Snap traps, rodenticide or digital traps?

Many professional pest control operators (PCOs) are currently using digital traps for rodent control and this trend appears to be increasing. Traditional snap traps and rodenticides are of course still used in many cases. The reasons why more PCOs use digital traps are that the traps are effective because they immediately send out an alarm about a catch, they are simple to set up and easy to use. In this blog post we will look into what digital traps can offer in contrast to snap traps and rodenticides and when it is more sensible to use one tool instead of another.

 

Demands of eco-friendly rodent control

An increasing number of businesses are starting to make demands of eco-friendly pest control implying the rodenticides are not requested. This is a challenge many PCOs are facing, and you probably know of this requirement from your customers. By using snap traps and digital traps you can make your customers happy by conducting eco-friendly rodent control. A traditional snap trap or break-back trap will oftentimes be used, when there is doubt about whether there are rats or not. There may be signs of rats, but it may be hard to tell, if there are rats or just other types of rodents, as you rarely get to see the rat. In remote places it may seem reasonable to set up a traditional snap trap i.e., On an attic in a senior citizen’s home.  

There is rarely enough time during a working day for a PCO and with traditional snap traps, you have to spend time going to the traps checking them for catches regularly. In addition, there is a chance that the trap snaps just 10 minutes after you have set it up. If three days go by before you check the snap trap again, the rodent control will have been inactive in the meantime. With a digital trap like TrapMe, you immediately get an alarm, as soon as something happens, and therefore you have an overview of all activity in the traps 24/7. You can see very quickly where, when, and how many rats have been active, whether there is a new catch or if the trap needs to be emptied. Thereby you save time checking traditional snap traps on a regular basis.   

Even though rodenticides are not an eco-friendly tool for rodent control, there may still be situations, in which it can make sense to use them, and these will be looked into in the coming section.  

Do you want to know more about the legislation for rodenticides and what it actually does to rats, then you can read more about it in this blog post

  

The use of rodenticides 

Since 2014 the use of rodenticides has been banned or allowed only to a very limited extent in many countries. Rat poison or rodenticides must only be used, when there is evidence of an active rat problem.

Following the use of rodenticides, you as a PCO must spend time frequently driving around checking the various locations and bite marks in the poison bait stations. As you may have experienced, it can be difficult sometimes to determine whether it was a rat or another animal, who ate the poison. If you instead were to use digital traps, you would always have tangible evidence of a rat in the bait box and avoid being in doubt. This may benefit you and provide your customer with more transparency and insight into the situation.  

Rodenticides are used in cases of huge rat problems as it is important to control massive infestations. By using rodenticides there may also be a chance that the rats are resistant to the rat poison. Additionally, you have to report to the authorize how many rodenticides you have been using. Ultimately, it is hard to deny that replacing rodenticides with digital traps is eco-friendlier to control rats. Rodenticides still make sense in some situations, but digital traps are here to stay and they will increasingly replace and reduce the use of rodenticides. 

You can read more about why more and more PCO’s chooses digital traps 

 

Active traps = efficient rat control  

Digital rat traps are contributing to an easier working day, because as soon as the trap is set up, you can view the status of the trap constantly. This saves you time and driving, as you do not have to spend your working hours checking empty traps, but instead you have an overview of all the traps on your tablet or phone. If the trap snaps 10 minutes after you placed it, you will be notified immediately and are thereby guaranteed active rat control 24/7.  

Your expertise and experience as a PCO are the focus of attention all along when using digital traps. Just like every other digital product, the digital traps collect data in which you can use for analyzing trends and history. Data also provides you with more insight into rodent control from the customer’s perspective and it helps show transparency from the perspective of your pest control company. With digital traps, you are in control of the situation while making your customers feel comfortable. 

Rodent control may require several tools depending on the situation and in this blog post we have now provided you with our perspective on how digital traps can support rodent control and partly replace respectively rodenticides and break-back traps. 

TrapMe is one of the digital traps on the market.

You can read more about TrapMe’s rat trap

 

 

Sources:

• Pest Management UK. (2020, August). Investing in intelligent traps.
• Heiberg, A.-C., & Esther, A. (2017, December). Bekæmpelse af rotter med brug af gift og fælder.
• Nisgaard, A. (2020, August 8). Rotter lider en 4-6 dage lang og pinefuld død: ‘Vi bliver nødt til at anvende de her gifte‘. 
• Miljøstyrelsen. (u.d.). Regler for brug af rottegift.