The exhibition at Parasitec. Living in hope...

One of the many highlights of these international events is always the exhibition. Whats new? What trends can you pick-up? Parasitec 2016 revealed some secrets.
We have commented on this before, but the world of professional pest control continues to be an ever increasingly international market place. For many of us, this was the third international event we had attended in almost as many weeks… Seattle for PestWorld, Birmingham for PestTech and now, finally, Paris for Parasitec. For readers sitting in their offices, or out in their vans, this might all sound very glamorous – rest assured it is hard work! The one thing though about this industry is its friendliness, and several of us have attended all three events, so it’s very much a case of bumping into ‘old mates’.

Whilst the faces of many of the manufacturers might be familiar one lives in hope that you are going to spot some new, innovative products revealed for the first time.

So, for an industry that has relied on chemicals as means of control for so long, one thing which really sticks out over all three events is the fact there wasn’t a single new active ingredient launched. OK – there may have been some ‘tinkering around the edges’ on some of the products, but the rate of development, matched by its cost, has slowed this pipeline down to a virtual non-existent trickle.

But no-one could ever accuse the pest control industry of not being inventive – non-chemical means of control are now to the fore, especially the range of digital products.

So what did we spot?
Some exhibitors may feel they have been overlooked, unintentionally on our behalf, but we have broken what we saw into four sections: genuinely new; monitoring devices; lethal rodent bins and what now feel like ‘old friends‘.

Genuinely new

Para Exhib Nattaro Christine Dahlman Jacobsen shows-off Nattaro Safe

Beating the battle against bed bugs
They always say the best solutions to a problem are the simplest. The use of diatomaceous earth (DE) is proven when treating for bed bugs. The traditional way is blowing DE into voids or around skirting boards, but bed bugs certainly do not remain only on flat surfaces – they climb and inhabit the undersides of beds etc.

Natarro Safe, from Nattaro Labs in Sweden, comes as a self-adhesive tape that you simply stick onto the undersides of furniture. Open up the three-sided paper tape, which in itself is attractive to bed bugs and within it is DE – the bugs walk across the DE, pick-up a lethal dose and die. Also available are white skirting boards with tape already fitted.

A portable EFK machine
You expect to find electronic fly killers (EFKs) strategically, yet firmly, attached to the wall.

Not so with the Portatrap from Brandenburg. The idea is to provide a heavy duty, yet portable, insect light trap for use in areas of high infestation. The machine can be placed exactly where needed.

The unit has fully opening doors providing quick access to replace the three glue boards and 36 watt bulbs.

It has pull out extendable arms allowing secure placement and is constructed of stainless-steel.

Monitoring devices

As seen at PestWorld, there is now a whole raft of primarily rodent digital monitoring devices. Several come designed to be used with traps and others simply monitor activity.

Two more were spied at Parasitec – the first from WiseCon and another from RatDown – both companies with bases in France.


Kim Kjaer with the Wise-1 WiseCon system		The RatDown system with rodent models!

A choice of lethal rodent bins

First spotted at Disinfestando in Italy and then at PestEx 2015, the Mimetic-Mhouse, very simply explained, works on the principle of attracting a rodent to a large rectangular bin, the rat then climbs a series of ramps, reaches the top and woosh, falls into a tub of liquid where it drowns. Fellow compatriots meet a similar fate, before the operator returns to empty the bin. The bin not only comes in a plain galvanised steel version, but can be dressed up to resemble brick walls and the like. A new addition is a smaller version for mice.

Maybe popular within mainland Europe, the reception to this invention was distinctly frosty in the UK, and it is unlikely ever to hit the UK market, purely on humaneness grounds.

However, now seen were two new versions, both working on similar principles, but using electricity as the killing agent. For the UK these stand a better commercial chance, but would need to fulfil the requirements of the Animal Welfare Act 2006 regarding the capture and humane killing of captive animals.


The original Mimetic-MHouse		The RatDown RD Box		The WiseCon WiseBox

Old friends

Maybe on their debut run for the French market, but each of these three products has been on display at all three of the international events this autumn. At each event we have reported on them – so we have classified them as ‘old friends’.

However, at each event they have caused considerable interest, so we congratulate their manufactuers and wish them well.