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RodentRadar

Case study · a restaurant in an old building

The problem was twenty-four feet up.

Everyone was looking where the signs were — down at floor level, in the back of house. In an old building with twenty-four-foot ceilings, nobody was looking near the roof. That’s where they were coming in.

The assumptionAn entry down low, where the signs were
The real sourceAn unsealed duct opening — on the roof
The route inDown the oven hood’s support rod, into the kitchen

How the search moved

The sensors followed the activity upward.

In an old building there are too many places to look. The overnight replays kept narrowing down where to look next.

  1. 01 / Down low Treatment kept landing where the signs were.

    Droppings and damage showed up at floor level in the back of house, so that’s where the traps and the attention went. The activity always came back.

  2. 02 / Follow the nights The replays didn’t match a ground-level entry.

    Eight sensors recorded the overnight runs. Night after night, the first and last moves pointed away from the assumed entry — so the sensors moved, and moved again, following the activity upward.

  3. 03 / The roof The trail ended at the air-conditioning duct.

    An opening where the duct wasn’t well sealed. From the ductwork, the rats came down a metal rod that supports the oven hood — straight into the kitchen. That’s what got sealed.

In the owner’s words

“We would not have fixed the problem without RodentRadar. We were focused on areas down low — the detectors led us to the real source, an opening on the roof where the air conditioning duct wasn’t well sealed. From the duct work, down a metal rod that supports the oven hood, into the kitchen. In an old building like this, there’s just too many areas to look. It took time, but by relocating the sensors, we tracked down the problem.”
Restaurant owner, Northeast U.S. · identity withheld at the owner’s request

The honest part

The sensors never saw the hole.

What they did, night after night, was keep the search pointed at the right part of the building until the inspection found it. It took time and several sensor relocations. That’s what an investigation is — and it’s why this one ended instead of repeating.

The sensors provided
Where to look next
The inspection found
The unsealed duct opening
The fix
Seal the entry, not the symptoms

For restaurants and food facilities

Sound familiar?

  1. 01The activity happens after closing, when nobody can watch.
  2. 02The problem came back after regular pest service.
  3. 03An inspection is coming and the source still hasn’t been found.

Tell us about your building

Still treating the same floor?

Tell us what you’ve noticed, where it happens, and what’s already been tried. Sending the form does not place an order.