[Rodent Control] Nightmare Rodent Job

With more than 25 years of experience as a Vikane gas fumigant sales specialist for Dow AgroSciences, Rudy Subieta has seen just about every type of fumigation job. But even he was impressed by the ingenuity shown by a Florida PMP who solved a challenging rodent problem in a dead tree utilizing fumigation as his control option of choice.

Vikane (sulfuryl fluoride), he explained, is primarily used to fumigate structures in order to get rid of drywood termites, as well as a number of other pests such as cockroaches, bed bugs and powderpost beetles. "However, it was recently used to fumigate a tree," he said. "The Dead Bug Edwards company was called on to kill rats that had been living in a dead ficus tree in Davie, Fla., and used Vikane to accomplish its mission. This was the first time I’ve seen a tree getting fumigated," he said, and it was "very successful."

The dead tree, which was about 30 feet high, had become a harborage for close to 70 roof rats living and reproducing inside its many hollows, according to Dr. Bill Kern, an entomologist with the University of Florida’s Fort Lauderdale Research and Education Center. Roof rats tend to nest on branches of trees as well as on upper portions of buildings.

"A ficus’ aerial roots can create dense, protective pathways for them and they are usually able to find a food supply at the bottom of the trees," he said.

Dr. Kern was on hand to observe the fumigation effort and assess the gender and approximate age of the rodents for future reference. He ascertained the tree was harboring 32 adults and 36 juveniles, with males slightly outnumbering females.

According to Kern, roof rats are normally nocturnal, but in this case they were active during the day, too. "That indicated a pretty severe problem," he said.

Problematic Pest. Because they support many ectoparasites and urinate on food, roof rats were implicated in the spread of the deadly Bubonic Plague — also known as "Black Death" — that wreaked havoc in Europe during the Middle Ages.

Although sometimes called the black rat, the roof rat isn’t necessarily black in color. It’s usually dark brown and between 13 to 18 inches in length, including its tail. It’s distinguished from other rats by its tail, which is longer than the rest of its body, and its large ears. It’s an agile animal, too.

According to Subieta, this particular ficus tree was located on a private lot, but the City of Davie decided to take over the extermination project because it had received many complaints from neighbors, who had seen rats under the tree as well as in and around some of their homes.

"A wild animal control company had tried to kill the rats without success," Kern said. "And the homeowner had been feeding them in a very questionable effort to keep the rats all in the tree. But the food she provided was competition for the bait that was put down.

"The city then decided to cut down the tree but knew it would be a mistake to do so without first eliminating the rats," Subieta said. "They feared the rats would scatter and make the problem worse. That’s why they contacted Dead Bug Edwards, a long-time Plantation, Fla.-based pest control company with an excellent reputation and about 30 years of experience with the fumigation process, using Vikane."

According to Jeff Edwards, the company’s manager, wrapping the tree with tarps to enclose it for the fumigation was "a necessary, but difficult task." Using ladders could be dangerous, so a crane had to be used to facilitate the wrapping of the ficus tree and later the removal of the tarps. "We use cranes all the time for high structures," he said. "This job would have been an impossible one without the use of a crane."

The effort was a little tougher than anticipated because the wind hampered the wrapping procedure, "but when we finished doing that task we introduced seven pounds of Vikane," Edwards said. To prevent the rats from escaping during the fumigation exposure time, the number of "sand snakes" used to hold the tarps to the ground were triple and in some places quadruple the number normally used in a typical residential fumigation.

"The high dosage was intended to kill the rats as quickly and therefore as humanely as possible. It also reduced the time the rats had to gnaw through the tarps," according to Kern.

The following day, after approximately 18 hours of exposure time, the seal was broken and many dead rats could be seen inside the tent. It took a while to untangle and completely remove the tarps from the tree, and the final tally was 68 dead roof rats.

Said Subieta, "This unique fumigation demonstrates again how Vikane can be used creatively to eliminate in hours, pests that other methods — such as baiting and trapping — have taken an unacceptable amount of time to do the job or haven’t done the job at all."

The author is a frequent contributor to PCT. He can be reached at jfox@giemedia.com.
 

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BASF Offers SmartSolution for Rodent Control

Perhaps more than any other pest, rodents generate concern that extends well beyond PMPs and facility owners. Food safety auditors, quality assurance managers, sanitarians, and others up and down the supply chain all have a stake in rodent control in and around buildings.

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BASF’s SmartSolution for Rodents is one of several guides designed to address pest control challenges facing PMPs every day. Other SmartSolution guides include ants, bed bugs and termites.

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