Hydramethylnon
What is Hydramethylnon?
Hydramethylnon is a metabolic inhibitor that is odorless used in bait formulations. It is used widely for ant control and roach control. Common ant bait products such as Maxforce Complete contain hydramethlnon.
How does Hydramethylnon control insects
As an ant bait , it is spread over the areas where the ants are active. The foraging ants pick up the bait and take it back to the nests to feed the queens and eggs, killing out the entire colony.
Mode of Action
Most insecticides attack the insect's central nervous system, metabolic inhibitors like Hydramethylnon causes death by inhibiting the formation of ATP (Adenosine Triphosphate).
ATP provides the energy necessary for completing most biological processes.
Without the formation of ATP, insects simply run out of gas, they just don't have the energy to feed and groom. After a single feeding by target insects, there are no immediate symptoms of poisoning.This condition progresses until the insects die within 24 to 72 hours
Hydramethylnon is most active against energetic insects, and its speed of kill increases with an increase in temperature and insect activity.
Are insects resistant to Hydramethylnon?
Insects have shown no signs of resistance to hydramethylnon
How toxic is Hydramethylnon?
While hydramethylnon is very effective against target insects, it has low toxicity to non-target animals.
The MAXFORCE® active ingredient, hydramethylnon, has a high LD50 value of 1300 mg/kg.
(The higher the LD50 value, the lower the toxicity.)
Ready-to-use bait formulations of hydramethylnon are practically non-toxic by ingestion.
(The oral LD50 value of MAXFORCE® baits is greater than 5000 mg/kg.)
For example, a 35 pound dog would have to eat the bait in 14 syringes of MAXFORCE® gel, or approximately 600 small roach or ant bait stations, to receive a lethal dose.
Hydramethylnon also has a very low vapor pressure resulting in low volatility, which significantly reduces the
risk of airborne residues.
Toxicity of Hydramethylnon
Rats fed hydramethylnon showed the following signs: salivation, decreased activity, decreased appetite, weight loss, bloody nose, and difficulty with coordination and balance. Because the end use products contain such a small amount of active ingredient it would take an enormous amount for a toxic dose to pets and children. I remember reading data that said a dog weighing 13 kilos would have to ingest more than five 60 gram tubes of Maxforce gel to get a toxic dose.
