Identify A Pest With Our Insect Library

Rats

The Norway Rat is larger and potentially more damaging than house mice and other rodents. The female generally:
  • lives up to five (5) years and
  • produces five (5) litters of up to fourteen (14) pups per       year
In addition to structural and food damages, they are well-known vectors of cryptosporidiosis, hemorrhagic fever, Q fever, and hantavirus.
Rat — Wilmington, DE — Brownco Pest Control
Mice — Wilmington, DE — Brownco Pest Control

Mice

The House Mouse is one of the most common pests.
Females can:
  • live from one (1) to three (3) years 
  • give birth to litters of three (3) to fourteen (14) young
  • five (5) to ten (10) times per year.
They can do a considerable amount of damage structurally, burrowing, and chewing through wood, plastic, and insulation and electric wires, unfortunately causing fire hazards. Mice also destroy food supplies and containers, soiling them with urine and feces. Mice create unsanitary conditions. They can also be vectors for transmitting leptospirosis, typhus, Ricketts, and tularemia.

Mosquitos 

A female mosquito will lay one hundred (100) to two hundred (200) eggs at a time in any untreated open water source, and a successful pair can create a population of thousands in a single season. Generally, the more open, stagnant water sources available, the more mosquitoes will be present. Mosquitoes are responsible for the rampant spread of diseases like yellow fever, dengue fever, equine encephalitis, West Nile virus, and, of course, malaria.
Yellow Fever Mosquito — Wilmington, DE — Brownco Pest Control

Termites 

Termites are usually discovered when either their shelter tubes are found in wood or masonry or when a winged swarm emerges from infested wood. After swarming, they mate, land, and quickly remove their own wings, and sometimes these are the only signs that they are still present. Upon maturity, a single queen from one of these swarms can produce 20,000-30,000 eggs per day and live for several years. They feed on and burrow through wood or other cellulose-based products and cause untold structural and monetary damage every year.
How Can I Tell If Termites Are Eating My House?

Stinkbugs 

The stink bug, also called stinkbug, derives its name from its tendency to eject a foul-smelling glandular substance secreted from pores in the thorax when disturbed; in some species, the liquid contains cyanide compounds with a rancid almond scent. 
Brown Marmorated Bug — Wilmington, DE — Brownco Pest Control
Leaf-Cutter Ant — Wilmington, DE — Brownco Pest Control

Ants 

Many species of ants are happy to make their homes in ours. More than just a nuisance, they multiply quickly, form new colonies just as quickly, and can cause a great deal of damage both structurally (as with carpenter ants) as well as spoiling food and drink sources. Some are well known for their severe bites and stings.

Fleas 

Fleas can live as little as one year, but the female can produce up to five thousand (5000) eggs at that time. In addition to the sheer annoyance of insect bites and welts, they can also directly transmit Ricketts, typhus, and a variety of other bacterial and viral infections. In severe cases, infected animals can become anemic (low red blood cell count) from the loss of blood from feeding fleas.
Life Cycle of a Flea — Wilmington, DE — Brownco Pest Control
Brown Tick — Wilmington, DE — Brownco Pest Control

Ticks 

Depending on the species, ticks can live a minimum of one year and produce between a few hundred to three thousand (3000) eggs in a single lifetime. Ticks are transmitters of a variety of diseases, including tularemia, Rocky Mountain spotted fever, and, of course, Lyme disease.

Bedbugs 

Bed bugs have made a serious resurgence in the last few decades in the United States. They can be found inhabiting mattresses, bed lines, couches, and furniture, anywhere that humans spend sufficient time at rest to allow their feeding. They live an average of nine (9) months and in that time can produce as many as five hundred (500) new bed bugs each. They are responsible for skin rashes and welts related to their bites, and, let's face it, they're just gross.
Bed Bug — Wilmington, DE — Brownco Pest Control
Orange Millipede — Wilmington, DE — Brownco Pest Control

Millipedes 

Millipedes are myriapods that have two pairs of legs on most body segments. Each double-legged section is a result of two single parts fused as one. Most millipedes have very elongated cylindrical bodies. Some millipedes are flat dorso-ventrally, while pill millipedes are shorter and can roll into a ball, like a pillbug.

Millipedes are detritivores and often slow-moving. Most millipedes eat decaying leaves and other dead plant matter, moisturizing the food with secretions and then scraping it in with their jaws. However, they can also be minor garden pests, especially in greenhouses, where they can cause severe damage to emergent seedlings. Signs of millipede damage include the stripping of the external layers of a young plant stem and irregular damage to leaves and plant apices, the very top of a plant.

Centipedes 

Centipedes can have a varying number of legs from under 20 to over 300. A key trait uniting this group is a pair of venom claws or forcipules formed from a modified first appendage. Centipedes usually have a drab coloration combining shades of brown and red. Centipedes range in size from a few millimeters to about 30 cm (12 in) in the largest scolopendromorphs. Centipedes are found in a wide variety of environments, from tropical rainforests to deserts. Within these habitats, centipedes require a moist micro-habitat because they don't have the waxy cuticle of insects and arachnids, and so lose water quickly through the skin. Accordingly, they are found in leaf litter and soil, under stones and dead wood, and inside logs. 
Orange and Blue Centipede — Wilmington, DE — Brownco Pest Control
Yellow Garden Spider — Wilmington, DE — Brownco Pest Control

Spiders 

Spiders have eight legs, breathe air, and have fangs that inject venom. Spiders differ from other arthropods in that the usual body segments are fused into two tagmata, the cephalothorax, and stomach, and joined by a small, circular pedicel. Unlike insects, spiders do not have antennae. They can be found in air vents, corners of rooms, attics. They find quiet, hidden spaces where they can get food and water.

Voles

A vole resembles a mouse but with a stouter body, a shorter, hairy tail, a rounder head, smaller eyes and ears, and differently formed molars. There are approximately 155 species of voles. They are sometimes known as meadow mice or field mice in North America. 
Bank Vole — Wilmington, DE — Brownco Pest Control
Black Mole — Wilmington, DE — Brownco Pest Control

Moles

Moles are small mammals. They have a velvety coat, tiny or invisible ears and eyes, reduced hindlimbs, and short, powerful forelimbs with large paws for digging. Moles live in gardens, urban areas, woods, or any area with soil where they can dig tunnels. 

Crickets

Crickets are insects somewhat related to grasshoppers. They have slightly flattened bodies and long antennae. There are more than 900 species of crickets. They are typically nocturnal and are frequently confused with grasshoppers because they have a similar body shape, including jumping hind legs. Crickets do not harm humans. 
Camel Cricket — Wilmington, DE — Brownco Pest Control

Stinging Pests

Bees 

Bees are flying insects related to ants and wasps, and are known for their function in pollination and for producing beeswax and honey. They have two pairs of wings and antennae. Bees are very beneficial to our society and our environment. 
Bumblebee on a Honeycomb — Wilmington, DE — Brownco Pest Control
Red Paper Wasp — Wilmington, DE — Brownco Pest Control

Wasps

The term wasp is defined as any insect of the order Hymenoptera and suborder Apocrita that is neither a bee nor an ant. Almost every pest insect species has at least one wasp species that preys upon it or parasitizes it, making wasps critically important in natural control of their numbers, or natural biocontrol. Parasitic wasps are increasingly used in agricultural pest control as they prey mostly on pest insects and have little impact on crops. 

Yellow Jackets

Yellow jacket is the official name for predatory wasps. Most of these are black and yellow; some are black and white. Others may have a red stomach background color instead of black. Yellow jackets have distinctive markings; they live in colonies and have a characteristic side to side flight pattern before landing. All females sting. Despite having drawn the hate of humans, yellow jackets are, in fact, essential predators of pest insects.
Common Wasp on Flower — Wilmington, DE — Brownco Pest Control
Yellow Hornet — Wilmington, DE — Brownco Pest Control

Hornets

Hornets are the largest stinging pests. They are very similar in appearance to yellowjackets. Hornets eat insects and build aerial nests. Hornets are social insects. Hornets have reddish-brown heads and thoraxes, with abdomens that are golden with dark brown stripes. Hornets build nests by chewing wood into a paper-like pulp, by mixing it with their saliva. The nest is about the size of a basketball once it is fully built. If the nest is close to your home posing a threat, we can help. 

Flies

Flies have a pair of flight wings on the mesothorax and a couple of halteres, derived from the hind wings, on the metathorax. The only other order of insects bearing two functional wings plus any form of halteres is the Strepsiptera. House flies are nuisance pests, and they can spread diseases. 
Fly — Wilmington, DE — Brownco Pest Control

Roaches

Several species of roaches infest and invade our homes, most commonly the Asian and German types. A female can produce thirty (30) to forty (40) eggs at a time and an average of three hundred (300) to four hundred (400) new cockroaches in her lifetime. The waste (urine and feces) they leave behind destroys food products that they invade as well as aggravating asthma and other allergic conditions.
Have questions about any of these insects or pests? Call us today at 302-650-6431 for more information.