How To Identify Pests Before Calling Pest Control: 5 Steps

Knowing how to identify pests before calling pest control to manage them properly is essential. Insects and other pests might be challenging to identify.

Pests can have a variety of appearances during their life cycles. Pests are frequently misidentified as non-pests and vice versa. 

 

Importance Of Identifying Pests

Whether it is an insect, animal, or other species, identifying the pests can help you manage them more accessible and more successfully. A misidentification error might result in ineffective control methods that waste time and money.

It may potentially expose individuals or the environment to unwarranted hazards.

 

How To Identify Pests

Knowing what and where to look for it and seeing it are necessary steps in insect identification. The following are methods to successfully identifying pests:

 

Step #1. Take note the characteristics 

Please take note of the pest’s shape, colors, number of legs, size, and whether it has wings or none. Consider the size, color, length of the snout, and other characteristics of rodents.

 

Step #2. Categorize and compare

Choose the category that is most similar to the pest traits you highlighted. You may search the characteristics on the internet and examine the pest features against the images you searched.

Select the species that is most similar to the pest. 

 

Step #3. Learn more about the pest’s features

Understand the pest’s habitats, habits, risks, warning indications of an infestation, and preventative and control strategies. It’s better to familiarize the appearance of the pest to help you identify what kind of pest you have in your home. 

 

Step #4. Visit other guides

If you’re still confused about the pest in question, investigate additional insect identification tips. A pest management specialist can also help with identification. 

 

Step #5. Contact pest control expert

If you have correctly recognized the type of bug, call a pest control expert to discuss eradication options before attempting to do it yourself. Some pest issues should be handled by a licensed professional.

 

Common Pests 

Below are some of the most common urban pests, with brief descriptions. There is a general description of the pest and some basic management strategies for each pest listed.

 

1. House centipede 

House centipedes are flat, long, and have 15 pairs of lengthy legs. Their bodies are brownish-yellow with three black longitudinal stripes, and their legs are light and dark banded. 

House centipedes can enter the home through drains and sump pumps. They can run rapidly.

To prevent having a centipede, sump pumps the water and covers the drain with a screen. Eliminate centipede habitats such as boxes and use a humidifier or air purifier to reduce humidity and keep everything dry and clean. 

 

2. Bed bug

Bed bugs are tiny, flat, wingless insects that are typically one-quarter inch long and reddish-brown in appearance. They spend the day hiding in small areas such as furniture and mattresses. 

Bed bugs cannot create or transmit diseases, but they are challenging to eradicate once they have infiltrated a residence. They can travel from one place to another and even stroll through crevices and pipes. 

A bed bug infestation will necessitate the services of a licensed, reliable pest control expert.

 

3. American cockroach

The pantry, kitchen, bathroom, and basement are popular places to find an American cockroach. They are oval with long antennae, eat various foods, and enjoy a damp, warm, dark environment.

Cockroaches typically infiltrate homes, creeping in from the outside or climbing up sewers and drains. They can run and fly. 

Read the article on what do pest control use for roaches to know how you manage roaches inside your house. 

 

4. Flea

Fleas are tiny, flattened, dark-colored insects with leaping legs. Fleas deposit eggs on their hosts, which develop into larvae.

Flea larvae, which are small and wormlike in appearance, can thrive in carpets and crevices on the floor and anyplace a pet would sleep, including outside during hotter seasons. 

Cover the sleeping areas of your dogs with material that can be washed on a regular basis. Use helpful nematodes if there are a lot of fleas outside.

 

5. Millipede

Millipedes have a tough exterior skin and dwell outside in cold, wet locations like compost or grass-cutting piles beneath brick and stones. They are slow-moving critters that feed decaying plant debris and cannot bite people or cause structural harm.

Maintain the condition of door sweeps and window seals to prevent having millipedes in your home. 

 

6. Termite

Termites are social insects that consume decaying roots, wood fittings, and paper. They can be found in basements, cellars, and structural wood above basement walls. 

Wood objects buried or in touch with the floor are more vulnerable to termite infestation. Termites may be observed if a piece of infected wood is opened.

Visit this article on how do pest control get rid of termites to learn more about termites.

 

Conclusion 

Now that you already know how to identify pests before calling pest control, you can effectively treat the pest you have inside or outside your home. 

Never try pest control until you are sure of the bug’s identity. The more you understand the pest and the elements, the easier, less expensive, and more effective pest control.