The Rodenticide Resistance Action Group has issued new rat and mouse resistance guidelines, which are now available online.
To view the updated guidelines for the management of resistant rat infestations in the UK, click HERE.
To view the House Mouse resistance guidelines, click HERE.
Rat tails needed now for resistance testing
A resistance mapping survey is underway which aims to provide preliminary data on the distribution of anticoagulant resistance in the Norway rat.
This survey is funded entirely by the pest control industry (BASF, Bayer, Bell, Killgerm, PelGar, Syngenta and also the British Pest Control Association and National Pest Technicians Association) but is managed by an independent scientific committee to ensure that the results are seen to be both rigorous and independent.
Between 600 to 1,000 tail tips are required from seven areas across mainland Britain. The focus of the research is on a series of hot spots where it is known, or suspected, that the resistant rats predominate. To establish the extent of the anticoagulant resistance on behalf of the pest control industry, the organisers require your help, now.
How you do it
Tail tips (3-5cm) must not be from poisoned rats – they need to be collected from rats killed by trapping, shooting or dogs. Tails can be stored in a freezer until dispatched in the supplied vial containing a preservative (one tail tip per vial).
With each vial, certain data is required: the name of the collector, the date and place collected (a post code or GPS/Ordnance Survey map co-ordinate).
If you think you can help, please email Reading University’s VPU Research Officer Emily Coan ([email protected]) before collecting any tail tips. You will then be sent the protocol for collecting tails and details about where and how to send them once collected.