Pest Control in Glendale, AZ

What does an orchard past tell us about roof rats?

Sahuaro Ranch grew figs and other fruit, vineyards and alfalfa from 1886, and the City of Glendale and Wikipedia both describe the orchard heritage. Fruit trees and rats are an old pair. Maricopa County says roof rat activity in Arcadia, central Phoenix and Ahwatukee is mostly associated with older citrus, and the first roof rat found in the Valley was identified through hollowed-out citrus fruit in Arcadia.

We do not have a county statement that names Glendale, and we will not write one. What the orchard history gives you is a reason to check your own trees. If your lot has an old fruit tree, ripe fruit on the ground or a palm touching the roof, the county's advice applies as it would anywhere: pick fruit promptly, seal gaps under eaves and screen roof vents. Roof rats also travel on power lines, rock fences and tree branches.

A roof rat control visit follows the animal's route rather than only the spot where you heard it. The technician looks for how it reaches the roof, then at what it uses to get inside, and the work is done with bait stations or snap traps.

What should owners of Catlin Court's 1914 cottages know?

Catlin Court is a historic district, and houses a century old are not built like a 1980s subdivision. We have no sourced description of its building materials, so we will not name them. What any technician looks for in an old wood-framed house is generic but useful: where the framing meets the ground, where pipes and wires enter, and where old repairs have left seams.

Termites are the main reason to book an inspection on an older house. Desert subterranean termites are the most destructive and swarm July to September after monsoon rain, and western drywood termites swarm June to August on sunny days. Arizona regulates wood-destroying insect reports, and only specifically licensed staff may write them; ours come through a licensed local company. The termite inspection page describes the report.

Ask the technician to explain any sealing work before it starts. Sealing is usually small, but in a historic district you want to hear what will show from the street.

How does Grand Avenue shape the north-south and east-west picture?

Grand Avenue cuts diagonally across the grid, so blocks along it have odd angles and leftover corners. Odd corners are where rubbish, stacked pallets and neglected lots tend to sit, which is general experience rather than a Glendale statistic. A technician's job at such a corner is to look at what touches the building.

Rock and block still matter along the road. Bark scorpions are active about March through October, they climb walls, and they shelter in hollow block walls, loose rock, irrigation boxes and meter covers. A wall between a commercial lot and a house is a hallway. If you share a boundary with a business, take photographs and share them with the technician.

Does the Skunk Creek Trail matter for my yard?

The 8.2-mile Skunk Creek Trail runs through Peoria and Glendale. A trail is a corridor for people, and we have no source that treats it as a pest corridor. Arizona extension sources do say scorpions abound in rocky terrain and washes, so a lot that backs onto open ground near a wash deserves a look at the walls and the base of the fence.

Wherever you live in the city, the monsoon is the common season. It runs June 15 to September 30, and rain pushes scorpions toward dry places, including inside, while pest companies report more calls for cockroaches and ants for the same reason. Keep door sweeps tight and keep ground-level gaps filled before the first storm.