Monitoring

An essential component of any rodent control programme is to keep and maintain good records of all the operations that have been undertaken and then to utilise these data to monitor progress. These data will be particularly useful to help identify prolonged treatment times, and the possible causes, and will help separate out failures due to resistance from other issues.

In addition, safety considerations will require that certain basic information on the toxicants (or alternative control systems) that might be used will need to be recorded purely as part of the risk mitigation measures. Risk assessment undertaken as a part of risk mitigation should be recorded separately but should be readily available.

A good integrated strategy will ensure that essential data is recorded including:

Details of who has undertaken the rodenticide application and where
Environmental Risk Analysis: Possible routes of non-target poisoning, including secondary poisoning, and appropriate risk mitigation measures taken
Toxicant used
Where toxicant has been placed and how – including mapped distribution of bait placements
Amount of toxicant used
Dates of all visits and actions undertaken
Details of rodent consumption of bait from baiting points
Records of carcasses recovered
Records of monitoring and detection (electronic, photographic, tracking plates etc.)

These data should be recorded and presented in such a way that they can be assessed easily and if necessary trend graphs and spatially specific time lines produced showing the progress of the control programme.