vs. Traditional pest control
Your exterminator is doing their job. The rats keep coming back anyway.
Standard treatment removes the rats that are there. It has no way to reduce how fast new ones fill the space after each visit. That's not a vendor problem. It's a missing layer — and the 90-day program adds it on top of whatever you already have.
What traditional pest control does well
It clears the active colony and produces the compliance record.
A licensed exterminator brings the training, products, and inspection documentation to clear an active infestation. They find entry points, assess travel paths, treat the active colony, and leave a paper trail. For a restaurant, property manager, or building owner, that documentation is the first line of compliance.
Traditional pest control isn't broken. For isolated or newer infestations, it produces consistent control. The limitation shows up in dense urban areas where new rats from the surrounding block continuously fill back in after treatment.
Licensed and insured
Exterminators carry the licensing, chemical certifications, and liability insurance required for commercial treatment.
Compliance documentation
Treatment records from a licensed exterminator satisfy health department requirements and provide the paper trail inspectors recognize.
Entry point assessment
Experienced technicians find structural gaps and entry points that building owners miss.
Works with your existing vendor
Most properties already have an exterminator. The 90-day program is designed to run alongside them, not replace them.
The gap standard treatment leaves
Treatment removes the colony. Nothing slows down the replacement.
When treatment clears a colony, it opens up the territory. The scent markers that kept other rats away fade within days. Rats from the same block detect the vacancy and start moving in. The same food source, the same building, the same block pressure. The new group arrives within four to eight weeks.
This is not the exterminator's fault. The industry standard is treatment on a scheduled visit cycle. That schedule exists because the biology produces a predictable cycle. Monthly visits aligned with a four to six week replacement timeline keep the problem managed. They don't reduce it.
Treatment visit
Exterminator treats the active colony. Documentation issued. Clean site.
Week 2–3
Territory sits empty. Surrounding rats start detecting the vacancy.
Week 4–5
New group moves in. Breeding starts at full rate.
Week 6–8
Colony re-established. Population rebuilding toward baseline.
Next visit
Exterminator returns. Removes the replacement colony. Resets.
How they work together
Your exterminator stays. We add what their treatment can't do.
Cloakd doesn't replace your pest control vendor. Phase 1 of the program is your existing exterminator doing what they already do. Phase 2 adds Evolve fertility management on top — reducing how fast the replacement colony forms after each treatment.
What it adds
- Reduced reproduction rate between treatment visits
- Population that declines instead of cycling
- 90-day documented activity decline
- Active management record for inspectors
- No change to your existing vendor or contract
What doesn't change
- Your existing pest control vendor and contract
- Treatment schedule and visit frequency
- Compliance documentation from your licensed exterminator
- Entry point assessment and structural recommendations
- Your vendor relationship and pricing
Field data
Numbers from monitored urban deployments.
NYC began deploying ContraPest in designated rat mitigation zones in April 2025. Baltimore adopted Evolve for citywide pest management the same year. It works at the building level for the same reason it works at city scale.
More comparisons
Comparing the layer to other named programs.
Your exterminator keeps their contract.
Tell us about your property and who handles pest control now. We'll coordinate Phase 1 with your existing vendor and run the fertility management layer for 90 days.
- Layered onto your existing pest program
- EPA-designated minimum-risk bait
- Documented monthly reporting
- Month-to-month, no long contracts