Know your bad neighbors.
Where New York's most common pests come from, how they live, the signs to look for, and how we get rid of them. Written from what our technicians see in NYC buildings every week.
Rodents
Roaches, flies and crawling insects
German Cockroaches
The roach that lives indoors, breeds fastest, and causes most commercial kitchen infestations.
Read more →American Roaches
The big reddish roach New Yorkers call a palmetto bug, coming up from drains and basements on hot nights.
Read more →Waterbugs
What New Yorkers call a waterbug is almost always the Oriental cockroach, a dark roach that loves damp basements.
Read more →Fruit Flies
Tiny flies that ride in on produce and turn bar drains, mats and recycling into breeding grounds.
Read more →Drain Flies
Fuzzy little flies that breed in the slime inside drains, which is why cleaning the cover never fixes them.
Read more →Ants
Pavement, odorous house and Pharaoh ants: small, organized, and following scent trails straight to your food.
Read more →Termites
Yes, New York has termites. Eastern subterranean termites quietly eat wood in older buildings across the boroughs.
Read more →Spotted Lanternflies
The red-winged invader NYC asks everyone to stomp, and the sticky mess it leaves on trees, walls and patios.
Read more →Mosquitoes
Rooftops, courtyards and outdoor dining all suffer when standing water turns into a mosquito nursery.
Read more →Silverfish
Shy, silvery night feeders that live in damp rooms and eat paper, glue and cardboard.
Read more →Seasonal and occasional pests
Yellow Jackets and Wasps
Late summer's uninvited guests at outdoor dining, trash corrals and anywhere sugar sits out.
Read more →Carpenter Ants
The biggest ants in New York, carving tunnels through damp wood in brownstones and older buildings.
Read more →Stink Bugs
An East Asian invader that gathers on sunny walls each fall and slips inside to spend the winter.
Read more →Cluster Flies
The slow, clumsy flies that pile up in sunny windows on warm winter days.
Read more →Asian Lady Beetles
They look like ladybugs, but they invade buildings by the hundreds in October and stain where they land.
Read more →Carpet Beetles
Tiny beetles whose fuzzy larvae chew holes in wool rugs, upholstery and stored textiles.
Read more →Bed Bugs
Hitchhikers that ride in on luggage and bags and hide in seams, headboards and chairs.
Read more →Fleas and Ticks
Fleas come in on pets and rodents, ticks come home from the park. Both need a plan, not a spray can.
Read more →Seeing one of these?
Book a free inspection. A licensed technician will find where they're coming from and give you a written plan.