Location…location…location! You typically hear those words in real estate sales pitches. However, when it comes to the location of your rodent bait stations, truer words weren’t uttered! Like humans, who crave a snack or meal, if the location of that delicacy isn’t right – it’s too crowded, overly noisy, heavily trafficked – we tend to avoid it. Instead, we may choose a restaurant or take-away place that on the way to work or on the way to home. Pests do the same!
Placement Tips
Pests, like mice, for instance, can squeeze through an opening that’s less than a quarter of the size of a golf ball. So, how do you ensure your bait boxes and traps are properly located? Well, here are some tips to remember:
1. The best place to locate rat and mouse bait stations is at spots between the rodent’s habitat (or where they enter your premises), and the source of food on the premises – like kitchens, pantry, garbage disposal area, storage rooms
2. Rodents typically don’t venture out of their way to go bait-shopping, so make sure you place your stations conveniently, where they can reach it easily. For instance, a station located at the foot of a food stand is more effective than one placed on an upper shelf
3. An ideal location to place bait boxes and traps is along walls, ledges, window sills, and paths that rodents travel. Since they typically “hug” these surfaces when they scurry through the premises, it’s more likely they’ll encounter (and sample) bait from one of your stations if they’re placed along their travel route
4. It’s important that you frequently inspect your entire premises – or have a professional pest control company do it – to check for signs that there’s rodent activity. Placing rat bait stations in and around spots where you see rat droppings, is more effective than random placement
5. Avoid placing stations in noisy, well-lit, and heavily trafficked areas – especially in the night. That’s because, not only are those unlikely locations for rats and mice to frequent (they’re timid creatures!), but the constant human traffic might dislocate and damage the stations
6. If you (unavoidably) require drains with large openings on your premises, then it might be a good idea to locate bait traps and stations against walls closest to those openings
A word of caution when deciding where to locate your baiting boxes and traps: As is the case with all poisonous substances, even though high-quality rat bait stations are built for safety, they must always be kept away from locations where kids and pets frequent.
Multiple Front Attack
Even though you may think you’ve identified the best locations within your premises – home, office, restaurant, bar, warehouse – to place your bait stations, you may sometimes still find them ineffective. The reason: You can’t control pests only from within. You need a multipronged attack, which means taking the fight outdoors too!
For buildings that aren’t rodent-proof, it’s a good idea to locate your stations outside the building, placing them along outer walls, perimeter fences and foundations. If your property has potential entry spots, like slow-closing shutters on a loading dock, or “sticky” automatic doors that stay open longer than they should, then place several mouse bait stations just outside those entrances.
