Tenant demanding I bring in pest control for ants

[Derek Daun]

I have a tenant in a ground floor aparment with a minor ant issue. I plan on getting it resolved as soon as I can, but I'm looking for insight into whether the best course of action would be to call in an exterminator now, vs taking care of it myself, which is how I've always gotten it done in the past.

My tenants leaves food for her cat every morning, and has found ants crawling over the cat food for the third time in two weeks. She is DEMANDING that we bring in an exterminator. She gets very emotional with anything regarding her cat.

My regular process for ants is baiting and Tarro, but they haven't taken the bait yet. I believe they are simple sugar ants, but I'm not an expert. My next step would be to get some insect guard around the house. Additionaly, there is some caulking that should be done in the apartment anyway, so I want to try to seal it up better regardless.

I'm hesitant to bring in a professional at this point, but I'm not sure if my pre-disposition against that idea is correct or not. My reasons being:

• Might take time to get it right, i.e might not be that much more affective than doing it myself
• Harsh chemicals throughout the yard.
• cost/time

Is her request for immediate exterminator reasonable?

[Barbara G.]

Tell your tenant that getting rid of the ants is a partnership job.  You are going to do your job and tell how what you are going to do next  and she has to do her job.

Tell her your plan and just how quicklly you are going to implement it and tell her what her plan must be.  That is feeding the cat and then picking up the food and washing the bowl or using disposable dishes for the cat.  

If she tells you she wants you to use Pest Service tell her you are doing exactly what a professional does and your budget for that house does not support that expense.