Pests

Identifying pests helps evaluate the need for prevention measures. Bedbugs cause health hazards and require immediate action by professional pest control. If you live in an apartment building and you find bedbugs, contact the apartment manager. Food pests cause health hazards by spoiling foodstuffs. Woodworms damage structures and furniture of homes. Textile pests destroy wool clothing and furs. Some insects are harmless. You can find many insects in indoor spaces especially from fall to spring. 

Health inspectors will help you with identifying the most usual indoor insect pests. You may send Environmental Control an insect sample for identification via the Environment House’s customer service during opening times. The sample should be whole and is recommended to be frozen overnight. 

Leave the following information with your sample: name, phone number and e-mail address. We will contact you within approximately five working days. The identification and advice are free of charge. 

Environment House Customer Service 

Visiting address 

Solistinkatu 2 
90140 OULU 
Oulu, Finland 

Opening times 

Monday – Friday 
8.00 – 16.00  

Some rats continuously appear in our living environments. The amount of rats should remain unharmful if the waste management of properties is handled correctly and edible material is kept out of the rats’ reach. It is important to take good care of cleanliness, remove food sources of rodents and prevent the rodents’ entry to the building. Ensure that the following matters are taken care of: 

• Place waste into bins with lids. 
• Keep the surroundings of buildings clean. Rodents hide in piles of leaves or wooden planks. 
• Store foodstuffs and pet food in a way that rodents cannot reach them. 
• Seeds that have fallen to the ground at bird feeding sites tempt rodents. Keep feeding sites clean and favor feeders that rodents cannot reach. 
• Seal slits and gaps that rodents can use to enter buildings. You may also use dense nets to prevent rodents from entering. A mouse can enter a building through a hole the size of a finger. 
• Mice and rats can climb. Make sure they cannot enter the top levels of buildings along, for example, electrical wires.  

First, ensure that the preventative measures are taken care of, and the rodents do not have food sources in the yard area.  

Rats and other rodents can be disposed of with traps. Place the trap in a way that it does not harm other animals and check the trap daily. Rodent poisons are not approved for consumer use for the prevention of rats or moles. If the prevention does not succeed, contact a pest control service. 

The Environment Office does not distribute rodent poisons or carry out pest control services.  

Poison is only offered for consumer use for the disposal of mice 

• Read the instructions carefully and follow them 
• The poison is packed in bait packages. They are only permitted to be used indoors. 
• Place the bait packages in a way that children and pets cannot touch them. 
• Find and collect the dead rodents and baits. Place the dead rodents in a waste bin with a lid to ensure that other animals cannot access them.  
• Use protective gloves when handling dead rodents, poison baits and bait packages. 
• Collect the baits once the disposal period is over and dispose of them as hazardous waste. Domestic hazardous waste can be disposed of at the Rusko Waste Collection Centre or in Kiertokaari drop-off points free of charge when the amount of waste is less than 1 kg. 
• It is not permitted to use poison continuously. If the mouse disposal is not successful, contact a pest control service. 

More information can be found from the Finnish Safety and Chemicals Agency (Tukes) website: Rodent control in household and summer cottage environments and Rodent prevention (in Finnish). 

Rat observations in public spaces 

Oulun Infra Public Utility is responsible for pest control in Oulu’s public spaces and parks. 

Please send information about the rat observations in the city of Oulu’s parks and public spaces through the online feedback service. Choose “Asuminen ja ympäristö” -> “Parks and green areas". 

For observations in parks and public areas of other municipalities, please contact the advice service of that municipality. 

It is permitted to feed birds in the yards of apartment buildings if the housing company has not regulated otherwise. When feeding birds, it is important to take care of the cleanliness of the feeding site and only offer suitable food for small birds. Usual feeding means approximately 1–3 bird feeders depending on the size of the yard on a detached house plot. Clean the area surrounding the feeder regularly and prevent animals from eating seeds from the ground with a net cage for example. 

Feeding that takes place on the ground can especially lead to rats and other pests taking root in the area. 

The city of Oulu has designated winter bird feeding sites. Feeding birds in public areas is only permitted in the sites when the bird feeders are there. 

Feeding birds in parks and forests – outside designated feeding sites – is prohibited. 

During snowless periods and in the summers, a water bowl is enough to feed birds and hedgehogs. Offering them food can often cause adverse effects to birds and hedgehogs, for example, development disorders of their young.