Archive for category: Pest Control

You might have noticed that we are in the middle of wasp season, where they just turn up and rudely interrupt you when you least expect it. You try to act cool and pretend you don’t want to get up and run as far as you possibly can while that painful childhood memory plays in your head more vivid than ever.

When you were five and got attacked by a drunken wasp. And you can still remember how much it hurt. Yes, wasps actually become “drunk” from overindulging on too much fruit and sugar, and as you might know from personal experience, it can be easy to mistake your front door for the neighbour’s when a bit tipsy. Or if you’re a wasp, mistake a colourful shirt or blouse for a flower.

Wasps don’t mean to be mean and sting humans just because they like it (they don’t really care about us at all). Their stings are there purely to kill insect prey, but from time to time they feel like they need to defend themselves against attack and manage to sting one of us.

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Rats have been the scourge of homeowners for as long as we can remember. They can carry all sorts of diseases that are harmful to humans, so if you’ve got rats in your home, you need to do something to get rid of them quickly.

Despite being a dirty nuisance, not everybody has the same ideas when it comes to putting an end to a rat infestation. With this in mind, you’ll find six ways to get rid of rats listed below.

1.    Humane traps

There are many DIY rat traps available online and in DIY shops that trap the intruders without sentencing them to death. Of course, if you manage to catch a rat in a cage, you then have to do something to get rid of it. Some people drive out into the countryside miles away from their home and release the rats back into the wild.

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Pest controller Bob Howard checks the attic of a house for evidence of rat or squirrel infestation. Photograph: Frantzesco Kangaris

“If you leave your front door open, don’t be surprised if there’s someone sitting in your living room,” sighs Bob Howard as he scans the walls of a house in commuter-belt Hertfordshire and tries to determine whether rats or squirrels are laying stealthy siege to its loft.

According to the veteran pest controller, rodents aren’t the only creatures making themselves comfortable in our midst: pest populations, including bedbugs, appear to be on the rise across the county just as the money needed to tackle them dwindles. Budget cuts of almost 30% mean that local authorities no longer have the funds to deal with pests. As they have no statutory duty to provide such services, some have reduced their pest control teams and outsourced the work to private contractors; others have introduced charges, while some have ceased offering services altogether.

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