This is a question people ask all over the world. In poor countries, most people have to live with pests like rats and cockroaches and with the medical issues that come with them. Living in a country like Canada where most people can easily afford a pest or wildlife treatment are blessed to be in such a fruitful country. While trying to do the work yourself may fail spectacularly and even make the infestation immune to commercial treatments it is still the goal of all people to save a buck. What you can do for an infestation depends entirely on what and where the infestation is. If you have mice in your home you can deal with that, house mice at least. What about wild mice in your attic? Does your attic even have an entrance? Is it finished or will you have to balance on the struts? Either way, it’s dangerous. Going into the attic to inspect for mouse activity and then treating it will require you to go up there relatively frequently and to prevent further infestations you will have to get on a ladder and climb up onto your roof and seal up any opening you can find that will allow mice into your attic. This is the type of work that can kill even a trained roofer. In the winter, which is when these mice enter the attic for warmth, is even more dangerous with a snow-covered roof and a wet slippery ladder. This kind of work is meant for professionals.
You may have cockroaches in your home. Some of them can be handled by domestic treatments assuming they are done correctly. You will first have to clean the house for prevention, seal up dripping taps and open drains and then treat the roach issue with an array of domestic poisons and products from gel bait to diatomaceous earth. The battle will rage on for months and if you fail you could make the cockroaches immune to a commercial treatment. This goes for rats and mice. If you try to trap them and fail then when a professional comes to trap them they may fail as well. This is because you taught the rats about the traps and how to avoid them by laying them improperly. Rats are a severe infestation that appears on the exterior of the building first and then slowly penetrates. Rats prefer to live outside and dealing with them starts there. You will need poison bait and many traps to kill them. If you have them in the house then you will need to kill them solely with traps. This is because a rat that dies in the walls will rot and create both a smell and a stain that will require removal of the wall to resolve the issue.
This kind of work is done by professionals for a reason. It is difficult, dirty and generally the worst kind of work anyone can do. The fees may seem high, but that is because they are well trained and licensed, with trucks and expensive commercial materials and pesticides. Treating your home will end the infestation much faster than you can and will likely come with a warranty on the service. If it does not come with a warranty, call a different company. All commercial pest treatments must come with a warranty of at least three to six months to deal with the problem permanently.
