Getting a read on the current state of rodent management requires a hard look at the means by which pest management professionals (PMPs) are operating. As is the case with most pests, there’s more than one way to control a rodent: from exclusion to bait stations and everything in between. A recent Rodenticide Use Survey conducted jointly by the Association of Structural Pest Control Regulatory Officials (ASPCRO) and the National Pest Management Association (NPMA) reveals most rodent management strategies integrate a suite of technologies and techniques.
Monitoring and bait stations lead the pack of control tools and strategies, but not by a significant margin. 39% of respondents point to monitoring as their “all the time” residential technique, followed by 24% who say the same about rodenticide bait stations. Both rank in the same slots for commercial control.
Where rodenticide use is concerned, surveyed PMPs are using them far more often outdoors (69%) than indoors (31%) on commercial accounts. Residential jobs represent less of a split, with 48% indoor use.
Second-generation rodenticides are consistently more popular by a wide margin, outdoors and indoors for residential and commercial accounts.
Do-it-yourselfers (DIYers) continue to persist with respondents reporting that, on residential accounts, 55% see evidence that a homeowner has made a (failed) attempt to solve his/her rodent problems unaided.
Label changes have different impacts on different parts of the country. In places where noncommensal species (such as deer mice, pack rats, wood rats, etc.) are an issue for PMPs, the effect of label changes is less significant than one might first guess. Despite that noncommencals were removed from some labels, of the surveyed PMPs who answered the question as being applicable to them, only 15% say the label changes have had a major effect on the way they conduct rodent management. 55% of those who addressed the topic say they’ve found other products and/or methods they can still use to control non-commensals. However, 32% of that group agree that these alternative tactics are less effective.
Perhaps the biggest and best news from the ASPCRO-NPMA Rodenticide Use Survey is 67% of responding PMPs report a rise in requests for rodent management services. And it would appear that commensal rodents (house mice, Norway rats, roof rats, etc.) may be to thank for that. Of the respondents that recognize a rise in rodent control requests, 88% point to commensals as the top contenders driving their rodent control revenues.
Contact Nepper at wnepper@northcoastmedia.net or 216-706-3775.
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