Pest Control and Hoarding
Pest Control and Hoarding:
I have had some unusual situations with pest control and hoarding. I will tell you of one.
A property maintenance firm (M & R Services, who are very good) called us out to have a look at a property in Berkshire that had a problem. It was a terrace house and the neighbours had complained to the council about Beetles coming from this particular property. We looked at the beetles and they were meal worm beetles, grain weevils, flour beetles and other stored product pests. The house was full of clutter. It was also full of human excrement (in carrier bags, as well as large 10 gallon water bottles full of urine). The lounge was full of birds (cockatiels & budgies). The floor of the room was over 1ft deep in sawdust, bird food & droppings. It was this mix that the stored product pests were feeding on and living in. The birds were breeding. The bathroom (as is normal with a lot of terraced houses) was at the rear of the property and could only be accessed through the lounge where the birds were living. The two occupants would not, for some reason (probably due to the smell and dust), travel through the room to use the toilet or kitchen, hence the bags and bottles of human excrement.
The birds were re-homed by a charity, M & R Services cleared the house of clutter and excrement and PEST UK did several residual spray treatments for stored product pests. All was successful.
The couple who lived there had respectable jobs and appeared normal, they went to work every day, managed to look smart for work but then returned to a house crammed full of clutter (this was stacked to the ceiling) and there didn’t appear to be any room for sleeping, sitting or just to live.
So, sometimes, however unlikely it may seem, the source of your pest problems may just start next door, although, happily enough this is very rare.
Alec Minter
