SELECTING A BAIT STATION: DRAB IS DANDY

The following information comes from Balance©, a semiannual publication of Crane Pest Control for its commercial and industrial clients and special regulatory agencies.

SELECTING A BAIT STATION: DRAB IS DANDY

Selection of a bait station to contain rodenticides is a matter of both common sense and the law. There are two reasons for placing treated baits for rats or mice within a "structure."

First and foremost is safety-the need to prevent the material from coming in contact with children, pets or non-target animals. Ideally there should be inaccessible areas within walls, for instance, which make the use of bait stations unnecessary. Unfortunately such conditions sometimes do not exist.

The second and less critical reason has to do with efficacy. You must entice the rodent to feel "safe" and interested in sampling the material. It is easy to understand why a wild rat would be hesitant to stand in the open, exposed to danger, while eating a morsel of food.

The Environmental Protection Agency has set guidelines regarding the use of "tamper-resistant bait stations." EPA recommendations were designed to assist in standardizing minimum specifications; however, when their opinions were compressed and mangled a bit by the regulatory process, some confusion arose. The way the law reads now, anyone can claim a bait station is "tamper-resistant" without EPA making commentary, but once a registered rodenticide labeled for use in a tamper-resistant station is installed within the station, EPA can declare the installation to be valid or in violation of the law.

There are some guidelines we can all follow to test whether a particular station will meet the letter let alone the spirit of the law. To begin with, no bait should be in a location that is within reach of children, pets, domestic animals or non-target pests unless placed within a security container. These containers must be resistant to destruction by pets or children under six years of age. They should be so constructed that children or animals larger than rats can't reach in and get the poison.

At this point common sense enters into the equation both in terms of liability and legality. If there is a potential for "something" to turn the station upside down and shake out the ingredients, then it must be attached to a support-the ground, a fence, a wall or such.

Finally, these bait stations must have on their exterior (1) a warning that they contain poison; (2) the name of the actual ingredients and the "signal" word or warning symbol found on the official label; and (3) the pest control company's name, address and telephone number.

There are other details such as a prohibition against using attractive colors in the design of the container, thereby consigning most of them to being, at best, drab if not downright fearsome. But maybe that's the point.

For more information you can contact us at 1(800) 592-7777 or

You may also email us at CraneInfo@CranePestControl.com

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