QUESTIONS & ANSWERS: Why Customers Shouldn't Meddle With Bait Stations

This article originally appeared in the May 1996 issue of PCT magazine.

WHY CUSTOMERS SHOULDN’T MEDDLE WITH BAIT STATIONS

Q. Recently I was following up on a pharaoh ant problem that we had treated with one of the containerized baits. In the past, this bait has worked very well and has never appeared to cause death to ants too rapidly. However, in a recent account I noticed many dead ants around several of the bait stations I had placed a week earlier. Do these baits cause death too quickly to be effective on an ant like the pharaoh ant? Is this starting to become a problem elsewhere? (J.S.)

A. You are right that some toxicants often cause rapid mortality in ants. With some ants this might not be a problem; however, you certainly don’t want pharaoh ants dying rapidly after feeding on bait. The idea is for them to carry the bait back to the colony and for the colony to be killed gradually so that the ants are not repelled from the bait.

I have seen this situation occur with several of the baits currently used for pharaoh ant control. At first, I was surprised and unsure what had caused the rapid mortality, particularly in cases in which the baits that were used were the type that have a reputation for causing mortality at a slow rate.

After investigating a number of these cases, I can tell you that it appears to me that when this situation occurs, one of the more common explanations is that the homeowner has taken it upon him- or herself to utilize a pesticide around the bait station. More often than not, they have used an over-the-counter aerosol spray to kill ants seen foraging in or near the bait station. Usually the customer has explained that they just couldn’t stand watching those ants crawling around on the bait station on their countertop and felt they had to do something about it. Obviously, the customer had not been well educated in the need to leave the bait stations alone long enough for the ants to carry enough of the bait back to the colony to kill off the entire population.

Your question brings up an important aspect in all pest management procedures that is often overlooked: customer education. In this day and age, it would be foolish not to explain to the customer exactly what you have done and why you are doing it, and, further, what the customer should expect as a result of your treatments. Make it plain to them that they have an obligation to assist in seeing to it that the treatments are effective. In the case of pharaoh ants and baits, the cus­tomer’s primary responsibility is to leave the baits alone and not to accost the ants prematurely.

If you see this type of response by the ants to the bait at all bait stations and you’re fairly certain that the customer did not apply a pesticide to the bait station and the surrounding area, then it may in fact be mortality caused by the toxicant itself. This will almost never occur with the more popular slow-acting toxicants used in pharaoh ant control. It may, however, occur in response to active ingredients such as one of the organophosphates or carbamates. Be sure to check the active ingredient of the bait you are using.     PCT

Jeffrey Tucker, a contributing editor to PCT magazine, is president of Entomology Associates, a pest management consulting firm based in Houston. If you have a question for him, write: PCT Questions & Answers, c/o Entomology Associates, P.O. Box 70375, Houston TX 77270; or fax your question to 713/681-9069.