Household Pests

Mice are disease vectors, they chew through wires, and they breed fast: pups arrive 18 to 21 days after mating, five or six to a litter, and a female can have several litters a year. You need to act now, not after you hear scratching for the third night in a row or find droppings…

Ticks don’t spread evenly across your yard. They cluster in the transition zone between your lawn and wild areas – where the shade is, where the moisture is, where the mice are. That 3-foot strip along your fence line or woodland edge is where 90% of your exposure happens. Fix that zone and you’ve fixed…

Moths are silent destroyers. You don’t notice them until you pull out a sweater and it’s got holes, or you open a bag of flour and see tiny larvae squirming around. By then, they’ve already set up camp. There are two types you’re dealing with: clothes moths (the ones eating your cashmere) and pantry moths…

Boxelder bugs show up every fall – on your south-facing walls, around your windows, and eventually inside your house. They don’t bite or cause structural damage, but they stain when crushed, they smell, and there can be a lot of them. One thing before you start: don’t squish them. Boxelder bugs release a foul odor…

“Ground wasps” is not one insect, and that matters before you do anything. Two very different things nest in the dirt. Ground-nesting yellowjackets (and the ground-nesting relatives people call ground hornets) live in a shared colony and defend it hard when it is disturbed. Solitary digger wasps dig their own single burrows, do not guard…

Fire ant mounds pop up overnight and turn your yard into a minefield. Step on one and you’ll know it – those stings burn like hell and the welts stick around for days. Getting rid of the mounds isn’t just about knocking down the dirt pile. The queen’s buried deep, and if you don’t reach…

Clover mites are those tiny red bugs that show up by the thousands, usually around windows and sunny walls in spring and fall. They’re not dangerous, but they’re annoying and they leave red smears when crushed. Here’s how to get rid of them without making things worse. 1. Vacuum Them Up (Carefully) Use a vacuum…

House centipedes are in your home because other bugs are in your home. They’re predators – they follow silverfish, spiders, cockroaches, and moths. Fix the conditions that support a prey insect population and centipedes stop having a reason to stay. 1. Fix Moisture Problems Start here. Centipedes need humidity to survive, and a damp basement…