Pest Control in East Flatbush, Brooklyn
East Flatbush lies east of Flatbush and south of Crown Heights, extending roughly from Empire Boulevard south toward Flatlands, with Brownsville to the east and Canarsie to the southeast. It is one of the largest Caribbean communities in the city, with many residents with roots in Jamaica, Haiti, Trinidad and Guyana. Tree-lined blocks of two-family brick row houses with front yards and driveways fill much of the area, along with some prewar apartment buildings. Church Avenue and Utica Avenue are busy commercial corridors. Kings County Hospital and SUNY Downstate form a major medical complex. The 2, 3 and 5 trains serve the western and northern edges.
Also known as: Rugby, Farragut, Remsen Village.
About East Flatbush
East Flatbush was once farmland belonging to the town of Flatbush, and parts of the area remained rural into the early 1900s. Developers built rows of brick homes in the 1920s and 1930s, and Jewish and Italian families settled here. Beginning in the 1960s and 1970s, Caribbean immigrants became the dominant community, transforming the commercial streets. Kings County Hospital, founded in the 1830s, grew into one of the largest public hospitals in the country.
Common Pest Problems in East Flatbush
Many East Flatbush homes are two-family brick row houses with backyards, detached garages and driveways, all of which give rats places to burrow and nest. Busy food businesses along Church and Utica Avenues add to the rodent pressure. Mice commonly enter houses through gaps around garage doors, basement windows and utility lines, especially during the colder months. Rats also burrow under concrete patios and along fences where yard debris piles up. Garden beds with fruit trees and vegetables, which are common in backyards here, can attract rodents too if fallen produce is left on the ground.
German cockroaches are an ongoing issue in the prewar apartment buildings and in two-family homes where units share plumbing. Wooden porches, decks and garages that sit close to damp soil can attract subterranean termites. Ants are also a regular warm-weather nuisance, often entering from backyard gardens and patios. Moist mulch beds and leaf litter against foundations make things worse. Homes with basement apartments may also notice mice and roaches moving between floors through gaps around plumbing, and seasonal spikes typically follow the first cold snaps of autumn.