April 16th, 2020 by Sarah Miles

As if we didn’t have enough to worry about at the moment, the UK lockdown could potentially create conditions that bring different issues we wouldn’t usually see. One of these could potentially be a rise in pests. There are a few reasons for this:

Empty public and commercial buildings

Because of the lockdown, many public and commercial buildings are now closed and therefore stood empty; buildings such as leisure centres, community halls, warehouses and factories. Animals, and pests, in particular, can adapt to changing environments very quickly and may be allowed to infest such spaces in an uncontrolled way. This could see the rise of pests such as rats and mice.

Preventative pest control regimes disrupted

Although pest control is deemed an essential service, many pest control professionals may be focusing resources on emergencies or just be unable to access buildings because of the shutdown. Likewise, programmes undertaken by facility managers may also come to a stop. This means that ongoing preventative pest control measures cannot be continued, thus enabling pests to increase in numbers, unrestricted. This could also apply to rats and mice.

More food waste in homes

Because most of us are at home all the time, we are eating all our meals at home whereas we would previously have eaten some of our meals at work or school or in restaurants and cafes away from home. More food consumed means more food waste. The increased rat population in empty buildings could soon find themselves seeking food elsewhere and the extra food waste could tempt them into residential areas.

In addition to rats, this could also lead to an increase in flies and ants and combined with warmer spring weather, could become a significant issue.

How can you deal with pests during lockdown?

If you do notice any kind of infestation, it is really important that you deal with it quickly. You may think that it’s something that can wait until lockdown conditions are relaxed, however delaying it only allows the infestation to worsen. There are also significant health risks associated with rats and flies, such as hantavirus, that should not be ignored.

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You do have the option to call in a pest control professional; as stated earlier, they are essential workers and allowed to continue to provide their services. However, you can deal with these issues yourself using solutions such as bait stations for rats, bait stations, dusting powder, trigger sprays, and smoke bombs for ants, and electric fly killers for flies. All these items can be ordered online so there’s no need to physically go to a shop if you’re wary about doing that or self-isolating and can’t leave the home. It also means that you can deal with the issue yourself and don’t have to allow someone from outside the household into your home – thereby allowing you to continue to comply with social distancing guidelines.