Conical pits roughly an inch across in dry, loose, sandy soil. Protected spots where rain does not reach: under eaves, beside foundations, beneath overhangs, in the lee of a wall.
Ants, primarily, along with other small insects that fall in.
They are actively removing ants from the area immediately around your foundation. The adults, which look like slender damselflies with long wings, feed on nectar and pollen and are equally harmless.
Delicate pale green insects with large clear veined wings, usually noticed at night near lights. The larvae look completely different: small, flattened, alligator-shaped, and often overlooked entirely.
The larvae are aggressive predators of aphids, scale insects, mealybugs, whiteflies, and mite eggs.
Aphids and scale produce the honeydew that ants farm, which is a significant driver of ant activity on landscape plants. Our carpenter ant guide covers how that honeydew relationship works. Lacewing larvae are working directly against that.
Elongated bugs with a narrow head, a curved beak-like mouthpart, and often a distinctive raised cogwheel-shaped crest on the back in the case of wheel bugs. Usually on plants rather than structures.
Caterpillars, beetles, and other insects, which they pierce with that beak.
They are effective predators of plant-damaging insects. One caution: they can deliver a painful defensive bite if handled, so observe rather than pick up. That is a reason not to touch them, not a reason to treat for them.
Slender black or metallic blue wasps with a very thin waist, and small tubes of dried mud on walls, under eaves, or in sheltered corners.
Spiders. Each mud tube cell is provisioned with paralyzed spiders for the developing larva.
Mud daubers are solitary and considerably less defensive than paper wasps or yellowjackets, since there is no colony to protect. Our guide on solitary versus social wasps explains why that distinction matters. If a tube is directly over a doorway, knocking it down is reasonable. Tubes in out-of-the-way spots are worth ignoring.
Huntsman spiders on garage walls, wolf spiders at ground level after rain, golden silk orbweavers in large webs between shrubs.
Cockroaches, flies, mosquitoes, and other insects, in significant quantities.
As our guide on big Florida spiders covers, size and medical risk run in opposite directions here. The large dramatic ones are harmless and productive. Widow spiders are the group of medical significance, and those are small, so the ones worth removing are not the ones people react to.
Brown and green anoles on walls and fences during the day, and Mediterranean house geckos around exterior lights after dark.
Roaches, crickets, small spiders, moths, and ants.
A gecko population working your exterior lighting at night is removing a meaningful number of insects, including the flying species that draw spiders to the same area.
Targeted treatment protects beneficial species as a side effect of being targeted.
UF/IFAS recommends integrated pest management, which selects the minimum effective treatment for the specific pest and applies it to specific locations rather than broadcasting across a property. Gel bait placed into cockroach harborage does not affect an antlion pit twenty feet away. A perimeter barrier along the foundation does not reach the lacewing larvae on your hibiscus.
Broadcast spraying across open lawn and landscape does the opposite. It reduces the predator population along with the pests, and the pests generally recover faster.
This is one of the practical arguments for IPM that has nothing to do with chemical exposure. It works better.
Termites, carpenter ants, and wood-boring beetles warrant attention.
Mosquitoes, German cockroaches, rodents, ticks, and fleas warrant attention.
Fire ants, paper wasps near doorways, and yellowjackets warrant attention.
That is the list above, and it does not.
If you are unsure what you are looking at, send a photo before treating anything. Identification takes about thirty seconds and frequently ends with confirming that nothing needs to be done. Wise House Pest Control offers a free inspection across Palm Beach County, Martin County, and St. Lucie County.
1177 Hypoluxo Rd Suite C-31 Lantana, FL 33462
464 NW Peacock Blvd, Unit 106 Port St Lucie, FL 34986
