Pest Control in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn
Sheepshead Bay wraps around the narrow inlet of the same name in southern Brooklyn, with Manhattan Beach and Brighton Beach to the south and west and Gerritsen Beach and Marine Park to the east. Emmons Avenue runs along the waterfront, where fishing and party boats dock at the piers and seafood restaurants line the street. The B and Q trains stop at Sheepshead Bay station on the Brighton line, and Avenue U and Sheepshead Bay Road are important shopping streets. The neighborhood is diverse, with Russian-speaking, Chinese, Turkish, Italian and Irish American communities, and its housing ranges from pre-war bungalow courts to large co-op buildings and new waterfront condos.
About Sheepshead Bay
Sheepshead Bay takes its name from the sheepshead fish once plentiful in local waters. In the 19th century it was a fishing village and a destination for racing fans drawn to the Sheepshead Bay Race Track, which operated from 1880 until New York banned betting in 1910. The track later briefly became an auto racing speedway before the land was subdivided into homes. The waterfront bungalow colonies of the early 1900s gave way over time to apartment buildings, and recent years have brought many new condo projects.
Common Pest Problems in Sheepshead Bay
The Emmons Avenue waterfront, with its fishing piers, seafood restaurants and bait stations, gives rats a reliable food supply and cover along the bulkheads. Rats and mice travel from the water's edge into nearby apartment buildings and houses, and the steady wave of new condo construction has disrupted established burrows in recent years. German cockroaches are common in the large co-op and rental buildings, where compactor rooms and shared plumbing let them spread.
The bungalow courts and older detached homes near the bay sit on low, damp ground that Hurricane Sandy flooded in 2012, and many basements and crawl spaces remain humid. Those conditions attract centipedes and support subterranean termites in wood framing, porches and sill plates. Homes closer to Marine Park and the Gerritsen Creek edges also sometimes see raccoons checking out garbage cans, sheds and crawl spaces. Raccoons that find an easy meal usually return night after night.