Frequently Asked Questions

Through gaps far smaller than they look — weep holes, gaps around pipes and windows, and overhanging branches and vines that bridge straight to the roof.

Three things draw them: a food source, moisture, and somewhere sheltered to nest. Remove one and the property becomes markedly less attractive.

Store food sealed, clear clutter and debris that makes nesting material, fix leaks and standing water, and seal gaps around doors, pipes and siding.

A strategy that combines exclusion, habitat changes, monitoring and targeted product use rather than relying on spray alone, aiming at long-term control.

Often, yes. Products that flush pests out of voids push activity into the open before it drops. A short rise immediately after service is normal.

Spiders follow their food. Porch lights pull in flying insects all night, and the webs go up where the meals are.

They prefer undisturbed spaces — garages, attics, storage boxes — and bite when trapped against skin. Reducing clutter removes most of the harbourage.

Their bite is venomous and worth medical attention. They sit in dark, undisturbed places: woodpiles, meter boxes, the underside of furniture.

Exterior treatment reduces the population over time, and knocking webs down removes the anchor points. Both together keep the eaves clear.

Rain floods storm drains and sewers and pushes them out. They are moisture-seeking, so a wet spell drives them toward the drier ground inside.

Not always, but it is rarely alone. German roaches in particular breed indoors and multiply quickly once a few are established.

Usually American cockroaches — the large ones, sometimes called palmetto bugs — and German cockroaches, which are smaller and breed indoors.

Moisture control and a treated perimeter do most of the work. Fixing leaks and ventilating damp areas removes what draws them in the first place.

The colony lives outside and sends scouts in for moisture and food. Treating the trail you can see never reaches the nest producing it.

They sting repeatedly and the whole mound responds at once when disturbed, so children and pets come off worst. Mounds often appear after heavy rain.

Yes. Fire ants, carpenter ants and odorous house ants nest differently and take different baits, so identification comes before any treatment.

Spring and summer are the peak. Where winters stay mild, colonies remain active nearly year-round and pressure never fully drops off.

Yes. Treating the shaded resting places adults use, and removing what they breed in, cuts numbers substantially through the season.

A bottle cap is enough. Saucers, gutters, tarps and toys hold more than that, which is why source reduction matters more than fogging.

Activity picks up as soon as temperatures stay consistently warm and runs until they drop, which in warmer regions is most of the year.

A cold snap kills overwintering adults and eggs. Without one, far more survive into spring and the season starts from a much larger population.

Through foundation cracks, gaps under doors and around utility penetrations. They are flat enough to pass through openings that look far too small.

Most are painful rather than serious, but children, older adults and pets can react more strongly and are worth watching after a sting.

Harbourage and prey. Stacked wood, rock beds and stored materials give them somewhere to hide, and the insects living there feed them.

Through the hot months, and mostly at night. They also move indoors ahead of heavy rain or a sharp change in temperature.

Rarely with success. They shelter in mattress seams, frame joints and wall voids, and a surface spray leaves the population that matters untouched.

They travel on luggage, clothing and second-hand furniture, and move between units through shared walls. It is not a question of cleanliness.

Quickly. A small introduction can become a widespread problem in a matter of weeks, which is why early treatment is much easier than late.

Bites in lines on skin exposed while sleeping, dark specks along mattress seams, and shed skins near the headboard are the usual signs.

Yes. Raccoons, opossums, squirrels and stray animals carry them in, and the eggs drop wherever those animals travel.

Eggs and pupae survive a single application. Control needs the follow-up timed to catch the next generation as it emerges.

On tall grass, brush and the edges of wooded areas, at about knee height. Keeping grass short and clearing brush lines removes most of it.

Spring through autumn is the peak, and where winters are mild both survive year-round rather than dying back.

About the size of a dime. Rats need only a quarter. Gaps at pipe penetrations, foundation vents and garage door corners are the usual routes.

Pet food, bird feeders, fallen fruit and nuts, and dense planting right against the walls that gives them cover to move in unseen.

Pressure rises as it cools and they look for shelter, but where winters are mild they stay active all year and never fully move back out.

It removes what is already inside but not the way in. Without sealing the entry points, the space simply gets repopulated.

Not advisable. Wasps defend the nest as a group and can sting repeatedly, and a partly removed nest is often rebuilt within days.

Colonies are at their largest then and food is scarcer, so there are more defenders and shorter tempers around the same nest.

Yes. They nest underground or inside wall voids rather than in the open, so most stings happen when mowing or landscaping disturbs one unseen.

Under eaves and porch ceilings, in sheds, and inside play equipment — sheltered spots with an overhang and little through traffic.

The nest is not reused, but fertilised queens overwinter nearby and rebuild in the same favourable spots, which is why the location repeats.