Pest control in brazil

Hello again, group.

I am a twenty year veteran of the commercial and residential pest control industry. Back in the States I worked for a large commercial outfit, then went into business for myself, and afterward worked for several years as a museum pest tech.

Here in Guriri, there are hoards of insects that crop up in nearly every house i have visited, but no one seems particularly disturbed.

The insect situation with German cockroaches in restaurants is off the chain.

I see a guy every once in awhile in the street with a thermal fogger for mosquito control, but that's about it.

Is this typical throughout Brazil?

As a bug guy, i thought there would be a good market for pest services here due to the climate. But if no one cares if ants are crawling around in the sugar bowl or guests at local restaurants have a little extra unplanned protein on their plate, i guess my assessment was off.

In my opinion, Life is Life what I mean is what chemicals are involved with killing the pest. Are you involved with "Enviormential" friendly chemicals. It depends on where one lives, here in Belem it's mosquitos and small ants so we use a Water based repellant. If you can show the chemical as being natural/Enviormential / people friendly then it will sell. The chemicals I find that currently used here can be the equivalent of Roundup and Petroluem based are very hazardous to humans and animals. Brazil is evolving into a Enviormential friendly place. If you know of something that destroys plastic and makes it Enviormential friendly.As I see now Plastic Based and Petroleum based product is the real problem.

Armadillo,s are environment friendly,
                    But dont let the brazilian wife know, they eat them here

Lololol I have yet to see one but my fiancé mentions them constantly. I could find a leash, procure an armadillo, and offer to walk slowly through the house and clean up the infestation.

The lizards are pretty impressive too.

I don't see many bugs where I am near sao paulo....in fact I can't ever recall having seen a cockroach here , had some small ants burrowing in the kitchen wall though

In my job as a museum pest tech,  one of my jobs was to sift through the research that exists in relation to industry products.

There was a common factor i found in all research.

Chemical distributors do not have the time or inclination to conduct 20 or 30 years of research before they release a product. This goes for dishwashing detergent, shampoo, cosmetics, and most things that are used in daily life without a second thought. Research tends to focus on acute effects, and, as such, there is an x-factor involved in the use of any chemical, be it natural or synthetic.

There are indeed products out there that are highly inadvisable to use from both a health and an environmental standpoint.

I agree that the use of petroleum based products here in Brazil is highly elevated from that in the States. There are a number of problems associated with their use.

Natural products, however, and the consensus that they are not harmful because of the fact that they are derived from plants, is a result of clever marketing, and not necessarily scientific fact.

Arsenic is natural. So is the oil derived from poison ivy and cobra venom.

There is no doubt that they are natural, but they would not likely be good candidates for insect treatments.

It is interesting to note that the only reaction I ever had to a pesticide during responsible application was with pyrethrins, a product derived from chrysanthemum flowers.

I am not calling into question the obvious advantages of using mint oil over a proven bad-guy like, say, dursban, in carrying out pest services. Common sense dictates that there will likely be a vast improvement in environmental and health related consequences. I am simply noting that "natural" does not necessarily translate to "safe." A pest applicator who shows up at the door and uses the word "safe," whether they use natural or synthetic products, is telling a half truth. There is insufficient research to use that description. "Reduced-risk" might be a better option, and that is not just a slight of semantics. The two terms are vastly different. 

It would be better, IMO, if "natural" became less of a buzz word in the industry. 

And better still if pest control operators were honest in communicating that results between some of the more common water-based pyrethroids and natural products are not in the same ball park.More frequent treatments will be required with natural products, thus driving prices up to as much as double the standard rate.

Not arguing the ethics of responsible stewardship, just stating the intricacies.

I am moving! Lol. But from what i have heard from people who have lived ib sao paulo, it is a bit more chilly than northern regions? This may have some effect.

getting them up a ladder might be hard

I am moving! Lol. But from what i have heard from people who have lived ib sao paulo, it is a bit more chilly than northern regions? This may have some effect.

Bugs Have rights/lol. It's like certain states in the US, some pest are just born to be pest. I have the small ants here and I'm happy there small. I've seen maybe a few large cockroaches and a few small ones mostly outside. I have not had to live with them for years as I said earlier, this country has enough pesticides whether there Enviormential friendly or not.  I do not profess to be an authority on the subject. Just stating a objection to chemicals and the usage(remember the Olympic Pool)/lol. It also would be beyond most Brazilians economic factors to afford the service of extermination in this economy. I'm working on how to dissolve plastic/lol. That's my rant. No matter were you go "there's always something" !!! And let's not forget Pernambuco and the genetic modified mosquitoes  (jus sayn). Now killing mosquitoes that's what I like/lol for them things have no boundries (ouch).

What about Borax
Is Borax toxic?
borax is wholly natural and has no inherently toxic ingredients. It doesn't cause cancer, accumulate in the body or in nature, or absorb through the skin. Because the dose makes the poison, borax is not harmful to the body or the environment with normal usage any more than salt or baking soda is.

Agreed on the budget-buster. Most treatments I have seen here are between 300-600 reais. I certainly couldn't afford that by a long shot. But 30-50 resis a treatment might spark a bit of interest, if any interest actually exists. There are licencing requirements i will have to look into, but i dont want to go through a bunch of trouble if people are not really worried about pest problems. In truth, household ants arent a pest if the occupant isn't annoyed. Lol.

In theory, borax (boric acid) is reduced risk, with this stipulation: if ingested in suffucient quantities, it will cause mortality and there is no antidote to reverse the effects.

That said, i used boric acid as a dust in wall voids frequently as a layer of protection against insects.

There is a slight disadvantage in that it is nonrepellant, and ants (which were hands down the #1 reason residential accounts requested service in the states) are usually present in such numbers that the use of a repellant is needed to keep them at bay long enough for the bait product applied near the nest to take effect.

Terro, a very popular liquid bait product in the states, contains 5% boric acid.

I know people who routinely used borax in their mop water as a sort of insect deterrent. The problem is that the mixture leaves streaks on the floor, and with the prevalence of high gloss ceramic tiles here in brazil, it would likely turn the applicator into the pest that the client wants to get rid of.

All that said, i believe boric acid, if applied correctly, definitely has a place in a good pest control treatment, and has good long term residual effects without being chemically unfriendly to the residents.

I lived in São Paulo for 4 years. I used to record the little ants walking across my desk in front of my keyboard carrying stuff. Now I'm in Bertioga and we still have the little ants all over the place. My wife doesn't always seem to mind them, even when they're crawling in her sugar container. I keep my sugar container sealed airtight so no ants get in.

When I was in São Paulo, I was in a republica-shared housing situation. I used to laugh my ass off at the girls screaming when they saw a cockroach. Sometimes, they'd be the little ones about an inch in length that could only crawl. Other times they were the big boys at up to four inches in length and airmobile. Here in Bertioga they aren't as much of a problem, although my wife and I have killed a few since her son moved in and brought some of his stuff.

I got Terro/lol. I hate to get the "Lil Guys" now where's my Baygon/lol, It's life in these United States of Brazil. Mike you living large "Separate Sugar Bowls"/lol. When your in the States get some Borax (check to see if it's permitted). And no large Barbecue lighters!/lol

We have to have separate sugar bowls because she's addicted to coffee and I'm allergic to it. Even the little bit on the spoon when she dips it into the container is enough to make me sick.

IF I get lucky enough to have the $300 or so I need before the tickets I have expire (Aug 6th), I'll look into getting some Borax. But my main client hasn't been getting paid by the client of theirs that I write for, so I've had to dip somewhat deeply into the money my mother sent me to re-book our flight and nobody knows when I'll be able to get back to work.

My future mother in law got sick of the ants crawling in the sugar bowl, too.  She put a sort of deep-dish plate under the bowl, filled it with water, and solved the problem medieval style with a moat.
😂😂😂

Yup, something about ants and water, now if they ever learn to swim/lol
there little frickn terrorist/smh

Rjones44 wrote:

My future mother in law got sick of the ants crawling in the sugar bowl, too.  She put a sort of deep-dish plate under the bowl, filled it with water, and solved the problem medieval style with a moat.
😂😂😂


We had the same problem, what ant's and suger....sssssssssssso we and put the suger in a sealed contaner, "that stop the little bxxxer's

We tried a sealed container. They still got in. Now we put said sealed container in the refrigerator.

Hi Mike
it cant be a sealed container, if the ants get in, well not unless they got hands to pull the top off,
I have sealed containers, and the ants dont get in them, Maybe your's cheap one's

I can recommend two products: "Formitol" (for ants) and "Baratol" (for roaches). Both work the same way. You put a small drop on a tiny square of cardboard or paper. Put a few of those squares in your cabinets, etc. The bugs carry it back to the nest, and they all die. It works literally overnight, and one application lasts for several months.

Adorable side comment: My wife calls it "medicine." Hahahah.

spanishpete wrote:

Hi Mike
it cant be a sealed container, if the ants get in, well not unless they got hands to pull the top off,
I have sealed containers, and the ants dont get in them, Maybe your's cheap one's


It isn't a terribly expensive container. The top is threaded and it seems the threads aren't very tight, allowing the ants to climb in.

Hi Mike,,,,,,,I see,
so its not a good one, then
We dont have much Money here, but i Always try to buy the best, and dont care of the cost,
I live by this rule,
I belive this guy was one of yours

The bitterness of poor quality remains long after the sweetness of low price is forgotten” – Benjamin Franklin

Yeah. The container holds about 3 cups, give or take. We spent something like R$5 on it. I didn't want her to spend even that at the time because we're trying to save up for our trip to the US. It seems that some Brazilians don't worry about that. If they don't have the money to take a trip when they have vacation time, they don't worry about it, but they don't seem to worry about saving money for the trip at all.

When it comes to clothing, I prefer to spend the least amount possible, without regard to brand. With electronics, I will spend more to make sure I get good quality that will hopefully last.

Unfortunately, that didn't work out too well with my latest cell phone purchase, a Microsoft Lumia 535. I've had to reload the OS twice now and it's started going into an almost endless reboot cycle. The Wi-Fi adapter stopped working more than a month ago. Even when I have money to put credit on it, I can't get an internet signal with either TIM or Vivo. I'm given to understand that I've missed several dozen messages on Whatsapp as a result. Lately, even with credit on it, the only calls it lets me receive are the robo-calls from TIM and Vivo trying to sell services.

Its hard to find Quality in most of shops in brazil, i think Brazilian's, think!, If its "cheep", then its the best you can buy,
but its really cheep and nasty

          There is Quality products here, but you look for them

Yeah. I've noticed. I paid a pretty penny for a 9X13 teflon baking pan and it rusted within 3 months. I paid another pretty penny for a glass (supposedly Pyrex) 9X13 and it broke pulling it out of the oven on low heat. Chicken, juice, and glass everywhere and I was bare-footed at the time. My wife and I bought a wardrobe. It's like 4 inches too thin (front to back) for our clothes to hang correctly, the guy that was paid to assemble it never showed up to do so, and there was hardware missing from the package.  Good thing I've got 40+ years of experience as a mechanic and 15+ in construction, otherwise we'd have been ass out. As it is, the company never returned the R$200 we paid for assembly. "You should have waited however long it took the guy we contracted with to come assemble it."  Sorry. We paid for a specific day and he didn't even have the common courtesy to call and make excuses.

The only places I've found really decent quality here so far is a couple of churrascarias.

Bad quality everywhere, and bad servisse, seams to go hand in hand here,
i offer good service and good quality and at brazilian prices,
But the brazilians dont want it
they want poor everything,

The ones I've met want my chocolates and pizza. lol. Everybody says they're much better than anything they can buy elsewhere at any price. Honestly, I'd have to agree.

But my friend John and his tie-dye clothing? Not really. R$50 is too much for a hand-dyed t-shirt! R$80 is too much for a hand-dyed dress! Even though IF they could find comparable in a store, they'd be paying two or three times that. He uses reactive dyes and guarantees the colors not to fade for at least 5 years under normal usage.

Terro is my Hero. Amazing product from the windows to the walls watching those ants fall(kkkk/lol).
And they carry it back to the nest, wish I had a Go-Pro.

A gopro for an ant? I would pay 50 reais for five minutes of footage 😂😂😂

I like watching the little guys travel through the Terro and never return (lol) it's my understanding that the ants take it back to there nest and the colony gets wiped out (lol).
Now a gopro for a ant, very good idea and interesting thought maybe a virtual headset, with Nano Tech the sky is limitless. What can I buy locally \Brazil for the large cock roaches aka Waterbugs?

@Rjones44. I'm from Bolívia. I have a friend that have a pest control company. U know that USA is one of the most countries that has a lot of quality control on all activities. I think that your idea is perfect if you are trying to open a bussines in Brazil. I don't think Brazilians has more quality control and chemical management for your kind of bussines. If you have the expertise, and you apply all protocols that you use to apply in the USA. I mean you don't have a chance to loose. But for a second don't think in your product. Think in the market and how are you going to apply an extrategy to get clients. You have product and process. You don't work as a pest control employee. You sell the service. So... You need more experience in attracting clients than in your service. And you have to make people believe that having insects nearly is not normal. As I. The USA maybe some sectors doesn't care. But you need to create the need in those sectors and get clients that agree with you

I hope you the best. Hope this could help somehow

Sorry. My English is not perfect I give the best to make me. Understand

11/24/23 @Maurimur.  It's good idea to check the date of the last post in any thread you read, to see whether it's still active.  Please note that this thread has been inactive for over six years, and that no one who posted on it has posted anywhere on the site for at least three years.  The person you're responding to is long gone, and will probably never see your post.

@abthree Yes, only the bugs survive. 1f612.svg

Ahh, see this is where having a balanced ecosystem works. so situation where lets say neighbors lazy with removing old construction and scorpions nest. just make a line of honey from the ant line to the scorpion hatchery, Boom problem resolved.



Only thing ive seen that causes 1 type of bugs to aggressivly grow is where your in neighborhoods with lots of feral cats ruining the local flora and fauna