Last week, I tweeted about the plight of an innocent victim – a kitten – who got stuck on a glue board http://ht.ly/2mQnJ .
Well I was in one of the local country stores on Saturday, which sells a range of DIY products and devices for pest control. It was pouring with rain outside, so quite a few people were sheltering from the rain. As it happens, I was stood by the display of DIY pest control products and happened to overhear a young couple talking about the rodent problem they had.
They were looking at all sorts of products, but finally picked up some glue boards – they believed this was the best method of catching the rats as they didn’t like the thought of a nasty trap hitting the rat on the head….
At that point, I could not hold back any longer. I said to them “Sorry to butt in, but how do you think that works?” Anyway, we started chatting and they said that the rat will walk on and get caught – fair enough. So I said “And then what – once you have a rat, what are you going to do with it?” They both looked at one another, and the lady said “Let it go in the woods”.
So I spent the next 15 minutes describing how glue boards work and how the creature suffers when caught, that there is no way anything can be released from a glue board without major surgery, the humane dispatch of a live rodent and the risks to non target species plus the legal requirements professional pest controllers are bound to follow. Needless to say, the couple soon put the Glue Boards back! I am not a fan of glue boards, and I only use them as a last resort, having explained to the client all the aspects of using them.
To explain, a glue board is a large square or rectangle piece of cardboard, covered in highly sticky glue. These are deployed in known rat runs or baited to attract rodents on to them. When one foot is placed on, it will stick, causing the animal to place a second foot on and so on. The gruesome reality is that they struggle so much they literally pull themselves apart, or suffocate when so much flesh is stuck down they simply cannot move. Sometimes you find a live rodent caught in one and so they have to be humanely despatched – again this is another whole can of worms….I will explore this at a later date.
I went through the selection of control products with them and eventually, they chose some fairly good quality traps, which I advised them on baiting, setting and checking etc, and off they went.
I am not against DIY pest control, but there must be some controls. Glue boards should be professional use only, as should poisons. There is enough problems with secondary poisoning and poison resistance in rats without making the very products available to untrained users.
As a member of the Campaign for Responsible Rodenticide Use (CRRU), I want to see restrictions on the sale of all poisons across the counter. Only trained operatives should be able to buy and use such poisons.
So for advice and help with dealing with a rat problem or a mouse problem, contact Rapid Pest Control.
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