Pest Control FAQs
Costs, Preparation & Follow-up

Look at the droppings. Mouse droppings are 3 to 6 mm long and pointed at both ends; rat droppings are 15 to 20 mm and blunt. Rats also leave wider rub marks, larger gnaw holes, and burrows near the foundation. If you are not sure, photograph the droppings beside a coin and describe where you found them.

About 6 mm, roughly the width of a pencil. A young rat needs around 12 mm. This is why exclusion focuses on gaps that look far too small to matter: utility penetrations, door corners, dryer vents, and the joint between siding and foundation.

Almost always because the entry route or the food source was never addressed. Trapping reduces the population inside; exclusion is what stops the next group arriving. If a neighbouring property, a construction site, or a shared wall is the source, the sealing work matters even more.

A light, recent infestation often quietens within one to two weeks of the first visit. An established population in a larger or multi-unit building can take several weeks with follow-up visits, because new rodents keep testing the building until the exclusion work is finished.

Tell your technician about children, pets, and any wildlife on the property before the visit. Placement is chosen around that: traps in enclosed or inaccessible locations, and tamper-resistant stations where rodenticide is used at all. You will get re-entry and handling instructions in writing.

Do not dry sweep or vacuum them in an enclosed space, because that puts particles into the air. Ventilate the area, wear gloves and a mask, dampen the droppings with a disinfectant, wipe them up, and bag the waste. Ask your technician if the area is large or in a confined space.

Exclusion is the part that ends the problem, so accessible entry points are identified during the inspection and the repair list is part of your plan. Where work is at height or involves structural repair, we tell you clearly which parts need a roofer, builder, or your property manager.

Aprehend is a professional biological bed bug treatment containing Beauveria bassiana fungal spores. Bed bugs pick up spores when they cross treated surfaces and can transfer them to other bed bugs. Inspection determines where treatment is needed.

Exposed bed bugs typically die within 4 to 10 days of contact with Aprehend. This is not a deadline for clearing the whole infestation: hidden bugs may reach a treated surface later. A follow-up inspection checks the result.

The quote depends on affected rooms, furniture, infestation level, access and follow-up needs. Tell us your city, property type and where you have seen activity for an Aprehend treatment quote with the proposed scope and warranty terms.

Follow your written preparation sheet. Bag affected laundry before moving it, complete the specified washing and drying steps, and clear access around beds and furniture. Keep cleaned items sealed as directed and tell us about previous pesticide use.

Typically small, raised, itchy welts, often in a line or loose cluster on skin exposed while sleeping. Reactions vary widely and some people never react, so bites alone neither confirm nor rule out bed bugs. Look for faecal spotting, shed skins, and eggs before drawing a conclusion.

Adults commonly survive several months at normal room temperature and longer in cool conditions. This is why leaving a room or apartment empty does not solve the problem, and why a property that has been vacant for a while can still have live bugs.

Professional heat treatment can kill eggs when the required temperature and exposure time are reached at their hiding places. Room air temperature alone does not establish that every item has been treated successfully.

The number depends on the method, infestation and follow-up findings. Aprehend and conventional residual treatments have different inspection schedules. Your quote explains the planned visits and when further treatment may be needed.

Wait for the written preparation list, and do not start bagging or moving things before you have it. Moving belongings to another room is one of the most common ways an infestation spreads. Generally you will be asked to launder and hot-dry bedding and clothing from the affected room and keep it sealed until after treatment.

People and pets must leave the treatment area as directed. For Aprehend in Canada, keep out of treated areas until the spray is dry and follow your technician's ventilation and re-entry instructions. Other products and heat treatments have their own requirements.

Ask for an inspection rather than waiting for bites. Bed bugs move between connected units through wall voids and service chases. Early inspection of the units next to, above, and below an affected one is much cheaper than treating them later, and in most buildings the property manager coordinates that.

In Ontario, landlords are generally responsible for maintaining a rental in a good state of repair and fit for habitation, which includes pest treatment, while tenants are expected to cooperate with access and preparation. Report the problem in writing, keep dated records, and contact the Landlord and Tenant Board if you need guidance on a dispute.

Look for the two dark parallel stripes on the shield behind the head and a body of 13 to 16 mm. Oriental cockroaches are darker and rounder at about 25 mm, and American cockroaches are much larger with a pale figure-of-eight marking. Photograph one next to a coin if you can.

With a correctly placed gel bait programme, most people notice a clear drop within one to two weeks, and a German cockroach population usually collapses over four to eight weeks with follow-up visits. Heavier infestations in cluttered or multi-unit properties take longer because harbourage is harder to reach.

Sprays rarely reach the gaps where cockroaches live, they do not affect the egg case the female carries, and many populations are resistant to older products. The repellent effect also pushes survivors into wall voids and neighbouring rooms, so the infestation spreads rather than ends.

They can carry bacteria mechanically from drains and waste onto food surfaces, and their droppings and shed skins are a recognised indoor allergen and asthma trigger, particularly for children. That allergen load is the stronger reason to deal with an infestation properly rather than living with it.

In most cases yes. Gel baiting and crack-and-crevice work are usually scheduled around service hours, often early morning or after close. Tell us your operating hours, equipment access, and any areas that must stay clear, and the plan is built around them.

Those are egg cases. Each German cockroach case holds roughly 30 to 40 eggs. Finding them means the population is breeding on site rather than wandering in from elsewhere, so treatment should be planned rather than improvised.

Often not on its own. Cockroaches move through shared plumbing chases and wall voids, so a single treated unit can be re-infested from next door. Report the problem to your property manager so neighbouring units can be inspected and treated on the same schedule.

Look for large black ants of 6 to 13 mm, small piles of frass that resembles sawdust mixed with insect fragments, and a faint rustling in wall or window framing at night. Winged ants indoors in spring are another strong indicator. Carpenter ants have an evenly rounded back in profile, unlike most other household ants.

Winged ants are reproductives produced only by a mature colony. Seeing them inside in spring usually means an established nest in or beside the structure rather than a visitor from the garden, and for carpenter ants a colony takes several years to reach that stage. Keep a specimen in a small container if you can, because the species decides the treatment.

Repellent sprays kill visible foragers and break the pheromone trail, so the colony stops carrying bait back and simply routes around the treated area. Pharaoh ants go further and bud into multiple new colonies when sprayed, turning one nest into several.

Baiting usually shows a noticeable drop within a week to ten days, with full colony elimination over two to four weeks. Carpenter ant work can be faster when the nest is located and treated directly. Pharaoh ant programmes take longest because budding has to be reversed.

Carpenter ants do, over time, by hollowing galleries in framing, sills, and joists, usually where wood is already damp. Pavement, pharaoh, and odorous house ants are nuisance and hygiene pests rather than structural ones, though a pharaoh ant infestation in healthcare or food premises is treated seriously.

Please leave it. The trail tells the technician where the ants enter and where the nest is likely to be, which is the most useful information available on the day. Once baiting starts, leave the trail undisturbed as well, because that is the route bait takes back to the colony.

Foraging outdoors stops in cold weather, so ants seen indoors in January usually come from a nest inside the heated structure, often in damp timber near a leaking roof, window, or bathroom. That makes a winter sighting worth acting on rather than waiting for spring.

No. Sealing an active entrance traps the colony inside the void, and wasps very often chew their way out through drywall into the room. Leave the entrance open, keep the area clear, and have the nest treated first.

Wasp and hornet nests are made of chewed wood fibre and look like grey paper, either an open umbrella comb or an enclosed football shape. Honey bees build waxy combs and the bees themselves are furry and golden-brown. We refer honey bee colonies to a beekeeper rather than treating them.

Most nests go quiet within a few hours to a day as returning foragers carry product inside. A large or well-insulated wall-void nest can take longer, and some stragglers returning to the site for a day or two afterwards is normal.

The colony peaks in late summer, and brood rearing slows, so workers switch from hunting insects to seeking sugar. That is when they show up around bins, patios, fruit trees, and outdoor dining, even though the nest has been there since spring.

Not to the same nest, which is abandoned after the colony dies off in winter. They do come back to the same kind of site, so an open soffit gap or unscreened vent that hosted a nest this year is likely to host one again. Proofing the site is what breaks the pattern.

Ground-nesting yellowjackets are treated at the burrow entrance, usually at dusk or early morning when most workers are inside. Mark the spot from a distance, keep people and pets away, and do not mow near it, because vibration is the most common trigger for a mass sting incident.

Often yes, though the area around the nest needs to be kept clear for a short period, and scheduling before opening or after close is usually better for customers and staff. Tell us the doorway, patio, or drive-through involved and we will plan access around it.

Only one species of real medical significance, the northern black widow, and it is uncommon and associated with dry, rocky, undisturbed sites rather than homes. The brown recluse is not established in Ontario. Nearly everything found in an Ontario house is harmless.

Late summer and autumn are the mating season for several common species, so males wander in search of females and come in through doors, gaps, and vents at ground level. It is a seasonal peak in movement rather than a sudden infestation.

Because that spot reliably catches insects. A porch light, a window that leaks warm air, or standing water nearby keeps the food supply coming. Treat the corner and the insect attractant together and the webs stop returning.

They are worth removing rather than worrying about. One sac can hold dozens to hundreds of eggs, so leaving them in place is what leads to a fresh crop of spiders in the same area a few weeks later.

Yes. They eat flies, midges, moths, and other nuisance insects, and a few spiders in a garage or garden are doing useful work. Control is worth it when webs are persistent indoors, when egg sacs are accumulating, or when someone in the household is genuinely distressed by them.

It will clear the current population and the accessible egg sacs, but spiders disperse in from surrounding areas. Lasting results come from combining treatment with proofing and reducing the insect food supply, and many properties benefit from a visit timed before the autumn peak.

Not to people. They do not bite, sting, or transmit disease. The damage is to property: paper, books, wallpaper, cardboard, photographs, and stored natural-fibre textiles. In a heavy infestation the shed scales can add to indoor allergen load.

Humidity above roughly 70 per cent, a dark still space, and starch to feed on. A bathroom with poor extraction, a slow leak under the vanity, or condensation on a cold exterior wall gives them everything they need.

Adults commonly live two to eight years, which is exceptional for a household insect, and they can take months to two or three years to reach maturity in a cool basement. That long life cycle is precisely why an untreated population does not simply die out.

It will make conditions much less favourable and should be part of the plan, but on its own it rarely clears an established population, because silverfish shelter deep in voids and can go a long time without food. Combine humidity control with targeted treatment.

Expect a gradual decline rather than a sudden end. Most properties see a clear reduction over four to eight weeks, with monitors used to measure it. Where humidity has not been corrected, activity tends to hold steady rather than fall.

Yes. They graze the surface of paper and feed on book glue, bindings, and wallpaper paste, leaving irregular holes, notched edges, and yellow staining. Anyone storing archives, business records, or family papers should move them out of cardboard into sealed containers.

Because of the cocoon. No product reliably penetrates it, so adults keep emerging for two to three weeks after a treatment, walk onto the treated surface, and die there. Continued sightings in that window are expected. Vacuuming often actually speeds it up, since the vibration triggers emergence. What matters is that numbers are falling by the follow-up visit.

Yes, and it is common. Raccoons, squirrels, and skunks in a roof space, soffit, or under a deck carry cat fleas, as do mice and rats. When that animal leaves, is removed, or dies, the fleas are left without a host and move into the living space. If there is no pet, the inspection starts in the attic and under the deck rather than the carpet.

Yes, and it should be a veterinary product rather than a supermarket collar or shampoo. Environmental treatment without an on-animal product leaves a walking reservoir that reseeds the floor; an on-animal product without environmental treatment leaves the carpet reseeding the animal. Ask your vet to have the pet current around the time of the visit.

Fleas emerge from the floor and jump to reach a host, roughly 18 cm at a time, so lower legs and ankles are what they can get to. Bites are usually small, intensely itchy, and in loose clusters. Bites spread across the torso, arms, and shoulders point away from fleas and more often toward bed bugs.

Most homes are clear within three to six weeks from the first treatment. That timeline is set by the life cycle rather than the product: the growth regulator has to catch the eggs and larvae already in the carpet, and the cocoons have to finish emerging. Where a wildlife or rodent source is still active, it holds steady instead of falling.

You will be asked to stay out while the treatment is applied and until surfaces are dry, typically a few hours; the written instructions give the time for your job. Fish tanks are covered and their pumps turned off, and birds and small caged animals are moved out beforehand. Cats and dogs return once surfaces are dry.

Not for at least two weeks, because wet cleaning lifts the residual and the growth regulator straight back out of the pile. Vacuum as much as you like in the meantime, which helps. If the carpet badly needs cleaning, do it before the visit rather than after.

That is the classic pre-emerged adult problem. Cocoons from the previous occupant's pet sit dormant in an empty property, sometimes for months, and the warmth, vibration, and carbon dioxide of people moving back in triggers them all at once. It says nothing about how clean the property is, and it responds normally to treatment.

Clothes moths are small, plain, golden-buff, avoid light, and their larvae eat keratin in wool, silk, fur, and felt. Pantry moths such as the Indianmeal moth are larger with distinctive two-tone coppery wings, and their larvae live in flour, cereal, nuts, birdseed, and pet food. The treatments have almost nothing in common.

The larvae. Adult clothes moths have no functioning mouthparts and never feed. Killing the adults you see does nothing about the larvae already inside a folded sweater or under a carpet edge, which is where every hole comes from.

Nearly always from a product that was already infested when it was bought, most often birdseed, bulk grains, dried fruit, nuts, or dry pet food. Cleanliness has very little to do with it; sealed rigid storage and using bulk dry goods promptly have a great deal to do with it.

Only inside a sealed container where the vapour can build up. In an open wardrobe they mostly expose your household to the vapour without protecting the clothing. Sealed storage, laundering before storage, and dealing with existing larvae are far more effective.

Yes, for items that cannot be hot-washed. Seal the item in a bag, freeze it at minus 18 degrees or colder for at least a week, then remove and vacuum it. This is a common approach for wool, cashmere, and delicate heirloom textiles.

Pantry moth larvae often crawl well away from the food before pupating, so cocoons turn up in ceiling corners, shelf lips, and hinge recesses metres from the infested package. Finding them there means the source is still in the room and the cupboard needs a full check.

Pantry moth infestations usually resolve within four to six weeks once the source is found and removed, with pheromone traps confirming the drop. Clothes moth work can take longer, because larvae may be spread across several rooms and stored items, and follow-up is normally planned for six to eight weeks out.

Usually not for targeted interior work, though you will be given a re-entry time for treated rooms. Some treatments, notably bed bug heat treatment, do require the space to be empty while they run. Your instructions will be specific to the method used.

Tell your technician about children, pets, fish tanks, and anyone with allergies or respiratory conditions before the visit. Products and placements are chosen with that in mind, and you receive written preparation and re-entry instructions rather than a general reassurance.

Call and describe the pest and where it is active. Availability depends on the location and the day, and urgent situations such as a wasp nest at a doorway or an active rodent problem in a kitchen are prioritised where the schedule allows.

Yes. In Ontario, landlords are generally responsible for keeping a rental in a good state of repair and fit for habitation, which includes pest treatment, and tenants are expected to cooperate with access and preparation. Where activity may involve shared walls or neighbouring units, coordination through the property manager makes the treatment far more likely to hold.

For wasps, many ant problems, and light spider or silverfish activity, often yes. Bed bugs, cockroaches, and established rodent populations are planned around follow-up visits because of how their life cycles work. The number of visits is stated in your plan before work begins.

Ask when you book, because it depends on the pest, the treatment, and whether the recommended proofing and preparation are completed. What we always give you is a clear statement of what the plan covers, what the follow-up includes, and what is outside it.

Yes, and for most food and retail premises we recommend it. Tell us your operating hours, delivery windows, and any areas that must stay accessible, and visits are scheduled before opening, after close, or overnight as the site needs.

A site map with numbered monitoring points, a service report for each visit, product and application records, monitor trend data, and a ranked corrective action list. That is the package inspectors and third-party auditors normally ask to see.

It depends on the sector, the building, and the pest pressure. Food preparation and food storage sites are commonly on monthly visits, while lower-risk offices and retail may be quarterly. The survey sets the frequency rather than a standard package doing it.

Call and describe the findings. An initial survey establishes what was observed, what the root cause is, and what can be corrected immediately, and the written record of remedial action is usually as important to the inspector as the treatment itself.

Yes. Multi-unit work needs coordinated access, resident notice, and a treatment schedule across affected units, because treating one unit in a connected building rarely holds. We set out the access and notice requirements clearly so the schedule can be arranged properly.

Yes. Multi-site programmes use a consistent monitoring format across locations so you can compare trends between sites and see where a recurring issue is structural rather than local.

Describe its size, colour, and where you found it, and take a photo next to a coin for scale if you can. Better still, keep a specimen in a sealed container. Identification is the step most home treatments get wrong, and it changes the whole plan.

Often yes, though each pest gets its own method and placement. What does not work is applying one product everywhere and hoping it covers everything. Tell us all the activity you have noticed and the visit can be planned properly.

It depends entirely on the species. Wasps go quiet within a day, ants over one to three weeks, cockroaches over four to eight weeks, and bed bugs and moths across a planned follow-up cycle. Your plan will state the expected timeline for your pest.

Wait for the written preparation list. For pantry pests, yes, cupboards are emptied and checked package by package. For cockroach gel baiting, over-cleaning immediately before the visit can actually work against the treatment. The instructions are specific to the method.

Registered products applied according to their label by a licensed technician, with placement chosen around children, pets, and anyone with respiratory conditions. Tell us about those before the visit, and you will receive written re-entry and ventilation instructions.

No. Wait for an assessment. Sealing an active entry traps the animal inside, and in spring it very often traps dependent young, which is both inhumane and far more expensive to resolve once they die in the structure or break out through a ceiling.

Ontario rules require wildlife captured by a licensed agent to be released within one kilometre of the capture site and within 24 hours. That is why one-way exclusion with permanent repair is the approach that actually works: the animal leaves and simply cannot get back in.

The timing and method change. Young must be able to leave with the mother or be reunited with her, so the work is planned around that rather than around the fastest possible removal. Tell us what you have heard and when, because the sounds often indicate how old they are.

All Ontario bat species are protected and several are at risk. Exclusion is not appropriate during the maternity season, roughly late May to mid-August, because flightless pups would be sealed inside. Work is scheduled either side of that window using one-way devices at every exit point.

Entry repair is part of the job, because exclusion without repair simply moves the problem to next season. Where damage extends beyond the entry point into roofing, structure, or extensive insulation replacement, we tell you clearly what needs a roofer or contractor.

Once any animal present has left, the gap is closed with mesh buried at the base and turned outward so digging does not get underneath. Removing grubs from the lawn, securing bins, and bringing in pet food overnight reduce the reason the property is attractive in the first place.