The Arizona pest control blog from Platinum Pest Management explains how common Valley pests live, when they are active and what homeowners can do about them. Posts follow the local seasons, such as scorpion activity in spring and the monsoon storms of late summer.
Tell us what you are seeing. We reply during business hours with a time for your free inspection.
Platinum Pest Management writes this Arizona pest control blog for homeowners in Gilbert, the rest of the East Valley and Phoenix. Each article takes one pest or one season. It covers how the pest lives here and the signs to look for, along with the steps a homeowner can take and the point where a licensed technician should take over.
Posts follow the Arizona pest calendar. The scorpion article went up in March as activity started to climb, and the monsoon article ran in July as the first storms pushed roaches, ants and termite swarmers into view. Other articles answer questions that come up often, such as roof rats in citrus trees and bed bugs picked up while traveling.
The advice is written for conditions in the Valley, where block walls, desert landscaping, citrus trees and monsoon storms shape which pests show up and when. Our service areas page lists every city we cover, from Apache Junction and San Tan Valley west to Phoenix and Maricopa.
Roof rats spread from older Phoenix neighborhoods with mature citrus and now turn up across the Valley. Learn the signs in attics and yards, and why sealing entry points is the long-term fix.
Read the articleMonsoon storms push roaches out of sewers, send scorpions and ants toward dry ground and set off termite swarms. Learn what to expect from July through September and what to check after a storm.
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Bed bugs often reach a home inside luggage. A quick check of the hotel bed, a few luggage habits and a hot dryer after the trip keep most travelers from bringing them home.
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Bark scorpions can go months without food, and termites build mud tubes to stay moist above ground. How common desert pests survive Arizona summers also explains why some are hard to control at home.
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Carbon dioxide, body heat and skin chemistry all affect how often mosquitoes bite a person. We cover what the research shows and the yard steps that cut down bites during monsoon season.
Read the articleBark scorpions spend the day deep in narrow cracks and can go weeks without a meal, so a single treatment rarely settles the problem. Regular exterior service and sealing keep their numbers down.
Read the articleFor help with a specific bug, start with our pest identification page, which shows the species we see most often in the Valley. A clear photo texted to (480) 518-1942 also works, as does an insect kept in a sealed bag or jar for the technician to look at during a free inspection.
Questions about an article can go through our contact page. To talk it through, call (480) 518-1942 during business hours, Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturday from 7 a.m. to noon. For treatment details, the services page lists every pest we handle, and the pest control plans page explains our monthly, bi-monthly, quarterly and one-time options.
We add a new article about once a month, usually about whichever pests are most active in the Valley that season. Each post shows the date it was published, which makes it easy to tell how current the advice is.
Yes. Send it through our contact page or call (480) 518-1942 during business hours, Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturday from 7 a.m. to noon. Questions that come up often may turn into future articles.
Start with our pest identification page, which shows the pests we see most often in the Valley. You can also text a clear photo to (480) 518-1942, or keep the insect in a sealed bag or jar and show it to the technician at a free inspection.
Many of them, yes. Emptying standing water, replacing door sweeps, trimming palm fronds and picking up fallen citrus are all jobs homeowners can do. Termites, bed bugs and rats in the attic usually need a licensed technician, and a free inspection shows which kind of problem you have.
