Orlando’s temperate climate makes the city and region a great place to live in and visit. That same weather, though, is also a pest magnet, providing a wide range of critters with a comfortable place to settle into. In this comprehensive Orlando pest control guide, we’ll share insights into some of the specific types of pests commonly found in Orlando, the problems they can cause, and how you can respond.
This is an in-depth guide. So, if you’re in need of pest control services now, you can either skip to the header that matters most to you—or simply contact us online or call (407) 675-5000.
“There are references to them in ancient Egyptian literature, and archaeologists have even discovered what seem to be fossilised bed bugs thought to be about 3,500 years old . . . A single pregnant female bed bug can infest an entire apartment building and the creatures are able to go through many rounds of inbreeding with no detrimental effects at all. All they need are human hosts to satisfy their thirst.” (BBC.com)
Bed bugs can be difficult to spot, barely bigger than a tiny apple seed. Plus, because they can easily be confused with other types of pests, you may not be sure if the infestation you have is bed bug-related. Reddish-brown in hue, their bodies are flat and oval shaped—and, after feasting a bit, they can appear bloated. (And, since these pests are so small, can you imagine how miniscule their eggs are?)
Bed bugs can enter your home in numerous ways, including when visitors have them on their clothing or guests bring them in with luggage. You can also carry them in after a trip. So, when you return home, make sure that you inspect suitcases and travel bags for any presence of bed bugs and wash any linens and towels in hot water.
If you buy items from thrift stores or rummage sales, they could have bed bug infestations. This includes clothing, furniture, mattresses, and so forth. So, inspect them closely.
Once in a home, bed bugs tend to hover in areas where people spend plenty of time—such as the bed, which gives the pest its name. The thin and flat shape of their bodies makes it easy for them to slide into the smallest cracks in bed frames, as well as in baseboards and the joints of other pieces of furniture. The cleanliness of a home doesn’t prevent them from coming in, unfortunately. Bed bugs thrive in a wide range of temperatures and living conditions, continuing to adapt to human environments.
People don’t always see the bed bugs that invade their home. But, they may see signs of them, including:
According to a Live Science report from 2017, bed bugs have become increasingly more common in the United States and are so crafty that they can even live behind a seam in your wallpaper. They are so resilient that they can live for months without eating as they wait for a new host to provide them with food (ugh, blood). They can travel, too, more than 100 feet per night.
So, if you suspect or know you have an infestation, what do you do? DIY bed bug treatments are seldom effective. At Turner Pest Control, though, we offer the latest in technology, Thermal Remediation®, which is a safe and effective alternative to chemical fumigation. Here is more information about our Orlando bed bug treatments.
Read More: How to Get Rid of Bed Bugs in Your Orlando Home
“Few animals on Earth evoke the antipathy that mosquitoes do. Their itchy, irritating bites and nearly ubiquitous presence can ruin a backyard barbecue or a hike in the woods. They have an uncanny ability to sense our murderous intentions, taking flight and disappearing milliseconds before a fatal swat. And in our bedrooms, the persistent, whiny hum of their buzzing wings can wake the soundest of sleepers.” (National Geographic)
Just one type of buzzing mosquito can be enough to drive you nuts—and Florida has been home to not one, not two, but 80+ types of them. And, besides being incredibly frustrating, they can carry serious diseases. These include dengue fever, malaria, the West Nile fever, the Zika virus and more. Threats that mosquitoes pose are even more significant because of how quickly they can spread these dangerous diseases.
Unlike with bed bugs, you don’t need us to explain how to identify them, but you may find our tips on how to reduce or eliminate mosquito breeding grounds on your property helpful. This consists of getting rid of or managing standing water appropriately, whether that’s in bird baths or flower pots, old kiddie pools, watering cans, wood piles, or something else.
It’s important to proactively protect your property during the mosquito season. In one sense, in Orlando, that’s all year long. Having said that, people can experience more problems from spring through fall than in winter. To protect yourself, manage your standing water and check for water that doesn’t belong in your home. This includes leaky pipes and faucets, trays beneath your indoor plants, vases of flowers that need thrown out, and so forth. Mosquitoes are savvy enough to breed inside toilets that aren’t used often, too, so flush those regularly.
Check your home for potential entry points and, whenever possible, stay inside at dawn and dusk. When you do go outside, cover up. This means long sleeves, pants, and appropriate mosquito repellents. If mosquitoes come indoors, put net canopies over baby cribs and young children’s beds.
Also consider mosquito control treatments. Our comprehensive plan can attack these disease-carrying pests from the egg stage to the adult one through ultra-low volume treatments that are fast acting and long lasting.
Read More: How to Deal With Mosquitoes in Orlando
“Rodents can cause illness in people and pets through bites and direct contact with urine, droppings and water contaminated with rodent urine. In addition, rodents can cause disease by contaminating food, drink and eating utensils with urine or droppings. Inhaling dust from dried rodent urine, feces and nesting material can also result in illness.” (FloridaHealth.gov)
In North America, there are more than 70 species of rats and mice—and they can spread about 35 different diseases, many of them quite dangerous. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) lists diseases that can directly be caught through them, including plague, hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, rat-bite fever and more. Indirectly caught diseases include lyme disease, encephalitis, Colorado tick fever, typhus and more.
Disease isn’t the only type of threat that rats and mice bring into Orlando homes. They can also chew through wires and cause house fires and otherwise gnaw on parts of your home.
Signs of rodent infestations include the following:
To help prevent these disease-carrying critters from getting in your home, check and seal off entry points, including those as small as a quarter of an inch. Trim shrubs and tree branches so they aren’t too close to your home. Otherwise, rats and mice will use them as a highway into your Orlando home. Other entry points to review: your attic, chimney, roof vents, and utility entry points.
Wipe crumbs off your countertops and appliances. Store dry goods in airtight containers that are also chew proof and clean up pet food spills, making sure their bowls are empty when it isn’t meal time.
If you spot droppings from rodents, be very careful when cleaning them up. They could carry disease and, even if they don’t, urine and droppings can still be harmful if you have allergies and asthma. For optimal protection, wear gloves, goggles, and a mask when cleaning up after rats and mice.
Rodents breed quickly, which means a small population can become an infestation that’s out of control in the blink of an eye. Here’s an example. Just one single female mouse can have literally dozens of babies in just one year. Their gestation period is only three weeks long and the mouse can return to mating, right after having offspring. This means the cycle can go on and on and on, without a break in the action. To make matters worse, each of the female babies can in turn reproduce when just six weeks old.
Here are our Orlando rodent control services.
Read More: What to Do About Rodents in Your Orlando Home
“Termite colonies, which can include thousands of individuals, often live in large dirt mounds. When a female termite hits breeding age, she may emerge from her colony and find a mate. The pair then creates a burrow in the ground and the female (called a queen) begins to produce eggs—a lot of them. In fact this female generates around 30,000 eggs a day! Once her offspring hatch, they become part of her colony.” (National Geographic)
Termites are crafty creatures, able to get into Orlando homes in foundation cracks that are as tiny as 1/32 of an inch. If you’ve heard the rumor that termites can eat through concrete (they can’t), this is probably why. They can also enter homes near room additions and above-slab patios. That’s because soil levels by them can often be used as on-ramps by termites into homes. Plumbing entry points are another route in.
According to the University of Florida, more than 20 species of termites call Florida home. Some of the most common types that may make their way into your Orlando home include:
To provide context into how destructive termites can be, they do billions of dollars of damage each and every year in the United States alone. They eat around the clock, non-stop, which means that large colonies can threaten the integrity of your home.
In our Orlando termite control treatments, we use a technique that’s based on prevention: soil treatment, not bait systems. Why? Because this can exterminate the termites before they can ever enter your home. Here’s a bonus. This method works ten times faster!
We offer three different levels of termite treatment and can talk to you about what’s best for your needs:
Orlando termite control isn’t something homeowners shouldn’t DIY.
Read More: What to Know About Swarming and Drywood Termites in Orlando
“Spending time outdoors, especially in green spaces, is one of the fastest ways to improve your health and happiness.” (Time)
Orlando weather can be beautiful throughout most of the year—and so we offer lawn care services that can allow you to enjoy a lush, green lawn, pest free.
Pest control that can be included in your plan includes for fire ants, moles, and armadillos.
Fire Ants
“Children are playing on sports fields and playgrounds. Adults are diligently mowing lawns and landscaping flower beds. It is one of the most magical times of the year. Except … for the tiny “friends” with which we share our lawn and fields.” (The Florida Times-Union)
Those so-called friends are the fire ants that can attack without cause, clamping down their jaws and then stinging their victims, while injecting venom that can cause serious reactions in some people. These stings can be most problematic in the summer, when these nasty pests have stored up the most venom. To make matters worse, fire ants can sting multiple times, with the average number being three.
Fire ants have become a bigger problem in the United States over the past several decades after Solenopsis invicta, a South American form of the fire ant, arrived. They prefer the climate of southern states, with Florida being a place of choice for them.
Fire ants can have colonies containing half a million members. To protect yourself, your family, and your friends, you can request our highly effective annual treatment. Or, you can bundle this treatment with your lawn care services for extra savings.
Moles
“These small mammals can cause quite a bit of damage in a short amount of time because their tunneling ruins any plants in their path. As they dig through the earth, they destroy roots, so the tell-tale ridges of their tunnels turn brown quickly.” (Better Homes and Gardens)
Although there is no way to keep moles from coming your way, there are effective ways to apply bait to their tracks to get rid of these turf destroyers. Moles burrow deeply to look for the insects and earthworms they enjoy eating. They typically dig at least ten inches into the ground, leaving volcano-shaped hills behind as they do their dirty work. They might also dig tunnels more closely to the surface, creating ridges.
If you’re not sure whether the creatures you’re seeing on your property are moles, here’s a quick description. They’re small, only a few ounces in weight, with potato-shaped bodies. Their small eyes are hard to see because of their fur. Their muzzles are pointy and hairless, and they don’t have external ears. Front feet are big, with webbed toes; back ones are more narrow.
Armadillo
These critters dig up your soil, as well. Plus, they can carry dangerous diseases. For example, a 2018 report by Science Daily shares the scary news that armadillos have indeed transmitted the chronic disease of Hansen’s disease (leprosy) to people. When looking at nine-banded armadillos in a section of the Brazilian Amazon, a shocking 62% of them were infected.
More relevant to people living in Orlando, leprosy transmission has also taken place in the southern part of the United States. Because of this, the CDC says the following: “For general health reasons, avoid contact with armadillos whenever possible. If you had contact with an armadillo and are worried about getting Hansen’s disease, talk to your healthcare provider.”
Turner Pest Control provides armadillo control services that include treating the animal’s burrows to get them to leave, and stay away.
Each of these services—fire ant treatments, mole removal, and armadillo removal—can be part of lawn care services that we provide for lawn beautification, year round. This includes comprehensive bi-monthly visits to fertilize your lawn.
In these lawn treatments, our trained technicians:
These lawn and outdoor services include fertilizing, weed management, fungus management, and turf optimization products, with shrub optimization and disease control services also available.
Read More:
Getting Your Orlando Yard Ready for Spring
Chinch Bug Control for Your Orlando Yard
Throughout this post, we’ve provided links to each of our relevant residential services. In addition, we offer our SMART TurnerGuard Termite and Pest Control, which is a comprehensive program, a one-stop pest control choice. It offers:
SMART TurnerGuard provides more coverage than any other plan for pest control in the industry, all-in-one protection against ants, bed bugs, roaches, snakes, termites, and more.
Here’s how it works. You’ll pay an affordable monthly fee, based on the size of your Orlando home. You can proceed with confidence, knowing there are no hidden costs, no fine-print exclusions. Plus, with SMART TurnerGuard, you’ll never have to pay for another termite treatment.
Read More: Which Pest Control Services Orlando Homeowners Really Need.
These are unusual times, indeed, with COVID-19 raising questions about the best ways to fight back against this virus. To help, in addition to our regular pest control, we also offer our new TurnerClean Disinfection Misting Service in Orlando.
We use a safe, broad-spectrum disinfectant, Nisus DSV, that the EPA has determined is effective against SARS-CoV-2, which is the cause of COVID-19. It is included in the United Nations’ Food and Agricultural Organization’s biosecurity guides, and is used in governments around the world for emergency disease control.
We can quickly provide powerful virus protection in your bathrooms, kitchen, living areas, home offices, and other areas with frequently touched surfaces. This treatment is safe. After application, allow two hours where you stay out of your home for complete drying and maximum impact.
We provide flexible options, believing that smaller homes should have plans that are more affordable. So, we make it simple, basing our services on square footage. You can count on a program that addresses immediate challenges first, then switching the focus to keeping your Orlando home free from pests.
First, here’s the short version: All of us at Turner Pest Control stand behind our service, our people, and our products.
Our team is laser-focused on providing you with the best results possible in pest control, delivered with care by top professionals. If you’re ever not satisfied, we’ll return until you are—at no cost.
No complicated contracts.
No cancellation fee.
We’re proud to serve you.
Founded in 1971, technologies have changed and we’ve grown, but our focus on serving our communities never will. Today, we’re ranked in the top 100 pest control companies in the United States, one of the fastest growing companies in Florida. In addition, we’re a QualityPro Certified company, something that fewer than three percent of pest control providers in our country can say.
With Turner Pest Control, you can count on prompt and courteous service, with appointment times you can depend on. Our trained technicians must pass stringent background checks, fully committed to protecting our customers, our people and our environment.
Ready to get started? Contact us online or call (407) 675-5000.
Ready for expert pest control? Find a Turner Pest Control location near you.
