TECHNICAL Rodent baiting www.pestmagazine.co.uk September & October 2012 14 pest Pulse baiting can cut costs Pulse baiting with a single feed rodenticide can substantially reduce indoor rat and mouse treatment costs by cutting both time and bait use, according to the latest BASF Pest Control Solutions assessments, says the company’s Sharon Hughes, left. Evaluations of typical rat control regimes show single-feed flocoumafen (Storm Secure) requiring barely a quarter of the amount of bait of multi-feed bromadiolone for comparable control. Add to this far fewer application visits and a very much shorter bait exposure time (limiting non-target species risk) and the benefits of the single feed rodenticide regime really become clear. Especially so as the latest annual National UK Pest Management survey (jointly organised by and BASF) shows over 60% of the total cost of rat and mouse treatments is time. “Gram for gram, single feed rodenticides may be more expensive than less powerful multi-feed products, but their extra potency allows a far more economic pulse baiting regime,” explains BASF's rodenticide development manager, Sharon Hughes. “This gives significant savings in bait cost as well as time, adding up to major economies in the overall cost of treatment. “For pulse baiting we recommend putting out restricted amounts of Storm Secure in three or four clear cycles over a 21-day programme,” she explains. “This contrasts with the much larger amounts of bait and more frequent topping-up over a month required in traditional surplus baiting regimes to ensure sufficient intakes of multi-feed rodenticides.” With single feed rodenticides currently restricted to indoor use in the UK, flocoumafen is clearly of greatest value in urban rat and mouse control. The fact that no practical resistance has yet been detected to it means consistently reliable control of even populations that are difficult to control with other anticoagulants. Whilst pulse baiting is simplicity itself to undertake, it requires a very different approach to traditional surplus baiting. Building on a thorough understanding of rat and mouse behaviour, the technique Pest Extra potency A very different approach required Multi-feed bromadiolone ‘surplus baiting’ Single feed flocoumafen ‘pulse baiting’ Bait used per point 100g to 400 g 40g to 60g Bait application visits 7 to 8 (initially at 3 day intervals) 3 to 4 (on days 0, (3*), 7 & 14) Length of bait exposure 28 days 16 days * Extra ‘pulse’ recommended where infestations are heavy Figure 1: Typical heavy rat infestation baiting comparisons Flocoumafen ‘pulse baiting’ Bromadiolone ‘surplus baiting’ Time in days Bait remaining 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27