Feb 27, 2012 – Rodent Station Intervals
QUESTION:
How many feet apart should you place LP rodent stations?
ANSWER:
This is a good question, and there really are two separate answers. The unfortunate answer, but one that is necessary, is that you may be at the mercy of an in-house inspector for some commercial accounts, such as a food warehouse with an on-site auditor or inspector who has his or her own guidelines on this. I will avoid naming names because there probably are several different agencies that do this, but some PMP's run into difficulties trying to convince the on-site inspector that he is requiring something that is not necessary. The industry "standard" for so many years has been that we should locate stations for rats every 20 feet and for mice every 10 feet, on the basis that rats or mice may not travel any further than these distances for their food resources.
View past Ask Mr. Pest Control questions.
How many feet apart should you place LP rodent stations?
ANSWER:
This is a good question, and there really are two separate answers. The unfortunate answer, but one that is necessary, is that you may be at the mercy of an in-house inspector for some commercial accounts, such as a food warehouse with an on-site auditor or inspector who has his or her own guidelines on this. I will avoid naming names because there probably are several different agencies that do this, but some PMP's run into difficulties trying to convince the on-site inspector that he is requiring something that is not necessary. The industry "standard" for so many years has been that we should locate stations for rats every 20 feet and for mice every 10 feet, on the basis that rats or mice may not travel any further than these distances for their food resources.
At a seminar a few years ago Dr. Bobby Corrigan addressed this and stated that this standard was based entirely on USDA recommendations back in the 1940's, and that there was no science behind that standard. It was just stated and our industry followed it without knowing why. What Dr. Corrigan now promotes is that there is NO set distance apart for rodent stations, and that you must evaluate each and every situation to determine how many stations are needed. There is no "cookie cutter" approach to this. However, if some outside agency and inspector are on site and demanding that you follow their guidelines, no matter how outdated, then you are obligated to do as they wish.
Your initial and ongoing inspections of the account and facility will tell you what the level of the infestation is, and where the rodents are finding food, water, and harborage resources. You can base your knowledge on signs such as an abundance of droppings in some areas versus no signs of activity in others, telling you to concentrate your stations where you see the activity. You may find obvious harborage in some areas and put larger numbers of stations around that point in the hope of intercepting rodents as they move out to forage. You may end up with some stations for rats just 5-10 feet apart and others spaced 50 feet apart, depending on the need.
View past Ask Mr. Pest Control questions.
