There is a new future ahead of us in the pest world, where the use of digital mouse and rat traps will rapidly increase. I choose to speak of “digital traps” in this article, but they are also called electronic traps or smart traps. The application of these traps is often called “digital – or permanent monitoring.” Where last year pest managers were still sniffing around at the pest fair asking if digital traps work, there are already many digital traps installed at our customers. Fueled in part by the advance of IPM, which states, among other things, that the use of poisons should be limited. With that, it challenges the pest world to keep coming up with new techniques.
The number of questions we get at PestScan about digital mousetraps is also increasing rapidly. Like the question, “How does it work?” and I think even more importantly the question, “Does it work?”. To which I can happily answer, “Yes it works, daily we see that PestScan is filled with reports sent by digital traps”. PestScan sees the new future coming very close here.
How do digital traps work?
Digital traps provide a notification when there is activity. As a pest controller, this allows you to visit businesses and make your rounds in a very targeted way. That way you know there has been activity. But do you know what kind of activity there was? Was it the cleaning lady, or was it a mouse? That’s why it’s good to ask how a trap differentiates between them!
Digital traps use the 4G network, WiFi, the LAN network, or LoRa, a subset of GSM. Vendors solve this in different ways. Again, it is good to orient yourself on this before purchasing. If a trap is directly connected to the 4G network, you need a SIM card per trap. The costs can mount up, but the quality is usually very good. And yet other suppliers work through a Wi-Fi router which is less expensive, however, these signals can be disrupted by other signals or may have problems with range.
Finally, there are also suppliers who have developed their own devices for which you must purchase a router through this supplier. As a company you have to make your own choice. PestScan can’t do this for you, but it can be connected to several systems.
Digital traps and IPM
In response to the reports from the digital traps, the pest controller can immediately visit the places where a pest is developing and act according to the rules of IPM. In this way, the pest controller can take targeted action during his visit to the company, give advice and support it with photos. The result is a clear and comprehensive report, in which the pest controller can, for example, give well-founded advice according to the rules of IPM to switch to a responsible use of pesticides.
How does the pest controller know what kind of activity there is
Digital trap suppliers themselves provide a portal to monitor their traps. The benefit to your business of adding PestScan software is that it integrates the information from the digital traps with your entire administration. This allows you to work integrated with digital traps from multiple vendors. In fact, digital traps can be linked to PestScan’s digital logbook. Because of this, reports of the traps are automatically registered in the digital customer files (your administration) and made visible to pest controllers and their customers. With specific information about the nature of the report, the location, the time and what the supplier of the digital traps additionally offers you. You can then immediately use this information in all your activities such as your advice, reports, planning, stock control, billing and customer management.
Does PestScan sell digital traps?
No, we do not sell digital traps but integrate them with our software for pest managers. But this combination creates a total solution which takes a lot of work out of your hands and greatly improves your information supply. For this we work together with several suppliers: Xignal, e-Mitter, PestWatcher, Traplinked and TrapMe.
The combined use of digital traps with PestScan
By using PestScan you have everything clearly arranged in one system. In our pest software, for example, you will see a trap flashing on the interactive map the moment there is activity. You can immediately schedule a visit for your pest controller. Also, the reports from the traps are included in all your observations and advice and the reports fill up automatically. At the same time, your inventories are maintained, and you can include this information on your invoices. PestScan and the digital traps form a powerful combination that saves you time and provides an excellent quality of service.
The reports from the traps are immediately visible in our software, both for you in the office and for the pest controller on the phone and of course for your customer in PestScan’s customer portal. It is unprecedented how quickly the catch of a mouse is known to everyone. That mouse should know that his last seconds of life have been recorded…
In short, we see a great future for the use of PestScan in combination with digital traps, which will make your work doubly carefree: your administration will be professional and complete, and it will meet the requirements of IPM.
If you want to get to know PestScan better, don’t hesitate to contact us today.