How to do a trend analysis for pests?
how to do a trend analysis for pests
I have outdoor bait stations and inside tin cat traps. They are monitored weekly, and baits are serviced monthly by our outside service. For us, a good indication of the pest activity around our site is how often the pest control service has to replace the bait blocks outside. So I track them on a spreadsheet, which is set up to graph on a month by month basis. Then it is easy to see the trend and determine when our peak activity occurs.
My spreadsheet is attached.
Martha
Bait Replacement Trends.xlsx 14.24KB 633 downloads
I have outdoor bait stations and inside tin cat traps. They are monitored weekly, and baits are serviced monthly by our outside service. For us, a good indication of the pest activity around our site is how often the pest control service has to replace the bait blocks outside. So I track them on a spreadsheet, which is set up to graph on a month by month basis. Then it is easy to see the trend and determine when our peak activity occurs.
My spreadsheet is attached.
Martha
Good morning Martha,
We have baitless traps and the reason I heard for it is because bait essentially encourages pests our way whereas baitless traps just get the critters if they happen to show up. My thought is that if it's baitless, there is nothing "calling" the pests to the trap and away from our ingredients and/or product.
Do you have any experience with baitless traps to know that they're working? Even if we get a report from the pest company after each inspection of the traps, if there's constantly nothing in there but evidence that pests are still an issue, what's the point?
As always, thank you for your help,
~Emily~
Hi Emily:
We have baitless traps inside the buildings. For the outside, we have bait stations (the bait is primarily for rodents and contains a rodenticide) to provide a food source for rodents that are close to the building that will control the population and keep them from looking for forage inside the building.
We are located in a rural area, there are farm fields and hedgerows next to our site. There will always be mice nearby, due to the location. We want to control the population that has expanded closer to our building. We also discourage the rodents through large sized gravel up to the sides of the buildings where possible. Mice don't like to walk on big gravel chunks.
All this was set up with the advice of a professional pest control service, who handles other food facilities, so I trust their judgment.
Your location and needs might require a different system, so I would follow what your pest control professional has recommended. Ours works, we never see mice in the production building.
Hope that helps.
Martha
Hi Emily:
We have baitless traps inside the buildings. For the outside, we have bait stations (the bait is primarily for rodents and contains a rodenticide) to provide a food source for rodents that are close to the building that will control the population and keep them from looking for forage inside the building.
We are located in a rural area, there are farm fields and hedgerows next to our site. There will always be mice nearby, due to the location. We want to control the population that has expanded closer to our building. We also discourage the rodents through large sized gravel up to the sides of the buildings where possible. Mice don't like to walk on big gravel chunks.
All this was set up with the advice of a professional pest control service, who handles other food facilities, so I trust their judgment.
Your location and needs might require a different system, so I would follow what your pest control professional has recommended. Ours works, we never see mice in the production building.
Hope that helps.
Martha
Thank you, Martha.
I'll do a little digging. I'm getting to a point now where I'm going to have to start requesting that certain documentation makes its way to me so I can review it. I know someone is in touch with our pest company but I don't know which of us it is.
I know we have traps outside but don't know if they are baited or not; we are in the city but right on the edge of residential housing and I know that mice have been an issue in the past.
Thanks for the gravel idea, too - I'll put that out there and see if it's something we can do.
Thank you!
~Emily~
how to do a trend analysis for pests
Hi stelioshadj,
The attachments/discussions in these posts/threads may be useful -
http://www.ifsqn.com...indpost&p=44974
http://www.ifsqn.com...indpost&p=58438
http://www.ifsqn.com...indpost&p=44996
(different post in same thread as 1st URL)
PS - Welcome to the Foum from Cyprus ! :welcome:
thank you very much!!!
Dear stelioshadj,
Nowadays, trend analyses are mostly provided by pest control company, e.g. through their internet applications.
If you make it yourself (e.g. in the case you do the pest control yourself) the following might be a start:
Make a table (e.g. excel spreadsheet) with:
- all your baits/traps and their locations/area. It is easy if you number the baits and sign these in a site plan;
- give the observation per bait/trap, per inspection;
- the observation can be a number or a letter (MS: mouse seen, MT: mouse trapped, M: bait eaten by M, RS: rat seen: RT: rat trapped, R: bait eaten by R, etc)
- You can now use the information for making graphs, etc.
I made a sketch for you: snip 1.JPG 27.55KB 4 downloads
I hope this helps you to set your idea.
Can some one post a sample trend analysis survey for insect electrocutors in a food company?
Can some one post a sample trend analysis survey for insect electrocutors in a food company?
Post #6 ?
Post #6 ?
Hmmm, I think what that person was asking was how to sample events when the evidence has been vaporized. That actually is an intelligent question, especially if this is your main means of pest control. It deserves a thoughtful answer.
I would assume that the device is cleaned and the remains are removed, so maybe weighing what was taken out is a way to measure how many insects have entered the facility. That's really the goal of the monitoring, to see how large the problem is so changes can be made to prevent the pests from entering.
If I remember correctly, prevention is the focus of HACCP, not just bean (or body) countinig.
Good question, Marlon. I hope that people who have experience in using an insect electrocution device as a primary pest control method can bring their expertise to the discussion.
Martha
I have the insectocutors cleaned every quarter and the contents counted ( if possible) and record the number of flies contained. It's an indication as to whether you have a problem or not. This company ( I work in several) are very seasonal and only work maybe 3/4 months a year ( Salmon farming and packing) so this frequency is enough for them but you can monitor as often as you like. We are also on a rock in the middle of the atlantic so flies are also seasonal thankfully... you won't see many on a windy day in November unlike these guys....
Hi Martha,
Hmmm, I think what that person was asking was how to sample events when the evidence has been vaporized. That actually is an intelligent question, especially if this is your main means of pest control. It deserves a thoughtful answer.
Perhaps the voltages used vary geographically although i believe USA is only 120V ?.
No, there are different voltages. Home use is 120, but there are others. Our clothes dryer is 240V. it depends on the work load
Hi Martha,
Perhaps the voltages used vary geographically although i believe USA is only 120V ?.
There are several voltages available in the US. Which has no bearing on how to count vaporized dead flies. It does not even make sense. And it does not help answer the question.
There are several voltages available in the US. Which has no bearing on how to count vaporized dead flies. It does not even make sense. And it does not help answer the question.
Just think about it again, Martha
What?
Just think about it again, Martha
Well, since all of the bug zappers transform the line voltage into a higher voltage, which would be the same for all of them, the line voltage really doesn't make a difference.
https://en.wikipedia...wiki/Bug_zapper
What were you referring to?
Martha
what kind of stuff do you trend on outside bait stations?
need an example of a trend chart per bait station. monthly
what kind of stuff do you trend on outside bait stations?
need an example of a trend chart per bait station. monthly
see Post 6 this thread.