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Pest Control Technician vs Licensed Exterminator

Pest Control Technician vs Licensed Exterminator

Technicians

A technician is an unlicensed individual who often works at an extermination company due to other skills like at heights training and experience in roofing or construction. While they cannot handle pesticides on their own, they can perform many other jobs that fall under the unlicensed industry of wildlife removal. The major difference between wildlife and pests is you can kill pests. However, you cannot kill, under any circumstances, any animal other than a mouse or rat. Squirrels may be rodents but they are a protected class of animals that cannot be killed. The same goes for skunks, raccoons and birds and bats. Wildlife cannot be killed or exterminated, they must be forced out through a device called a One Way Door. This device allows the animal to leave at their leisure, usually when they run out of stored food, and then prevents them from getting back into space. This can be assisted with something any technician can do: Exclusion. Exclusion is the process of using various devices, the most common is steel mesh, to cut off access to various places around the house. Vent covers, deck exclusion and more can be done for a reasonable price and often comes with long warranties of multiple years. The effect is a drastic reduction in wildlife’s ability to invade your home and access certain parts of your property. Without exclusion and the One Way Door, animal removal would be impossible.

Rodents are another group of pests that can be treated by an unlicensed technician. They do not need any special allowance from any government body to perform rodent exterminations on either rats or mice. However, commercial grade rodenticide is a protected substance and cannot be purchased in a grocery or hardware store. Instead of requiring a license the ministry simply sets required guidelines that must be followed. While bait can still be placed in bails without protection in domestic locations they must be locked in tamper-proof bait stations. Without a bait station, the poison could be accessed by protected wildlife who’s death could spark criminal charges.

The final jobs that a technician can perform without a pest control license are the removal of dead animals and feces. Anyone with the training, tools and protective gear can remove feces or a dead animal from a residential or business property. They can also clean any feces situations, wild animals and rodents. They can use commercial hospital-grade sterilizers without a license and deodorizers that can be purchased without a license.

Licensed exterminator

Pest control

The process of pest extermination is not just a simple application of a pesticide to cure all that ails you. Pesticide use for the extermination of a complex system of chemicals that have specific application procedures for different pests and different aspects of individual pests, a large amount of information needs to be taken into account to perform full pest extermination including the exact species of pest, it is not enough to know what it is a cockroach infestation, is it brown cockroaches or oriental? Are the wasps yellow jackets or paper wasps? A paper wasp nest can be killed or even safely relocated without harming the otherwise gentle wasps, and very easily and without the cost of an exterminator. While an underground yellow jacket nest is specifically difficult not just to find but to exterminate. They tend to build soccer ball-sized nest in old rodent burrows or holes they dig themselves. This can be a nightmare to remove on your own and requires skill and a licensed structural exterminator to deal with. The process involved is not just “spray nest”, there is a process, including the use of several chemicals depending on the location of the nest, if inside of a structure, between walls gaseous pesticides will have to be used. If it is a nest hanging in a tree the pesticides can be sprayed and function on contact. All of these chemicals require a trained and licensed professional to perform.

Vaults

One powerful method of extermination is limited wholly to the structural exterminator. It is the only method that works for many objects that have been infested by hard to kill pests like cockroaches and termites. The object must first be locked into space, a garage or large shipping container is fine, the pesticide does not need to be sealed in, it simply needs to be contained reasonably, this can be accomplished by simply draping the object in enough drop clothes to substantially limit the escape of the gases. This process can successfully resolve a termite problem but is extremely expensive and not something many extermination companies are willing to do. It is called tenting and the entire house must be draped and then filled with powerful pesticides for an extended period. This is primarily and almost exclusively used for termites.

Overseer

Technician and Trainee

If a technician is being overseen by a licensed exterminator with reasonable experience on the field the technician will be able to handle the pesticides and perform the sprays as long as the licensed exterminator remains on-site and given the process. In this situation, the trainee or technician is free to do the full job without the exterminator touching anything. The exterminator must be present for the whole treatment and must guide the tech or trainee in performing the extermination, both preparing them beforehand and guiding them on the day of the job. This is generally not done by new exterminators who have had a license for less than 5 years. An overseeing exterminator should be very experienced in the treatment of the relevant pest.

Becoming a licensed exterminator

The ministry works with Guelph university to administer the exterminators exam. They will place the exam in a location that will be easy for you to access. There are two exams, one is the core and an open book test. The second is specific to the type of exterminator you want to be and is a closed book test. Make sure to study the core and make lots of notes with post-it notes to make information quick and easy to access. Take notes for yourself in the specialized textbook because you will not get to bring it into the exam but the test is multiple choice so it is easier. This exam is not here to trick people or to keep certain people out of the business. It is simply a way to ensure the licensed exterminators of Ontario or capable and well trained.

Article Updated: September 9 ,2020