Rodent Control in Arcadia, Phoenix

Arcadia is where the Valley's roof rat story started. Around 2002, people living at the foot of Camelback Mountain started finding oranges and grapefruit hollowed out on the tree, and the calls poured in. University of Arizona Extension material on that outbreak describes thousands of bait stations built and handed out in a matter of days.

Twenty-some years later, the neighborhood still has everything that drew them: mature citrus, flood irrigation, tall palms and thick hedges. If you're in 85018 and hearing scratching over the bedroom, you've got plenty of company.

Old grove lots, flood irrigation and tile roofs

A lot of Arcadia lots were cut out of old citrus groves. They're flat, irrigated and big, usually a ranch house set back from the street with a pool and a long block wall lined with oleander. The Arizona Canal runs along the north side with Camelback right behind it. Flood irrigation keeps the trees full and the canopies huge, and on lots this size those canopies reach right over the roof. A rat can go from the grapefruit to the attic without touching the ground.

Plenty of the original ranch houses have been remodeled or torn down and rebuilt with new tile roofs, and the open eave ends on those roofs are a favorite way in. The ones that haven't been redone still have tired vents and roof jacks. Ask the tech to check where the trees meet the roofline and where the tile row meets the fascia, and ask about sealing tile eaves and vents. Have them look at the casita, pool house and detached garage too. Rats often settle there before they move into the main house.

Hollow grapefruit season

Most Arcadia calls are roof rats, and most of them come in the cooler months when the fruit's on. Hollow oranges, noise in the attic and rats running the wall tops at dusk, in about that order. Roof rat trapping is the usual place to start, a yard plan for the big citrus lots is usually next, and once the rats are gone a lot of Arcadia attics need insulation cleanup. The citrus and roof rat guide lays out the fruit plan by season.

South of Camelback Road, Arcadia Lite has smaller lots and houses closer together, so rats move faster from yard to yard along shared walls. Getting the neighbors on the same fruit-picking schedule makes a real difference there, and the alley-side hedges deserve a trim too. The same pattern runs east into older south Scottsdale and northwest to the big lots of North Central.

Around Arcadia: Camelback Mountain · Arizona Canal trail · Arcadia Lite, south of Camelback Rd. · Indian School Rd. and 44th St. · Lafayette Blvd. · Arcadia Dr. citrus lots (ZIP 85018)

Also serving Ahwatukee Foothills, North Central & Sunnyslope, Encanto & Willo, Maryvale, Paradise Valley Village & Desert Ridge, Scottsdale, Tempe, Glendale, Mesa.