What's this about pesticide spraying on homes?? (Austin, Howe: renting, house)

[coffee_addict]

Ok, so we decided on renting a home and I keep seeing mention of regular pest spraying. I have two young boys & have concerns about them being exposed. I know when we put down grub treatment on the grass you don't want to have the kids near the treated area for a while. I'm not a big fan of chemicals in general so was wondering how often does this need to be done and if there is a company that uses a more ecofriendly.

[10scoachrick]

Bulwark is pretty conservative and leans toward more environmentally friendly chemicals and we are happy with them. However, there are at least a couple of companies who offer 'ultra-friendly' treatments. Check out Chem-Free and Real Green.

[Idlewile]

We use Bulwark and we like them a lot. Great customer service. They've always said everything they use is even safe for our dog. Good thing because once he ate the stuff they pour all over a giant ant hill (not fire ants) and we freaked but he was perfectly fine, even with his delicate stomach... although we did called in a panic and they assured us it was not animal/human toxic.

[hoffdano]

I have lived in the Austin area for well over twenty years and have NEVER had "regular" pest treatment in my two different homes. I treat fire ant mounds as needed myself. And I have treated some parts of the lawn for grubs a few times. Occasionally ants, etc. - all done with my own sprayer. Hired a pest control guy just a few times and refused to sign up for regular treatment. The fewer chemicals the better.

[motherofthree]

Agree with hofffdano. I moved here 7 years ago and thought people were crazy having a pest control company spray the inside and outside of their homes "just in case."

For the outside, the only thing I have done in 7 years is spot treat fire ant mounds. I have never treated the inside of my home. I get a couple spiders a year and a couple silverfish. Silverfish have a low reproduction rate so every one you kill does make a difference.

[Idlewile]

I think it depends on where you live and there's not a lot of rhyme or reason to it (other than the snakes further out). We lived in a 25 year old home that was not in very good condition at all for a year and had hardly any issues with bugs inside the house. We now live in a 15 year old ranch which was meticulously cared for by the original owners and we had ants in all bathrooms and secondary bedrooms and A LOT of them. We are in NW Austin on lot with 60 live oaks. And our bug tolerance is high. Even took a pic of the furry tarantula creeping across our driveway the first night we moved in.

[mesmer]

We get the outside of our house sprayed every other month to keep bugs out. We could probably go quarterly or less, but when we moved in we had a huge tree roach population... in our front tree (Who would have thought), and they'd break in on occasion. They freak me out! The house next door was also vacant for a long time, which didn't help due to the owner only rarely sending someone to do landscaping. We haven't sprayed inside in years - haven't needed to.

As others have said, it's a wait and see kind of thing. Once you move in you'll be able to tell what you need in the way of pest control.

[Trainwreck20]

It depends on your sensitivity to bugs, as well. They are normal, and just because you see one every now and again in your house, you really don't need to do anything about it (other than maybe throw them out...).

[janejanejanejanejane]

Get a few scorpions in your house and you'll see why we get our house sprayed often.

[10scoachrick]

Originally Posted by janejanejanejanejane

Get a few scorpions in your house and you'll see why we get our house sprayed often.

STEP on one in the middle of the night and you'll put that bug company on speed dial!