When you think about pest control you probably picture traps, sprays, or other physical deterrents to the rats, pigeons, and bugs that are invading your home.

But animals can also be a deterrent for pests. There are obvious ones, like cats who like to hunt mice, but we’ve come up with a few more interesting examples of how nature can battle nature – and leave you on top.

Hire that Spider

Let’s tackle our top five pest deterrents that don’t have anything to do with chemicals or human-made traps.

  1. Cats make the top of the list. Their natural prey drive makes them a great natural pest control. A good mouser can become a natural way of controlling the littlest critters that scamper across your floor in the middle of the night.
  2. We can’t leave out dogs, either. Did you know that there are specially trained dogs that sniff out bed bugs and termites? These nosey canines are trained just like those bomb-sniffing dogs you see at airport security. Some pest control companies’ use these dogs to find pests that are the best at hiding. This is particularly important with bedbugs because if you miss one the population is sure to reemerge.
  3. Owls and other birds are natural predators of mice, scorpions, and insects. While it’s unlikely that you’ll keep a wild owl as a pet, they exist all over Nevada. For example, the Great Horned Owl can be found in parks and urban areas around our state. This one type of owl can feed on several rodents around your home every night, and because they see in the dark, they’re quick to spot the dreaded scorpion before it comes to visit your home.
  4. The Nevada Department of Wildlife (NDW) says there are 23 types of bat species in our state. They live on flying bugs such as mosquitoes; one brown bat can eat 1,200 insects in an hour! You’ll find bats roosting at the top of your eaves or under a shed overhang. We typically find their benefit outweighs their status as “pest” – and some of the bats in our state are listed as endangered. (Note: the NDW says less than one half percent of all Nevada bats are in danger of having rabies.)
  5. Even though they may “freak you out,” spiders actually serve a beneficial function in nature by eradicating many of the small insects that like to invade your home. The Funnel-Weaving Spider is common in our area, and unlike the Wolf Spider, it is not aggressive or dangerous to humans. It does, however, like to eat all the creatures that bug you when you’re outside.

 

So, there you have it. While none of these creatures could take the place of a pest prevention company, and some of them may even force you to call us, these are some interesting examples of ways that animals can help us in our quest to keep unwanted creatures out of our homes.