Use knowledge of pests to treat them

Anna Hansen

Sanitation is a critical component of successful pest control, whether you are dealing with flies, fleas, ticks or something else. Many pest management professionals (PMPs) learn to use their knowledge of a pest’s habits and biology against them when applying insecticides or traps. Use this knowledge to determine which sanitation strategies will be helpful in controlling your target pest, and communicate those strategies to your customers.

For example, when dealing with a flea infestation, you’ll want your customers to prioritize vacuuming indoors, especially around pet resting areas, over cleaning up dog waste in the backyard. Cleaning up dog waste helps make the yard less attractive to flies but is not helpful for flea management.

Some actions help mitigate multiple pest species. Look for wildlife in the crawlspace, for example, as they can bring fleas and ticks to the area. Clutter reduction removes harborage for a variety of pest species. While it would be nice to have a location completely cleaned up and repaired by the next service, you are more likely to gain customer cooperation if you can have them focus on one key task at a time.

Prioritize your to-do list based on the pest pressures at that moment, and set expectations with your customers.