Pest Control in Tempe, AZ

Roof rats were a Tempe worry in 2010. What do we know now?

The State Press reported in 2010 that Tempe residents were already organizing against roof rats. That is a sourced fact, and it is as far as the record goes for us: Maricopa County names Arcadia, central Phoenix and Ahwatukee for roof rat activity, and we claim no neighborhood-by-neighborhood count for Tempe.

Roof rats travel on power lines, rock fences, tree branches and palms, and they use irrigation canals and food around homes. County advice is to pick ripe fruit promptly, seal gaps under eaves and screen roof vents, and professionals use bait stations or snap traps. Our roof rat control page describes the inspection, and our rodent control page covers mice.

The Hohokam canal system underlies the valley's modern canals. A canal bank is a route for animals as well as water, which is why a technician asks where the nearest canal runs and what touches your roof.

What does a lake in the middle of the river mean for mosquitoes?

Tempe Town Lake exists because the Salt River is dammed in two places. Mosquito pressure in the Valley is tracked by Maricopa County Environmental Services, which sets more than 800 traps a week, tests for West Nile and St. Louis encephalitis, and fogs a square mile around a positive trap. No source ranks the lake shore against other places, so we say only that standing water is the cause and homeowners control the water they own.

Pots, buckets, toys and clogged gutters collect monsoon rain, which runs June 15 to September 30. Dump and scrub them weekly. When residents want a plan for a yard, mosquito control is the service to ask about.

Papago Park, sandstone and scorpion habitat

Papago Park was set aside in 1879 as a reservation for local Maricopa and Pima tribes, and today it holds red sandstone buttes, including Hole-in-the-Rock. Arizona extension sources describe scorpions as abundant in rocky terrain and wash areas, so a home that backs onto rocky open ground should expect to examine its walls and landscaping.

Bark scorpions climb walls, fit through cracks of about 2 mm and shelter in hollow block walls, boulder landscaping, river rock, irrigation boxes and meter covers. Active from roughly March through October, they sting most often July to September. Block wall and rock yard treatment deals with the harbourage.

What should a Tempe homeowner do before bee season starts?

Africanized honey bee swarm season runs from mid-March to late October in a normal year, with the most swarms in May and June. In peak weeks, bee removal calls across the Valley can jump from five to ten a day to thirty to sixty. A swarm that lands on a patio tree or a block wall may leave by evening, or it may settle into a cavity and stay.

Do not spray a cluster, throw water at it or try to knock it down. Bring children and pets indoors, close the door and call. A technician judges whether the bees are passing through or whether a colony has entered a wall void, and if it has, the entrance must be closed afterward. See our bee removal page for what the visit involves.

If you are planning a repair season, March is a sensible moment to walk your property for small openings in walls, utility boxes and old irrigation fixtures. A gap that admits a bark scorpion is also a place a swarm may scout.

Termites matter as well: desert subterranean termites swarm July to September after rain, western drywood termites June to August. A termite inspection by licensed staff is the way to know what is in your wood.