Cockroaches    |Click here to view image

• Contaminate food with their droppings, bodies, and the bacteria they carry.
• Their secretions and shedding skin are a proven cause of human asthma.
• They prefer warm, dark, and humid places and are often found around drain and base boards.
• They are most active at night, making them hard to see.
• 3,500 species of cockroaches exist, and of those 5 are common in Texas

German Cockroach

• This is the most common species in Texas and reproduce the fastest of the common pest cockroaches; a single female and her offspring can produce over 30,000 individuals in a year.
• They are typically found in kitchens and lay their eggs during warm weather. 

American Cockroach

• These cockroaches are the largest of the household species.
• They have large wings and are most commonly found outdoors amongst organic matter including shaded trees, alleyways, and sewers.

Brown Banded Cockroach

• This species is light gold in color, needs little water for survival, and seeks very warm areas. Their favorite locations include near the warm electrical components of appliances such as radios, televisions, and refrigerators

Oriental Cockroaches

• These cockroaches prefer cooler temperatures and have wings but do not fly.
• They live in dark damp places, usually remain on the ground floor of buildings, and move more slowly than the other species.

Smoky Brown Cockroach

• This species is dark brown in color, prefer outdoors, but migrate indoors during stormy and cold weather where they typically seek shelter in attics.

Ants    |Click here to view image

• Ants have a wide variety of nesting habits and food preferences. Some species build nests in soil, while others prefer homes, or moisture damaged wood. They also feed on a variety of food, including: starches, meats, and sweets. Knowledge of ant food and nesting preferences is very important in controlling ant colonies.
• Spraying an ant trail is only temporary and has little impact on permanent ant control. The ant colony must be located and treated for effective elimination.

The ant species is divided into two major groups, based on the number of body segments they have.

• Those with one segment include: carpenter ants, crazy ants, and large yellow ants.
• Two segment species include fire ants, harvester ants, leaf-cutter ants, and others.

Carpenter Ants    |Click here to view image

Spiders    |Click here to view image

• Spiders are predators, feeding primarily on insects and household pests.
• They shy and commonly found in dim cool places that are rarely disturbed by humans. Most are active only at night and will try to escape when confronted.
• All spiders have venom and are therefore venomous

Scorpions    |Click here to view image

• Similar to spiders, scorpions flourish in dark undisturbed places. Further complicating their detection, they eat at night and are often found in attics, crawls spaces, and walls.
• When a scorpion is attacked, they protect themselves by repeatedly sting their victims.

Silverfish    |Click here to view image

• Silverfish prefer highly humid areas.
• They typically live homes and libraries where they eat paper, wallpaper, and starch product.
• A silverfish can live for more than a year without food.

Beetles/ Weevils    |Click here to view image

• Weevils enter a home to seek shelter from unfavorable weather conditions, especially when it is hot and dry. They enter buildings by crawling through cracks or openings around foundations, doors, and windows.
• They do not harm people or damage property, but their presence is an annoyance to homeowners.
• Certain Weevil species can produce six or more generations per year, quickly becoming a serious problem for homeowners.

Termites    |Click here to view image

• Termites are organized destructive creatures whose annual damage costs more than hurricane, fires and earthquake combined. They benefit the environment by breaking down decaying plant matter, but quickly become problematic when they find residential wood matter to feed on.
• There are several species of termites that flourish in the moist, humid, and hot weather of South Texas.

Subterranean Termites

• Subterranean termites are by far the most common termite. Although they are found in homes, these termites live in the ground and eat any wood in contact with the soil. After feeing on a home, the termites return to their colony in the soil.

Dry Wood Termites

• Drywood termites live above ground in wooden posts, trees, and wood structures. Tree limbs that hang over or touch a roof provide these termites easy access to your home.

Formosan Termites

• The Formosan subterranean termite is the most destructive termite in the U.S. They live in the ground, but when they do invade a home they cause more damage, at a faster rate than traditional termites. Native to China, it is believed that Formosan termites originally entered the U.S through southern ports along the Gulf of Mexico on military ships at the end of World War II.

• Many people mistakenly call termites "white ants" when seen in the ground, and
  "flying ants" when they are swarming.

The Termite Caste System:

• Similar to ants, termites live in organized colonies with a hierarchical cast system. Each of the three casts: Workers, Soldiers, and Reproductives have a specific purpose within the colony.
• Workers are the most abundant and perform the work of finding the wood, building the nests, and protect the colonies king, queen, and soldiers.
  Soldiers make up 1 to 3% of the colonies population and protect the colony against predictors, generally carpenter ants.
• There are three kinds of Reproductives: primary, secondary, and tertiary.
  The primary reproductives are seasonally born into an existing colony that is at least 3-5 years old. They are produced in large numbers and instinctively leave the colony in swarms during the warmer months of spring and summer to start new colonies.
• The secondary reproductives develop when a king or queens die or when part of the colony becomes separated from the main one. The females provide supplementary eggs to the queen.
• The tertiary reproductives will mate and lay eggs in the absence of the primary or secondary reproductives.

Habits:

• Termites primarily feed off wood, but also damage paint and insulation and swarm during the day and from the months January through June. The reproductives become stimulated to start their own colony after a spring shower and typically swarm 10 days after a warm rain storm.

Signs of Infestation:

• When termites swarm to start new colonies, they look almost identical to an ant swarm. If termites have already colonized, mud tubes can be traced from the ground along the side of the structure and splintered wood is visible.

Carpenter Bees    |Click here to view image

• Carpenter bees are not social insects and do not live in nests or colonies. They get their names from their habit of boring into wood where they nurture of young.

Habits:

• During cold months, the adults hibernate in abandoned nest tunnels and then in spring, those that survived emerge to feed and mate. The mated female will either reuse an old gallery by lengthening it or bore an entire new one straight into the wood. Each gallery is then sealed off with a chewed wood-pulp, creating a safe nesting environment for the egg.

Signs of Infestation:

• In the spring, male carpenter bees hover extremely close to buildings as they await the emergence of the females from the galleries so they can mate. Galleries average 4-6" but may extend up to ten feet and also indicate signs of carpenter bee infestation.

Powderpost Beetles    |Click here to view image

• Powderpost beetle attack both natural lumber and manufactured products such as hardwoods. The females lay their eggs in the pores of wood, making hardwoods likely to be infected. Once the larvae hatch they bore into the wood and leave behind a fine, powder like dust.

Habits:

• Adults are extremely active at night, fly, and are attracted to light.

Signs of Infestation:

• Powderpost Beetles leave round exit holes with piles of a very fine powder like dust, called frass, which can be found inside the holes or on the wood. This dust is not compact but rather falls easily from the holes.

Old House Borer Beetles    |Click here to view image

• This is the most common structural pest in the beetle family and contrary to their name; they are actually more common in new homes.

Habits:

• The females infest softwoods in order to lay their eggs. The larvae emerge during the winter months and penetrate the wood to feed. They live in the wood for about five years until they become adults.

Signs of Infestation:

• During the first few years of feeding, the larvae cannot be heard. However once they are adults you can hear them chewing during the spring and summer months.
  When they exit the structure, the adults cut oval holes through the wood about ¼ in diameter.

Fleas    |Click here to view image

• Fleas do not have wings, but rather have adapted to jumping long distances.
• The most common type of flea found in home, cat and dog fleas, feed on animal blood, including humans.
• Cat and dog fleas live in pets beds, sofas, and carpet. Although a thorough clean-up will help kill many fleas it will not eliminate them entirely.

Rodents

Rats    |Click here to view image

• Rats visit fewer food sites than mice, but eat much more at each site.
  Wild rats live off man and give nothing beneficial in return.
• Rats memorize their environment by body and muscle movement alone. In fact, when objects in their territory are removed, rats will continue to go around the objects, as if they where still there.
• Many times roof rats live in the upper stories of buildings, while Norway rats occupy the basement and first floor of the same building.

Mice    |Click here to view image

• By mid-fall of every year, domestic mice will have already found the places they plan to spend the winter.
• The house mouse is the most common pest in and around human living and working places.
• Mice breed rapidly. A house mouse can breed 35 days after it was born, and females can have its own litter 60 days after birth.
• Mice can spread more than 20 kinds of disease causing organisms such as: Salmonella, Shigella, and E. coli.

Squirrels    |Click here to view image

• Flying squirrels are most active at night, while both fox and gray squirrels are most active in morning and late afternoon.
• A survey of the National Pest Control Association voted the tree squirrel as the number one nuisance animal in the United States.
• Squirrels cause extensive damage to homes by gnawing on electrical wires and insulation in attics and walls.
• Flying squirrels are much smaller than fox and gray squirrels and have large eyes.

Raccoons    |Click here to view image

• Raccoons mate in mid-winter and their kits (sometimes called "cubs") are born in early spring after a gestation period of 63 days.
• Summer is a time of great activity for raccoons.
• Raccoons do not hibernate in winter though they remain in their dens more, only coming out to forage for an hour or so each day.
• Raccoons are not technically nocturnal but if you see one during the day, especially in or near a populated area, there may be cause for concern.

Opossums    |Click here to view image

• Opossums are solitary nocturnal animals, but may become diurnal in cold weather.
• Sometimes they choose garages and attics as their temporary quarters because they are pushed out of their natural habitat and forced into closer proximity to people.
• If and Opossums feels threatened, they pretend to be dead or drool heavily so their predator will think they’re sick and unappetizing. Or, they bluff by hissing, snarling, and showing their sharp teeth. These gentle and placid animals prefer to avoid any and all confrontations.
• Opossums don't have their own territory, but they are always on the move in search for food.

Skunks    |Click here to view image

• Skunks are the chief carrier of rabies. The skunk spray however, is not known to carry the rabies virus; only their saliva.
• When a skunk feels threatened and sprays, they aim at the face and causes intense irritation, even temporary blindness, if it reaches the eyes.
• Their fur color is not always black; it can be various shades of brown, as well.
• Skunks are chiefly nocturnal. They normally forage only at dusk, dawn and during the night.

Top of page.