Pest Control in Burnaby, BC

Not the strongest kind around homes. Since January 21, 2023, B.C. has restricted second-generation anticoagulant rodenticides (brodifacoum, bromadiolone and difethialone) to essential services such as grocery stores and food banks, and even there only where rodents are present and other methods have failed. The Province’s guide calls snap traps the best option, and pest control companies can still offer trapping, sealing and baiting with other rodenticides.

Rodent work runs as a three-visit program: $495–$650 + GST for a house and $395–$495 + GST for a condo. Each program closes gaps as big as a toonie, and bigger openings are quoted separately as exclusion work. Exterior bait stations, where they suit the property, cost a $150 + GST minimum to set up, then $78.75–$95 + GST a visit, and you can cancel with 30 days’ notice.

For a bear, cougar or coyote that threatens people, call the BC Conservation Officer Service at 1-877-952-7277, any time of day. For an injured or orphaned wild animal, the Wildlife Rescue Association’s centre is at the Glencarin entrance of Burnaby Lake Regional Park, 604-526-7275. On SFU’s Burnaby campus, Campus Public Safety takes wildlife reports at 778-782-4500. Phantom doesn’t handle bears, cougars or coyotes.

Yes, through wildlife control. We locate the entry point, wait until the animal has gone, then seal it; trapping can’t be guaranteed, so the job is about keeping animals out. Conservation officers don’t attend raccoon, skunk or squirrel problems, and the Province points property owners to a licensed pest control company. Raccoon droppings can carry roundworm, a parasite that can make people and pets seriously ill. For squirrels in a garden, see our humane ways to keep squirrels out.

It may be European chafer, which the Province says is now present throughout Burnaby. Skunks, raccoons and birds dig lawns for the grubs in fall and winter, and treatments work best from April to September, before egg laying or while the grubs are small. We treat chafer too; see beetle control.

Yes. European fire ants have been detected in Burnaby and other Metro Vancouver communities. They nest in lawns, garden beds and under stones or wood, and they spread mostly in soil, mulch and potted plants, so moving plants can move a colony. Disturbed ants sting people and pets repeatedly, and the stings can cause serious allergic reactions. See ant control for treatment.

A K9 bed bug detection comes first: Phantom requires it before bed bug treatment. Burnaby’s Pesticide Notification Bylaw then requires written notice at least 72 hours before a pesticide is applied in a suite in a building with three or more units, unless the occupant agrees to less. Bed bugs can live from several weeks to a year and a half without feeding, so an empty suite isn’t a quick fix. The preparation sheet lists what to do before we arrive.

Only in limited cases on residential lots and City land. Burnaby’s Pesticide Use Control Bylaw, in force since April 1, 2009, bans pesticides there unless the bylaw allows them. It exempts pesticides used inside a building, treatments for an infestation that creates an immediate risk of structural damage or significant financial loss, and biological control of pests such as rats and mice, and it permits listed products such as rodenticides and nematodes. Breaking it can bring a fine of up to $10,000.