Due to their relatively small diameter, optical fibres are more exposed to rodent attack than traditional telecommunication cables. Rodents cause a lot of maintenance problems by cutting and destroying wires of telecommunication and transmission equipment.
Rodents chew because they must (their teeth continue to grow during their lifetime and must constantly be worn down) while deer and other animals chew in search of food or out of boredom. Whatever the reason, the very act of chewing, damages the wire or pipe rendering them useless or worse, creating a dangerous situation, like the New Zealand Stock Exchange was forced to close for several hours after harvest rodents apparently chewed through a fiber-optic communication cable, leading to the collapse of the country's telecoms network for 6 hours.
RodrepelTM available in the form of LDPE/EVA universal concentrates can be easily incorporated in the cables during the process of extrusion. RodrepelTM works by keeping the animals away from the target application & by conditioning the response of animals, without harming the animals in any way. Tests were conducted on actual cables in a setting simulating real-world conditions as they would exist in the environment. RodrepelTM has proven to be effective against a wide variety of animals, ranging from woodpeckers to grizzly bears.
RodrepelTM lacquer and liquid concentrate can be coated over the existing cable to protect them from the damage inflicted by rodents.
Rodents significantly damage crops before and after harvest with an estimated 20% of the world’s food supply consumed or contaminated each year. Rodents have two major impacts. The first is the substantial pre and post harvest loss they cause to agriculture. The second is as carriers of debilitating human diseases.
Drip irrigation & Pipelines (pre-harvest losses): Drip irrigation, also known micro-irrigation, is an irrigation method which saves water and fertilizer by allowing water to drip slowly into the roots of plants, through a network of valves, pipes, tubings, and emitters. However, the whole purpose of conservation of water using such systems turns futile if these tubes get vulnerable to rodent attacks. Some farmers despondently state that for every eight rows of rice they sow for their families, they sow two rows for the rats. Rodrepel™ can be made a part of such pipes and tubes thus rendering them with anti-rodent properties and safeguard the process of drip irrigation.
Storage containers and bags (post-harvest losses): Rodents have an enormous economic impact on stored grains in developing countries. Under traditional rice farming systems, rodents generally cause chronic losses to production in the order of 5 to 10% per annum. In Asia, a loss of 5% of rice production amounts to approximately 30 million tonnes; enough rice to feed 180 million people for 12 months. Bags and containers comprising of Rodrepel™ in their composition can act as a rodent aversive and save the loss of grains. Moreover, it also protects us from more than 40 types of diseases like Leptospirosis, Salmonellosis, Plague (Epidemic disease), Trichinosis etc. carried by rodents.
Rodrepel™ lacquer and liquid concentrate can be used as a topcoat on the fencing and tree guards, already installed pipes, system components like sprinklers, equipment wires, cables, etc.
The Boeing 767, bound for London Heathrow from Canada, was cancelled when a passenger spotted the rodent in an overhead locker. This was not the first time a US airline is caught tangled in a rat mess. In 2006, a hidden camera showing mice on an American Airlines airplane surfaced.
An Air India flight from Delhi to San Francisco was delayed by 9 hours when an official spotted a rat just before the take-off. Hundreds of flights are delayed or cancelled in a year due to the existence of rodents on board. Rodents can be really unsafe for the wiring systems when travelling at a height of 30,000 kms.
In October 2018, Germany’s Federal Finance Minister Olaf Scholz’s travel through his jet was canceled not due to bad weather or mechanical problems, but because the rodents had bitten through the electrical cables. The Airbus ‘Konrad Adenauer’ was damaged in Indonesia by rodents, which apparently had bitten through electrical cables. Rodrepel™ can be incorporated in various aircraft components to protect them from the rodent menace. Attributing to the training, association and conditioning principle of Rodrepel™, the rodents remembering the unpleasant experience will avoid it and pass the information to its progeny.
Rodents can actually manage to chew through all the wires of the fuel injection wiring harness and not only sever them but actually chomp out two to three-inch sections. There have been cases where they have even managed to destroy the wiring in the back-wheel housing and the wiring harness for the fuel pump which is lodged between the rear bumper and the fuel tank.
Access has never been an operational hazard for these creatures. The losses resulting from these damages have run into thousands of dollars per vehicle which of course has to be borne by the owner as most insurance policies do not cover attacks on cars by stealthy pests. Especially when access provides a sanctuary of warmth, a safe harbor from predators and an assemblage of teeth sharpeners to them.
Rodrepel™ unlike conventional rodenticides doesn’t kill rodents but merely creates aversion. Rodrepel™ can be incorporated at polymer processing stage to give rodent resistant internal components.
Rodrepel™ lacquer and liquid concentrate can be even coated to fuel pipes and other such areas which are susceptible to rodent attacks but where extrusion is not possible, the product can still be used as it is extremely compatible with all grades of paints. Seats can be covered with plastic covers extruded with Rodrepel™ masterbatch. This would quite literally turn the car into an impregnable fortress invulnerable to enemies.
Rodrepel™ lacquer and liquid concentrate can be used as a topical solution to coat already installed wires and cables, plastic containers, interior furnishing, plastic accessories, etc.
Sensitive applications such as gas transfer are also disturbed by chewing of rubber gas tubings and pipelines. It has become more dangerous these days since the gas itself is odourless. This has now compelled the pipeline and rubber tubing manufacturers to fabricate products, with anti-rodent properties, complying with government specifications.
RodrepelTM, an extremely low toxic and low hazard rodent aversive can be incorporated in the gas tubings and pipelines hindering the rodents from attacking them. Timesonline, UK News, had reported a disastrous death of old lady due to a gas explosion. Gnawing rodents were to be blamed for the death of an 80-year-old woman in a massive explosion that flattened her home. They had gnawed through her kitchen rubber pipes, causing a build-up of gas in the room.
Pest menace in hospitals has become a common sight in most of the hospitals. From rats biting patients in ICU to dead bodies in the mortuary, the complaints about pest menace in areas of hospitals are on the rise.
Because pests pose a number of health threats through the spread of bacteria and contamination of surfaces, medical supplies, and equipment, ensuring that the facility remains pest-free is one of the major precautions needed to be taken by the hospital authorities.
RodrepelTM liquid concentrate can be diluted in paints and can be applied on the interior and exterior of hospitals, patient’s room and operation theatres.
Rodents running around the mines creates a mess for the people working there because the mines do not exist as per the markings done and may lead to explosion. RodrepelTM can be included in a sheet to cover the mines and protect them from the rodents. They can also become a part of the cables and pipes laid underground.
Hotels and restaurants prove to be the best places for rodents to explore new delicacies! They find food almost everywhere, in the kitchen area, in the garbage and even on the leftover trays. This causes contamination of food items which results in transmission of various diseases. Rodents are always in search of warmth. Thus, rodents are very much attracted to the laundry areas in hotels.
RodrepelTM lacquer and liquid concentrate can be used as a topical application to coat kitchen areas, food storage areas, laundry, hotel interiors, furniture, vents, pipes, doors and windows, etc.
Rodents are a nuisance for the passengers travelling in trains. Thousands of complaints have been registered by people travelling in trains regarding rodents. A man was bitten by a rat on India’s premier train, Rajdhani Express. Even Network Rail blamed 'rodent damage' for signal problems after encountering the signal cable chewed by the rodents, affecting two of the four lines into London Paddington.
Apart from this damage, the rodents also carry a large number of diseases with them which can be easily transmitted to the passengers in railway coaches. The present rodenticides kill the rodents making it unbearable to survive in the odour. On the contrary, RodrepelTM keeps away the rodents instead of killing them. It can be blended with the paint and coated on the coaches to prevent the rodents penetrating inside the railway carriages.
Many electronics companies have been trying to come up with new methods to prevent the cable and wiring of refrigerators from being damaged by rodent attack. LG, one of the leading home appliance manufacturers, have developed anti-rodent sleeves using ROHS compliant polymer additives for such measures.
All over the world, heritage structures are the symbol of pride for any country which suffer the ignominy of being vandalized by birds who sit on these heritage structures and make a mess with their pecking, food habits and droppings. RodrepelTM provides a solution by which these structures can be restored to their former glory.
Ancient literature can be chewed up by rats. They may damage soft fabrics and insulation materials to make nests. Their urine can also damage and stain surfaces.
For this, RodrepelTM can be used to keep the rodents at bay.
A customized application of RodrepelTM has been developed by which it can act on certain receptors in the feet of these birds and thus effectively keep the birds away and prevent them from approaching these structures which paves the way for heritage structures to once again serve as a symbol of pride and glory.
