A four-storey government office in a bustling metropolitan city faced severe rodent issues, marked by relentless intrusions through doors, shutters, and gaps beneath the gabled roof. Many of the employees, accustomed to bringing their lunches from home, contributed to the problem by discarding leftover food in the office’s waste bins as they left each day. Situated adjacent to a forest, the office inadvertently became an attractive haven for the local rodent population, drawn in by the scent of discarded food scraps.

The infestation worsened as rats exploited entry points like gaps beneath shutters, doors, and various openings around air conditioning piping, electrical cables, and data lines. Their presence created chaos as they not only scavenged for food but also damaged equipment and office furniture. More alarmingly, their activity posed a significant risk of electrical short circuits as the rodents gnawed on live wires, potentially disrupting communication by damaging data cables.

Faced with a nightly invasion that disrupted both work and peace of mind, the frustrated staff sought help from Rid-O-Pest Services (Rid-O-Pest), our distributor in Chennai. They contacted the owner, K Shivashankaran (Shivashankaran), requesting urgent assistance to address the rodent issue plaguing their workspace.

In response, Shivashankaran and his team conducted a comprehensive survey of the premises and identified the administration office, conference room, and electrical room as rodent hotspots. Recognising that the neighbouring forest was the primary source of infestation, they observed that rats ventured into the office at night to feast on food waste, only to retreat to their outdoor nests or to the roof, where they even nested within electrical panels, leading to indoor multiplication.

Understanding that simple trapping or outdoor baiting, typical of conventional rodent management, would only yield temporary relief, Shivashankaran sought a more permanent solution. When Rid-O-Pest shared images of the affected areas, we quickly noted heavy grease marks on the walls, hoses, floors, and electrical panel surfaces. These marks, a result of the rats’ sebum, indicated how the rodents navigated through the office searching for food.

It became evident that this scenario was an opportunity to demonstrate the efficacy of rodent-proofing a building using RodeXit and Rodent Proof Fill Fabric. The task ahead was undoubtedly challenging, necessitating meticulous planning and a thorough post-rodent-proofing assessment to ensure Rid-O-Pest effectively excluded rodents from the government office.

We prioritised dispatching the required materials to Rid-O-Pest, which they promptly incorporated into their rodent management programme at the government office.

Phase 1: Reducing the Rodent Population through Baiting and Trapping

The initial phase focused on reducing the rodent population through a combination of baiting and trapping strategies.

Perimeter Baiting: Rodent bait stations were strategically deployed around the building’s exterior, targeting open areas, drains, and vegetation where rodents were likely to enter from the surrounding natural landscape.

Trapping: Live-catch metal traps baited with food were placed at junctions between walls and floors and were successful, capturing numerous rodents shortly after deployment, allowing for their humane release far from the customer’s site.

The baiting resulted in the discovery of deceased rodents, while the trapping efforts quickly yielded captures of live ones within the first week. The observed rodent activity was correlated with previously identified high-traffic areas, which would be addressed in the subsequent phases to pre-empt ongoing entry.

Phase 2: Ensuring Structural Exclusion and Maintenance

Upon achieving a reduction in the rodent population, the objective shifted to preventing their re-entry into the premises.

Rodent Exclusion at Doors and Shutters: Utilising RodeXit All-In-One rodent seal strips, the Rid-O-Pest team sealed the gaps below doors and shutters that previously facilitated rodent ingress. Required repairs were made to the floors around the shutters to eliminate floor irregularities and ensure RodeXit’s effectiveness. Additionally, Rid-O-Pest recommends the placement of metal plates beneath the gabled roof to block roof rat entry.

Electrical Panel Room Exclusion: The team used Rodent Proof Fill Fabric, along with mortar, to seal gaps around electrical cables, effectively cutting off rats’ access routes into the office. During the initial scouting, nesting was identified within the electrical panels, necessitating immediate intervention to secure these areas.

RodeXit Installed by Rid-O-Pest Services at Chennai

Phase 3: Ongoing Monitoring and Customer Feedback

In the final stage, while the Rid-O-Pest team maintained a vigilant watch on the site with live-catch traps baited with food, the customer was tasked with ensuring that all potential entry gaps in the building were effectively sealed, in line with the agreement established by both parties.

Initial feedback indicates a significant reduction in the rodent population on-site, prompting customer representatives to express satisfaction with Rid-O-Pest’s performance in resolving their rodent issues. Notably, reports indicated that rodents still attempted breaching efforts, even in areas fortified with rodent-proofing measures. Evidence of such attempts included blood trails from injured rodents that had tried to penetrate the Rodent Proof Fill Fabric.

Rodent Proof Fill Fabric Installed by Rid-O-Pest Services at Chennai

GPA Project Summary

The integrated rodent management project by Rid-O-Pest within a government office serves as a prime example of a successful strategy that combines population reduction and structural exclusion. Despite being newcomers to using RodeXit and Rodent Proof Fill Fabric, the Rid-O-Pest team swiftly adapted thanks to their extensive background in rodent control, ensuring that the customer’s building was effectively rodent-proofed.

Rid-O-Pest now stands as the pioneering Pest Control Operator (PCO) not only in Chennai and Tamil Nadu but also in India for incorporating both RodeXit and Rodent Proof Fill Fabric at a single customer location.

We at GPA commend the leadership of K. Shivashankaran and the Rid-O-Pest team for their success in navigating this demanding rodent management challenge. We also extend our gratitude for their collaboration in promoting our innovative rodent-proofing products across Tamil Nadu.

Given the increasing inquiries regarding rodent-proofing projects within Chennai, GPA is pleased to announce that we will channel these leads to the Rid-O-Pest team, enabling them to meet the growing demand for effective rodent management solutions in the area.