Pest Control Glossary

American Cockroach

The American cockroach (Periplaneta americana) is a large, reddish-brown cockroach, about 1 1/2 to 2 inches long, with a pale yellow band behind its head, that lives mainly in sewers, drains, basements and warm, damp outdoor spots and wanders indoors.

Bait Aversion

Bait aversion is when pests stop eating, or never start eating, a bait that is meant to attract them, so the bait sits untouched and the infestation keeps going.

Bald-Faced Hornet

The bald-faced hornet (Dolichovespula maculata) is a black wasp with ivory-white face markings that builds a gray, football-shaped paper nest in trees, shrubs or under eaves, and despite its name is an aerial yellowjacket, not a true hornet.

Bat Exclusion

Bat exclusion is the humane removal of bats from a building by sealing every secondary gap, fitting one-way exit devices over the openings bats use so they can leave but not return, and then sealing those openings once all bats are gone.

Bed Bug

A bed bug is a small, flat, wingless insect, most often the species Cimex lectularius, that hides near where people sleep and feeds on human blood, mostly at night.

Black Widow Spider

A black widow spider is a shy cobweb spider in the genus Latrodectus whose adult female is shiny black with a red hourglass mark under her round abdomen, and whose venom acts on the nerves.

Brown Recluse Spider

A brown recluse spider is a shy, tan to brown spider, Loxosceles reclusa, with six eyes in three pairs, native to the south-central and midwestern United States, whose bite can sometimes damage skin.

Bumble Bee

A bumble bee is a large, hairy native bee in the genus Bombus that lives in a small annual colony, usually in an abandoned rodent burrow or grass tussock, and is a key pollinator of wild flowers and crops such as tomatoes and blueberries.

Carpenter Ant

A carpenter ant is a large ant, in the genus Camponotus, that hollows out wood to build its nest, usually wood that is damp, decayed or soft, but does not eat the wood the way termites do.

Carpenter Bee

A carpenter bee is a large, solitary bee, in the U.S.

Caulking for Pest Prevention

Caulking for pest prevention is filling small cracks and gaps in a building with a flexible sealant so insects cannot get in, travel through walls or hide in the openings.

Cockroach

A cockroach is a flat-bodied, fast-running insect that hides in warm, damp cracks by day and comes out at night to feed on almost any food, leaving behind droppings and shed skins that can trigger allergies and asthma.

Contact Insecticide: see Residual Insecticide

Crawl Space Encapsulation and Pest Prevention

Crawl space encapsulation and pest prevention means sealing the crawl space under a house, covering the dirt floor with a vapor retarder and closing the vents, so the space stays dry instead of taking in damp outside air.

Door Sweep

A door sweep is a strip of metal, often with a flexible rubber, plastic or brush edge, fastened to the bottom of a door to close the gap between the door and the floor or threshold.

Drywood Termite

A drywood termite is a termite whose whole colony lives inside a piece of dry, sound wood, with no need for soil contact, and which pushes small, six-sided fecal pellets out of the wood through tiny holes.

EPA-Registered Pesticide

An EPA-registered pesticide is a product the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has reviewed and allowed to be sold under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA), shown by an “EPA Reg.

Exclusion Mesh: see Pest Exclusion

Fire Ant

A fire ant is a small, reddish-brown stinging ant, in the U.S.

Flea

A flea is a tiny, wingless insect, usually the cat flea (Ctenocephalides felis) in U.S.

Fruit Fly

A fruit fly, in a home, is a tiny tan fly about 2 to 3 mm long, usually with bright red eyes, from the genus Drosophila, that breeds in overripe fruit and other fermenting residue and hovers around kitchens, trash and recycling.

Fumigation

Fumigation is a pest treatment that fills a sealed space, such as a tented house, with a toxic gas called a fumigant, which reaches pests hidden inside wood, walls and furniture that sprays cannot touch.

German Cockroach

The German cockroach (Blattella germanica) is a small, light-brown cockroach about half an inch long, marked by two dark stripes behind its head, that lives and breeds almost entirely indoors near kitchens and bathrooms.

Heat Treatment for Bed Bugs

Heat treatment for bed bugs is a non-chemical method that uses portable heaters and fans to raise a room or home to a temperature that kills every bed bug life stage, then holds that heat long enough to reach bugs hidden in furniture, walls and clutter.

Honey Bee

A honey bee (Apis mellifera) is a hairy, social bee that lives in a large colony with one queen, builds comb from wax it makes itself, stores honey, and is the most important managed crop pollinator in the United States.

House Fly

A house fly (Musca domestica) is a gray, non-biting fly under 3/8 inch long, marked by four dark stripes on its back, that breeds in garbage, manure and other moist, rotting matter and can carry germs from that waste onto food.

House Mouse

A house mouse is a small, gray-brown rodent, the species Mus musculus, that lives in and around buildings, eats almost any human food and can squeeze through a gap about 1/4 inch wide.

Insect Growth Regulator (IGR)

An insect growth regulator (IGR) is an insecticide that disrupts how an insect develops, either by keeping young insects from maturing into breeding adults or by stopping them from building a new outer shell when they molt, rather than killing adults on contact.

Insect Light Trap

An insect light trap is a device that uses ultraviolet light to lure flying insects, then catches them on a glue board or kills them on an electric grid, with no pesticide.

Insecticide

An insecticide is a pesticide made to kill, harm, repel or otherwise control insects, and under U.S.

Integrated Pest Management (IPM)

Integrated pest management (IPM) is a decision process that combines inspection, identification, monitoring, action thresholds and the least-risky effective controls, using pesticides only when monitoring shows they are needed.

Moisture Control for Pest Prevention

Moisture control for pest prevention is cutting the water and dampness in and around a home, from leaks, humidity, poor drainage and wet wood, so that pests which need moisture to live cannot settle there.

Mosquito

A mosquito is a small, long-legged fly whose females bite people and animals for the blood they need to make eggs, and whose young grow only in standing water, from a pond to a bottle cap.

Neonicotinoids

Neonicotinoids, often shortened to neonics, are a class of insecticides made to mimic nicotine that disrupt how insect nerves send signals; imidacloprid, dinotefuran, acetamiprid, clothianidin and thiamethoxam are the main ones in the United States.

Non-Chemical Pest Control

Non-chemical pest control is the set of methods that prevent or reduce pests without pesticides: blocking entry, removing food, water and shelter, trapping, using heat or cold, and letting natural enemies work.

Norway Rat

A Norway rat is a large, heavy-bodied brown rat, the species Rattus norvegicus, that digs burrows along foundations, under woodpiles and in yards, and moves into basements and ground floors for food and shelter.

Paper Wasp

A paper wasp is a social wasp in the genus Polistes with a slender body and long dangling legs that builds a single open comb of paper cells, shaped like an upside-down umbrella, under eaves, railings and other sheltered spots.

Pavement Ant

A pavement ant is a small, dark brown to black ant, Tetramorium immigrans, that nests in soil under sidewalks, driveways and building slabs and comes indoors through cracks to feed on sweets, grease and crumbs.

Perimeter Pest Treatment

A perimeter pest treatment is an application of a labeled insecticide to the outside of a building, usually the lower foundation wall and the soil or plants right next to it, meant to kill crawling insects before they get inside.

Pest Bait

A pest bait is a pesticide mixed into a food the target pest wants, so the pest eats it, and for social insects like ants and termites carries it home and shares it with the colony.

Pest Control

Pest control is the work of finding, preventing and reducing insects, rodents and other unwanted animals so they stay below the level where they harm people, pets, food or buildings.

Pest Control Cost Estimate

A pest control cost estimate is a written price for a defined scope: the pest, the treatment method, the area treated, the number of visits and any warranty, prepared after an inspection.

Pest Control Follow-Up Visit: see Pest Control Treatment Plan

Pest Control Service Agreement

A pest control service agreement is the contract that sets which pests are covered, how often the company visits, what happens between visits, how either side cancels, and what the price covers.

Pest Control Treatment Plan

A pest control treatment plan is a company’s written outline of how it will handle a specific pest problem: what pest it found, how bad it is, which methods and products it will use, how many visits, and how it will check the result.

Pest Entry Points

Pest entry points are the gaps, cracks, holes and openings in a building’s outer shell that insects, rodents and other animals use to get inside, such as gaps under doors, holes around pipes and wires, open vents and torn screens.

Pest Exclusion

Pest exclusion is the practice of physically blocking the openings pests use to enter a building, by sealing gaps, screening vents and fitting doors tightly with materials the pest cannot chew, squeeze or crawl through.

Pest Extermination: see Pest Control

Pest Glue Board

A pest glue board is a flat card or tray coated with strong, slow-drying glue that catches insects, spiders or rodents when they walk across it, with no poison involved.

Pest Identification

Pest identification is the step of naming exactly which insect, rodent or other animal is causing a problem, down to the species when it matters, so the right control method can be chosen.

Pest Infestation

A pest infestation is a population of insects, rodents or other pests that has settled in or around a building and is feeding, sheltering and usually breeding there, rather than a single animal passing through.

Pest Inspection

A pest inspection is a planned check of a building and its grounds for live pests, signs they leave behind and the conditions that let them in or help them thrive, written up so a treatment decision can follow.

Pest Life Cycle

A pest life cycle is the series of stages a pest passes through from egg or birth to a breeding adult, such as egg, larva, pupa and adult for a mosquito, or egg, nymph and adult for a cockroach.

Pest Monitoring

Pest monitoring is the regular, recorded checking of a place for pests, using traps, visual checks and logs, to learn which pests are present, where, how many, and whether their numbers are rising or falling.

Pest Threshold

A pest threshold, also called an action threshold, is the point at which pest numbers or conditions show that control action must be taken, set in advance so one sighting does not trigger an automatic treatment.

Pesticide Active Ingredient

A pesticide active ingredient is the chemical or substance in a pesticide product that prevents, destroys, repels or mitigates the pest, as opposed to the other ingredients that carry it, help it spread or make it easier to use.

Pesticide Application Rate: see Pesticide Label

Pesticide Applicator Certification

Pesticide applicator certification is the state credential, issued under the federal certification rule (40 CFR Part 171), that a person must hold to apply restricted-use pesticides or, in most states, to apply any pesticide for hire.

Pesticide Formulation

A pesticide formulation is the finished mix of an active ingredient with carriers and other ingredients that turns it into a usable product, such as a liquid concentrate, ready-to-use spray, dust, granule, gel, bait or aerosol.

Pesticide Label

A pesticide label is the printed or attached text on a pesticide product, accepted by the EPA at registration, that states what the product contains, how toxic it is, which pests and places it may be used on, how much to apply, and how to store and dispose of it.

Pesticide Poisoning

Pesticide poisoning is illness or injury caused when a pest control product is swallowed, breathed in, or gets on the skin or in the eyes, ranging from mild skin or eye irritation to life-threatening effects.

Pesticide Residue

Pesticide residue is the small amount of a pesticide, or what it breaks down into, that stays on or in food, surfaces, soil or water after the product is used.

Pesticide Resistance

Pesticide resistance is an inherited change in a pest population that makes a product fail to control it, even when the product is used at the rate on its label.

Pesticide Signal Words

Pesticide signal words are the words DANGER, WARNING or CAUTION that federal rules require on the front of most pesticide labels, chosen by the product’s most severe acute toxicity result, to show at a glance how harmful short-term exposure can be.

Pesticide Storage and Disposal

Pesticide storage and disposal means keeping pest control products in their original labeled containers in a secure, dry, ventilated place away from children, food and water, and getting rid of leftovers and empty containers only as the label and local rules allow.

Pesticide Tolerance: see Pesticide Residue

Pheromone Trap

A pheromone trap is an insect trap baited with a man-made copy of a scent that one species uses to find a mate, so it lures mostly males of that one pest onto glue or into a container.

Powderpost Beetle

A powderpost beetle is any of several small wood-boring beetles whose larvae tunnel inside dry, seasoned wood and pack the tunnels with fine, flour-like powder, leaving tiny round exit holes when the adults emerge.

Pre-Harvest Interval (PHI): see Re-Entry Interval (REI)

Preventive Pest Control

Preventive pest control is scheduled work done before pests become a problem: sealing entry points, removing food and moisture, monitoring, and recurring perimeter service where a plan calls for it.

Pyrethroids

Pyrethroids are a family of man-made insecticides modeled on pyrethrins, the natural insect-killing compounds in some chrysanthemum flowers, that act on an insect’s nervous system when it touches or eats them.

Raccoon in the Attic

A raccoon in the attic is a wild raccoon that has broken or slipped into a roof space, soffit or chimney to den, most often a female raising a spring litter, creating noise, structural damage and a latrine whose droppings can carry raccoon roundworm.

Re-Entry Interval (REI)

A re-entry interval (REI) is the waiting time after a pesticide is applied before people may go back into the treated area without protective gear, set by the product label to limit contact with fresh residue.

Residual Effect: see Residual Insecticide

Residual Insecticide

A residual insecticide is one that stays active on a treated surface after it dries, killing insects that cross it for days or weeks, unlike a contact insecticide that mainly kills insects it hits directly.

Rodent Bait Station

A rodent bait station is a covered box that holds rodenticide bait inside, with small openings that let mice or rats reach the bait while keeping it away from children, pets and other animals.

Rodent Droppings

Rodent droppings are the small, dark fecal pellets that mice and rats leave along the paths they travel, and they are the most common way people discover, identify and size a rodent problem.

Rodent Exclusion

Rodent exclusion is the work of finding and permanently sealing every gap a mouse or rat could use to enter a building, using chew-resistant materials such as metal mesh, sheet metal and concrete.

Rodent Gnaw Marks: see Rodent Droppings

Rodenticide

A rodenticide is a pesticide made to kill rodents such as mice and rats, almost always mixed into a food bait, and most kinds work by stopping blood from clotting.

Roof Rat

A roof rat is a slender, agile rat, the species Rattus rattus, with large ears, a pointed nose and a tail longer than its head and body, that climbs trees, wires and fences and nests high in attics, palms and dense vines.

Safety Data Sheet (SDS)

A safety data sheet (SDS) is a standardized 16-section document that the maker, importer or distributor of a hazardous chemical, including most pesticides, must provide to describe its hazards, safe handling, first aid, spill response and storage.

Sanitation in Pest Management

Sanitation in pest management is the routine removal of the food, water and shelter that pests need, through cleaning, sealed storage, trash handling, moisture fixes and clutter control, so fewer pests can survive and other control methods work better.

Seasonal Pest Prevention

Seasonal pest prevention is the practice of timing pest-prevention tasks to the points in the year when each pest becomes active, breeds or moves indoors, so homeowners act just before a problem starts instead of after it shows up.

Silverfish

Silverfish are small, wingless, silver-gray insects, mainly Lepisma saccharina, with a tapered body, two long antennae and three tail bristles, that live in damp, dark parts of homes and feed on starch, glue, paper and fabric.

Spider Web vs. Spider Egg Sac

A web is silk spun to catch prey or as a retreat; an egg sac is a compact silk case, usually round or teardrop-shaped, holding dozens to hundreds of eggs. Removing sacs before they hatch stops the next generation.

Stinging Insect Nest Removal

Stinging insect nest removal is the treatment and removal of a yellowjacket, wasp or hornet nest, or the live relocation of a honey bee colony, by someone equipped for stings, heights and wall voids.

Subterranean Termite

A subterranean termite is a termite that lives in a colony in the soil and travels to wood above ground through tunnels and mud tubes, eating the wood from the inside while staying hidden.

Termite Baiting System

A termite baiting system is a ring of stations set in the soil around a building that hold wood or cellulose laced with a slow-acting insecticide, so foraging subterranean termites eat it and share it until the colony dies.

Termite Inspection Report: see Wood-Destroying Organism (WDO) Inspection

Termite Mud Tubes: see Subterranean Termite

Termite Swarmers

Termite swarmers are the winged males and females, called alates, that fly out of a mature termite colony once a year to pair up, shed their wings and start new colonies.

Termite Warranty

A termite warranty (often called a termite bond) is a renewable contract in which a company agrees to re-treat, and sometimes repair, if termites return to a treated structure, subject to annual inspection and renewal.

Tick

A tick is a small, eight-legged blood-feeding parasite, related to spiders and mites, that waits on grass and brush, attaches to a passing person or animal, and feeds for minutes to days, sometimes passing on germs that cause Lyme disease and other illnesses.

Wasp Nest

A wasp nest is the shelter wasps build to raise their young, usually from paper they make by chewing wood fiber with saliva, or from mud in the case of solitary mud daubers.

Wildlife Exclusion

Wildlife exclusion is the practice of keeping wild animals such as raccoons, squirrels, skunks, opossums and bats out of a building by removing them without harm, often through a one-way door, and then sealing, screening or capping every opening they could use.

Window Screen Mesh

Window screen mesh is the woven netting in a window or door screen, rated by its mesh count, the number of openings per inch in each direction, which sets how small an insect it can keep out.

Wood-Boring Insect

A wood-boring insect is any insect that chews tunnels into wood to feed, nest or develop, including powderpost beetles, the old house borer, forest borers that emerge from new lumber, and some ants, bees and termites.

Wood-Destroying Organism (WDO) Inspection

A wood-destroying organism (WDO) inspection is a visual check of a building’s reachable areas by a licensed inspector for termites, wood-boring beetles, carpenter ants, carpenter bees and, in some states, wood-decay fungi, written up on a standard report.

Yellowjacket

A yellowjacket is a social wasp in the genus Vespula (and some Dolichovespula) with bold black-and-yellow bands, a narrow waist and a smooth stinger, that lives in a paper nest, often underground or inside a wall.