[Special Report: Pest Control During the Downturn] Pests Prosper During Housing Crash

The real estate market crash has led to foreclosures and abandoned homes nationwide. Some areas have been especially hard hit, and empty homes scattered throughout the neighborhood can become the focus of pest problems for your customers. The following pests thrive in the conditions offered by a foreclosed property with nobody home:

MOSQUITOES. Expensive high-end homes have been especially hit hard by foreclosures, and these homes often come equipped with swimming pools, hot tubs, whirlpools, bird baths and ornamental ponds. The pools are typically left partially full of water to prevent damage, the whirlpools and tubs are drained but often fill with rainwater, the fish die in the ornamental ponds, and soon mosquitoes are breeding in large numbers.

TICKS. Abandoned homes often become overgrown with weeds, which attract rodents and other small mammals. The area eventually can become a focus of ticks for the surrounding neighborhood.

RATS. An abandoned building in an urban area will deteriorate and may eventually become home to large numbers of rats that use the site to nest and hide during the day, and then forage out to surrounding areas to feed. Rat populations can explode in a protected and undisturbed site.

STINGING INSECTS. Abandoned homes can become home to very large colonies of hornets, social wasps, and bees because they are not noticed and controlled early in the season as they would be in an occupied property. These stinging insects can become serious pests at neighboring properties in the fall.

ADDITIONAL INVADERS. Other pests that can on occasion build up in abandoned properties and cause pest problems nearby include flies, poison ivy (a risk to children and animals playing at the site), mice, snakes, and weeds that can trigger allergies. Mammals such as squirrels, raccoons and bats that may hesitate to move into the attic of an occupied house, might find an empty house very much to their liking. When a house is no longer heated or air-conditioned, moisture levels can rise, mildew results, and pests that like high humidity (psocids, springtails, fungus beetles) can build up to high levels.

WHAT CAN YOU DO? You cannot simply go to an abandoned property to control pests that are causing problems for your nearby customer. You or the customer will need to contact the appropriate authority (health department, animal control, etc.) and advise them of the problem so that they can take action to keep the neighborhood safe and pest-free. Unfortunately, in some areas it can be difficult to get government agencies to act, and in these cases you will need to set up a perimeter control program as best you can on your customer’s property.

Reprinted by permission from Techletter®, a biweekly training publication for professional pest control technicians published by Pinto & Associates, Inc. To subscribe to Techletter, visit www.techletter.com or call 301/884-3020.