Kill Underground Pests With Gas-Powered Tool

Kill Underground Pests With Gas-Powered Tool FARM HOME Miscellaneous Clear out gophers ground squirrels prairie dogs and other tunneling pests with the gas powered Cheetah The small engine does double duty driving a powerful fan and producing the exhaust fumes the fan pushes into pest tunnels Developed by Dana Shaw Cheetah Industries to control ground squirrels the pest control package is catching on fast “When I moved to central California 4 years ago there were ground squirrels all over the place ” explains Shaw “I tried trapping and everything else Eventually I tried hooking a hose on my car’s exhaust ” Shaw realized the exhaust carbon monoxide CO needed to be under more pressure to work well To get EPA approval for rodent control the concentration of CO has to be at or above 25 ppm for 30 seconds which starves the brain for oxygen The Cheetah motor and fan produce 3 000 ppm of CO in a 100-ft tunnel in 30 seconds The engine exhaust enters the tunnels at 195 mph CO at only 1 000 ppm is lethal in 15 seconds Shaw explains that the high CO production level is necessary because of the tendency for gopher and ground squirrel tunnels to cross connect Regardless of how much CO is produced once the engine is shut down the CO is quickly diluted The Cheetah consists of a small 2-cyl engine with a 450-cu ft /min blower The 14-lb Cheetah comes with a 1-gal gas container oil additive for 3-gal of fuel a flexible exhaust tube and a tool for spark plug removal The engine is quiet and EPA approved to meet all standard emissions rules Shaw recommends running the engine for only 3 min to treat up to 400 sq ft of burrows For open burrow animals like ground squirrels prairie dogs and groundhogs the flexible exhaust tube is extended 6 in or more into a tunnel and covered with a few inches of soil Once the engine is running at full throttle other entrances within 8 ft are filled in If air can be felt coming out of the entrance it’s connected to the tunnel being fumigated Larger areas may require treating multiple entrances Shaw sells his machine direct “I like to talk to the customer first to be sure they need it given its cost ” he explains The Cheetah is priced at $989 and comes with a one-year guarantee Shaw claims an 80 percent kill rate with a first application Following applications can reduce populations by more than 95 percent Contact: FARM SHOW Followup Cheetah Industries 179 Niblick Rd Suite 422 Paso Robles Calif 93446 ph 805 227-0624; dana@cheetahrodentcontrol com; www cheetahrodentcontrol com

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