DIY pest removal has existed alongside professional pest control and removal for about as long as the first services were offered. Investing money into doing pest removal yourself can potentially save you hundreds or thousands of dollars in potential control services. However, with most potential deals, there are countless pros and cons for taking care of pest removal by yourself.
Pros and Cons of DIY Pest Removal?
So, let’s take a look at what you might benefit from or risk with DIY pest removal.
What types of pest control are there?
There are generally three types of pest control services offered by professionals:
- Chemical Pest Control: using substances or chemicals, these services focus on killing, repelling, or preventing pests in an area. For example, these can be insecticides, rodenticides, or more. While professionals offer chemical pest control pretty often, and it’s available in stores, the chemicals used by the pros are either more lethal for pests or less dangerous to humans.
- Physical/Mechanical Pest Control: these services use traps, wires, bars, and hands to remove or prevent animals from living within your property. For example, experts may use gloves and a suit to remove animals, set up a trap, or place barring inside their entrance to keep them blocked out. You can learn more about these professional tactics at US Wildlife Removal.
- Electronic or Biological Pest Control: while these two methods are not similar whatsoever, they both share the aspect of being quite uncommon. Electronic pest control uses subsonic frequencies to drive off small animals, while biological services might introduce a natural predator or food chain disruptor. The reason these are listed together is that they’re both either uncommon or unproven. Electronic removal has been debated for a while, while biological is oftentimes considered inhumane.
What are the pros of DIY pest removal?
While there are dozens of potential benefits associated with the ones below, it’s important to also read the cons associated before deciding whether to do DIY or call an expert. Anyway, let’s take a look at the potential pros of taking care of pests by yourself:
Cost:
The largest benefit of DIY pest removal is the cost. DIY prevention and removing small-scale infestations are overwhelmingly cost-efficient long-term and can save thousands on not just professional costs, but also on potential property damage.
While you save money short-term on labor and potentially supplies, you still have to purchase the actual materials to remove pests. It’s still generally cheaper for small removal projects.
Understanding:
While this might not make sense on first look, then you understand what some experts feel. One of the benefits of DIY pest removal is the understanding of the scenario, the property, and what’s been going on. When calling the experts, they have to respond to an infestation from what you can tell them.
They don’t have any previous knowledge as to where the infestation is, how bad it is, or what’s interrupted, and there can be confusion between the two of you. Doing pest removal yourself allows an understanding of what’s happened. You’ll be able to instantly get to the source (if you’ve been paying attention) and find property damage.
What are the cons of DIY pest removal?
Although there are some great benefits in lowered costs and confusion, there are still quite a few cons to DIY pest removal:
Preventing Future Infestations:
If not done correctly, DIY pest removal can leave the source of an infestation. If left alone, the issue could become worse, and could even result in additional pests entering your property. Even still, just clearing out the animals leaves the entrances open, and other pests could take their place.
Safety:
Pests are home to physical and biological danger, thanks to most pests’ claws or bites, and the countless parasites, viruses, and diseases wild animals can spread. If not correctly suited up or protected, you could become exposed. There’s also the danger of some animals, such as bats, snakes, raccoons, or others. Bats and snakes should be removed by professionals. Visit pestcontrolsnake.com to learn more about controlling and removing snakes.
Warranty:
Potential property damage or inefficiency might be covered by some pest removal products’ warranties, but it’s not guaranteed. Most professional services come with property warranties and the like.
Expertise:
Remember, these professionals are experts in their field. Oftentimes taking years to become qualified to take care of pests, they know everything about them. Not to insult you, but everything you’ve learned is likely from a YouTube video, website, or instruction manual. The real-world experience of an expert is sometimes the cherry on top for removal.
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