Destructive, dirty, and disease-carrying, rats and mice are among the
most serious mammalian pests known to man. Controlling
them effectively is all part of good farm and property management and protecting
your assets. The right bait is key.
Generation® Soft Bait takes down the dirty rats and mice
The distinctive smell, the piles of dark brown droppings, gnawed wood, nests, and the scratching sounds are all-to-familiar signs of the destructive and disease-carrying presence of rats and mice.
The scourge of grain producing areas including Mid Canterbury, they are among the most serious mammalian pests known to man. For the ravenous omnivores, almost nothing is off the table. From cereals, seeds, stock feed, and fruit, to eggs and chicks - everything is fair game. Gardens to lifestyle blocks, orchards to farms.
In terms of maintaining general good property hygiene, monitoring and control is best practice. A single rat can produce 50 droppings and 50 mL of urine daily. They also carry potentially harmful diseases which they can spread indirectly by way of fleas and mites.
Rats’ powerful jaws also give them the ability to damage buildings and other assets - gnawing holes in grain sacks, and wood, and building nests in roofs and in machinery.
There’s no doubt they can be a challenge. Rats have not earned themselves the moniker “cunning” for nothing.
Effective control with hard science and advanced rat psychology
UPL NZ Ltd Northern South Island Regional Manager, Pete de Jong, says controlling them effectively demands a combination of hard science and advanced rat psychology. He reckons Generation Soft Bait rodenticide has it nailed.
“Generation Block Bait, still has its place and its long-time users and advocates, but Generation Soft Bait has quantifiable advantages. When I’m explaining it to people, I tell them that, from a rat’s perspective, the difference between the wax-encased block and soft bait, is like the difference between chewing on a candle and eating peanut butter. Soft bait is totally irresistible to them.”
He says that attraction is to the point where the bait beats other food sources, hands-down. It also out-performed competitor baits in trials.
“Rats are both naturally cautious and are creatures of habit. But even where you’ve got fairly established, bait-shy populations, Generation Soft Bait works really well.”
He says the specially developed vegetable oil and crushed grain-based formulation gets rats’ attention faster, with the soft bait’s paper ensuring the tempting aroma disperses more widely. Pete says it’s also very easy to deploy by skewering the plasticine-like bait on the metal rod, or wire within the Generation bait station. “It’s quick, clean, and convenient.”
The smallest non-dispersible bait on the market, Generation Soft Bait kills rapidly and in a single feed. 2-3gs kills a rat and 0.3-0.4g a mouse. To put that into perspective, a rat’s average daily dietary intake is 20g/day while for a mouse it’s 3g/day.
Generation Soft Bait also won’t leak or melt and has very good moisture and heat tolerance which makes it practical in a wide range of farm and lifestyle locations.
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.
Rats an underestimated threat
There’s a bit more to rats in New Zealand than most of us would first appreciate. This country has four species of introduced rodents – the Norway rat, the ship rat, the Polynesian rat (kiore), and the house mouse. The “native” kiore is large but usually only found in the bush. The others, Pete says, most people will unfortunately have had some experience of.
The rat stats don’t offer much by way of comfort to the squeamish.
Rats are physically strong and very resilient and have been known to swim for up to two days in open water. They can jump a metre high, and 1.2 m horizontally.
Rats reach sexual maturity at 8 to 12 weeks and mate year-round, multiplying to almost plague-like proportions in a very short time. Population explosions are often linked to “mast years” for native trees and flowers seed production - around every 2-5 years. “Rats and mice gorge on the seeds and numbers soar,” Pete says.
Reducing off-target poisoning
Pete says domestic pet owners, naturally, have concerns over rodenticide use. But he’d like to put their minds at ease. Generation Soft Bait contains Bitrex, a bittering agent that reduces the risk of consumption by non-target animals.
However, he adds, poisons should always be handled in accordance with the label and stored out of reach or children, cats, and dogs, ideally in a locked cabinet. And appropriate bait stations must always be used. “It’s just the safest way.”
Pete says the risk of secondary poisoning - where a pet eats a dead rodent – is reduced with Generation Soft Bait. Firstly, dogs or cats would need to ingest improbably large numbers of carcases to suffer real ill effects. Secondly, rats often return to their nests to die, either in trees or roof cavities or underground, so are not accessible.
A range of Generation bait stations are available to suit all situations and locations. Used to protect non target animals from accidental consumption, when used correctly they also minimise bait wastage by limiting bait hording by rats and mice.
Disciplined approach for monitoring and control
A disciplined approach to rodent monitoring and control is recommended. Pete says this should begin with an inspection of buildings and looking for signs of damage and infestation - faeces, gnawing etc.
To limit the potential for rodents to establish a home, or favourable environment, remove rubbish, clutter, food sources (including spilled grain) and vegetation.
Bait stations should be placed in rodent pathways and where rats will easily find them. Inspect regularly to determine if enough baits have been placed and keep up a fresh supply of bait.
Generation blocks, soft bait, and bait stations are available exclusively from PGG Wrightson. More information is available here.
