Pest Control in the Town of Paradise Valley, AZ

What does a town built for one house per acre mean for pests?

Almost everything in Paradise Valley is a house, which is the point of the 1961 incorporation goals. A neighborhood of homes on large lots has few restaurants or offices, so scheduled commercial programs are rare in the town itself and the common service is the home visit. The size of the lot changes the work in three practical ways.

First, there is more perimeter. Large lots mean long perimeter walls, and each foot of hollow block wall is potential scorpion harbourage; University of Arizona research found 95% of structural refuge use in hollow block walls. Second, there is more of everything between the house and the wall: planting beds, irrigation boxes, meter covers, stacked stone and wood. Third, a technician cannot see the whole property from the driveway, so the first visit is longer. Our block wall and rock yard treatment page lays out what that walk covers.

How do Mummy Mountain and Camelback change scorpion exposure?

Arizona extension sources say scorpions abound in rocky terrain and washes. Large lots that back onto the slopes of Mummy Mountain or sit under Camelback Mountain's southern face therefore carry the preserve-edge exposure that applies to any home beside rock. We have no count of scorpion calls by street and do not claim one.

Bark scorpions are the only Arizona scorpion that climbs walls and ceilings, and they can enter through cracks of about 2 mm. They are active roughly March through October, and stings peak from July to September. If you live on a slope lot, treat the whole upper boundary as the side that matters, and ask the technician to look at where the wall meets the natural ground.

Rock facades on walls act as a hallway between homes, and landscaping rock of about half an inch or less makes it harder for scorpions to move between stones. A stone-clad perimeter wall that looks handsome from the road is worth a closer look from the inside.

Why do large properties see more swarms and wood problems?

More trees, more outbuildings and more wall surface give a passing bee swarm more places to land. Africanized honey bee season runs mid-March to late October in a normal year, with the most swarms in May and June, and on peak days bee removal calls across the Valley can jump from five to ten a day to thirty to sixty. A swarm resting on a branch may move on by evening; one that enters a cavity is a different job. See our bee removal page for what the visit involves.

Do not spray a cluster, knock it down or try to seal a hole with bees inside. Bring everyone indoors and call. On a big lot, someone may not notice a colony in a guest house wall or a pool equipment shed for weeks, so a quick look at outbuildings in spring is worth the walk.

Wood in a guest house, a ramada or a detached garage is also what termites want. Desert subterranean termites swarm July to September after rain. A licensed termite inspection covers outbuildings when you ask for them to be included.

What should a Paradise Valley owner do before the season starts?

Give the whole perimeter one walk in February. Check wall caps, the base of the wall where it meets the ground, gate gaps, and every irrigation box and meter cover. Move stacked material away from the wall. Fix any leak, since scorpions seek water.

Then pick a time to call. Phones are answered 24/7, and visits are scheduled the same day when a technician is free. The price is explained and approved before any work starts, which matters on a large lot where the job can vary a lot with size and access.