Pest Control Perth

Perth city view

Pest Control Perth – With its year-round warm weather Perth is a pest hotspot. Although with a dryer climate than the Eastern states, some of the pests and pest problems are slightly different. However, the need for regular pest treatments and termite inspections to protect your home and business remains the same. Here’s all you need to know about pest control and the key pests in Perth.

Pest Control Perth - Popular pest treatments

A general pest control treatment on Perth once a year is generally good to keep spiders and most insect pests at bay for at least 6 months. If you time the treatment at the start of spring, it will probably last the whole of the pest season.

Some people call this general pest treatment a “pest spray”, as spraying the exterior perimeter of the building is a major part of the treatment. Although some treatments require a spray inside the building, many modern treatments don’t spray inside unless there’s a specific reason – after all the pests are normally outside trying to get in. Treating the roof void and sub-floor (if you have one) with insecticide dust is also a key part of the treatment.

Sometimes it is necessary to have a specialist pest control treatment if you have a specific pest problem.

For pest control in Perth, it is often a good idea to combine a pest treatment with your annual termite inspection as you can often get a good discount.

Annual termite inspections are strongly recommended for all homeowners in Perth. Not only will the pest professional detect whether termites are active on your property (or worse still in your house), they will also spot termite damage and most importantly give you a list of actions you can take to make your home less attractive to termites.

It’s important to make sure that your termite inspector does a thorough job. A standard 4-bedroom home on a concrete slab should take at least 1.5 hours. But for homes with a sub-floor or whether a larger block to inspect, it can take a lot longer.

Termite inspectors will often use a range of termite detection equipment, including moisture metres, motion detectors and thermal imaging cameras.

Termite inspections are useful but to actually prevent termites attacking your home its necessary to have a termite treatment to install a termite protection system.

To protect homes from termite attack, a termite protection system needs to be installed around (and under) the building.

Although all new buildings should have termite protection incorporated into the construction during the build, this is often insufficient to completely prevent a termite attack. And often changes to the landscaping and additional renovations after the build, can allow termites to get around any termite protection.

As such, it is industry best practice for all homes to have either a soil treatment or termite baiting system installed to prevent concealed termite attack.

The type of termite treatment will depend on the situation at the property and the construction of the building. For concrete slab homes, in most cases only the exterior of the building will need to be treated. However, if the home is built on piers (creating a sub-floor area), the construction elements under the house will also need to have a termite treatment installed. For many of the old homes in Perth, it is necessary to cut a trap or traps in the floor in order to get access to the sub-floor.

Find a Pest Control Company in Perth

There are a large number of pest control companies in Perth – small family businesses, medium sized companies and multi-nationals. Whether you want your local pest professional or want a larger company to help you out, there are lots of options to choose from.

It is important to choose an experienced pest professional you can trust. Always check to make sure they are licensed and insured to carry out the work being requested.

If you’re looking for a pest control company near you, click on our pest control company locator below to find pest companies providing the services you are looking for in your area.

Key Pests in Perth

Ants are one of the made urban pests in Perth. “Black ants” are common home invaders and are generally one of two species – black house ants or white-footed house ant.

Outdoors, coastal brown ants (also called big headed ants) can cause a problem in pavers (and occasionally invade homes), particularly in the late summer and Autumn once their numbers have built up. Argentine ants can also develop into large sprawling nests. Both coastal brown ants and Argentine ants can find their way inside looking for food and moisture. In the lawn, green-head ants, with their painful and itchy bites can cause problems.

Professional pest managers will generally use a combination of products to eliminate ant problems, typically a combination of sprays (to stop the ants coming inside) and baits (to actually kill the nest).  Indoor ant problems can generally be completely eliminated. However, it can be difficult to get lasting control from outdoor ant problems as after a while they will re-invade from surrounding areas.

Birds nesting in and around homes and businesses can cause a nuisance – not only do their droppings make a mess and damage buildings, but they carry diseases and parasites… and can make a lot of noise!

Perth doesn’t have the same pest birds as the east coast of Australia, although the two main pest birds – the pigeon and silver backed gull ­– are found everywhere around Australia. An increasing problem for homeowners, is the damage pigeon droppings can cause to solar panels. Apart from decreasing electrical output (the droppings block the sun), they can actually corrode materials in the panels. Asking your pest professional to bird proof solar panels is a worthwhile investment.

There are two types of cockroach species, large cockroaches (such as the American cockroach and Australian cockroach) which generally live outside, under houses, in drains and rubbish; and small cockroach species, such as the German cockroach which only lives inside, most commonly in kitchens. The generally dryer climate in Perth means that the large cockroaches commonly come inside looking for moisture.

Professional cockroach treatments will vary depending on the species of cockroach present. For large cockroach species, spraying the outside of the building (to prevent them entering) and spraying or dusting other hotspots are the key activities. For German cockroaches, the main treatment involves the use of cockroach baits. Baits are the smart product to use for controlling German cockroaches as they provide the best chance to completely eliminate the infestation, providing lasting protection. When using baits, it may take several days to reduce the population and with German cockroach treatments, more than one visit may be necessary to eliminate the problem.

With cockroach problems, ensuring good housekeeping / hygiene is essential for eliminating and prevent cockroach infestations.

Fleas tend to be a problem in the warmer months. However, they tend to be less of a problem in Perth that on the east coast of Australia due to the dryer climate. Especially if you keep your pet’s flea treatment up to date, it is unlikely you’ll suffer from a flea problem.

However, if you are unlucky enough to have a flea infestation, a professional flea treatment is the only way to get on top of the infestation quickly and completely eliminate the problem. “Flea bombs” from supermarkets will provide temporary relief in treated rooms, but to eliminate the infestation all your pet’s resting areas, inside and outside the home needs to be treatment with an effective and safe product.

Like the rest of Australia, during the warmer month, flies are everywhere in Perth. The main types of flies are filth flies, which include the common house fly. They breed in rubbish, rotten food and faeces, normally outside the home. So, keep the outside of your home tidy – pick up pet poo and keep lids on binds – to prevent flies breeding. A professional fly treatment will target fly breeding spots and also spray walls of buildings where the flies are likely to rest.

Homes and business can also suffer problems with small indoor flies – drain flies and vinegar flies. They breed in drains and rotten food and can be very difficult to eliminate unless you find all the breeding sites. A good pest manager will be able to find all the likely breeding spots before treating, to ensure you completely eliminate the problem.

Perth and other areas in southwest, Western Australia can suffer from occasional invasions of Portuguese millipedes. They can invade homes in their thousands in Spring and Autumn after periods of rain. Autumn is the main breeding time and Spring is when the next generation starts to emerge. If you know you can suffer millipede problems in your area, keep lights to a minimum around the house and use thick blinds and curtains – Portuguese millipedes are attracted to the light. A professional perimeter treatment to the exterior of the building and surround garden beds will kill the millipedes and help stop them entering the building.

Mosquito problems in Perth tend to be concentrated near the coast, along rivers and near lakes. If there is a wet Summer, mosquito numbers will increase across the city.

The City of Perth council will carry out a number of mosquito sprays to known breeding sites to target the larvae, but if you have a problem around your home, you will likely have to deal with it yourself.

As most mosquito species don’t fly far from their breeding sites, the key to keeping numbers down at your property is to eliminate mosquito breeding sites – areas of resting water – plants pots, drains, gutters, etc. However, if you have a persistent mosquito problem, pest professionals can fog your outdoor areas to treat surfaces where mosquitoes land and rest. Although no treatment can deliver 100% control of mosquitoes, these fogging treatments can reduce the mosquito number significantly to allow you to enjoy your outdoor areas for up to 3 months.

There are 3 key pest rodents in Perth – the house mouse, the roof rat and the Norway rat. Keeping rodents out the home and away from food is important as they carry a range of parasites and diseases, which they can transfer when they walk across surfaces, eat food and leave behind urine and droppings.

Although it is tempting to use baits from supermarkets, they are very toxic to humans, pets and non-target wildlife like possums. As such, it is always best to pay a professional pest manager to carry out the treatment to ensure the baits are placed in the best locations to deliver results and prevent accidental ingestion. Pest Professionals will use lockable bait stations in most areas.

DIY treatments often fail as the homeowner does not correctly identify the rodent species and understand their behaviour, which results in incorrect bait placement and insufficient bait being placed.

Mice

The house mouse is a common pest in Perth, although they normally only become a big problem during the cooler months when they come inside looking for warmth and shelter. Normally they will live outside in burrows in the undergrowth.

Mice are very curious creatures and will readily try new foods and eat bait. They normally only travel a few metres from their shelter, so if you spot a mouse, you know its nest won’t be far away.

Rats

There are two pest rats in Perth – the roof rat (or black rat) and the Norway rat (or brown rat / sewer rat). The smaller roof rat is more common in Perth. Although they normally live outdoors and come inside to look for food, roof rats quite like taking up residence in roof voids.

Rats can be difficult to control due to their intelligence and the neophobic behaviour – they are frightened of new things, which can make it difficult to get them to accept rodent bait. Using a pest manager with rodent expertise will ensure you eliminate the rat problem as quickly as possible.

Common spiders in Perth include the black house spider, redback spider, white tail spider and huntsman spider. Although the funnel web spiders are not present in Perth, there are a range of mouse spiders which look similar (and will also give a nasty bite).

Treatments for web-building spiders such as the black house spider and redback spider involve a “spider spray”, where the outside of the building, obvious webs and spider hiding places are sprayed. Sometimes insecticide dust may be blown into cracks and crevices. These treatments can be quite long lasting, typically 6 months or longer in protected areas.

These treatments can also control running or hunting spiders, such as white-tailed spiders and huntsman. It’s important to note, that if these spiders walk across treated surfaces, don’t necessarily die immediately and so one or two may still find their way into the house. However, the general spider treatment will kill insects and web building spiders which are the food for hunting spiders, making it far less attractive for hunting spiders to hand around.

Like many areas of Australia, termites are major concern for homeowners in Perth. They cause millions of dollars of damage each year and termite damage is not covered by your home insurance. With 1 in 5 homes likely to suffer a termite attack at some point, having annual termite inspections are a must and installing a termite protection system is highly recommended.

Following the recommendations in the termite inspection report around making your home less attractive to termites (especially around removing sources of moisture and heavily watered, dense garden beds around the perimeter of the home) significantly reduce the chances of a termite attack.

Perth has some unique species of termite (such as Coptotermes michaelseni) that are not found in the other states, but they are just as damaging, nonetheless.

Weather in Perth and what it means for pests...

Perth has a year-round warm climate, which means termites are happy to eat your home all year round! It also means there isn’t a particularly cold winter to kill pests off, so come spring there are sufficient pests around to breed and quickly create an infestation.

The dryer summer months in Perth can mean that mosquito, flea and tick problems are less severe that the wetter east coast of Australia, but it is still ideal for spiders, cockroaches and ants. In fact, the as the winter months tend to be the wetter months, it means that breeding conditions tend to be idea at the start of spring for pest numbers to rapidly increase. With insect numbers rapidly increasing early in the season, it often creates ideal conditions for spider numbers to take off in Spring.

Although Perth is generally warm, the cooler winter months, especially with the rain, are still cold enough to drive rodents indoors to make the winter months, rodent season.

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