The Dangers of DIY Pest Control
Think Twice Before Attempting DIY Pest Control
Trying to get rid of pests yourself without training can seem like a good idea. You won’t have to pay for a professional and effective pest control service and you can do it when it works for you.
But doing pest control yourself has lots of risks that usually make it not worth saving the money. As trained pros with over 10 years of experience, we’ve seen many times when DIY pest control went very wrong.
Using the wrong products and methods badly can make pests worse, hurt your health, and damage your home.
1. Using Products Incorrectly
One big problem with DIY pest control is people often use products the wrong way by accident or use too much. If you don’t follow all label directions exactly, you could get harmful chemicals where they should not be, use the wrong amount, or apply them unsafely like spraying overhead areas. Pesticides need precision, which homeowners usually don’t have without formal certification and licensing. One small mistake can make solutions not work or create much more harm to your home, health, pets, and outdoors.
2. Using Too Much Product
It might seem smart to use extra pesticide if the directions say a little will help get rid of pests. But going overboard with sprays, foggers, dusts and others is very unsafe. Everything has a certain safe dosage you should not use more of no matter how bad the infestation is. Using way too much can poison pets, get chemicals in your air ducts and carpets, sink into soil, and cause other dangerous ripple effects over time. More is often NOT better!
3. Hidden Dangers
If you try to tackle pests without expert help, you could accidentally create dangerous situations with serious consequences. For example, sealing up small outside holes mice use can make unseen bigger holes get wider and require expensive repairs. Using the wrong methods can also make some pest population multiply faster! Mixing the wrong formula can create toxic gases or explosions. They can contaminate soil and water sources. Making these mistakes poses a severe threat to your home.
4. Not Enough Protection
The special gear, clothes, and equipment professional pest control companies use are very important for safety on the job. Without the right protection, people risk breathing in or getting dangerous chemicals on their skin, getting bitten or stung by pests, getting hurt by tools, and other hazards doing it themselves. Not containing and cleaning up chemicals correctly also creates health and environmental risks in and around the home.
5. Storing Products Unsafely
For people doing their own effective control, storing pest control products sloppily often leads to unintended harm or chemical exposure. Kids or pets getting into them, leaking containers, temperature changes damaging substance, and throwing out hazardous waste wrong due to lack of training are some examples of storage mistakes made without pest control professional help and oversight. Something as simple as loose rat poison in the garage can have tragic consequences, which we have sadly seen multiple from botched DIY attempts.
6. Bad Information
The internet has all kinds of blogs, videos, forums, and questionable websites with DIY advice. For home owners trying to tackle a problem themselves, it’s extremely difficult to figure out what information is accurate and safe versus dangerous or just plain wrong. That makes it nearly impossible to properly fix an infestation without hands-on pro training and knowledge. From useless home remedies to YouTube tutorials teaching people the wrong way to use pesticides, bad info is everywhere for DIY.
7. Unsatisfactory Results
While DIY methods might seem temporarily or somewhat effective to an untrained property owner at first, they rarely fully get rid of an underlying infestation and often make it worse long-term. If the root causes allowing pests to reproduce and enter the home aren’t handled right, any fixes won’t last. We pros use science plus special tools like infrared cameras to uncover and fix root causes for good. DIY solutions simply can’t stack up!
8. Tougher Pests
When pesticides get used the wrong way repeatedly in DIY attempts, it can create “superbugs” – bugs and rodents that survive treatments that should kill them. This means pros have to use stronger chemicals or totally different methods that work to address pest infestations. Bugs getting tougher due to improper application poses dangers for whole neighborhoods, not just one home. It’s a big reason why minimal and precise chemical use is so stressed in integrated pest management training and licensing.
9. Bite Risks
Dealing directly with stinging or biting pests has health risks that untrained homeowners simply aren’t prepared for like pro exterminators are. The first aid know-how, special protective clothing, repellents, allergy preparedness, antivenoms and medical expertise professional services maintain are beyond what regular people know. Wasp swarms, hidden spider nests, and more can quickly become an emergency without training on safely handling these pest issues firsthand.
10. Health Worries
Both immediate and long-term health issues come up from botched DIY pest control at home without suitable safety gear and chemical handling smarts. Breathing in concentrated chemicals, skin burns from spills, and getting residues on kitchen surfaces that make you feel sick are some examples of short term health impacts. Longer term, certain chemicals raise cancer risks, especially for unborn babies, cause developmental problems, and other chronic respiratory issues much more likely without use of products.
Conclusion
While DIY seems cheaper than hiring professional pest control service, saving money comes with layers of risk. Misusing chemicals to worsening infestations.
Our licensed teams have years of formal training and experience needed to accurately ID pest problems. Strategically eliminate them without harming your family, home environment, and expertly fix current and future infestation for good.
Don’t put safety, human health, property, and finances at risk through DIY pest control method, leave it to the qualified experts for your peace of mind and cost effective solutions!
