Learn why Cureall Pest Control use Maxforce Quantum Liquid Ant Bait as their go-to ant control product.
We all want our treatments to be as safe and effective as possible. Over the summer holidays families and pets spend more time outside in their backyards with everyone enjoying the great weather, hosting and attending picnic-style gatherings, long lunches and late barbecue dinners. Ant activity has a tendency to increase during this time too, due to the favourable climatic and opportunistic feeding conditions.
This presents a challenge for pest managers when implementing a holistic ant management program – how to achieve control, whilst keeping the homeowners’ family and pets safe? A successful approach comes from choosing control agents with attributes that are appropriate for the situation. In this case, the critical factors are safety, durability and broad-spectrum control.
Non-hazardous formulations are preferred when introducing control agents in and around internal and external areas where people or pets may come into close contact with them.
Longevity of a pest treatment is always desirable. Sure, weather and environmental factors play a large part in this, however selecting a product that has longevity as one of its key attributes can help allay fears of premature product degradation.
Broad-spectrum control is a must-have attribute when selecting products for a holistic ant management treatment. When selecting an ant bait, this will ensure control of a range of different species of ants whether they be protein or sugar feeders.
Damien Bishop from Cureall Pest Control in Brisbane QLD faces these challenging conditions not only over the summer holidays, but year-round as the Queensland climate and lifestyle is highly conducive to residential ant infestations. Maxforce Quantum Liquid Ant Bait is the company’s go-to ant bait amongst an arsenal of liquid sprays and dusts in their ant management toolbox. Baits have been recognised as the best method of delivery of toxicant to an ant colony due to the ongoing transfer of toxicant in social insects.¹
“It gives us a lot of confidence going into a treatment knowing Maxforce Quantum is extremely safe to use,” explained Mr Bishop. “This is really important for us when we need to get a treatment into areas of ant activity where contact with kids and pets can potentially be a risk.”
Containing imidacloprid, Maxforce Quantum is not classified as a poison and is completely non-hazardous. It is also odourless, non-irritating and non-sensitising.
Mr Bishop has found that Maxforce Quantum has outlasted other ant gel baits that his company has trialled in the past. “When we go back to follow up on some of the larger ant treatments, we can still see the Maxforce Quantum Liquid Ant Bait in place even when the ant activity has ceased,” he added.
The bait matrix in Maxforce Quantum is made up almost entirely (>99.9%) from naturally derived ingredients. The hygroscopic viscous liquid (HVL) technology in the matrix utilises the unique properties of the ingredients to naturally preserve the bait and ensure long-term attractiveness to ants without artificial preservatives.
We know that worker ants are liquid feeders. They have features called buccal filters that prevent them from ingesting solid baits, so they are naturally more attracted to liquid-based baits, which are easy to imbibe and carry back to their nests. Maxforce Quantum is therefore in a physical state that completely matches their preference.
Mr Bishop and the Cureall team also like the broad-spectrum control of Maxforce Quantum. “We don’t have to worry about whether the ants are sugar or protein feeders when we use a liquid bait,” said Mr Bishop.
“We understand that not all ant jobs are the same – we need to rely on many different formulations such as liquid sprays and dusts. But when it comes to ant baits, we know Maxforce Quantum has the safety, the longevity and palatability we need to achieve success with our ant treatments.”
Chris Mills, Business Development Manager (Pest/Termite), Bayer
¹ Dang, P. (2011) Insect baits and Baiting: Novel technology for managing urban pests with less insecticide – Urban pest management an environmental perspective. CABI, Wallingford-Oxon.
