Rat Control using Integrated Pest Management

What is Integrated Management of Rats

Many methods may be used to firstly minimise the risk of build-up of rodent populations, and secondly to prevent the further escalation of rat numbers and resultant crop damage.

No single measure will provide total control of rodent infestations in crops. It is therefore important to use baits such as RATTOFF^® jointly with other methods to minimise the occurrence of serious rat infestations.

These combined approaches are called "INTEGRATED PEST MANAGEMENT" (IPM).

Integrated Pest Management Practice

IPM recognises that it is generally better to prevent a problem than to treat it after it has become serious. Thus, farmers should adopt practices that make it more difficult for rodents to establish or multiply in a crop. These practices can include the strategic application of rodenticide baits to remove potential breeders, but other measures should also form part of an integrated approach.

In sugar cane, for example, the breeding of both the climbing rat (M. burtoni) and the ground rat (R. sordidus) is triggered by the availability of high protein food such as maturing grass seeds. If weeds and grasses are properly controlled in and around the crop, rat infestations will be less frequent and less severe.

Maintaining low grass in adjacent non-cropped areas will reduce cover and render the rats more vulnerable to birds of prey and other predators that may naturally cull rat numbers. These factors reduce the likelihood of explosive population growth.

Removing grass, by slashing or herbicide applications, can dramatically reduce the population of rodents. One study recovered 70 rats from just a few square metres of weed infested fence line.

Removing breeding habitat around crop areas helps reduce the density of rodents adjacent to the crop. Rats can move large distances, especially after harvest or flood, so long-term management practices that establish a depletion zone around the crop are encouraged. Such practices can include re-forestation of wasteland, drains or watercourses that cannot be cropped. Control of weeds reduces the risk of rat infestation and helps canopy to develop. Once the tree canopy develops, the grassland habitat is shaded out. Established tree canopy provides unsuitable ground habitat for rats, so the rat density will reduce.

Prevention is always better than cure!

Natural predators help to control low levels of rat infestation

Maintaining nesting sites, nesting boxes, and perches for birds of prey such as eagles, owls, kites and hawks will provide a natural pressure on the rats within an area.

Though predators cannot control a major infestation, they can help keep numbers low between plagues.

Burning Stubble?

Farmers should not return to the practices of burning stubble or cane. During fires, most rats will retreat to underground burrows that are well protected. The burning of habitat areas will also delay or prevent the development of forest canopy.

Burning of habitat areas will also result in the loss of tree seedlings and encourage grass regrowth and in turn, encourage rats.

Do trash blankets encourage the rats?

While evidence is not complete, the weight of opinion is that adoption of sound conservation tillage practices and trash blanketing does not greatly increase the rodent problem. The benefits of these practices (reduced cultivation, improved water retention and organic content of soils) far outweigh the risk. Trash blankets help to suppress grassy weeds in the crop that otherwise contribute to increased rat numbers.

How does RATTOFF^® fit with IPM?

While many factors and pest management practices combine to reduce rodent pest numbers or to delay plague build-up, some seasonal situations may exceed the capacity of the natural controls and so allow the pest populations to rapidly increase. Strategic use of rodenticides like RATTOFF^® damp the population explosion, and bring the pest populations again within the range of the natural controls.

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