Category
Tell pests apart by their droppings, damage and where you find them, starting with mouse vs. rat, so you choose the right traps and the right plan.
Cockroaches
A German cockroach lives about 3 to 9 months as an adult; an American cockroach can live over a year. How fast each breeds, how long they last without food, water or a head, and why bait beats spray.
Mice
A house mouse usually lives 9 to 12 months, though some reach 3 years. Females have 5 to 10 litters a year, so a mouse problem grows faster than it dies out.
Fall invaders
A spider egg sac is a small ball or teardrop of silk, white, cream, tan or brown, about ¼ to ½ inch across, tucked in a web corner. Which spider made it, how many eggs are inside, and how to remove it safely.
Cockroaches
Cockroaches eat almost any organic matter: crumbs, grease, sweets, pet food, paper, glue, hair, even their own droppings. Water matters more than food. Here is what to clear away first.
Rats & mice
Rat droppings are about ½ to ¾ inch long; mouse droppings average ¼ inch. How to tell them apart by size, shape and location, how to tell fresh from old, and what to do next.
Mice & rats
Yes, mice can climb walls: brick, wood, pipes and wires, and they jump about a foot. See what stops them, how rats compare, and which gaps to seal first.
Cockroaches
Roach eggs sit inside a brown, bean-shaped case ¼ to ⅜ inch long, with a dozen to 40-plus eggs. Sprays can’t get through it: vacuum up every case, then bait the hatchlings for a month.
Carpet beetles
Carpet beetle larvae are fuzzy, slow, tan-to-brown grubs about 1/8 to 1/4 inch long, and they’re the stage that eats wool. Vacuum where they feed, then hot-wash or freeze what they touched.
Carpet beetles
Hairy, or round like a tiny ladybug? Carpet beetle: it eats wool, not you. A flat, reddish-brown oval the size of an apple seed, or dark seam spots, means bed bugs.
Stink bugs
No. Stink bugs can’t bite or sting people or pets. Their smelly fluid can irritate skin and eyes, and a dog that eats one may drool or vomit until it passes.
Carpet beetles
A carpet beetle is a tiny round beetle, 1/16 to 3/16 inch, often on windowsills. Hairy larvae or bristly skins mean they’re breeding indoors. Flat and reddish? Likely a bed bug.
Mice & rats
Mice prefer grains and seeds but eat almost anything, only about 1/10 ounce a day, so you can’t starve them out. Store food in glass, metal or thick plastic and trap the rest.
