Rodent Control in Casas Adobes

Casas Adobes has some of the oldest desert yards in town. It covers a big piece of northwest Tucson around Oracle Rd., Ina Rd., La Cholla Blvd. and Magee Rd., from 1960s and 70s ranch homes to newer houses on hillside lots. Tohono Chul is at Ina and Oracle, and the Canada del Oro Wash and the Rillito frame the area.

Mesquite, palo verde, prickly pear and cholla grow front and back, some of it planted decades ago. A prickly pear clump that old can hold a midden that's been handed down for years. Add casitas, workshops and sheds that sit closed most of the year, and there's plenty of room for pack rats and mice.

Decades-old prickly pear and the woodpile

Big old prickly pear clumps, woodpiles and stacks of lumber are where the middens are. Hillside homes north of Ina sit right against natural desert, while the older streets near Oracle have walled yards and mature trees. Both get pack rats, and most of those calls turn into pack rat trapping in mature yards. You don't have to get rid of the woodpile, but get it up off the ground and away from the house.

The Canada del Oro Wash and the smaller washes that feed the Rillito run through, with brush along their banks, and homes backing to a wash see the most traffic. Neighbors to the north in Oro Valley and east in the Catalina Foothills deal with the same desert-yard pattern.

Carports, original garage doors and closed-up casitas

A lot of the 1960s and 70s homes here have carports, which leaves the car a few feet from an old cactus bed. If you find sticks or cactus on the engine, look for a midden near where you park and mention it on the call, since rats in the engine almost always live close by.

The older houses also have original garage doors, roof vents and flat roofs with parapets, and mice find their way in through all of it. The fix usually starts with house mouse removal and finishes with closing up the old vents and gaps. Casitas and workshops that sit shut are another steady call, especially the ones with a window AC unit that leaves a gap around the frame. For a small mess, follow our step-by-step cleanup.

Boulders and drain pipes north of Ina

North of Ina, the hillside lots sit in natural desert with boulders, retaining walls and drain pipes. Pack rats like boulders as much as cactus. A pile wedged between two big rocks behind the house is common up there, and so are nests in the drain pipes poking out of retaining walls. A screen over the pipe outlet helps. A midden under big rocks is a job for the tech.

Around Casas Adobes: Tohono Chul · Casas Adobes Plaza at Oracle Rd. and Ina Rd. · La Cholla Blvd. and Magee Rd. · Canada del Oro Wash (ZIP 85704, 85741)

Also serving Catalina Foothills, Oro Valley, Marana, Tanque Verde and East Side, Midtown and Sam Hughes, Vail, Sahuarita and Green Valley, Rita Ranch, South Tucson and West Side.