Pest Control in East El Paso

The Eastside is the biggest, fastest growing part of El Paso, and it keeps going. Older neighborhoods around Cielo Vista Mall and Album Park give way to newer slab homes along Zaragoza Rd., George Dieter Dr., Montwood Dr. and Pebble Hills Blvd., and then out past Joe Battle Blvd. (Loop 375), where the streets are newer than some of the cars parked on them.

Those two halves have different pest stories. Closer in, it's older homes with roaches and the odd termite. Farther out, it's new homes with scorpions and ants that used to live on the lot next door.

The first summer in a new build past Loop 375

When a piece of open desert gets bulldozed for the next phase, the scorpions, harvester ants and rodents living there head for the closest shelter. That's often the finished house one street over. New homeowners east of the loop tell the same story: the first summer is busy, especially on the last row of homes facing bare lots. Once the neighborhood fills in and yards get planted, things usually settle down, though edge lots stay busier.

Builders leave gaps around pipes, cables and garage doors, and those are the first things a scorpion control visit for new builds goes after. Ants and crickets fit into a routine pest control plan. Keep rock beds clear of dead plants, and add weatherstripping to the garage door before the first summer instead of after. If the builder left scrap lumber or stucco bags along the side yard, haul them off. Scorpions and black widows move into that kind of pile within a week, and so do pack rats if there's open desert behind you.

Album Park kitchens and leaky drip lines

Homes from the 1960s and 1970s around Album Park and Cielo Vista tend to have worn door seals, cracked stucco and aging plumbing. German roaches in the kitchen lead the calls there, and so do the apartment complexes along Zaragoza. That's work for an Eastside roach exterminator. Renters can call too, though plenty of complexes handle pest service through the office.

A lot of Eastside homes, old and new, have rock front yards with drip lines feeding the desert plants. It saves water, but a leaky emitter next to the slab gives ants and termites a damp spot exactly where they want one. Walk the drip lines in spring and fix leaks before summer. If you see mud tubes, a termite inspection on a slab home checks the slab edge, garage and baseboards in one go.

Keep going southeast, up onto the mesa, and you reach Horizon City. Head south toward the river and you're in the Lower Valley's older neighborhoods. The desert pest guide explains which bugs to expect in a new home and why.

Around East El Paso: Cielo Vista Mall · Album Park · Zaragoza Rd. · George Dieter Dr. · Joe Battle Blvd. (Loop 375) · Montwood area (ZIP 79925, 79935, 79936, 79938)

Also serving West El Paso, Upper Valley, Northeast El Paso, Lower Valley, Horizon City, Socorro, San Elizario, Canutillo, Sunland Park, NM.