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Raccoon

Raccoons in Jacksonville FL

Raccoons are stocky mammals and are distinctively marked with a black “mask” over their eyes. Found throughout most of the United States, and into northern South America. raccoons are nomadic, but only within a marked territory. They do not dig or make nests but prefer to mark locations, remembering them as available shelters. Raccoons are active year-round but may take cover in dens during periods of severe winter weather. For homeowners, raccoons are notorious “backyard bandits”, rummaging through garbage cans, popping kiddie pools, and generally causing mayhem.

Raccoon Habitat

Raccoons prefer wooded areas near water and natural habitats, sleeping in abandoned burrows, and the crooks of trees. In urban settings, raccoons will make their homes in empty crawl spaces, underneath porches, and within attics. Raccoons roam around rural or urban areas, finding food where they can and scouting new locations. They will eat almost anything, including insects, fruit, vegetables, and small animals, if necessary. Raccoons are nocturnal and notorious for raiding garbage cans during overnight hours. Raccoons are attracted to gardens or homes because they offer a food resource and potential den sites.

Raccoon Behaviors, Threats, or Dangers

While not all raccoons have rabies, raccoons, in general, are major hosts of rabies in the U.S., especially in the eastern part of the country where their populations are increasing. Pets should be properly vaccinated to mitigate this threat. Raccoons will kill poultry, destroy bird nests, and damage gardens or crops. They can destroy a home’s insulation, wood, shingles, electrical wiring, and walls as they try to create dens. Droppings, urine stains, or built-up materials from creating a nest are other signs of raccoon activity. If you are having an issue with raccoons, it is best to consult a professional wildlife control company for removal.

Blow Fly

Blow Flies in Jacksonville FL

Blow flies are one of the most common flies found around dead animals. They prefer highly unsanitary habitats, and because of this, they may be vectors of disease pathogens, such as dysentery. These flies are distinguished by their bright metallic appearance and are abundant around commercial, institutional, industrial, and residential buildings when they are located near recycling centers, garbage dumps, slaughter-houses, and meat processing plants. Blow flies can pick up faint traces of odor of decay and can fly up to 12 miles in search of a suitable carcass to lay their eggs.

Blow Fly Habitat

Blow flies thrive best in weather that is warm and humid. They normally lay their eggs on meat, fish, or dead animals, but will also lay eggs in decomposing organic matter, like garbage, animal manure, decaying vegetables, grass clippings, and poorly managed compost piles. Under ideal temperatures, blow flies can develop from egg to adult in as little as 7 days. Many homeowners have witnessed this behavior as a mass emergence of maggots crawling from their backyard trash cans when kitchen waste placed in these trash cans was not sealed in a plastic trash bag.

Blow Fly Behaviors, Threats, or Dangers

Blow flies do not bite or sting. They are, however, strongly attracted to human foods and garbage, making cooking outdoors difficult when they are present. As with house flies, they may be involved in the transmission of disease agents acquired from garbage or animal feces and subsequently deposited onto human foods. The primary threat from blow flies is the distribution of disease-carrying organisms that affect humans such as salmonella food poisoning, Dysentery, Cholera, various parasitic worms, and many others.

If you are dealing with a blow fly problem on your property, contact your local fly exterminators.

House Fly

House Flies in Jacksonville FL

Found on every continent except Antarctica, the house fly is one of the most familiar of all insects. House flies are generally found in the greatest numbers during the hotter summer months and generally live in close proximity to humans and animals. These pests breed in animal wastes and decaying organic material, including animal corpses and food waste from which they can pick up bacteria and viruses that may cause human disease. House flies defecate almost every time they land, contaminating food, with the potential to spread disease.

House Fly Habitat

In rural areas, manure piles are often the main source of house flies, and in urban areas, piles of fermenting lawn clippings commonly generate large numbers of flies. Animal manure is a favorite breeding medium for flies with the most important sites being horse manure, human excrement, cow manure, fermenting vegetable refuse, dumpsters and refuse containers, and household garbage. Some species of flies can live and breed in recycling containers, and fly problems are common in recycling centers.

House Fly Behaviors, Threats, or Dangers

Although house flies do not bite, they are capable of transferring more than 100 different pathogens, including salmonellosis, typhoid, and tuberculosis. Pathogenic organisms are picked up by flies from garbage, sewage, and other sources of filth, and then transferred on their mouthparts, through their vomitus, feces, and contaminated external body parts to human and animal food. They can carry a wide range of germs from filthy breeding sites to the dinner table or spread some diseases within herds or flocks.

If you are experiencing a house fly infestation on your property, contact your local fly exterminators for help.

Yellowjacket

Yellowjackets in Jacksonville FL

Found throughout the United States, yellowjackets are the most infamous wasps. These beneficial wasps live in colonies with thousands of individuals and would be a lesser threat to humans were it not for their opportunistic behavior of nesting in structural voids, attics, and cavities associated with landscaping features. Adult yellowjackets feed mainly on fruit juices and other sweet liquid materials, whereas their larvae are fed bits of soft-bodied insects like caterpillars and flies. These wasps are known to become more aggressive in the late fall and early fall months.

Yellowjacket Habitat

Yellowjackets can be divided into ground nesters, which frequently use old rodent burrows and aerial nesters. Above-ground nests are found among the leafy branches of trees and shrubs and also on structures. Occasionally, the nest may be constructed on the side of a building, in wall voids, under eaves, crawlspaces, and attics. The entrance of the nest is normally a hole located at the bottom. These aerial nesters don’t become scavengers in the fall, but they are extremely defensive when their nests are disturbed. Locating the nest, through observing flight patterns, is essential to eliminate them.

Yellowjacket Behaviors, Threats, or Dangers

Yellowjackets are slow to sting unless their nest is threatened. However, yellowjacket stings pose a more serious threat to humans than bees, because a yellowjacket’s stinger is not barbed like a honey bee, allowing it to sting repeatedly. Some individuals are more sensitive than others, due to allergic reactions, and should seek medical attention when stung. Sometimes yellowjackets living in wall voids chew their way through the drywall and enter the structure’s living space. Naturally, the presence of large numbers of wasps flying around the room can be alarming to homeowners. If you spot a yellowjacket nest, always contact a licensed wasp removal expert for help.

German Cockroach

Identifying German Cockroaches in Florida

The German cockroach is distributed worldwide and is the most prevalent species in and around homes, apartments, supermarkets, food processing plants, and restaurants. Ships, especially cruise ships and naval vessels, can also be heavily infested. These roaches prefer warm, humid environments and infestations are frequently found in residential and commercial kitchen environments, and bathrooms. When infestations are large, they can spread to other parts of a building. This species reproduces the fastest of the common pest cockroaches—a single female and her offspring can produce over 30,000 offspring in a year.

To see what other kinds of roaches live in Florida, visit our Pest Info page for more Florida cockroach species.

Where in Florida Do German Cockroaches Live?

German cockroaches are found primarily in kitchens, bathrooms, or other areas where daily access to water is available. If sanitation is poor, the German cockroach can successfully expand its normal habitat to include all portions of a structure where adequate food, water, and shelter exist. German cockroaches prefer to hide in wooden and paper materials, as well as electrical equipment. These roaches can also be found hiding in cabinets, drawers, up under sinks, and inside heat-producing appliances like dishwashers, microwaves, and coffee makers.

Need to exterminate cockroaches in Florida? Bug Out Florida offers expert pest control services to help you eliminate roaches with effective and safe treatments.

How Common Are German Cockroaches in Florida?

German cockroaches are extremely common in Florida, thriving in the state’s warm, humid environment. They are among the most prevalent types of cockroaches in Florida homes, particularly in kitchens and bathrooms. German cockroaches account for the majority of indoor roach infestations in homes across the U.S., with Florida being a hotspot due to its climate. Their rapid reproduction rate makes infestations challenging to control without professional extermination services, especially in high-density areas or multi-unit housing.

Are German Cockroaches Dangerous?

German cockroaches are not known to bite humans. However, foraging cockroaches are vectors of disease, depositing germs or bacteria in areas they inhabit. German cockroaches can also cause allergic reactions due to the insects leaving fecal matter and cast skins around the home, causing skin rashes, watery eyes, sneezing, nasal congestion, and asthma. In addition to spreading disease, German cockroach infestations may cause human psychological stress. With the social stigma attached to having cockroaches in your home, homeowners tend to alter their behavior by entertaining less often and avoiding kitchen and bathroom areas at night for fear of encountering the pest.

German cockroaches can multiply rapidly, which means that a cockroach infestation should be addressed immediately by a professional cockroach exterminator.

FAQs

How to get rid of Florida German cockroaches?

To eliminate German cockroaches in Florida, begin with a thorough cleaning, removing food crumbs and water sources. It’s also important to seal cracks and crevices where they hide. You can use baits and insect growth regulators (IGRs), which target the breeding cycle. Professional extermination services can ensure more effective German cockroach treatment if the infestation is severe, as these cockroaches reproduce quickly and may develop resistance to common over-the-counter insecticides.

Are German roaches normal in Florida?

Yes, German cockroaches are one of the most common types of cockroaches in Florida. Due to the state’s warm climate and high humidity, they thrive in Florida cockroach habitats like kitchens, bathrooms, and areas with abundant food and moisture. Their presence is a health concern due to the allergens they produce and their potential to spread bacteria.

Why do I suddenly have German roaches?

A sudden appearance of German cockroaches in Florida may be due to several factors, such as bringing them home in bags, boxes, or groceries, or sometimes an infestation is caused by new construction work that has disturbed their habitat. Once indoors, they seek food, water, and shelter, quickly multiplying in kitchens and bathrooms. Poor sanitation, moisture, or cracks in walls can contribute to an infestation.

Flea

Fleas in Jacksonville FL

Fleas are small, wingless blood-sucking parasites that live on the exterior of their host. Adult fleas feed only on the blood of warm-blooded hosts, which they must obtain in order to survive and reproduce. Fleas are the most common ectoparasites found on cats and dogs, so they frequently turn up as household pests. Fleas are annoying to people and pets, especially during spring and early summer when their numbers tend to increase dramatically.

Flea Habitat

Fleas thrive in many climates but prefer moist, humid, and shady areas. The area underneath a porch or deck can turn into an overwintering site. Areas with tall grass, leaf litter, weeds, wood piles, gravelly areas, and sandy patches are all attractive to fleas. Even the tiniest crack in the concrete can harbor fleas and they especially shrubs, leaves, and trees, but do not fare well in sunny areas or open grass. Fleas usually enter structures attached to pets, and they can quickly find refuge in homes. Flea larvae do not like the light so carpets, bedding, pet beds, and upholstered furniture make cozy homes for fleas, flea eggs, and flea larvae.

Flea Behaviors, Threats, or Dangers

Fleas feed mainly on non-human animals but may bite and infect humans. Bites from fleas look like small red dots and may occur in two or three groups or clusters around feet, ankles, and legs. Though they may trigger allergic reactions, flea bites will not often have a serious impact on a person’s health. However, some people and pets suffer from flea bite allergic dermatitis, characterized by intense itching, hair loss, reddening of the skin, and secondary infection. One flea bite can initiate an allergic reaction, and itching can persist for up to five days after the bite.

If you are dealing with a flea infestation, contact your local flea exterminators for help.

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