How to handle pest activity in bait stations
Hi everyone,
I work as a Food Safety Manager in a medium sized bakery. We have 11 bait stations strategically installed around our bakery building. For several months, there was no rat activity observed in any of these baits (the pest company comes in monthly to check it) but in October, 3 of the baits were attacked by Rats. This month of November, it increased to 5 bait attacks. Please how do you advise i go about this to end the rat activity around the building and prevent them from getting into the building.Is there something we can use or do to stop this growing trend?
Thank you in advance!
Depending on your location, the increased activity is likely related to the weather getting colder and rats looking for a home for the winter months.
If you or your Pest control company isn't already doing this I suggest..
-Look for openings or entry routes into the building and fix them. Mice only need a space the size of a pencil to squeeze thought. (Trick I have learned is during daylight, turn off all lights inside the building and look for light shining in. Keep a flashlight handy and be careful not to trip!)
-Major clean up of all the nooks and crannies around the building so they don't have a place to hide or nest.
-Keep a clear perimeter around the building, so nothing is stacked next to the building and the garbage bins are kept at a maximum distance from the building.
I hope this helps.
Hello Chizzyo,
itreatpets nailed it with "If you or your Pest control company isn't already doing this...."
A professional pest control company should be able to do an analysis and give you their professional opinion as to what is causing the increased activity. I would recommend that you document and keep that information in your pest book, as well as document any action you take on their suggestions. A customer or third party auditor who notices the increased activity will be looking for that information, as well as looking to see if the actions taken reduces number of hits. If it is indeed solely a seasonal issue, the pest control company should be able to tactfully explain that on their letterhead and have 2-3 year history of your facility (if you've had them that long) to back it up.
Ditto the two above. But critical point being are your bait stations inside or outside the plant?
Increased activity in outdoor bait stations isn't necessarily a need for concern, e.g. I get increased activity when the farmers around us harvest or burn their fields, chasing out the rodents. But if it isn't weather or other related it's worth investigating whether you have any harboarage spaces that have appeared around your plant, e.g. wood piles or old equipment that hasn't moved in months.
Increased activity in indoor bait stations is of concern, you shouldn't see wide swings if your building is properly sealed as per the two posts above. Look for entry points and stop the buggers from getting inside. Also best practice would be bait outside the plant, inescapable or break back traps inside so you don't have pesticides or dieing animals throughout the plant.
At my facility I am more concerned when there hasn't been any rodent activity at my external bait stations. If they aren't eating the poison bait then what are they eating and where are they going to get food...
If you are having activity indoors with regards to bait taken I would risk assess and justify putting temporary provisions down such as break back traps. I done this at my site which takes product straight from farms leaving us very open to pest activity inside our facility.
Benefits of the break backs is they are instantly dead, disposal is easy and gets rid of the problem quickly instead of the rodents possibly eating bait and going some quiet and warm to die such as packaging or other areas of the factory which are hard to access. Worked a treat for us and auditors are happy action was taken.
Good luck.
IL
Wow! Thank you everyone. I got a lot of insight from your posts. The pest company is yet to give any reasonable suggestion but after reading this, i'll press on and see what they came up with to help. We do have rodent traps indoor too and i will look into doing the break back traps and both external and internal site checks as a corrective measure. Thank you again all!
Hii Chizzyo, Is the problem still there. If no, then that would be the great news and if yes, I would suggest taking some precautions as soon as possible. As, you mentioned that the pest control professionals come for the visit on the monthly basis. Have the suspected where the rats were coming from, how they entered the bait stations. There are many precautions you can take to stop the growing trend of rats. If the pest control professionals have not suspected the area tell them to look over and if they have checked and found nothing but still rats are there, then the first thing you should do is hire some other Exterminator services. You can also try spraying some pesticides or trying some do it yourself tips to get rid of them.