Pest Talk with Scott McGrath

As we are getting closer to Christmas, I’m convinced the weather start to stay cold.  You would think after spending most of my life in Houston I would start to understand that if your not happy with the weather just wait till tomorrow and it will change.  In the pest control business warmer months are most definitely the best months for us, but if we market ourselves in the right way and educate the customer correctly we can have a very productive winter.

The number one call we get at McGrath Pest Control during the winter months are rodent calls.  People will call us saying the are hearing noises in their walls or attic at night.  This is very common in Houston.  As much as you want to deny it, you can’t.  There are and always will be rodents around Houston.  I wish I could get my magical flute and march them away from every ones house, no wait no I don’t, that would be bad for future business.  So I guess I just need to educate my customers on how to either control them around their house and or keep them from getting in their house.

If rats are already in your house we can trap them and get rid of them.  But If they still access or entry points then your problem will never go away.  We have find out where they are entering your house and seal up those areas.  Sometimes this isn’t as easy as one may thing.  Go outside and look around your house.  I mean really look around and inspect every little crack and crevice.  You will find hundreds of little holes and gaps and breaks around that could possibility be and entry point for not only rodents but also roaches, ants, mice, and on some occasions raccoons and possums.  Below are just a few examples of some of the more common gaps that we see and suggest sealing up all the time.

You can see the one on the left has about three or four inches of space where the rats, in this house, were getting into.  The picture on the right shows how a raccoon can destroy your screens and find a nice warm place to hide from the outside.  In both cases we had to seal up these holes in order to keep further infestations from occurring.

Again a good rule of thumb to have as a home owner is “the more you can seal up, the better!”  If your not sure what to look for then call McGrath Pest Control and we can come out point out any possible entry points that may need to be sealed up to insure no unwanted guest during the Christmas holidays.