Aerial baiting, Baits - 1080 information and questions

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So sorry to hear about the loss of your dog MT, would be a devastating experience.
I know you have been handling baits for years and know the results/symptoms, and it doesn't make one iota of difference about the loss of your Elvis.
Could you possibly have a mulga lurking around your homestead?
The symptoms of 1080 bait poisoning are very similar to those caused by the neurotoxins from venomous snakes and spiders.
Can be misdiagnosed without a specific tissue test, 1080 has been blamed many times for animal deaths when suffering a snakebite.

R.I.P Elvis
 
Hi Pete, I did consider snake bite as we have heaps of mulgas here including a few local resident ones. Not two weeks ago one was on the mat near the homestead.
My last elvis was taken by a mulga but up the bush on a track not at the homestead.

Im pretty positive it was a bait by the symptoms and the speed it took effect. There was no gradual deterioration as common with a bite but a wam bam thank you mam instantaneous from asleep on the bed next to me to full on atypical bait type symptoms.

I make a point of being here when the baits are delivered so I can make sure they are safe and there are no mishaps. But this time I was out and came back after they were dropped off and put into the shed.
I was excited about the new pup and focussed on him instead of checking the ground from the truck door to the shed like I normally do.
The baits come in big onion type bags and often some drop out while unloading. I should have checked but didnt. My fault.

Can not be 100% certain this is where he got it but analysing it in my head over and over since it happened its all I can come up with.
 
Targeting foxes with this device is a winner that's for sure :Y: the problem is it won't suit targeting of wild dogs which means current baiting methods will be the go to option for wild dogs. I doubt there will ever be a perfect solution for the control of pest animals without a potential impact on native species.

Hopefully this device will be made widely available to land owners through a subsidy program by state and local authorities, it has great potential :Y:
 
Canid ejectors like traps are subsidised but the training course to use them is very time consuming and a real pain in the bum to attend and almost impossible for some remote stations. Things are getting easier with a lot being able to be done on line now and travelling trainers.

The fox collar is something simple that most people can knock up in the shed. The dimensions and a how to are provided.

While I've never seen a fox out here, they are here. Plenty of sign about. The travelling trapper has nailed a fair few in her traps plus shot a few under spot light.

Ejectors, traps and shooting are only a tiny part of the solution and if relying on them only the problem will just increase yearly to a totally unmanagable state resulting in the extinction of numerous natives. The natives killed by foxes and dogs far out weigh the bycatch of baits.

Baits as horrible as they are, at the present time are the best defence we have.
 
Jaros said:
...............
I spoke with John our pest controller and he said it was the bait he had thrown into our roof which he said was also good for possums as well.
..........................
(
Click to expand...

Jeez, dunno what the laws are where you are, but it's highly illegal to poison possums in Vic.
 
A genetic specific sterilization from baits will be happy days indeed for the long term. I'm sure there is a scientist out there somewhere willing to go broke for a cure.
 
Jaros said:
Went for a wander in the backyard the other day with my wife Carolyn and all of a sudden she shrieked-JACK!!Jack!!jack!! Of course being a man who has descended from the days of chivalry etc. I walked up to the spot she was at and there was this massive bloody RAT. Nelson our Cocker Spaniel being a lover of birds and nature had found this somewhere in the backyard. Anyway it was a job and a half trying to get this rat away from him, eventually having to use the hose to get him to drop it.
I removed the rat to the garbage bin where it belonged and tried to work out how he had got in the first placed.
I had recently got our 6 mthly termite and pest control check done and it seems that the rat had succumbed to one of their slugs of bait.
I spoke with John our pest controller and he said it was the bait he had thrown into our roof which he said was also good for possums as well.
Now if Nelson had broken the skin of the rat he could have died an ugly death as well. So be wary of domestic rat/mice baits coz it might take your pet away from you and we wouldn't want that to happen would we. :(
Click to expand...

Hi Jaros,
I work for a pest control company, and this was pretty horrifying to read...
Firstly, a pest controller shouldn't be baiting a roof if possums are in there. They're native animals and protected. He's meant to check for any signs of possum activity before baiting for rodents - not just throwing around bait up there and killing them! (Not to mention the stink of a dead possum in your roof - yuck!)

And secondly, most professional grade rodenticides (bait) are now a lot less toxic than Rat Sack poison. They work on the biology of the rodent (basically turning it into a haemophyliac by depleting the Vitamin K in the rodent. They're an anti-coagulant formulation, rather than a toxic poison). They only need a small amount to be affected, so they don't ingest a lot, and it works on body weight per gram of bait. So non-target species, such as dogs and cats, will not be severely effected if they eat the affected rodent, being a lot heavier than a rodent, they would need to eat a lot more for the same result. And there is an antidote - an injection of Vitamin K will reverse the effects of it.

I'd be questioning your pest controller on what he's using - especially around your dogs. If it's not a professional grade rodenticide, tell him to get some for use at your place. It sounds like he may be using Rat Sack, which shouldn't be used around dogs at all. Any dose of that will make them severely ill, if not kill them. Professional grade rodenticides have been formulated specifically to protect non-target animals, while still killing rodents.

Cheers,
Megsy :)
 
A property I am prospecting does not bait but every property around it does 1080, I've been taking my dog with me, he never goes far.
Land owner told me yesterday...is my dog at risk?
 
20xwater said:
A property I am prospecting does not bait but every property around it does 1080, I've been taking my dog with me, he never goes far.
Land owner told me yesterday...is my dog at risk?
Click to expand...

Your dogs days are numbered if you keep taking him/her there, especially if a muzzle is not used.
 
MegsyB007 said:
And secondly, most professional grade rodenticides (bait) are now a lot less toxic than Rat Sack poison. They work on the biology of the rodent (basically turning it into a haemophyliac by depleting the Vitamin K in the rodent. They're an anti-coagulant formulation, rather than a toxic poison). They only need a small amount to be affected, so they don't ingest a lot, and it works on body weight per gram of bait. So non-target species, such as dogs and cats, will not be severely effected if they eat the affected rodent, being a lot heavier than a rodent, they would need to eat a lot more for the same result. And there is an antidote - an injection of Vitamin K will reverse the effects of it.

I'd be questioning your pest controller on what he's using - especially around your dogs. If it's not a professional grade rodenticide, tell him to get some for use at your place. It sounds like he may be using Rat Sack, which shouldn't be used around dogs at all. Any dose of that will make them severely ill, if not kill them. Professional grade rodenticides have been formulated specifically to protect non-target animals, while still killing rodents.

Cheers,
Megsy :)
Click to expand...

You might do well with a few chemistry lessons Megsy.

Rat sack has traditionally been warfrin, but some "fast acting " versions use bromadifacoum.

Most professional baits are based on bromadifacoum which is also an anti coagulant but a hell of a lot stronger than warfrin, a bit like comparing a pin prick to getting shot with a .303

They both have the same vitamin K antidote BTW.

Bromadifacoum WILL BE LETHAL (in sufficient quantity) to any mammal that eats it including humans, it is NOT going to protect non target animals/species.

Bromadifacoum is also a secondary poison, meaning it is still present in the dead animal and any other animal that eats it will be affected too.
Unfortunately this is often Owls.
 
I agree with Occasional_panner.

My understanding was that Warfarin was replaced because its effect was cumulative, with more than one dose necessary to kill a rat. However, experience showed that other rats took notice of a rat eating some bait and getting weaker then coming back for more, put two and two together and avoided the bait themselves. Bromadifacoum kills in a similar way to Warfarin, but one feed is all it takes, so rats don't learn to associate the bait with its lethal consequences.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warfarin#Pest_control
 
Yes indeedy I would go with Occasional Panner as also being a professional PESTY the same as he, he's dead on the money :Y: No pun intended :D
 

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