When
Should I Call a Pest Controller?
You wake in the night to
scurrying sounds downstairs. With a tennis racket as a make-shift
weapon, you take tentative steps to deal with the intruder. What you find is
not an axe-wielding burglar but a group of cute looking mice, nibbling on the
left over roast potatoes you left on the work top.
Startled by the light and your
intrusion, they scarper but not before snatching another tasty morsel of
yesterday’s roast potatoes.
You return to bed but you are
determined to rid your home of the pest once and for all. You consider taking
in a stray cat from the local animal shelter as you peruse the aisles of the
local DIY store for mouse-traps and poison.
You
Take a Bold Step
Placing traps at the back of
cupboards, you seal holes and lay poison. And then you wait.
Only to find the next morning
that the bait has not been taken, no traps are sprung and the mice have left
little droppings all over the worktop.
You have failed in your bold
step. With something akin to panic, you pick up the phone to call your local,
friendly expert pest controller.
But, you may think, should you
have called us earlier? Should you call a pest controller as soon as you spot a
pest or, should you try and deal with it yourself?
What
You MUST Consider
The
Pest
What is the pest? Some pests are
a nuisance but benign. They may make you itch, they may be an irritant but they
are not a danger to your health. Carpet beetles and moths would fall into this
category. They have chewed a hole in your favourite cashmere woolly jumper but
they are not going to kill you with a nasty sting or spread bacteria.
Other pests are more than a
nuisance. They are dangerous. Cockroaches spread nasty bacterium that can make you
ill, as do rats and mice which are, by the way, perpetually incontinent,
urinating and pooping as they scurry along your worktop.
The
Location
Inside the house is a definite
no-no, even if it is a troop of garden nontoxic ants nicking your jam or swarm
of faeces-loving flies.
Your home should be a pest-free
zone.
Outside is slightly different
because, after all, this is the place where most pests would normally live.
Thus, a scurrying family of field mice in the garden doesn’t necessarily equate
to an invasion but you may see a rat or two and think you don’t want them
getting any closer.
The
Hazards and Dangers
Some pests and a swarm of them
present massive threats – threat to life, the possibility of you being injured
and so on.
A wasp nest hanging from a tree
close to your back door is not conducive to being poked with a broom handle. An
angry nest of wasps looking for the assailant – YOU! – will not be a pleasant
experience.
