Rodent Control in Sahuarita and Green Valley

Down I-19, a lot of it comes down to things that sit. Sahuarita has the big pecan groves along the Santa Cruz River and newer neighborhoods like Rancho Sahuarita. Green Valley has plenty of retirees and part-year residents, with patio homes, townhomes and single-story houses on desert lots, and the Santa Ritas filling the view to the east.

A house, a car or a golf cart that sits closed from May to October is an open invitation. So calls here tend to be about pack rats in the landscaping and the garage, mice in storage areas, and snowbirds coming home to droppings.

Near the pecan groves and the river

The pecan orchards and the Santa Cruz River corridor give rodents food and cover, and homes close to those edges see more traffic. The land slopes from the river up toward the Santa Ritas, with washes coming down from Madera Canyon. As a rule of thumb, homes east of I-19 sit closer to open desert and see more pack rats, and homes on the river side see more mice.

Green Valley patio homes add a twist: shared walls and courtyards. A rodent in one unit can reach the next, so if you hear scratching along a shared wall, talk to your neighbor and the HOA so everybody checks at once. Pack rat trapping is the usual first step on the desert side.

Before you head north for the summer

Seal the garage door gaps, or have a tech handle sealing before a long trip. Take the pet food and birdseed out of the garage, and ask a neighbor to look at the car now and then. Golf carts are a way of life in parts of Green Valley, and they get nested in just like cars. Check under the seat and around the batteries, and look for chewed wiring before the first trip to the store in October. If something's been chewed, the tech treats it like any car engine rodent problem.

If you come home to droppings, air the place out, glove up and use the wet cleanup method, or have the cleanup done for you if it's a big mess. Up the road in Vail and on Tucson's west side, the same summer pattern shows up.

The carport closet off Continental Rd.

In the older parts of Green Valley, a lot of homes have carports, often with a little storage closet at the end. That closet is where the mice end up: paint cans, holiday decorations, a bag of birdseed somebody forgot about. Clear the floor, put the seed in a metal can, and check the bottom of the closet door for a gap. It's a small fix that saves a messy fall.

Around Sahuarita and Green Valley: Rancho Sahuarita and Sahuarita Lake Park · Santa Cruz River pecan groves · Titan Missile Museum · Continental Rd. and Duval Mine Rd. · Madera Canyon (Santa Rita Mountains) (ZIP 85614, 85622, 85629)

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