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Integrated Pest Management: Principles and Practice

What could go wrong with using rodenticides to prevent rats and mice from turning your home into a breeding ground?

Your junior primary school teacher didn’t tell you that chemicals such as pesticides and rodenticides can lead to pest resurgence and an outbreak of secondary pests. Pest resurgence is the resistance developed by pests following the constant use of pesticides.

Scientists developed Integrated Pest Management (IPM) in response to these challenges. Integrated Pest Management is the detailed consideration of current rodent control methods and integration strategies to prevent the increase of rice and mice populations.

IPM aims to minimize rodenticide use in controlling rodents by leveraging eco-friendly techniques, such as occupant education, lethal control, exclusion, and sanitation.

The overall goal of this article is to limit the negative effects of pesticides on the environment and human health. Let’s get into it! 

What Are The 4 Principles of Integrated Pest Management?

Integrated Pest Management follows specific guidelines to ensure that rodent control proceeds efficiently and sustainably. At Campbell Natural Pest Control, we have identified four principles that will help you understand the IPM process better.

  1.  Problem Assessment

Rats and mice can transform your home into their breeding ground any time of the year. They are aggressive in the fall when outdoor temperatures fall. 

The first principle in IPM is to determine whether you have a rodent infestation in your home or on commercial property. This assessment will help you decide whether you should address the infestation.

  1. Pest Identification and Monitoring

After determining that you’re unknowingly playing host to the mischief of mice or rats, the next step is to select integrated pest management solutions. This can include the specific rodenticide to use.

If you find yourself lost, contact our Campbell Natural Pest Control professionals, who will guide you on the steps and resources to deploy.

  1. Deploy Preventive Measures

This step aims to reduce rat and mouse infestations by deploying various IPM methods. 

Campbell Natural Pest Control can help you execute chemical and non-chemical measures, including rodenticides and habitat modification.

  1. Implementation of Integrated Pest Management Methods

We don’t know about you, but we have experienced preventive measures failing to yield the expected outcomes. The solution is to apply carefully selected integrated pest management options in such cases.

For instance, habitat modification that failed to work can be countered with snap traps or rods laced with bait-block formulations.

What is the Integrated Control Method?

An integrated control method involves carefully selecting and implementing physical, chemical, biotechnological, and biological measures to prevent rat and mouse infestations. Using chemicals such as rodenticides is kept at a minimum to maintain the rodent population under the economic damage threshold.

What Is an Example of Integrated Pest Management?

As seasoned professionals, our researchers can consider several examples of integrated pest management. 

One of them involves the use of first-generation anticoagulants. This technique kills rats and mice by preventing blood from clotting. 

However, to prevent children and animals from ingesting the poison, which has been known to occur, it is advisable to purchase an anticoagulant in paste or block form. 

Additional examples of integrated pest management include:

  • Use of snap traps
  • Pheromone lures
  • Contraceptive for rats
  • The use of non-toxic monitoring bait blocks.

What Are the Five Components of Integrated Pest Management?

benefits of natural integrated pest control in portland, or

We have selected the six components of IPM based on comprehensive and up-to-date data on the life cycle of pests and their interactions with the environment.

  1. Cultural Practices.

These are the activities involved in ensuring your immediate environment does not attract rodents. Examples include discouraging rat burrowing and rodent travel by trimming landscape plants to expose clear ground. 

  1. Mechanical Practices

We deploy mechanical practices when pests have exceeded the action threshold. And apply them to disrupt rodent feeding, and breeding can include:

  • Snap traps
  • Pheremone lures
  1. Regulatory Practices

Regulatory practices may include eradicating rodents, trapping, monitoring, or quarantining. Rodent birth control is another effective way homeowners can reduce the rat population in their area. Learn more about birth control for rats in Portland.

  1. Biological Practices

This component is effective for huge establishments, such as schools and business premises. It is a knowledge-intensive technique that requires prior research to understand the rodents, their environment, and their natural enemies.

5. Predators

Predators such as owls and other wild birds attack and kill rodents, ‌reducing organisms’ infestations. Installing barn owl boxes on your property will reduce the rat and mouse population in the area.

Wrap-Up,

At Campbell Natural Pest Control, we prioritize safety for you and the surrounding environment. 

Providing you with the best pest control service while staying local, organic, and family-owned, we equip our personnel with the training and experience needed to eliminate these pests.

Whether it’s your home, school, or commercial property, our professionals can help you implement eco-friendly measures to keep your space rodents-free.

Contact us today for more information!