Pest Controle Question (Houston, College Station, Sugar Land: apartment, condo, new house)

[onyx]

Hi, we will be moving from SoCal to Houston soon and we purchased a new house at Cinco. I heard someone mentioned the pest control need to be done quarterly? What do we need to do as homeowners? is this something the community/city will do? e.g., trucks will be spaying mosquito killing chemicals in all neighborhood? Or do we need to hire a separate pest control company to spay our house once every 3 months? will this be sufficient for all bugs & insects? i also heard that some homes have something in the walls that release chemicals?? pleaes advice.

[Midnitecruzer]

Onyx, like in all homes, you need to keep them clean. Pest have a ball with your home when you leave them a restaurant opened 24 hrs. They come out at night and pretend they are at the Hometown Buffet. So if you keep your floors, carpet and any surface free of any crumbs and food, they will go away and bother someone else. Believe you me, we run a janitorial service and our customers that had roaches and ants before we started cleaning their homes, no longer have them. We suggest if you want to save money, that before you move in, you buy a gallon or two of 6 to 9 month bug spray and spray every nick and crevice of your house including the garage and all of the outside of the house. Including around the windows and doors. Inside the house include the windows, under the sinks, in the food pantry around the walls even the ones with carpet. Spray really good your garage so that when your household goods are delivered they stay a couple of days in the garage. Then just take a box at a time into your new home, that is if you think you might have some guest in your boxes. And by unpacking one at a time you will catch them as they try to flee.
We were living in an aptment before we move to our house and that is what I did. Even though we kept our house clean and the manager sprayed monthly, some of our neighbors were not very clean. So when we moved that is what I did and a few days later when I got to the last boxes, I would see dead roaches in the bottom of the boxes. Since then the only guest we get in once in a while are daddy long legs. No roaches and no ants. Even though therer many little black ants outside, they stay away from our house. They dont even run alongside of the house because of the spraying that I do around the house.
As to they doing the spraying every 3 months, that is the same as the spraying in the Los Angeles and San Diego Area. A truck would drive around the streets spraying up in the air and they would ask you to close your windows. I believe that is what they do for the mosquitos. Mosquitos will lay their eggs in water. Even if you leave a pail of water outside, they will lay them there. And because there is a lot of bodies of water around Houston, lakes and all, there is a need for spraying.
If you don't want to do it yourself, contract a pest controller especially for termites.
Best regards,
papermaker4u

[socialwk17]

You mentioned that the communities are sprayed for mosquitos via some truck? What is that about? I think I'm more afraid of toxic chemicals, cancer, and polluting the earth than I am of mosquitos and roaches. Although I think they both are annoying, and please don't even mention mice...ughhh!! But still is there a natural solution that can be recommended for home owners who subscribe to a more "greener" lifestyle? I know keeping your home clean helps (that goes without saying), but perhaps there are products that can be purchased that have proven to be effecective as a preventative measure.

Be well, be green!

[Midnitecruzer]

Hi Social Worker, I used to be a county employee myself. What do you do for the county? Anyway, I remember back in 2000-2001, the county of Los Angeles would announce that they had discovered Med flies and that they needed to spray certain areas. I don't recall if they would fly over the area or send in a special truck, they look like those parking lot sweepers and would spray the area. I am from Calexico, CA and back in the day, (60's) I remember those trucks would come around and when it got to our street we would close all the windows in the house. We have the American canal that brings water to the Imperial Valley from the Colorado River, so there was always alot of mosquitos and crickets in the summer.
I don't know if they still spray like that. The pest I dread the most, are the Glassy Wing Sharpshooter and the Fire Ant. They are hard to get rid of right now. Are those of any problem in Katy ?
Best Regards,
Papermaker4u

[Mom2Feebs]

This is Texas, so yes, we have mosquito control here as a part of our county services. There aren't too many "green" solutions that can kill what we've got. Having said that, the county sprays at night, very late, and you may see (or actually, hear) a truck in your neighborhood 5-10 times over the summer. If you don't live near a bayou or watershed, then you may not get sprayed at all.

Believe me, you'll be thanking God when that truck rolls around.

As for regular pest control, I live in a very wooded part of the city, and granted, I live in a condo, but it's 30 years old. We have pest control ONCE a year, they spray the perimeter of the building and the inside of the house. I've seen ONE roach in my place in 5 years, and I'm pretty sure it came in with us late one night.

Some new homes have a fabulous pest control system build into the house itself. Terrific!

[breriley]

could someone please explain to me the signifagance of the tubes in the walls that some of the newer homes have and please give info on mice infestation in spring

[Mom2Feebs]

I have lived in Houston all my life practically and though I have heard of a couple of mice over the years, I myself have never seen one, especially not IN a house, so I am not sure you have to really worry about that at all.

The tubes in newer homes are a new form of pest control. The system vents to an outside valve where new pesticide is placed at different times. It's supposed to be quite nice!

[greenie]

We just bought a home with "the tubes" already built in and I wondered if anyone has recommendations on a company that provides pest control via this method? If so, do you sign a contract, or can you pay for each time. And how often?

[tstone]

Rodents definitely exist here:

Growing up, 2 field mice in Sugar Land came into the house on separate occasions. You'll swear you saw something flash across the room... so go get a spring loaded mouse trap if that happens. The sticky pads are just cruel.

We had a pair of good size rats in our apartment inside the loop (TMC). They came into the apartment from the open balcony door, and I chased them out by simply walking towards them. That incident lasted about 10 seconds total, and happened as we were moving out.

(Many dorm & apartment rat incidents in College Station... that town was infested back in '98-'02)

At the old house in Clear Lake, we had a baby possum make its way in. You could hear it claw within the walls. A rat trap (big enough to break your fingers) is probably your best bet. Rat poison will just make it die slowly in your walls -- also cruel.

ONYX, as far as insects go:

I thought the county only sprayed in high risk areas for West Nile, which are usually confined to the E and SE side zip codes. But you'll know it when you see/hear those trucks. If there is no spraying done, you can control mosquitos with this

http://pet-dog-cat-supply-store.com/shop/shop_image/product/a64de9373edf66043000e3cab8c47aa3.jpg (broken link)
(pretty sure this image isn't copyrighted)[MOD NOTE: pretty sure it is ]

Mix this stinky **** up per the directions in a $15 pump-spray can and go at it. It's safe to spray on anything green. Two of these @ $6/ea should last you a whole summer. When mosquitos get bad, most of the stores sell out of this stuff really fast. This is what the county sprays from their trucks, too.

The poison granules for fire ants work well. Keep them handy. $4/bag, will probably use 2 per year in an average yard.

You can use half a $4 Raid spray can on baseboards around the house if you ever see ants or roaches. I do this once a year as part of our spring cleaning. Those baits aren't a bad idea either.

Wasp or dirt dauber nests? A jab with a broomstick works well. They also sell poison in a can that sprays 20 ft like a water gun, to use after you cut the nest loose. REQUIRES fast reflexes!!!

Do all of that, keep your house clean, and you'll be fine. I've never found it necessary to pay for anything more.

[EasilyAmused]

Feebs, have you not seen the rats running down the phone wires at dusk? <shiver>


New house, old house. Clean house, dirty house. Flying roaches come either way, therefore I have someone spray!