Pest control in Bucks County, PA: termites, rats and county help
Updated · KeystoneProGuide editorial team
What should you know about pest control in Bucks County?
That the county health department does some of the work a homeowner might expect to pay for, and that the county's postwar housing shapes the termite question. A pest control company working here needs the same state pesticide license as anywhere in Pennsylvania; the county adds programs and an office for complaints, not a license.
Does the county help with rats?
Yes. The Bucks County Department of Health runs a Rodent Vector Control Program under the county's disease vector control rules. It surveys properties, enforces rodent control and gives advice to private residences as well as businesses and municipal property. It acts on written complaints, made on the county's form SA-2 and sent to the nearest district office, and it has a handout on rat control. The program can be reached at 215-345-3333, at Neshaminy Manor Center in Doylestown.
Because the program covers private residences and municipal, industrial and commercial properties alike, a complaint can concern the property the rats are coming from, not only your own.
What if you rent?
About 22.2 percent of the county's 249,187 occupied homes are rented, according to the Census Bureau. The department's housing hygiene program enforces county rules on sanitation in rental units and responds to housing and nuisance complaints, again in writing on form SA-2 or by letter. Ask the department what its rules require of a landlord before you pay for treatment yourself.
Are termites a concern in Bucks County homes?
They can be, and the county's building history is part of why. Penn State Extension says eastern subterranean termites are present throughout Pennsylvania and that problems usually appear 10 years or more after construction. Only 9.9 percent of Bucks housing units were first built in 1939 or earlier, against 25.0 percent statewide, and 5.7 percent were built since 2010, so most homes are old enough to be past that point.
Levittown is the county's best-known example. The Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia says Levitt and Sons built slightly more than 17,300 homes there between 1952 and 1958, on concrete slabs, across Bristol, Falls and Middletown townships and Tullytown Borough. Penn State notes that in a building with extensive infestation, flooring and wall framing can be damaged, and that this is often the case where houses are built on concrete slabs. Most Pennsylvania infestations, it says, are found in basements and the timbers just above the cellar walls. A slab house has no cellar, and Penn State's list of places to look also includes door frames and trim set into a concrete floor.
Penn State also says baits can be the better choice where conventional soil treatment is ill advised, such as near wells or with ducts set in the slab. Ask any company quoting a slab house how it will reach the soil under the slab and what it will drill.
Does the county spray for mosquitoes?
The health department runs an annual mosquito-borne disease program with the state Department of Environmental Protection. Adult mosquito trapping runs from April through October, the mosquitoes are tested by the state laboratory, and the department sprays for adult mosquitoes when infection rates pass set thresholds. Mosquito problems on a property are investigated through the same SA-2 written complaint.
Where do you complain about a company?
Bucks County has its own consumer office. Consumer Protection mediates complaints against businesses inside or outside the county, and the problems it lists include false statements that services or repairs are needed and unsatisfactory home repairs. A complaint about how a pesticide was applied goes to the state Department of Agriculture, which Penn State lists at 1-717-772-5231.
How do you check a company here?
Use the Department of Agriculture's business license lookup, which can be filtered by county, and look for the BU license number Penn State says must appear on both sides of every vehicle used for pesticide work. About 77.8 percent of occupied homes here are owner-occupied, so for most households the choice of company is their own. The state rules are in Pennsylvania's rules for exterminators, and companies serving the county are on the Bucks County pest control page.
Sources
- 2020-2024 ACS 5-Year Narrative Profile: Bucks County, Pennsylvania, U.S. Census Bureau
- 2020-2024 ACS 5-Year Narrative Profile: Pennsylvania, U.S. Census Bureau
- Levittowns (Pennsylvania and New Jersey), Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia
- Eastern Subterranean Termites, Penn State Extension
- Rodent (Rat) Vector Control, Bucks County Department of Health
- Housing Hygiene and Sanitation, Bucks County Department of Health
- West Nile Virus, Bucks County Department of Health
- Consumer Protection/ Weights & Measures, Bucks County
- Pesticide Application Businesses, Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture
- Choosing a Qualified Pest Management or Lawn Care Company, Penn State Extension