SAN DIEGO PEST CONTROL USING BARN OWLS

As a major metropolitan area, San Diego has its normal fare of urban rodent pests. These are mainly the house mouse and Norwegian rat. And because surrounding San Diego County also contains a great deal of agriculture, even more species of rodent pests are prevalent in the area, doing damage to crops, homes, and other structures. Such pests include the vole, the pocket gopher, and the roof rat.

San Diego Rodent Pests

House mice and rats carry disease, eat large amounts of stored foods, damage wooden structures by their constant chewing, and also damage electrical wiring. Voles inhabit grassland and farmland and cause expensive damage to vines and orchards, consuming fruit and sometimes girdling trees and vines so badly that they perish. Pocket gophers create huge burrow systems, create large mounds that interfere with machinery, and damage crops by chewing on roots. Roof rats live in trees and manmade structures and cause untold damage to citrus and other crops.

San Diego Pest Control

In other words, San Diego is a haven for harmful rodent pests. And there exists an abundance of pest control companies in the region. Such companies offer trapping and poisoning programs, both of which have their limitations. One limitation they hold in common is that such programs need to be relentless in their application–the moment that traps and poisons are withdrawn, rodents resume expanding their population with their high reproductive rate. Another is their relatively high cost per rodent taken. Lastly, poisons invariably find their way into the ecosystem, killing numerous other species of wildlife.

Barn Owls in San Diego

But the unique and rather amazing barn owl offers a solution that both offers relentless pressure on rodent populations and lower costs and maintenance. A single occupied nest box at an original cost of under $200 will normally house two barn owl adults and four offspring that will, over a year’s time, consume over 1200 rodents. That is a cost per rodent taken at 17 cents each, contrasting strongly with the estimated cost of around $8 per rodent taken by trapping. Each box needs cleaned out only once per year.

And San Diego residents, from farmers to property owners, have been catching on to this growing trend as more and more nest boxes are installed for natural pest control. The solution for pest control using barn owls is simple: install a nest box to attract a pair, and let the barn owls work each night to reduce your rodent pests.

Barn owls are very common in the region, giving San Diego pest control an option that is highly viable, inexpensive, and also helps conserve these beautiful white, golden winged owls. Nest boxes normally achieve 80 to 100% occupancy in their first season or two. Once established, barn owls tend to remain faithful to the area, breeding year after year.