Pest ControlHaving pest’s of any kind in or around the home can bring with it the possibility of danger to your health. Problems with mice, rats, cockroaches, ants and wasps occur quite frequently, and getting rid of them can be difficult especially if you’re unsure how to tackle the problem.

You can find specialist pest control companies in your local telephone directory and they will be able to help you control and eliminate a wide variety of pests that can cause householders a problem:

  • Mice
  • Rats
  • Ants
  • Wasps
  • Bed bugs
  • Cats (feral)
  • Birds (that may be roosting or nesting on your property)
  • Cockroaches
  • Fleas
  • Flies
  • Foxes
  • Moles
  • Squirrels

These are just some of the insects and animals pest control companies can help you deal with. The fees charged by these companies will depend on the number of treatments they may have to undertake before ridding you of the pests. They may have to use one or two different methods before finding one that works successfully for your specific pest problem.

Your local Environmental Health Agency may also be able to help with pest control. Some local authorities have pest controllers and they will come and assess your problem and offer appropriate treatment. Like private pest control companies your local authority will charge a fee for any work they carry out.

Health Risks

Certain pests can pose dangers to your health:

Rats – Rats are found worldwide and although they normally live outdoors they invade homes in search of food. They can cause a lot of structural damage and bring danger to homes by gnawing through electrical cables (causing fires) and gas pipes in the home. The also carry potential lethal diseases like Weil’s disease and Murine typhus, as well as carrying organisms such as Salmonella bacteria, parasites and viruses.

Mice – Because they live indoors mice are more common than rats in the home. They chew through insulation causing heat loss and increased fuel bills and like rats can chew through electrical cables causing fires. Mice can easily enter the home through small gaps and build nests that are hard to locate. New colonies of mice can quickly establish themselves and grow rapidly in number, causing untold damage.

Mice constantly dribble urine and this contaminates food they come in contact with, causing disease like Salmonella.

Flies- The common housefly may not seem to be much of a pest and most people will use a fly spray to get rid off them, but they can become a problem if their numbers increase within or around the home. The housefly is a potential carrier of typhoid, tuberculosis, dysentery and gastro-enteritis. They are particularly attracted to refuse bins and rotting food.

Pest Control Methods

You can control outbreaks of pests in the home yourself. There are a wide variety of products on the market to combat all types of pests. Some of these are traditional methods like mousetraps or poison bait, but there are other methods.

Electronic Pest Repellers

These devices plug into an electric wall socket and are useful in helping control mice, rats, cockroaches and other pests.

There are two main types of electronic pest repellers, ultrasonic and dual action. Ultrasonic repellers emit ultrasonic sound in the room the device is in. If your pest problem is in more than one room, you will need one device in each room where the problem exists.

Dual action repellers come in two different frequency strengths. The lower strength is usually enough to protect a 4 bedroom home, and the extra strength, larger properties.

Electronic Rat Killer

This device is shaped like a small box and is operated by battery. A bait of peanut butter is placed inside the device and rats are attracted into the unit. When they enter the unit a footplate is triggered which shuts the door trapping the rat. The rat is then stunned by an electrical current then electrocuted.

There is no need to touch a dead rat when using the unit as it contains an inner sleeving which can be directly emptied into the bin.

A similar type of device is available for killing mice.

Humane Mouse Catcher

The device is baited with peanut butter to attract the mice. On entering the unit the trap is triggered enclosing the mouse within. The whole unit can then be picked up taken outside and with a press of a button the mouse can be returned to the wild.

As you can see there’s no need to suffer from a pest problem as there is a variety of ways to control pests. You just need to decide which method is right for you.