Rodent Control in Glendale, Arizona

Glendale's rodent calls look a lot like Phoenix next door. Around Historic Downtown Glendale and the Catlin Court district, early 1900s bungalows have mature trees and plenty of small gaps. Central Glendale neighborhoods from the 1950s through the 1970s have block walls, fruit trees and aging roofs.

Up north, Arrowhead Ranch and the neighborhoods near Thunderbird Conservation Park have newer homes next to desert, and that brings pack rats into it.

Catlin Court bungalows and midcentury blocks

Most of Glendale is flat west Valley ground that was farmland not that long ago. Downtown has the oldest houses, with wood trim, original vents and detached garages. Rings of midcentury block homes spread out from there, with carports, patios and fruit trees. Older homes tend to have open gable vents, retired swamp cooler openings, worn garage seals, and converted carports with seams where new walls meet old ones. Roof rats come in from the fruit trees and palms up top. Mice come in at ground level.

Central Glendale calls are mostly mouse trapping, with roof rats in the fruit trees close behind, since a lot of central Glendale homes have citrus out back feeding them all winter (rat control for citrus yards covers that). Homes of every age do better after closing vents, cooler openings and garage gaps, and bungalows can be sealed with mesh and screen without changing how the house looks. Just south, Maryvale has houses of the same era and the same mix.

• Screen gable and roof vents with metal mesh
• Seal unused swamp cooler openings
• Trim fruit trees away from the roof

Arrowhead lakes and the Thunderbird desert edge

North Glendale rises toward the hills of Thunderbird Conservation Park, with newer stucco homes and tile roofs. Near the park and other open desert, pack rats build nests under sheds and in desert plants, and that's where most pack rat calls come from. Keep debris and cactus clear of the house, and call if a nest keeps growing. Sheds that back onto the desert are the first thing worth checking.

Arrowhead Ranch also has lakes and golf course edges with more trees and water than the desert lots around it, so roof rats show up in north Glendale too. Homes along the water should keep palms trimmed and branches off the roof. Sahuaro Ranch Park, with its historic orchard right in the middle of the city, is a good reminder of how much fruit grows in Glendale yards. The Valley rodent-proofing guide walks through the same spots a tech checks.

Around Glendale: Historic Downtown Glendale · Catlin Court Historic District · Sahuaro Ranch Park · Thunderbird Conservation Park · Arrowhead Ranch · 59th Ave. and Glendale Ave. (ZIP 85301, 85302, 85304, 85306, 85308, 85310)

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