How to storm your way pasta vermin
Like the original block, it can be secured in bait stations to minimise the risk to non-target species posed by rats’ natural instinct to carry feed back to their burrows.
Storm Pasta is formulated from flour and potato flour, and is designed to improve Storm’s effectiveness in dry environments, and among rodent populations that have become reluctant to feed on traditional grain-based baits.
The active ingredient — flocoumafen — is unchanged, a chemical equally effective against strains of rats and mice which have become resistant to warfarin.
Commenting on the new formulation, a BASF spokesperson said, “In particular, it appeals to the clear preference for moist foods in dry environments — like grain and feed stores — we see in both rats and mice. In some cases too — especially in and around towns and cities where they have easy access to sweet and fat-rich foods — some rodent populations have become so attracted to these that they have lost taste for cereal feeds.
At the launch of the newly extended range of the product, BASF rodenticide development manager, Sharon Hughes reported results of their first Irish rodent control study.
Conducted independently this summer, it indicated that over 90% of farms had problems with rats and mice over the past year. Most had to employ four or more cycles of rodenticide baiting, on average treating rodents in five to six of the 12 months.
Although the majority of baiting was between October and March, more than one in every 10 farms had to deal with rats and mice during summer..
More than two thirds of farms are taking the most effective approach to control, using rat and mouse baits at the first sign of infestation and wherever activity can be detected.
A sizeable minority, however, only started baiting when rodents became obvious, with a similar proportion only baiting where they are actually seen.
BASF experts warned that a single breeding pair of rats or mice today can become over 2,000 in just six months, under ideal conditions.
On control, Sharon Hughes advised, “Having poor eyesight, rats are very wary of open spaces. So they invariably travel along walls for security, guided by their whiskers, following regular rat runs from their external burrows to established feeding areas. This means that baits not placed along these runs are generally useless.
“As a defence mechanism, rats are also extremely wary of new things, restricting their initial consumption of new foods until they feel them to be safe. This puts the premium on baits with the greatest possible potency and palatability.
“Naturally inquisitive, mice, on the other hand, are sporadic feeders,” she explained.
“Their survival strategy is to dart about rapidly, taking small amounts of food from a variety of different sources in a fairly restricted foraging area. The key here is to place sufficient baiting points in the immediate vicinity of their living accommodation.
