The Bug Guy They Were Here First : Pest Season in the West Valley
refrigerator, have opinions about it, and are sharing those opinions with forty thousand of their closest friends. Cockroaches, meanwhile, are simply living their best life. The desert variety did not get the memo about being secretive. They walk across your kitchen at noon. In good lighting. Making eye contact. They are 65 million years old and have survived five mass extinctions, and something about that history makes them extremely difficult to embarrass. The solution, of course, is a good local pest control plan — perimeter treatment, sealed entry points, and the monthly visit from a professional who has seen things and remains calm about them. Schedule it before May hits, not after. Treating an active infestation reactively is like mopping during a monsoon. The West Valley is beautiful, warm, and gloriously sunny. It is also, technically, a desert, and the original residents — the ones with exoskeletons — have not forgotten that. Shake your shoes. Call your guy. Enjoy the sunsets. Submitted by Larry Cash, of Estrella Mountain Pest Control.
Every Spring, West Valley residents perform the same sacred ritual: stepping barefoot onto the patio, inhaling the warm desert air, and immediately retreating inside after spotting something with eight legs that appears to be assessing property values. Welcome to pest season. The scorpions have been planning this since February. The bark scorpion is the undisputed mascot of the West Valley in May. Translucent, glow-in-the-dark under a blacklight, and capable of squeezing through a gap the width of a credit card, it is nature’s way of reminding Goodyear, Avondale, and Surprise residents that no amount of HOA dues buys you safety from the Sonoran Desert. They climb walls. They climb ceilings. They have been found inside shoes, towels, and — in one legendary Buckeye incident — inside a Croc, which frankly feels like a personal attack. The ants arrive next, organized with a military precision that would impress a logistics consultant. Argentine ants form supercolonies that span the whole street, which means your neighbor Dave’s failure to treat his yard last October is now your kitchen’s problem. They have located the crumb under your
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10 Estrella Publishing - Viva magazine
May 2026
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