Identify Your Home’s Unwelcomed Guests 

German Cockroach

Actual Size: ½” to 5/8″

Characteristics: Pale brown with two dark longitudinal stripes behind the head.

Legs: 6

Antennae: Yes

Wings: Yes, but rarely fly.

Habitat: Prefer humid, warm areas. Often found in residential and commercial kitchens as well as bathrooms. Usually in areas where people eat and drink.

Habits:

• Both sexes fully winged, but do not fly.
• Can live in big colonies as they reproduce quickly.
• Lives indoors, completely dependent on human habitats for survival.

Oriental Cockroach

Actual Size: 1 ¼”

Characteristics: Shiny; dark reddish-brown to black.

Legs: 6

Antennae: Yes

Wings: Yes, but cannot fly.

Habitat: Primarily outdoors in sewers, under porches, and under debris, leaves, and stones. Inside, they inhabit basements and crawl spaces.

Habits:

• Usually, travels through sewer pipes and drains.
• Tend to be found on the lower floors of homes and buildings.
• Has a strong odor and is considered one of the “dirtiest” cockroaches.

Smoky Brown

Actual Size: 1” – 1.5”

Characteristics: Uniform shiny mahogany brown

Legs: 6

Antennae: Yes

Wings: Yes, and both males and females can fly.

Habitat: Often found in crawl spaces or basements within properties.

Habits:

• Need moisture to survive.
• Adults can fly, especially on warm humid evenings.
• May invade structures, but often found dead indoors from dehydration.

Asian Cockroach

Actual Size: 16 mm

Characteristics: Brown with two darker parallel bands running lengthwise.

Legs: 6

Antennae: Yes

Wings: Yes, and they are capable of flying.

Habitat: Prefer outdoor areas in mulch, compost, leaf litter, and lawns.

Habits:

• Looks similar to German cockroaches, but prefers to live outdoors.
• Most commonly live in shaded areas, mulch, grass, and compost piles.
• May invade homes and buildings, but indoor infestations are rare occurrences.

Brown Recluse Spider

Actual Size:  ⅜” 

Characteristics: Light to dark brown, violin marking behind the head.

Legs: 8

Habitat: Constructs webs in any dark, undisturbed area in closets, basements, and garages. Will wander into shoes, boxes, bedding, and clothing items.

Habits:

• Reclusive and passive hunters.
• Also referred to as the ‘violin’ or ‘fiddleback’ spider.
• Found in cracks and crevices in and under rocks or the loose bark of dead trees.

Wolf Spider

Actual Size: 1 ½”

Characteristics: Large; black, gray, or brown pattern on the back.

Legs: 8

Habitat: Actively hunt in the open during the day and night, living in leaf litter and grassy areas. Can be found indoors around doors and windows, and inside closets, basements, and garages.

Habits:

• Do not build webs to capture prey.
• Rapid, active hunters that patrol the ground for insects day and night.
• Female spiders keep their spiderlings on their back until they are grown.

Drywood Termite

Actual Size: ¼ to ⅜”

Characteristics: Size and coloration vary within the species. Termites can generally be identified (in comparison to ants) by their equal-sized, drooping wings.

Legs: 6

Antennae: Yes

Wings: Alates/swarmers have wings.

Habitat: Prefers warm, humid environments. Targets dry wood above ground.

Habits:

• Drywood termites live within the wood and have adapted to live with very little water.
• Not as common as the subterranean termite.
• Drywood termites have saw-like jaws.

Dampwood Termite

Actual Size: 3/4″ to 1″

Characteristics: Much larger type of termite. Soldiers and swarmers range from a light brown color to a reddish-brown.

Legs: 6

Antennae: Yes

Wings: Alates/swarmers have wings.

Habitat: Attracted to moist, weakened wood. Target timber and other decaying wood sources.

Habits:

• They only infest wood with high moisture content.
• Usually found to infest felled timber, dead trees, and stumps.
• May infest buildings prone to high moisture content from plumbing or drainage issues.

Eastern Subterranean Termite

Actual Size: 10 mm 

Characteristics: Brownish-black to black body, translucent milky wings.

Legs: 6

Antennae: Yes

Wings: Yes

Habitat: Lives in the ground and builds mud tubes to access homes. In structures, can be found in interior walls, basements, crawl spaces, and damp areas.

Habits: 

• Considered the most damaging termite species in the United States.
• Termites consume cellulose, the main structural components of plant cells.
• Over $5 billion in damage and treatment costs to properties in the U.S. annually.

Red Imported Fire Ant

Actual Size: 1.6 to 5 mm

Characteristics: Dark-reddish brown. Stinger located in their abdomen.

Legs: 6

Antennae: Yes

Wings: The reproductive males and females have wings.

Habitat: Fire ants build mounds in almost any soil, favoring structural foundations and landscaping in open sunny areas.

Habits:

• Colonies typically construct mounds in open areas.
• Unlike most ants, mounds do not have an entrance hole in the center.
• Sting in unison and their venom can cause anaphylactic shock in 1% of the population.

Pavement Ant

Actual Size: 1/16″ to 1/8″

Characteristics: Light to dark brown to blackish; dark parallel lines run down the head and thorax.

Legs: 6 

Antennae: Yes

Wings: The reproductive males and females have wings.

Habitat: Nests are located in open soil or under stones and pavement, masonry or wood, near sidewalks, patios, and driveways. 

Habits:

• Prefers to feed on meat proteins and greasy foods.
• Indoors, will build nests in walls, insulation, and floors.
• Outdoors, will nest under flat stones, sidewalks, and concrete slabs.

Pharaoh Ant

Actual Size: 1/16″ to ⅛”

Characteristics: Small; typically light yellow to red, with black markings on the abdomen. 

Legs: 6

Antennae: Yes

Wings: No

Habitat: Nests located in hard-to-reach areas near moisture, such as kitchens, bathrooms, interior wall voids, under floors, and behind baseboards.

Habits:

• Often go unnoticed due to their small size and color.
• Colonies are very large with over 300,000 individuals and multiple queens.
• Potentially dangerous in hospitals due to their ability to transmit disease organisms.

Odorus House Ant

Actual Size: 1/16″ to 1/8″

Characteristics: Small; brown or black. The best identifying characteristic is the “rotten coconut” smell they produce when they are crushed; hence the name.

Legs: 6

Antennae: Yes

Wings: The reproductive males and females have wings.

Habitat: Wall voids near water pipes, heaters, leaking fixtures, and damaged wood are all ideal habitats.

Habits:

• Will nest inside homes in wall voids near heat sources.
• They prefer sweets but will eat almost any household food.
• They invade structures during heavy rains when the honeydew of plants is washed away.

Thief Ant

Actual Size: 1.5 to 2.2 mm

Characteristics: Brown to yellow in color.

Legs: 6

Antennae: Yes

Wings: No

Habitat: Nests are found in exposed soil, under rocks, or in rotting wood. Indoors, nests can be found in woodwork and masonry.

Habits:

• Prefer foods with higher protein and fat content.
• Will nest near other ants, then steal the food and larvae from their neighbor.
• Since they feed on dead rodents and insects, they can contaminate pantry products as they forage.

Little Black Ant

Actual Size: 1.5 mm to 2 mm

Characteristics: Shiny black in color.

Legs: 6

Antennae: Yes

Wings: No

Habitat: Nest can be in rotting logs, in grass lawns, or in cracks of cement. They can be seen on kitchen counters or window sills as they make their way back and forth between a food source and their colony.

Habits:

• They are omnivorous and will eat almost anything they can find, which generally includes sweets, vegetables, plant secretions, grease, and other insects.
• Little black ants typically swarm from June to August
• They do have a stinger, but it is often too small and weak to be effective

Ghost Ant

Actual Size: 1.3 to 1.5 mm

Characteristics: Tiny; head and thorax are dark, and body is light, almost translucent.

Legs: 6

Antennae: Yes

Wings: No

Habitat: Constructs nests in moist grass and potted plants. Indoors, will nest in small spaces such as cracks, spaces between cabinetry, baseboards, books, and wall voids.

Habits:

• Also known as the black-headed ant
• Ghost ants exhibit rapid, erratic movement that resembles small spiders.
• Like odorous house ants, the ghost ant excretes a rotten coconut smell.

Acrobat Ant

Actual Size: 2.5 to 4 mm

Characteristics: Light brown to black; heart-shaped abdomen when viewed from above.

Legs: 6

Antennae: Yes

Wings: Swarmers or reproductives have wings.

Habitat: Prefers rotting and decaying wood and will inhabit old carpenter ant or termite galleries. In homes and structures, will nest in wall voids around doors, window frames, and insulation.

Habits:

• Rose bushes, fruit trees and any shrub that attracts aphids may contribute to an infestation.
• Due to their ability to strip the insulation off of wires, they can cause short circuits, creating a fire hazard.
• When excited or disturbed, acrobat ant workers will run around with their abdomens held high above their heads.