Keys to effective rodent management
When it comes to controlling public health pests, rodents bring their own set of challenges. Pest control operators (PCOs) often must put more time and resources into controlling mice and rats than some other public health pests. However, there are a few key strategies PCOs can use to help make rodent jobs more manageable and to see better results.
Conduct a proper inspection
It’s not enough to simply place a bait and hope it gets the job done: superficial rodent control measures will see the eventual return of rodent populations. Rodents are intelligent and adaptable, which should be taken into consideration when planning a control program. A thorough understanding of their biology and behavior will give you an advantage in controlling a difficult population.
The first step is to perform a proper inspection to determine what species you’re dealing with and the scope of the infestation.
During your inspection, look for signs of rodent activity. Keep an eye out for faecal pellets, which can help determine what kind of rodent you’re dealing with and where their harborage sites might be. Other signs of rodent activity include:
- Gnawing damage
- Grease marks
- Burrows
- Tracks in dust
- Urine stains
- Odors
These indicators can help determine how widespread the infestation is and where the best locations to treat are. It can also be helpful to talk to the property owner and find out where they’ve seen or heard rodent activity.
Identifying harborage areas will allow you to seal off these areas and prevent the rodents from coming back into the building. By implementing these strategies, you can make baiting efforts more effective.
Use the right product for the job
Because every rodent job is different, Syngenta has developed a robust line of rodenticide products to meet different rodent control needs.
Talon® Track is a non-toxic, attractive, durable bait that helps detect initial rodent activity. Place bait stations every 5-10 m for rats or every 2-5 m for mice around the perimeter of the property, inside the building along the walls and around any walls or fences outside. PCOs should also bait any areas they identified as having high activity during inspection.
As soon as rodent activity has been detected, the Talon® Track bait should be replaced with Talon® products with active ingredients, like Talon® Waxblocks rodenticide. Talon® Waxblocks are not only attractive to rodents but are also long-lasting and highly durable. They can stand up to hot and humid conditions. Field trials on farms have shown a superior palatability (especially on mice) over all commercial waxblocks tested as yet.
The active ingredient in Talon® Waxblocks is brodifacoum, a second-generation anticoagulant that was developed to overcome resistance to rodenticides. So far, there has been no known cases of resistance to brodifacoum globally despite its use since decades.
Additionally, Talon® rodenticides work against bait shyness. While one night’s bait ingestion is lethal, it takes three to seven days for them to die. This means rodents can continue feeding on the bait for days without detecting the lethal effect, which could cause other rodents of the colony to stop feeding.
Other baiting options that also feature the highly efficient active ingredient brodifacoum include:
- A cereal-based formulation that’s exceptionally attractive to rodents
- It is most effective in dry conditions and perfect on farms
- Can be applied in public and commercial places
- A paste-like formulation that is excellent for quick, precise applications
- A bait matrix that is extremely palatable to mice and rodents, even when competing with other food sources
- Can be applied in food-handling areas and other sensitive spaces
Talon® Glow rodenticide (United Kingdom)
- Combines brodifacoum with a fluorescent bait to enhance traceability of the feces through UV light use
- A paste bait formulation with whole grains embedded within to increase palatability
- Provides full control of rodent populations with single-night-feed kill
- A kibbled maize formulation that can be up to six times more palatable than other cereal-based baits as demonstrated in several lab and field trials
- A minimal-use bait that can provide cost benefits
- Highly versatile and easy to use
For more information, contact your country business manager.
USE BIOCIDES SAFELY. ALWAYS READ THE LABEL AND PRODUCT INFORMATION BEFORE USE. TALON® is a trademark of a Syngenta Group Company.
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