Rats are disease carrying, cause damage to buildings, vehicles and electrical wiring, and destroy property, stock food and grain. Putting out an irresistible bait with Generation Soft Bait and having a plan deals with them effectively.
An expert shares his secrets to success
Pieter Van Der Westhuizen, UPL NZ Ltd Regional Manager Upper North Island, is an expert on rodent control. And he practices what he preaches. His own backyard has aviaries, a chook house, and a compost heap - all very attractive to rats. Plus, there’s a dairy farm adjacent. That puts him in a great position to share his personal experience, along with the hard science and data.
Pieter says the choice of bait is important, but he warns not to be taken in by some baits’ claims of palatability. “Those baits are generally only trialled on little, white lab rats. Feral rats behave quite differently. A feral rat-based, reality approach to research and testing is unique to Generation® Soft Bait.”
He says De Sangosse, the company which produces Generation Soft Bait - here comes the Pied Piper bit - has a long partnership with the Vet School of Lyon, where feral rats caught in the wild are kept in a large/free range environment. These rats are then used for their trials. “As a result, they came up with a bait that is more tempting – but only to the target pest. There is nothing else like it in the market.”
He says the specially developed vegetable oil and crushed grain-based formulation in Generation Soft Bait gets rats’ attention faster, with the soft bait’s paper ensuring the tempting aroma disperses more widely. Pieter says the bait is also very easy to deploy. “Just skewer the plasticine-like bait on the metal rod, or wire, within the Generation bait station. It’s quick, clean, and convenient.”
Smallest, most advanced bait available
Generation Soft Bait is the most advanced anti-coagulant on the market, using difethialone 25 ppm as its active, which rodents can’t detect. There is no known genetic resistance among rodent populations.
The smallest non-dispersible bait on the market, Generation Soft Bait kills effectively and in a single feed. 2-3 g kills a rat and 0.3-0.4 g a mouse. A rat’s average daily dietary intake is 20 g/day. For a mouse it’s about 3 g/day. In contrast, their output is prolific – one rat can produce 50 droppings, and 50 mL of urine a day.
The bait won’t leak or melt and has very good moisture and heat tolerance, which makes it practical in a wide range of farm, lifestyle, and residential applications. It also contains Bitrex, a bittering agent which reduces the risk of consumption by non-target animals (primary poisoning). It is strongly advised to discard of any dead rat carcasses to reduce the risk of secondary poisoning.
Pieter says he recommends and uses Generation Soft Bait with complete confidence. “There have been absolutely no safety issues with the product here or anywhere.”
Bait stations and monitoring key
In terms of a programme for rat control, Pieter says following the product instruction label is vital. Positioning bait stations needs to be tactical, and according to risk and rat population. He uses five bait stations on his property, each strategically located. Importantly, he says, it’s not just a matter of filling bait stations and walking away - if you want the job done right. “There’s a science to it.”
“The attractiveness of Generation Soft Bait is vital and, because its effects are delayed a bit, once the dominant rats have fed, other rats gain confidence and follow their lead. But, if you don’t keep monitoring and keep the bait stations topped-up, the bait stations run empty before all the rats have consumed a lethal dose. The remaining rats will look for alternative food sources and may not visit the bait station next time you fill it up. If you don’t have that robust system in place, you’re effectively teaching them not to eat the bait.”
“And, definitely don’t be shy when you top up the bait. You need a good supply. I check bait stations every day for the first 5 days and top up whatever bait has been eaten.”
Pieter says it could be that by day 4 of monitoring you’ll be noticing the impact. “Usually by day 6, you’ll have dealt with that particular population.”
He warns it’s not just grains and food waste rats are after. He says dog biscuits are particularly attractive to the pests, and automatic dog feeders can contribute to rapid rat population build-up. “Dog biscuits are high protein and high energy. Feeding on them leads to female rats producing, and being able to feed, larger litters.”
Serious pests causing serious damage
Among the most serious mammalian pests known to man, rats are destructive, dirty, and disease-carrying.
New Zealand has four species of introduced rodents – the Norway rat (Rattus norvegicus), the ship rat (Rattus rattus), the Polynesian rat (kiore), and the house mouse. The ship rat is the most common of the rats and the smaller of the three.
The “native” kiore is larger but usually only found in the bush. The other rodents, Pieter says, most people will unfortunately have had some experience of, even if it’s just when the cat brings one inside and lets it go and it ends up, half-dead under the kitchen dresser. “Not ideal.”
Pieter says rodents probably cause much more damage than we’re aware of, including fires in vehicles and buildings due to electrical wires being chewed through. That’s on top of the more obvious damage to buildings, loss and contamination of feedstuffs, transfer of diseases and posing a threat to chickens, native birds, and other fauna.
He says evidence of even one mouse or rat probably means there’s a more significant problem and he recommends using bait proactively as the best strategy. “It’s going to save you money down the track.”
Generation Soft Bait, and the bait stations are available exclusively from PGG Wrightson. For more information on Generation Soft Bait click here.
