Rodent Control in Tanque Verde and East Tucson

The east side is really two places. Closer in, off Speedway and Broadway, it's 1960s and 70s slab ranch homes with carports. Out past Sabino Canyon Rd. and Houghton the lots open up into the Tanque Verde Valley at the foot of the Rincons, with horse properties, acreage and Saguaro National Park East on the far edge.

Tanque Verde Wash and Agua Caliente Wash run through it, lined with mesquite and big trees, and Pantano and Tanque Verde Washes come together to form the Rillito. All that brush holds a lot of pack rats and deer mice, and they don't have far to go to reach a barn, a shed or a parked truck. Up the hill in the Foothills near Sabino Canyon it's the same desert.

After a monsoon runs the Tanque Verde Wash

Late summer storms run these washes hard. When water fills a wash, whatever was living on the banks heads for higher, drier ground, and that can mean your shed, your woodpile or your garage. A lot of east side homeowners notice new activity the week after a big storm. It's not your imagination. Walk the yard after the water goes down and look for fresh cactus pieces near the shed and the wall.

On acreage, the trouble spots are the feed room, the hay, the tack room and the horse trailer or ranch truck parked by the barn. Mesquite bosques along the wash give cover right up to the house. Bigger places often do better with recurring ranch and barn service than a one-time visit, and trapping pack rats on big lots is where most jobs start.

Carports on the older blocks off Speedway

Closer in, the older block homes with carports leave cars out in the open at night. If you've had chewed wires, say so on the call. The tech checks the carport, the nearest cactus and any shed along the back wall, and our guide for car owners has habits that help in the meantime. These houses also tend to have worn garage doors, old roof vents and gaps where utility lines come in, which is where sealing older block homes comes in.

Deer mice turn up in casitas, tack rooms and storage rooms, mostly once the weather cools, and mouse trapping takes care of those. When you call, tell us whether you're on acreage or in a neighborhood closer in, since it changes what the tech looks at and how long they'll be out. Down south in Rita Ranch you'll find a similar mix on smaller lots.

Where the road ends at the national park

Out toward Old Spanish Trail and the Saguaro National Park East boundary, there's nothing but desert past the fence. Homes out there live in pack rat country full time. A midden in the cholla flats a hundred yards out isn't worth worrying about. The ones that matter are the piles creeping up toward the barn, the woodpile and the carport, and that's where a tech puts the effort.

Around Tanque Verde and East Side: Tanque Verde Rd. and Tanque Verde Wash · Agua Caliente Park · Saguaro National Park East (Rincon Mountain District) · Sabino Canyon Rd. · Houghton Rd. and Speedway Blvd. (ZIP 85715, 85730, 85748, 85749)

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