Rat Catcher Renaissance.

[Mr Muddy 141]

This is a bit of a spin off from previous threads, but here goes:

 

It’s now seeming like, through either their actions or inactions, the suits that can’t wipe their arse with out using an acronym, and have probably never seen a rat, are wrapping rodendicides up with so much red tape they soon won’t be worth bothering with.

 

 

So my questions are:

 

Do you think it would be possible to run a pest control company without using rodenticide?

 

Do you think there might be a resurgence of traditional local Rat Catchers (a bit like mole trapping after the end of strychnine) if it’s only the big companies, that can handle the red tape, that are left to provide pest control?

 

Would rat control even be possible in the UK without using poison?

 

 

I’d be really interested to hear your opinions.

[Froudy 40]

I think the problem is at the moment there is A lot of resistance from different rodenticides so they are becoming less effective and there is nothing to take its place as nobody wants to use a stronger rodenticide outside due to secondary poisoning, so with all the red tape and rodenticides which are not working as good as they use too something is going to need to change either go back to trapping which will be a timely job which means more expenses or to find an new active ingredients which will kill rats but has a less hazard to secondary poisoning, will trapping alone be enough to keep on top of a rat populations I am not so sure.

 

Atb

[iwm 71]

trapping and dogs will become a bigger part of pest control. Most pest controllers keep dogs and use them already but try taking a dog into a food outlet !!!!!

 

iwm

[StephenWalsh 73]

Do you think it would be possible to run a pest control company without using rodenticide? Yes, someone will invent something really smart and people will wonder why we ever used poisons.

 

Do you think there might be a resurgence of traditional local Rat Catchers (a bit like mole trapping after the end of strychnine) if it’s only the big companies, that can handle the red tape, that are left to provide pest control? The red tape just means better qualified pest controllers will become the norm, with BASIS and the like being increasingly important.

 

Would rat control even be possible in the UK without using poison? Yes, see point 1.

 

 

I’d be really interested to hear your opinions.

 

This is just my own rather unnecessary opinion, and from someone who isn't very good at maths!

[Mr Muddy 141]

 

 

 

Do you think there might be a resurgence of traditional local Rat Catchers (a bit like mole trapping after the end of strychnine) if it’s only the big companies, that can handle the red tape, that are left to provide pest control? The red tape just means better qualified pest controllers will become the norm, with BASIS and the like being increasingly important.

 

 

 

This is just my own rather unnecessary opinion, and from someone who isn't very good at maths! not an unnecessary opinion, I'm genuinely interested.

 

 

 

Red tape will certainly discourage any new ‘above board’ start-ups who plan to continue using rodenticide. So eventually; definitely a bigger market share to the big boys, however well qualified existing independent pest controllers are.

 

But will it actually encourage more people willing to grab a box of traps and call themselves a ‘Rat catcher’ if they see more work going that way. That’s why I likened it to mole trapping after the end of strychnine use (lots of new ‘traditional mole catchers’). You see what I’m getting at?

 

So you wouldn’t want to promote yourself as a ‘traditional rat catcher’ if the market’s about to be flooded with them.

 

But if you think the market is not going to be flooded with ‘traditional rat catchers’, then using less, or even no rodenticide might be worth thinking about. Especially as it frees you from bureaucracy.

 

That's why I'm interested.

Edited March 1, 2014 by Mr Muddy

[Matt 160]

There's another school of thought that says that the more the gap widens between the legitimate, trained, qualified, and insured pest controller, and the cowboy element who don't have the same overheads, the bigger the saving to the potential customer.....

 

Food for thought, eh?

 

My personal thoughts are that the ideal happy medium is combining the new with the old. Let's be honest about this; poisoning rats is not a new fad; for nearly as long as man has developed 'engines' to catch pests, he's also made various noxious substances to poison them

 

The old hands on here like Outlaw Pete will remember the old BPCA forum of ten (or more) years ago. At that time, the BPCA, with the support of many (myself included) were pushing for more 'professionalism' within the pest control industry, and a move away from the old 'Ratcatcher' image....

 

Personally, as I've written above, I see nothing wrong with the use of more 'rural' methods of control in the right context.

 

An example of this is commercial poultry units.... now, the 'standards' that these units have to work to are basically a set of rules that the farmer cannot afford to break... imagine the fuss when I suggested to one that when they depopulated a shed and cleaned out the muck I should be standing by with my terriers.... I ended up having to get special permission for them to break the rules and allow dogs on site for one day only...

 

I think the fundamental point is that whilst I have in the past, and still do support anything that improves professionalism within the industry, my definition of professionalism may vary somewhat from those who seek to regulate and restrict....

[moley 115]

the simple answer to your question is yes, you can make a good living without poison and by use traditional methods

[Phil Lloyd 10,738]

the simple answer to your question is yes, you can make a good living without poison and by use traditional methods

 

True,..although with the continual changes occurring in the pest control industry,..seemingly every few months,..there will be more and more lads walking down the traditional,.'whippet and flat cap' route..

I sold off, all my regular, bread and butter contracts,..years ago,...my partners in the commercial sector all said, 'you will fecking starve',.however,.as anyone who has walked out with me,..(or waddled in my case),..will surely attest,..I sure ain't been starving

 

Obviously,..as I enter my twilight years,..I cannot take on large contracts to control rabbits over vast acreages,...physically, I just cannot hack it,...I do know this...

Unfortunately it has taken me a few years to accept this fact, and for someone who loves to pursue the coney,..it has been emotional...Mercifully I have now got my head together,.. and sorted out a few things...

 

After much soul searching, I have decided to stick with what I feel comfortable, and forgo the urge to go back down the Rodenticide Road,...to do this would require attending whole lot of 'refresher courses, technical updates and learning how to fit into an ever changing regime, of what is always going to be,..regular soul destroying service visits to sites (and no matter how one twists and turns it), bait box kicking...

 

Been there, done that, cannot hack it,..feck it...

 

So,..I'll go for the smaller, more easily managed, rabbit, squirrel and mole trapping jobs,..and enjoy each day as though it was my last,...Can't be bad,.surely...

Best of luck to all Pesters,..no matter which road you choose...

 

Swifty, a new partner, young and inexperienced, but incredibly willing,..and works cheap

 

Edited March 2, 2014 by Phil Lloyd

[Mole man Kent 26]

It would be nice if pest control laws could be amended, so that it is only legal for qualified and insured professions to carry out what they do, like farriers, but on the other hand would lifelong unqualified, yet very good pestys pay to qualify theirselves? Even though paper proof doesn't mean a thing in "the practical world"

[ChrisJones 7,975]

Who's the driving force behind the push for more bureaucracy? Who's doing the lobbying?

[micky 3,325]

Who's the driving force behind the push for more bureaucracy? Who's doing the lobbying?

mole man of kent

[Matt 160]

Who's the driving force behind the push for more bureaucracy? Who's doing the lobbying?

 

The list is a long one....

 

The Barn Owl Trust

The Health and Safety Executive

The RSPB

The Guild of British Molecatchers

The RSPCA

and many others....

 

Who's defending it?

 

The NPTA

The BPCA

CRRU

NGO

APMC

 

Don't really want to cross post, but there is lots on the NPTA sponsorship of the GBM over on UKPCO.

Edited March 2, 2014 by Matt the Rat
To add that the EA are changing the waste regs.

[Outlaw Pete 2,224]

It would be nice if pest control laws could be amended, so that it is only legal for qualified and insured professions to carry out what they do, like farriers, but on the other hand would lifelong unqualified, yet very good pestys pay to qualify theirselves? Even though paper proof doesn't mean a thing in "the practical world"

 

Why would they? To join all the main stream fora and join in the paper waving?

 

" I was a plasterer for ten years. Then my elbow packed up. So, I bought myself a weeks course. Took an exam in a comfortable hall and am now an RSVP, Level 3 Absolute Bloody Expert ~ With the paper to prove it.

 

I've been in this game now for three years. Never seen a live rat. Far to busy attending free breakfasts. Watching Webinairs. And generally garnering CPD Points.

 

Whilst wringing my hands and straining my eyes over the Latest f**king label. And scouring my fellow (Oh So Much) Holier Than Thou colleagues posts, for any possible chance to pull them up on some petty point.

 

Oh. And if You've just gained your bit of paper? Forget it! You'll never be any where as good as us. We have three years 'experience' on you. You'll always be the shit on our shoes. We'll keep hauling the ladder up too. We're all on first name terms, us.

 

Now, I'm off to the Maldives for a few weeks. The building of my new extension is getting tiresome. I can barely think to type a sneering response to a would be Professional Pest Controller, asking on one of Our fora ....."

 

F**k all that. I just trap shit and keep my head down. And, whilst my head's down? Like so many;

 

I feel right about now's a fine time for we, the dinonsaurii, to be quietly bowing out. Leaving the future to the Paper Experts

[ChrisJones 7,975]

This is a bit of a spin off from previous threads, but here goes:

 

It’s now seeming like, through either their actions or inactions, the suits that can’t wipe their arse with out using an acronym, and have probably never seen a rat, are wrapping rodendicides up with so much red tape they soon won’t be worth bothering with.

 

So my questions are:

 

Do you think it would be possible to run a pest control company without using rodenticide?

 

Do you think there might be a resurgence of traditional local Rat Catchers (a bit like mole trapping after the end of strychnine) if it’s only the big companies, that can handle the red tape, that are left to provide pest control?

 

Would rat control even be possible in the UK without using poison?

 

 

I’d be really interested to hear your opinions.

 

A1. Yes. A decent tech will be able to decide whether the time/money/solution is worthy of his time. If it can't be solved without rodenticide then the customer will be referred to the LA (free/subsidised) or a company with a wallet big enough to operate. Unfortunately with the regs being tightened it could see a lot of rodent work being dropped from the list of services.

 

I'd assume the LA will pay up to get their lads qualified but after working for them I know in certain areas it won't make a scrap of difference to their operations. The ones I worked with were negligent at best, criminal at worst.

 

There is other work than rodents. Most of mine, in the private sector, has been insects.

 

A2. Not sure but I'd say doubtful. You'll either have to pay your ticket, join the big boys, or join the LA. The quality of your paperwork will depend on your wallet. The quality of your training will depend on the staff turnover at the company you work for. I could see a future where there are only 5/6 national companies... All of them price fixing.

 

A3. No. Never.

 

The list is a long one....

 

.....Don't really want to cross post, but there is lots on the NPTA sponsorship of the GBM over on UKPCO.

 

Fair one, Matt. No worries.

 

Just seems that the industry is being made unnecessarily expensive and tedious by those that have the opportunity to milk the proverbial cash cow.

 

Money contracts will only be able to serviced by anyone with money in the first place. LA will pick up the difference.

 

Small operators, with ethics, will have to choose whether to pay up, or cash out. Helluva gamble in this economy.

 

The cowboys won't miss a beat, like always. Show up, take the money, then disappear.

 

I understand the value of the BPCA, NPTA, etc but they're fighting an uphill battle against an uninformed, apathetic, public. Not to mention greedy ministers. I don't know if it's possible to win this one.

Edited March 3, 2014 by ChrisJones

[Mole man Kent 26]

Touchy touchy, think you're missing my point, if it was made illegal for anyone to carry out pest control without qualifications OR grandfathers rights don't you think the industry would be better for those doing it proffesionally. Way to many forum warriors on here! Brave keyboard fingers, with brave comments, hid behind a computer.