Pest Control in Northeast El Paso

Northeast El Paso sits on the long slope running down the east face of the Franklins toward Fort Bliss, from Dyer St. up past Transmountain Rd. A lot of the homes in the middle, around Castner Heights and Hondo Pass, date from the 1950s through the 1980s: block wall yards, low or flat roofs, and a swamp cooler up top humming away all summer. Newer subdivisions keep pushing north toward the New Mexico line, right up against open desert.

Mountain on one side, desert on the other. Scorpions, harvester ants and pack rats get plenty of chances to move in, and with Fort Bliss next door, so do the pests that ride in moving boxes.

Swamp coolers, weep holes and spring wind

Rooftop coolers are great until they leak. A dripping cooler line keeps a wall damp, which pulls in roaches and termites, and a loose duct opening is an easy way into the attic for mice. Have the tech look at the cooler and where the ducts meet the roof. Fall is when rodent sealing around swamp cooler ducts really earns its keep.

Down at ground level, block walls with weep holes give black widows and scorpions a place to live right along your property line. Spring wind doesn't help. It blows sand and junk against the walls and garage doors, grinds down the seals and builds little piles of cover. A quick sweep along the base of the walls each April takes away a lot of hiding spots, and a scorpion exterminator who works Northeast block walls can treat the weep holes and rock beds and seal the garage line.

Harvester ants and pack rats by the Wilderness Park Museum

Homes near the Wilderness Park Museum, along the foothills and next to empty lots on the far Northeast side see the most desert pests. Harvester ants clear big bare circles in gravel yards, and their stings are no joke, so keep kids and dogs away from the mounds. Pack rats build stick and cactus piles along fences and under sheds. Don't reach into one bare-handed. Ants, crickets and black widows fit into a perimeter pest plan for desert-edge homes, and the pack rats can go on the same visit.

New orders, new rental, roaches in week two

Plenty of Northeast homes are rentals, and military families move in and out on a regular cycle. Boxes and used furniture carry German roaches and bed bugs from one house to the next. If you just moved in and see roaches in the kitchen in the first few weeks, call early, since a small problem is a lot easier to knock down than one that's had months. Check the lease too, because many landlords cover pest service. Bites at night are a reason to ask for a bed bug inspection.

Transmountain cuts across the mountain to the Westside, which has the same foothill scorpion trouble. Past Fort Bliss and the airport to the southeast are the Eastside's newer slab neighborhoods. For do-it-yourself steps, read how to keep scorpions out of an El Paso home.

Around Northeast El Paso: Dyer St. · Hondo Pass Ave. · Transmountain Rd. · Wilderness Park Museum · Castner Heights · Fort Bliss nearby (ZIP 79904, 79924, 79934)

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