DIY PEST CONTROL

So you think you may have a pest problem?

This is the third time you have seen that mouse running back under the kitchen unit, What do you do? Pay huge amounts of money for some guy to just turn up put poison down when you can do this yourself and at half the cost.

It may seem that way to a lot of people but this is not the case to us in the pest control industry.

As a technician we are investigators and we have to work out why is that mouse there? does it have a nice food supply it can live on and raise a family? how did it get in the first place? how many mice are there present?

To the untrained eye you may miss a lot of things for instance. A mouse can squeeze through a 1/4-inch wide gap so always check outside for gaps if you can fit a ball point pen in a gap this could be a possible entry point. Some air vents have quite big vents so it is always worth checking these also.

Don't just look low down, look high also. Some of my customers have looked at me quite strangely when I start to look high up at their house whilst doing a survey.

A mouse can climb, so that ivy growing up could lead to a small opening, I always advise my customers to try and cut it to a low level and if they have air vents to try and fit a fine mesh device on them.

If you are finding food stuffs disappearing or chewed packets of food, remove any food supply and place in glass/metal containers or move to a safe location.

If you do decide to buy poison yourself ALWAYS read the label instructions, a common mistake is to not put enough down and this can lead to the mice or the rats next generation becoming immune. We do have problem with immune rodents to the second generation rodenticides in certain areas and this is spreading.

Never seal possible entry whilst you are doing a rodenticide treatment, a side effect to the rat or mouse will be dehydration and they will be wanting to get outside if that's their water source and they may end up trapped and dying somewhere in your house.

Now Wasps !! This time of year wasps will be very active and you may think you may have a nest or you keep finding dead wasps every morning dying in the window or on the floor. A very common mistake I come across is a customer who has tried treating the nest themselves and something has gone wrong or they have had a failed treatment.

You can buy certain wasp powders or foam which have to be applied differently.

Foam: This has to be sprayed directly onto the wasps nest for this to work, so your going to need to be brave and do this yourself, so cover as much flesh as you can and have an escape plan route.

TIP: This may sound silly but all technicians you may come across treating a nest has a plan ready in his head so should something go wrong or he/she is greeted with a huge nest.

Powder: This has to be applied to the wasps entry point, if it is a hole in the ground or a gap in your house, you are going to need to apply a good amount into the gap so the worker wasps trample it back into the nest.

You may have to do a few treatments before this will work, try to do the treatment in an evening when the nest is not guarded so much and most of the workers have come home for the day.

TIP: In and out ! Cover up and try to get as much powder as you can in the gap and get out- I must stress ALWAYS read the labels for any insecticide or rodenticide and adhere to correct safety wear.

If you decide to do the crazy thing and just block up a wasps entry point

please be aware that they will be trapped and they will try to find another

way in or out and this could end up with trapped wasps in your house.

Ok I have to stop now as I would end up writing forever and you don't need that you can just call us instead.

We deal with most pests from end of tenancy Flea treatments to domestic and commercial properties with Rat,Mice,Wasps,Moths,Squirrels,Ants,Flies and many more listed on the home page.

Call or email for an affordable and specialist pest control company in Oxfordshire.

CJ