How often pest control should be done?

What a great question, isn’t it? We are conscious people concerned about pest control, above all shops and restaurant owners and managers, but maybe we are not sure about how often pest control visits should be done. Sometimes, it is not enough to have a pest control visit; moreover, the periodicity really makes a difference.

There is no standard periodicity established. When a pest controller does a survey, he will recommend the visits needed according to his assessment criteria. This assessment is based on different factors, such as the type of pest, season, commercial or residential premises, and so on.

Key factors

If the pest you are suffering from is a seasonal one, it will make little sense to put in place a monthly contract. However, if the pest is likely to come more often, a regular basis contract will hold the pest off.

At Inoculand Ltd., we normally devise pest control programs on the basis of yearly, biannual, quarterly, bi-monthly, and monthly. The key factors we take into account to assess how often the pest control visit should be done are as follows:

• Level of infestation
• Legal requirements
• Type of pest (rodents, insects, etc.)
• Surroundings
• Vulnerable people (pregnant, elderly people, baby)
• Commercial or residential premises

How often should a pest control technician visit commercial premises?

If the premises require full attention regarding pest control, such as a food store or doctor’s practice, as an example, the visit should be done on a monthly basis. This will allow staying on top of things and taking preventive actions to protect the business and its activities.

If you have no history of pest activity but want peace of mind or for compliance purposes, have a pest control contract in place, when quarterly visits should be plenty. Such a contract can later be upgraded should the need arise.

There are pests that, because of their behaviour and biology, will require a monthly contract. Rats can easily venture three hundred meters from their nest. In other words, the flow of incoming rats is likely to be constant. In a large number of our monthly contracts, we often find the bait completely depleted by the time we return. The key is to manage the situation well enough, so the client does not suffer from them. In some instances, we would need to increase the frequency, or sometimes things go so well that we can afford to relax the contract a bit.

Normally, any premises prone to cockroach activity should have a monthly contract in place. This is especially true in the case of Oriental cockroaches that can surge from underground at any time and require immediate action. In the case of the German cockroach, any delivery is potentially able to bring some in. So, it is essential to have cockroach monitors in place to identify any issue as it appears.

How often should a pest control check be done in residential properties?

Most residential properties may never need any contract in place. A pest infestation takes place. You treat, identify what caused it, take care of the issue, and story over.

But some situations have no ultimate solutions. Even mouse-proofing is not foolproof against a heavily infested neighbour who refuses to sort himself out. No-return valves inside the drain can often prevent rats from accessing your home. But sometimes, the inspection chamber has been covered up by a building extension, or the manhole cannot be located by Thames Water.

So, in specific cases, it becomes necessary to put in place a contract of sorts. For rats, we have been through that before; it will be monthly. For mice, it will depend on how much of an issue there is around your home. In two instances, we had to have in place quarterly visits to place bait down at the back of our proofing to protect it from mice creating new holes. The contract lasted in both cases until the next-door neighbour died and that their house got decluttered and refurbished.

We also did very expensive moth heat treatments in large mansions. The residents had left the moth issue for too long and suffered incredible damages on their clothes and carpets from it. They resorted to having us returning on a yearly basis to inspect their property and fumigate using a natural product for their peace of mind.

How often should pest control be done?

There are no set rules as to what is appropriate. The more the client stands to lose, the more aggressive the pest, the more worried the residents, the more frequently we will need to do a pest control routine visit.

At Inoculand Ltd., you can request a free-of-charge survey for your commercial premises (contact customer service to check if a free survey can be done here).