III USOO5152096A United States Patent (19) 11 Patent Number: 5,152,096 Rudolph 45 Date of Patent: Oct. 6, 1992 (54) BAIT STATION (56) References Cited (75) Inventor: Robin R. Rudolph, Grain Prairie, U.S. PATENT DOCUMENTS Tex. 3,972,993 8/1976 Kobayashi et al................ 43/124 X 4,793,093 12/1988 Gentile ............................... 43/132.1 (73) Assignee: Sandoz Ltd., Basel, Switzerland 4,999,346 3/1991 Rudolph .............................. 514/120 21 Appl. No.: 808,054 5,057,316 10/1991 Gunner et al. ................. 43/132.1 X 22 Filed: Dec. 12, 1991 Primary Examiner-Richard K. Seidel Assistant Examiner-Patty E. Hong Related U.S. Application Data Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Allen E. Norris 63 Continuation of Ser. No. 713,480, Jun. 11, 1991, aban 57) ABSTRACT doned. A bait station device for the control of ants, especially (51) Int. Cl. ............................................... A0M 1/20 of Pharaoh's or Sugar Ant. (52 U.S. C. ......................................... 43/131; 43/124 58) Field of Search ....................... 43/124, 131, 132.1 5 Claims, 1 Drawing Sheet U.S. Patent Oct. 6, 1992 5,152,096 DSN a- 5,152,096 1. 2 enting the ants with a combination of an insect growth BAIT STATION regulant (IGR) bait and insecticide bait in such a way that the worker ants have to forage their way through This is a continuation of application Ser. No. the IGR bait to reach the insecticide bait. 07/713,480, filed Jun. 11, 1991, now abandoned. 5 In this way foraging worker ants will transport back The present invention concerns a bait station device to nests for feeding of the colony IGR bait and upon for the control of ants, especially of Pharaoh's or Sugar exhausting the available IGR bait will themselves ingest Ant. the insecticide bait causing their rapid mortality follow Pharaoh's or Sugar ants (Monomorium pharaonis ing contamination of the colony with IGR bait. In this (L) have become a major pest due to the combination O manner initial exposure would be only to IGR allowing of their propensity for indoor infestation and synan queen a broad exposure and ultimately decimation of thropic existence as well as an ability to survive pest the colony followed by secondary exposure to insecti control techniques. cide leading to rapid death of worker ants thus prevent They tend to infest areas kept permanently heated ing them carrying out the normal defense measures. such as food stores, households, hospitals and the like 5 The invention therefore concerns a pesticidal device with the potential for causing health and sanitary prob which comprises a housing containing an insecticidal lems due to their apparent ability to act as vectors for bait and an insect growth regulant bait and having infectious agents and thus spread disease. The use of therein at least one opening whereby said insecticidal classic insect toxin formulations has proven inadequate bait is so disposed within said housing that it may only to control these ants. This is due to a variety of reasons 20 be reached from said opening by removing or passing based on the biological and sociological characteristics through said insect growth regulator bait. The devices of these ants. Colonies are usually polygynous, support according to the invention thus provide ready to use ing anything up to tens of thousands of queens. The control measures for one-off treatment. worker ants appear to have the capability to quite It will readily be appreciated that such a device will quickly recognize toxins both on surfaces and in baits 25 be suitable for combatting ants of any species however, and avoid them. Workers will often pick up eggs, lar it is particularly suited for combating pharaoh ants. vae, pupae and the like and move them to an unaffected The precise nature of the insecticide, IGR and bait is area and set up a new colony. Additionally, the fact that not critical to the functioning of the device. few foragers are actually killed and the high level of Thus suitable insecticides are those which are known other survival factors such as high reproduction rate, 30 to be effective on ants. Examples of such insecticides or frequent colony division, low intercolony antagonism, toxins include boric acid, diazinon, bendiocarb, hy etc., contribute to the problem. dramethylnon, or mixtures of suitable insecticides such Many attempts have been made to effectively control as these. pharaoh ants, for example employing substances toxic Suitable IGRs include those known to affect the de to the ants. These methods although having initial suc 35 velopment and growth of insects especially ants and in cess suffer from a return of ant infestation a few weeks particular to prevent their survival. Examples include, following treatment. Improvements by employing methoprene, hydroprene, kinoprene, fenoxycarb, or highly attractive baits whilst showing increased success mixtures of suitable IGRs such as these. nevertheless require repeat treatments and constant Baits suitable for use in preparation of insecticide- and vigilance. IGR-baits are those conventionally used in ant baits, for In trying to overcome this problem attempts were example e.g. peanut butter, fishmeal, honey, sugar, mint made to control pharaoh ants using insect growth regu apple jelly, strained egg yolk, liver, sponge cake, etc. or lators (IGRs) such as methoprene. Whilst these prod mixtures thereof. Such baits may also contain attrac ucts are successful in achieving full and lasting control tants such as trail pheromones, quene pheronones, neo it may take up to 20 weeks for this control to manifest 45 cenbrene-pharoes ant, fire ant pheromones,(E)-6-(1- itself requiring additional quick knock down treatments pentenyl)-2H-pyran-2-one, tetrahydro-3,5-dimethylbu with toxins (insecticides) for initial control. Each of tyl-2H-pyran-2-one, and dihydroactindiolide. these methods are costly in terms of material used, labor Bait material is mixed separately with IGR and insec intensive (repeat treatments) and complicated. ticide whereby different baits may be used for the two Examples of literature describing such previous at SO types of active ingredient. For example, it may be desir tempts include: Burden et.al., J. Med. Ent., 12/3, pp able to employ a slightly more attractant bait for the 352-3 (1975); Hrdy et.al and Edwards, International insecticide to increase the incentive for the worker ants Congress of the International Union for the Study of to work their way through the IGR bait. Baits are pref. Social Insects, Wageningen, The Netherlands, 1977; erably not intermingled but are preferably disposed in Newton, Int. Pest Control, Sep./Oct. 1980, pp 112-114; 55 contact with each other in the device. Edwards et. al., Regulation of Insect Development and Further examples of suitable insecticide, IGRs and Behavior, Warsaw, Poland, pp. 769–778. 1981; Wilson baits are contained in the references listed above the et.al., Pest Control, Mar. 1981, pp 14-16; Rupes et al., J. contents of which in this respect are incorporated by Hyg. Epidem. Microb. Immun., 27/3, pp. 295-303 reference. (1983), Granovsky, Pest Management, May 1983, pp The precise nature of the housing is also not essential Il-16; Granovsky et al., Pest Control Technology, to the invention provided that it is so arranged as to Mar. 1983, pp 30-34. Products previously recom allow the insecticide bait to be placed in such a manner mended against Pharaoh ants include MAXFORCE (R) as to be reachable only through or by removal of the (a.i. hydramethylnon), PHARORID (R) (a.i. metho IGR bait. prene). 65 Thus truncated cylindrical housings such as those It has now surprisingly been found according to the used in commercially available devices having a series present invention that effective, long lasting control of substantially axially orientated passages leading from without rebounding infestation can be achieved by pres the outer circumference of the cylinder to the center 5,152,096 3 4. may be employed whereby the insecticide bait is placed FIG. 5 shows the same view as FIG. 4 with both ends at the center of the housing and the IGR bait used to fill of the device opened for use. the axial entry passages. The device comprises a hollow tube 1 which may be Alternatively and preferably tubular housings may be made of plastic material and preferably clear thermo used which may be opened at one end and closed at the 5 plastic material such as a drinking straw-like tube. Into other whereby insecticide bait is filled in first to the this tube 1 is filled in the embodiment shown in FIG. 1 closed end of the tube followed by IGR bait to close off access to the insecticide bait. The tube may also be open insecticide bait 3 followed by IGR bait 2 to enclose the at both ends and contain insecticide bait surrounded on insecticide bait for example by injection. (Examples of both ends by IGR bait. 10 suitable bait composition are given hereinafter.) Fol When referring to the devices according to the inven lowing introduction of the bait compositions the tube is tion as having at least one opening it will be readily sealed at each end 4 for example by heat sealing. In this appreciated that such openings may be sealed until im form the device may be stored until ready for use. mediately prior to putting the device to use in order to In use the end 5 of the tube 1 which is proximal to the preserve the integrity and stability of the bait and that 5 IGR-bait 2 is cut open to expose the bait. Foraging ants such devices with sealed openings are intended to be attracted by the bait will enter the tube and collect IGR encompassed by the invention.