As we move into fall, the pests around our home are also on the move. While pests are always looking for a food source, they also seek different living conditions in different seasons.
How to prevent pests
The best tool in your prevention arsenal is awareness. Look around your home to detect any changes. You can be looking for anything from new, small dirt disturbances to specific piles of wood or plant particles, and the pests themselves.
The fall season will see rodents and roaches looking to find warmth and food inside your home. Spring brings a different set of critters.
We reached out to Nate Wolf, a Rosie-certified partner and owner of Blue Sky Pest Control, for some advice and some insight regarding new procedures for controlling the pest population.
But first, let’s look at what steps you should be taking for true pest control, i.e., keeping the bugs out.
There are all types of bait traps and mechanical traps available for purchase at your local hardware store. These are not preventative treatments, though. We use these products after we notice the pest in or around our homes. Generally, mouse traps, roach hotels, or deterrents like sprays are used to conquer pests that have already invaded.
Prevention is designed to keep the bugs and rodents away before they invade.
- With no visible pest signs, Wolf suggests a quarterly visit by your pest control company. A pest control spray is typically applied, and after it dries (less than 1 hour typically), the area is safe for you, children, and pets. It is not so safe for pests, though.
- If you are in an area susceptible to more frequent visitors, or if you have noticed signs of them or the intruders themselves, you may need monthly or bimonthly treatments until the problem is handled.
We recommend the quarterly treatment option as it is relatively low-cost and effective for most applications.
Most Common Calls about pests
Wolf tells us that calls from homeowners encompass all forms of pests; the two most common calls they get are for ants and scorpions. Depending on the amount of infestation, the frequency of the remedy will vary, along with the products the pros use.
As we mentioned, there are a plethora of over-the-counter solutions available.
A Rosie caution: Be sure you research the proper method of deployment as well as all the cautionary information about the various products. The effect they may have on you, your children and your pets could potentially be dangerous.
Wolf wants folks to know that there are some unseen pests called subterranean termites that are difficult to detect early on. We caution you to try to remove food sources to deter pests; however, when your home is the food source, that presents a problem.
If you live in an area prone to these pests, which is most of Arizona, you would do well to engage a professional pest service to inspect your home annually.
Another common pest in the Valley is roof rats. Wolf practices pest control in Phoenix and in Tucson, and while not prevalent there yet, roof rats are coming. You will already see these nasty, damaging pests in several northern Arizona areas as well.
What is new in the world of pest control remedies?
Most ongoing pest prevention systems engage a liquid spray around the perimeter of your home and at the base of interior walls. The formulas change a little over time, but not by much.
The big changes have been in treating termites and roof rats.
Termites
- Treatment in the ’90s was typically repellent liquid treatments. These liquid treatments had a lot of treatment failures.
- In the early 2000s, Termidor was introduced. Termidor is a liquid non-repellent treatment that significantly improved the effectiveness of liquid subterranean termite treatments.
- In 2010, Dow Chemical came out with a product that is proving to be very effective and less costly. Sentricon is a system where cellulose rods are driven into the ground very close to your house, 10-20 feet apart. The rods are examined annually and replaced if necessary. Termites run into the rods as they randomly forage. Termites prefer the cellulose in the rods to wood found in a home. The treatment effectively prevents the termites from molting, which they need to do to grow. Nate tells us this method is more environmentally sound, having won the EPA’s Chemical Award and is more effective than Termidor liquid treatments.
Roof rats
These wary characters can cause tremendous damage if not controlled. They use insulation to build nests and their waste destroys the effectiveness of the insulation. They eat through the flexible coating of electrical wires and ductwork. We took a quick dive into the most effective ways to deal with these pests.
- Environmental controls: Do not leave fruit on trees and pick up fallen fruit from citrus trees off the ground. Trim back trees so they do not overhang the roofline and make sure vegetation is trimmed away from the home and maintained in the rest of the yard. This will reduce harborage areas for the roof rats.
- Baiting and trapping are still the most effective and common approaches to control roof rats. Generally, if the population is medium to higher, a professional is likely needed to properly implement a program that will work.
Staying on top of our pest control processes is about the most important step you can take. Often, a combination of each of us paying attention, professional ongoing maintenance, and some DIY setting of a mouse trap will keep our house, home, castle, or cabin pest-free!
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