Rodent control in Thao Dien — garden villas, compound houses, riverside apartments

On 1 July 2025 Ho Chi Minh City replaced districts with wards, its local administrative unit, and Resolution 1685/NQ-UBTVQH15 merged the whole of Thao Dien into An Khanh ward. Earlier papers remain valid, and everyone still gives directions by the name Thao Dien.

Our office, 72 Nguyen Co Thach in the Sala area, is in that ward too. Rodent surveys in Thao Dien are arranged every day between 07:00 and 20:00.

Garden and riverside villas

Along Nguyen Van Huong and Quoc Huong streets: large gardens, mature trees, verandas open to the river, often a pool.

Compound houses

Large houses behind a security gate, where the team registers and tools are counted in and out.

Townhouses

In the lanes and on the main streets; some now house cafés, showrooms or small offices.

Apartments

Thao Dien Pearl, Xi Riverview Palace and Tropic Garden beside the Saigon River; Masteri Thao Dien, The Ascent, Gateway Thao Dien, The Nassim and Lumiere Riverside.

Three kinds of rodent get into homes here, each by its own route, and a Thao Dien villa usually offers all three within its own grounds.

• Late at night, running or gnawing sounds over the ceiling or within a wall.
• Long, narrow droppings in the kitchen cabinets, the storeroom or the understairs space; gnawed packaging, cables or flexible hoses.

From above: the roof rat

Slim, long-tailed and a skilful climber. Villas here tend to have mature trees, pergolas and a boundary fence; a single branch reaching the roof or a cable is enough to bring it onto a roof terrace, a metal roof or the space above a plasterboard ceiling.

From below: the sewer rat

Big and heavy, a strong swimmer and burrower that comes out of sewers and drain pits into the yard, the laundry area and bathrooms at ground level. Tuoi Tre (June 2025) reports that Quoc Huong, Nguyen Van Huong and Thao Dien streets lie on low ground with old drains, where heavy rain on a high tide can leave 0.15–0.3 m of water for one to two hours. There the survey begins at the drain openings, drain pits and floor-drain grates.

With belongings: the house mouse

Small enough to slip through a narrow gap; it nests in a kitchen cabinet, beneath an appliance or inside a service duct, and often arrives with cardboard boxes.

Traps and bait only reach the animals already indoors; the result lasts because the gaps are closed. Your Up specialist walks round the outside before coming in. Openings that mesh, a cover plate or everyday filler can close are written into the plan and the quote. Work that involves breaking out, bricklaying or the structure is noted separately for your builder.

• In the garden: drain-pit covers and drain openings; branches and pergolas touching the roof or close to a balcony.
• Around the house: gaps at the eaves and the edge of a metal roof, vents without mesh, the gap under the garage door and the back kitchen door.
• Indoors: where aircon pipes, water pipes and electrical conduit go through a wall; service-duct doors and ceiling hatches that fail to close.
• Before the survey, leave droppings and gnaw marks alone, note which rooms are noisy and when, and scatter no bait yourself.

After the survey our technicians decide where everything goes, according to the species, how active it is and who lives in the home. Tell us beforehand about young children, dogs and cats, a gardener or a housekeeper.

In the ceiling

Noise at night is usually roof rats, sometimes mice that climbed the aircon pipes. The technicians look through the ceiling access hatch and tend to choose mechanical traps, so nothing dies unseen.

Indoors

Mechanical traps are preferred in kitchens and storerooms, inspected on the agreed dates and emptied straight away.

In the garden

A bait station is a sealed box with a lock on its lid, placed by the boundary wall, round the building and in service areas; the bait sits inside, beyond the reach of children and pets.

The plan

Every trap and station appears on a plan in your Up Report, which shows the gardener what to leave alone. Never open a station yourself, and call us straight away if a pet seems unwell.

House mice reach high floors with goods and cardboard boxes, or by way of the refuse chutes and service shafts linking the floors. We check the gaps inside your apartment; holes in the corridor or a shared shaft are written on a separate list for you to hand to building management.

Thao Dien Pearl

Two 33-storey towers on the Saigon River, above a shopping centre and three basement parking levels; many flats are over ten years old. We look closely at service-duct doors, pipe penetrations, built-in wardrobes and storerooms.

Masteri Thao Dien

Five blocks on a shopping-centre podium beside the metro line, with moderate-sized units. Kitchen cabinets, the spaces under appliances and the loggia with the washing machine come first.

Gateway Thao Dien and The Nassim

Access to buildings like these is usually tightly controlled. Names and photos are sent ahead, and equipment travels in the lift building management assigns.

No rate is published. Catching a few mice in an apartment kitchen is a long way from a villa with rats in the ceiling, the drains and the garden, so we always survey first, at no charge. The written all-inclusive quote says how many points will be sealed, how many traps and bait stations set, how many return checks made, and on what terms the work is warranted.

Droppings and smells

Nobody should sweep rodent droppings dry or vacuum them, since that lifts dirt into the air. Your Up specialist follows guidance from the CDC, the US public-health agency: gloves on, the area sprayed wet with disinfectant solution, then disposable cloths. A smell that lingers usually means a carcass or nest: where reachable it is removed and the odour treated at its source, and a sealed ceiling or wall is opened only with your consent.

In English

Enquiries, quotes, booking confirmations and the Up Report can all be in English. If you would like an English-speaking specialist at the house, note it when booking; if we cannot arrange one, we say so in advance.

Overseas landlords and closed houses

A furnished rental may stand shut between leases while the owner is abroad. A key holder the owner names can open up and sign off; only the assigned specialist handles a key, and it is never copied.

Booking and payment

Phone or message 0968 726 135 (WhatsApp, Zalo) and send photos of the traces. You pay once the walk-through is done, in cash or by bank transfer. Changes are free with 24 hours' notice; a later cancellation costs 30%.

Rodent control across District 2

Thu Thiem, Sala and the other wards of the former District 2.

Guide: rats and mice in Saigon houses

The signs, the ways in, and what you can do yourself.