You wipe the counter at night. By morning, the ants are back. You move a box in the basement and a spider darts out. You open the garage to droppings along the wall.
By July, your Missouri house has roommates you didn’t sign up for. Here’s where they show up, what each sign actually means, and how Bug Zero handles most of them in one recurring service.
Kitchen: Ants
Signs: trails near sinks, pet bowls, and trash cans; ants returning to the same spot after you clean.
What it means: the colony has mapped your kitchen. The nest is in a wall void or just outside the foundation — somewhere the spray under your sink isn’t reaching.
What works: treat the perimeter on a recurring schedule. Ants are covered by InsectaShield®.
Bedrooms & Basements: Spiders
Spiders don’t stay in one room. The same brown recluse hiding in a basement storage box can end up in a closet, a shoe, or the corner of a bedroom — and that’s where most bites happen.
Recluses are small, light brown, with a faint violin shape behind the head. They like undisturbed spots: storage boxes, behind dressers, inside clothing left on the floor.
Signs: webs in basement corners and around windows, spiders on bedroom walls at night, shed skins in closets or behind furniture.
What it means: spiders are the symptom. More spiders means more of the small bugs they feed on — crickets, centipedes, silverfish — are already in the house.
What works: move boxes off the basement floor, keep bedroom clothing off the floor, and check shoes before putting them on. General spiders are covered by InsectaShield®; brown recluse treatment is available as an add-on.
Garage & Exterior: Mice and Crawlers
Signs: mouse droppings along walls, chewed cardboard, earwigs and centipedes near doors and the foundation.
What it means: the garage is the airlock. A mouse only needs an opening the size of a dime, and once it’s in the garage, it’s one step from the kitchen.
What works: pull mulch back from the foundation, check garage door seals, store pet food in sealed containers. InsectaShield® covers mice, earwigs, and centipedes (no upcharge for rodent control).
One Service Covers Most of This
Most Missouri household pests share the same entry points and the same control strategy. That’s the idea behind Bug Zero’s InsectaShield®:
- Year-round coverage, every other month
- General pests: ants, spiders, silverfish, crickets, centipedes, earwigs
- Rodent control (mice) at no additional cost
- Termite monitoring and spot treatments at no additional cost
- Add-ons available: Japanese beetles, brown recluses, snakes, fleas
- Starting at $120 per service
Already on InsectaShield® and fighting mosquitoes too? SkeetoShield™ is Bug Zero’s dedicated mosquito and tick suppression service — monthly treatments April through October, targeting shaded areas, foliage, and roof edges (not just open lawn). Starting at $75 per visit.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why do I keep getting ants in my kitchen?
Are brown recluse spiders common in Missouri?
How do mice get into a house?
What pests does InsectaShield® cover?
What's the difference between InsectaShield® and SkeetoShield™?
How often should pest control be done in Missouri?
Does Bug Zero treat pests in Springfield and Cape Girardeau?