g you did landed you in the hospital, chances are you would stay as far away from that thing as possible. But for Ed Meyer, a trip to the hospital prompted him to develop a tool that humanely and effectively gets rid of burrowing animals. Now farmers, growers and ranchers throughout the world are using his invention to rid their fields of damage-causing rodents.
“I was harvesting alfalfa sprouts on our family farm after college, and I was getting frustrated by the gopher problem we had,” explained Meyer. In order to get rid of the gophers and other burrowing animals that were tearing up the family fields, he tried blowing up the tunnels the animals made. Unfortunately for Ed, the experiment landed him in the hospital. But it also sparked an idea that he went on to develop into a thriving business.
“I was lying in bed, and I just kept thinking of ways I could get rid of those gophers safely,” he said. “That's when I came up with the Rodenator.” The Rodenator injects a calibrated mixture of propane and oxygen into the ground and ignites the mixture to create a concussive force that collapses the rodent tunnels and gets rid of the animals within. The machine instantly gets rid of rodents and their tunnels, and it does so in a safe manner. Meyer said that when he first brought the product to the World Ag Expo in Tulare, California, it was a big hit.
“Farmers really like it because they get very frustrated by something coming into their fields and taking money away from them; it's their field, it's their baby, so they get really frustrated, and they really like that they can now get rid of those rodents,” said Meyer. “So we sold out in a minute at the expo, and we've had lots of orders from various countries.” Interest has been so strong that he's made deals with distributors in Canada, Latin America, Australia, South Africa and throughout Europe to sell the Rodenator abroad.
When he brings the product to a new country, though, Meyer said he sometimes has a hard time because people assume the product is cruel to animals. But every time a critic criticizes the machine, he said it works in his favor because it brings attention to the product, and he's always been able to show how the Rodenator is among the most humane ways for a farmer to bring a rodent problem under control.
“This is better than using traps because trapped animals aren't always killed instantly, and a child or a pet can get into a trap,” explained Meyer. “But the Rodenator instantly takes out the rodents, and it only targets the rodents. They've done tests on it, and, time and again, it's been shown that the Rodenator is a humane product.” It's also environmentally friendly, because the propane that's injected into the ground disappears when ignited.
Product packages range in price from $2,500 to $3,595, and the product has been popular both at home and abroad, with more than half of Meyers' sales coming from exports. A big part of its success has been that there really isn't a system out there that is as effective and safe - both for the user and the environment - as the Rodenator.
“It's environmentally friendly, it kills rodents immediately and it's humane,” said Meyer. “There's really no competition for it.”
For more information:
Ed Meyer
Rodenator
Tel: +1 208 369 2620
Mob: +1 480 338 4449
[email protected]
www.rodenator.com
