watch for predators.  They are more scared of you than you of them, though over time, if you ignore them, they can become emboldened and you will catch more and more glimpses of them.  Usually they wait until you are gone before they make a move.  Day or night, they know when you’re home or when you are awake and moving around.
Just last week we had a client (who operates a takeaway in a food court) contact us to enquire about rodent control.  He had closed his shop and left for the night when he realised he’d forgotten something.  Upon returning to the shop, he switched on the light and spotted several rats running for cover.  Of course he already knew he had them because every morning he had to sweep up many droppings from his benches and floors, but it was seeing the fat critters that finally spurred him to action.

The point is; rodents are cautious.  Because they are cautious they tend to scurry from one place of shelter to another and only come right out in the open if they have to or if they feel totally safe.  This is an important point to consider when you are placing bait.  So here are the rules for bait placement inside your home:

• Conceal the bait.  The better it is hidden, the more likely they will find it.  (They can smell quality brands of bait and will simply follow their nose.)  Because the bait is hidden, so too will the rats be when they stop to eat it, hence they are more comfortable and more inclined to stay and eat a large portion.  Conversely, a bait (or trap) placed out in the open will be avoided and only a very desperate rodent will go to it.
• Baits should be positioned against walls, preferably in corners.
• Don’t keep changing the position of a bait.  It may cause the rats to become suspicious and they may avoid it.  Only relocate untouched baits.
• Baits must always be placed out of reach of children and pets.
• Place baits where rodent droppings are found.  If you can, gather up some droppings and put it in with the bait; believe it or not, this makes it more attractive to them.  Yuck!!
• Think like a rat.  Where would you go?  Then place the bait there.
• Look for rub marks and position bait nearby.  A rub mark is dirt and grease left by the continual movement of rodents through a narrow opening, usually only seen when there are a lot of rodents continually active over an extended period of time.
• If the rats are visiting a set place for a feed, then remove the usual food source and replace it with a bait.  Note: You need to be careful.  If the rats are eating pet food that is left out at night, then you can only do this if you are sure to secure the pet away from the area while the bait is present.  Place the bait at night then remove it in the morning before allowing your pet back into the area.
• Don’t handle the bait – use disposable gloves.  Too much handling will leave your human scent on the bait and this may be repellent to a very shy rodent.
• When placing baits in the roof void, keep it all in one place.
• Scattering bait makes it impossible to monitor if it’s being taken.
• Rats have legs, they can walk to the bait; you don’t have to throw it to them.
• Concentrating the bait in one area (usually next to the manhole) concentrates the smell of the bait and makes it easier for the rodents to find it.

Conversely, scattering the bait in your ceiling makes it harder for the rats to find it and when they do find it they are more likely to squabble over it which means you lose sleep due to the midnight fracas reverberating in your roof!

Use enough bait.

As mentioned earlier, most people buy a box or two of bait from the supermarket and think it is enough.  Yes it might be enough if you have just one rat, but if you have several you’ll need much more. In fact, we went to Coles and priced it for you... $70 will cover the bait alone - limited choice. You'll also need some wire and boxes.

Our experience is that professionals use 10 to 20 times more bait than the average DIY person.  When you consider that professionals often use several different baits simultaneously, you can see once again why it is often cheaper to call them in the first place.  Green Pest Control’s 12 month warranty for domestic premises means that they will happily top up your bait for free if it is empty within the warranty period.

Always check with your pest control company first to find out what their warranty period is and what the actual warranty covers.  Unfortunately not all pest controllers are on the ball and some simply don’t use enough bait – probably trying to cut costs.  It’s a false economy because it costs money to have to return and it’s not good for their reputation when you, the paying customer are dissatisfied.

Remove alternative food sources.

Bait will only work if it is eaten.  If you leave any other food out that the rats are in  the habit of eating, then the bait may be ignored.  Put biscuits, cereals and other grains away in plastic containers or in the refrigerator during the rodent control process.

Allow at least two weeks for control.  The rats may not visit every day.  Some stragglers will only come along once the dominant male is dead.  Be patient, it may seem that it isn’t working but if the bait is being consumed and there is still bait left, then it’s only a matter of time before you get all of them, for now.

Although rodents can go without water for quite a while, they do like to drink regularly when they can, so dry the sinks, showers and laundry tubs before going to sleep at night.  The bait usually makes the rodents thirsty, so they are more likely to go outside in search of water and this is where they will most likely die.

How dangerous is rodenticide?

Because rodents are mammals the same as us, it is also very toxic to people, however there is a ratio of poison / body weight that affects whether it will kill you or simply make you very sick.  Rats weigh between 200 – 300 grams on average.  It doesn’t take much bait to kill them.

Most baits contain human taste deterrents so it’s unlikely for a child to eat it or at least unlikely to eat much before spitting it out, so the risk is low.  It must be, because it is sold in supermarkets without restrictions.

The question we are often asked is “What is the risk of secondary poisoning?  If my dog eats a dying rat will the dog die?”  The answer has two parts:

• Firstly it is unlikely for a dog to eat a dying rat.  Play with it maybe, but actually eat it – no.
• Some breeds however are sillier than others, usually bigger breeds and if they did eat it, it is unlikely to affect the dog too much simply because the ratio of poison / body weight would be too low.

An owl eating a sick mouse may not be so lucky, but it is hard to find scientific data one way of the other to confirm or deny this.

Interesting, cockroaches are unaffected by rodenticides; they’ll get healthy and fat on it.  That balances things up, because insecticides commonly used for cockies won’t harm a mouse.

One final tip, some brands such as Ratsack contain warfarin and many rodents have built up an immunity to this anticoagulant product.  For those of you who don’t already know this, warfarin was found to be relatively safe and effective for treatment of  blood clots in conditions such as thrombosis and embolism and other similar disorders. It’s been used in medication since the early 1950s, and is still used today.

You'll notice we didn't talk about rat traps. Unless you really know what you are doing - traps are generally a waste of time. They are good for catching one rat if skilfully positioned and loaded, but rarely successful against a group of rats - because rats are fast learners - they learn to avoid traps after seeing what happens to their less cautious mates.

If you have any other questions about rat or mouse control, please email us and we will answer them next month.

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Gold Coast Show

This weekend we have our usual stand at the Gold Coast show in the main trades pavilion. It's our eighth year there. We are running a free draw for a six pack of Green Termite Baits, so for our local readers of this newsletter - drop in and see us and put in a free entry.

Monthly Special Promotion.

This special is no longer available. Please go to our current newsletter for this month's special.

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The Greenpest News is Published by J & A Furnell Nominees P/L; Shop 23a Franklin Square, 60 Railway Street, Mudgeeraba, Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia. The opinions expressed in this newsletter are those of Jerry Furnell. The reader is encouraged to seek further information from appropriate government and statutory departments before taking any action based on this material alone.

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See you again next month.

Always... At your service,

Jerry Furnell
Green Pest Control & Green Termite Bait Systems.
Phone 1800 6 12345.

Copyright 2008 Green Termite Bait Systems & Green Pest Control. All rights reserved.

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