Pests: Can’t Live with ‘Em. Period
There’s a good reason they call them pests. Simply put, rats, mice, cockroaches, ticks, fleas, termites, ants, and other household pests make our lives difficult. But they’re more than simply irritating.
Experts estimate that there is at least one rat per person in this country and that each rat can damage or destroy $1,000 worth of food and materials each year. They endanger people by causing fires and transmitting such diseases as rat-bite fever, salmonella and trichinosis.
The damage caused by cockroaches, while not as visible as the damage done by rodents, can still be quite serious in terms of health. Cockroaches contaminate food and spread diseases and bacteria, and cause or exacerbate allergies.
Fleas and ticks are another exasperating pest problem, especially for the 50 percent of American households with pets. Fleas and ticks can inflict annoying bites on humans and animals.
Wood destroying insects can be devastating to a home. They cause nearly $2.5 billion in property damage per year. Termites alone cause more than $1.5 billion in damage to more than 600,000 U.S. homes annually. That’s more than the combined annual destruction of fires, tornadoes and earthquakes. Carpenter ants can also cause significant damage. Termites and carpenter ants usually require professional pest control because they are hard to locate and eliminate without proper equipment. Unfortunately, termites do not leave clues until they’ve done their damage.
To help control and eradicate these problems, pest control firms annually service more than 12 million homes, 240,000 retail establishments, 400,000 commercial restaurants and kitchens, and 55,000 hotels and motels.