Mass-Trapping

Answers: (1) b, (2) c, (3) b, (4) a, (5) d, (6) c, (7) a, (8) b.

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Use expanded trigger snap traps set against walls and in other runway locations. Install the traps in pairs, each pair about 1 inch apart, and each set of pairs about 6 feet apart. These trap pairs work well to capture mice that jump the first trap. If there is a lot of traffic, dust or debris in the facility, or if the traps are in public view, you should place them inside protective stations.

First you need to acclimate the mice to the traps, so pre-bait unset traps for a couple of nights. Use a variety of baits to find the most attractive in each area of the facility. Bait several traps with whatever the mice seem to be feeding on in the account such as grain, pet food or snack food. Bait other traps with a new food for the mice. Try meats (bacon, hot dog bits); bait some traps with peanut butter, nuts, raisins or candy. Use dental floss to tie pieces of food bait to the traps. Also, bait some traps with nesting material, such as cotton balls, cloth strips, thread and dental floss.

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Atlantic Paste & Glue Launches NEW Web site
BROOKLYN, N.Y. — Atlantic Paste & Glue, manufacturer of the Catchmaster® brand of adhesive products, recently launched a new Web site highlighting the company’s rapidly expanding professional product line. Located at www.catchmasterPRO.com, the enhanced Web site features an online catalog, product labels, Material Safety Data Sheets and sales literature designed to assist PMPs in marketing their rodent and insect management services.

The site also contains an interactive map of the United States and Canada featuring the company’s regional managers, allowing PMPs to communicate with their sales representative via a creative e-mail application that appears as a cell phone on the front page of the site. “We wanted to create a Web site that was not only informative, but fun to use,” said Kevin Keane, national sales manager, Atlantic Paste & Glue. “It features everything current and potential customers need to know about Atlantic Paste & Glue and the products we supply to the pest management industry.”

Featuring full-color graphics and easy-to-use navigation tools, the highly interactive site was a year in the making. “We’ve designed the site from the ground up. It’s much more comprehensive than our previous site,” Keane said. “It took a lot of work on everyone’s part, but we think our customers will be pleased with the final product.”

Established more than 50 years ago, Atlantic Paste & Glue is best known as the manufacturer of the Catchmaster line of products, which include adhesives for the pest management industry including glue boards and trays, a diverse line of mechanical rodent control products, ILT replacement boards, pheromone traps, and a growing line of fly control products. The company also produces private label products that PMPs can use not only to control pests, but as a marketing tool, according to Keane. “What better way to establish your own company’s brand than to have it visible in each of your accounts,” he said, generating referral business and keeping you company’s name and logo in front of clients.

To learn more about the company and its product offerings, visit www.catchmasterPRO.com or call 800/458-7454.

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After two or three nights of pre-baiting, set all of the baited traps at once. You will capture most of the mice the first night, then your catch will quickly drop off during the next three or four days. Shut down the trapping program for a few days at this point. When you restart a few days later, move the traps several feet from their original positions in order to take advantage of the natural curiosity of mice to investigate new things in their territory.

To pick up large numbers of set snap traps, use a string mop, said rodent expert Bobby Corrigan. Simply mop over the set traps; this will set off the traps which will snap onto the strings.
This article was adapted from Techletter, a biweekly publication from Pinto & Associates, Mechanicsville, Md. To subscribe, visit www.techletter.com, or call 301/884-3020.

Editor’s note: Be sure to check out the related article about mouse control on page 98.

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Understanding the Habits of Mice Key to Successful Control of these pests

As every PMP knows, a thorough understanding of the biology and behavior of rodents is the key to successful control. Therefore, consider the following facts — along with the accompanying control tips — to enhance your mouse control efforts.

Mouse fact #1: Mice are territorial and rarely travel more than 30 feet from their nest. If food is nearby, a mouse often remains within a 10-foot radius of the nest. Mice are good climbers so they can be living above their main food source in suspended ceilings, in attic spaces or in vertical pipe runs. Or, they may be living below in floor voids, crawlspaces, storage rooms or under equipment.

Control tip #1: When you find evidence of mice feeding, imagine a 3-dimensional sphere radiating out 10 feet in each direction from the food source in the center. Inspect the entire area — sideways, above and below. If you don’t find evidence of mice, expand the radius of the sphere and your inspection to 30 feet. Harborage sites will be within this area, which will include the floors directly above and below, and may even include outdoor areas.

Knowing the travel range of mice also gives you clues as to how many mice you’re dealing with. If you’re finding evidence of mice on different floors or in different sections of a building, you’re probably not dealing with foraging mice from a single colony. Instead, you have many small, separate colonies and lots of mice. You will have to bait or trap each colony separately.

Mouse fact #2: Mice travel along well-defined runways especially in dark, protected areas. They like to travel where they can feel their whiskers touching a surface, so they prefer to move along the intersections of walls and floors, and they especially like corners. But they are perfectly comfortable using vertical runways along pipes or utility lines to travel between floors as well.

Control tip # 2: To find runways, look for rub marks along baseboards, beams, pipes and other suspected travel routes. You may also see footprints or tail drag marks in dusty areas. You can leave a tracking patch by placing a thin layer of talc or nontoxic dust; then check back for footprints. Place traps, glueboards or baits not only at feeding sites, but along runways, in a line between suspected nest sites and food sources. In mouse runways, place baits or traps about 10 feet apart (closer in heavier infestations) against walls and in corners whenever possible.

Mouse fact #3: Unlike rats, mice are curious and will investigate changes in their territory. They dart from place to place during their evening territorial rounds, covering the same route, over and over again. They rely more on their “kinesthetic” sense — a subconscious recording of a series of movements necessary to go from point A to point B — than on their eyes, ears and nose. When something is moved or changed in their territory, it’s a crisis. They slowly re-explore their territory, investigating every object, new or old, learning a new route.

Control tip #3: Disturb the environment of mice periodically by moving pallets, boxes, shelves, etc. This forces them to investigate their altered territory and means that they are more likely to come across your traps, glueboards, or bait. When you revisit an account, any traps or bait placements that don’t show activity should be moved to take advantage of a mouse’s natural curiosity to investigate new things in his territory. An active stock rotation policy in warehouses, food plants and restaurants will have a similar effect.

Mouse fact #4: Mice are nibblers. They might eat 20 or more times during their evening rounds, but will eat very little at most stops. However, they usually do have one or two favorite feeding sites within their territory. These are dark, protected sites with their favorite foods and in these sites they will eat more than at their other stops. In these feeding sites you will find spilled food, lots of mouse droppings and you’ll notice a strong “mousey” odor.

Control tip #4: Make lots of small bait placements, rather than a few large ones, but also concentrate your baiting in the favored feeding sites. The runways leading to these feeding sites are good places to set snap traps and glueboards. The favorite foods that the mice are feeding on here are usually your best choices for baiting traps. — Larry Pinto and Sandra Kraft