Despite advances in products and attention to the principles of Integrated Pest Management (IPM), rodent activity has been surging over recent years, according to Dr. Bobby Corrigan, who happens to be a member of the Pest Management Hall of Fame.
“Interestingly, there seems to be a tremendous surge in the urban rodent situation the last 10 years, and it shows no signs of letting up,” Corrigan said. “Both rats and mice are in high demand and I think if you talk to the pest control operators of the world and you look at the sales of over the counter baits and traps, that all confirms the surge.
“We’re not sure of all the factors but in any way there’s no doubt in pest control as a business you are seeing the numbers for these services upwards of 25-30 percent over the last several years.”
This means that all products and techniques are essential to the overall success of rodent control industry wide.
“We used to think well there’s something – a rat in the garage or there’s mice in the house, and we need to get something to kill it,” Corrigan said. “Now, we know these rats or mice are carrying diseases, serious diseases, and a mouse in the house, if we keep it simple and take an ordinary ranch house in suburbia … that can be a big deal.
So, the whole thing is – what is your professional service to control rats and mice. I’m a fanatic but we shouldn’t be letting them in our stuff to begin with. It’s not as simple as showing up and putting out poisons or baits and saying “we just baited or trapped” like we’ve been doing for 100 years. Why should we be putting out poisons when we should be getting them out of the house to begin with – keeping the house clean and so forth (is the priority).”
One way to start preventing rather than controlling rodents is to use the industry’s premium door protection resource – Burrtec’s door sweeps.
Burrtec USA is a leading manufacturer of door sweep solutions, providing quality exclusion products to PMPs and building material suppliers. It is the North American division of Burrtec Co., Ltd., one of Japan’s largest pest control producers. To learn more about Burrtec, visit our U.S. website.