South Florida pest FAQ
South Florida pest questions
Iguanas, bufo toads, kitchen ants, roaches after rain and mosquito season.
South Florida pest questions
The questions we get asked most at the Delray Beach counter — iguanas, bufo toads, those tiny kitchen ants, roaches after rain, and mosquitoes on the patio.
How do I keep iguanas off my seawall and out of my plants?
There is no product that makes an iguana leave the neighborhood, so the goal is making your yard the least attractive stop on the block. Spray a garlic/capsaicin or egg-solid repellent on the plants they're eating and reapply after every rain — that's the part people skip. Add a motion-activated sprinkler where they bask, wrap smooth sheet metal around fruit-tree and palm trunks so they can't climb, pick up fallen fruit daily, and fill burrows with rock or hardware cloth once you're sure nothing is inside. Florida classifies green iguanas as an invasive species and rules on removal change, so check current FWC guidance before you trap or relocate anything.
What do I do about bufo (cane) toads in my yard?
Treat it as a pet-safety project first. Bufo toads are drawn to water, pet food and the insects swarming your outdoor lights. Bring bowls in at night, fix leaks and drips, switch exterior bulbs to yellow bug bulbs, cut back low dense ground cover, and screen or block gaps under fences and pool-cage kick plates. A smooth barrier a foot or so high, buried a couple inches, keeps them off a pool deck. If your dog mouths one, wipe its gums side-to-side with a wet cloth for about ten minutes, keep the water pointed out of the mouth, and call your vet immediately. Never handle one with bare hands, and don't confuse them with our harmless native southern toads — bufos are big, six inches or more, with large triangular glands behind the eyes.
Tiny ants keep coming back on my counter. What actually works?
Liquid bait, not spray — Terro is what we recommend and what most customers come back to tell us worked. Those tiny ants are usually ghost ants, and their colonies have many queens spread over several nests. Contact spray kills the visible workers and pushes the rest to split into new colonies, so it feels like it works for a day and then doubles. Set Terro liquid baits right along the trail, resist the urge to clean the swarm that shows up, and add outdoor bait stakes plus a perimeter treatment to hit the source. Then caulk the entry gaps and fix the drip that's drawing them in.
Why do roaches show up right after it rains?
Those big brown 'palmetto bugs' live outside in mulch, palm boots and sewer lines. Heavy rain floods them out and they follow the driest path they can find, which is your slab. Bait beats spraying: gel bait indoors, granular bait in the beds, and a perimeter treatment after storms. Pull mulch back from the foundation, keep palms trimmed of dead boots, and put a door sweep on the garage.
When is mosquito season here and what actually reduces them?
Peak is the wet season, June through October, but we get them year-round after any rain. Source reduction does more than any spray: dump saucers, gutters, tarps and toys weekly and flush out bromeliad cups, because ours breed in a capful of water. Use Bti dunks or granules in anything you can't dump — they're specific to mosquito larvae. Then treat shaded perimeter foliage with granules or a hose-end product a few hours before you're outside, and run a fan on the patio; they're weak fliers.
Is it safe to treat around pets and kids?
Read the label — it's the law and it's also the actual answer. Most granular and liquid yard treatments require you to keep pets and kids off until the product is watered in and completely dry. Enclosed bait stations are generally the safest indoor option because the bait isn't exposed. If you want to stay away from conventional pesticides entirely, ask us about diatomaceous earth, insecticidal soap, horticultural oil and Bti — all stocked, all with real limits we'll be straight with you about.
Do I have chinch bugs or is my lawn just dry?
Do the soap flush. Mix a gallon of water with a good squirt of dish soap and pour it slowly at the edge of a dying patch where green meets brown. If chinch bugs are there, they'll come to the surface within a few minutes. Dry stress recovers within a day of watering; chinch bug damage keeps spreading in the sunniest, hottest part of the lawn no matter how much you water.
When should I stop DIY and call a licensed pest control operator?
Structural termites, an active rodent infestation inside walls, a bee or wasp colony inside a structure, and anything requiring fumigation. We stock plenty that handles ants, roaches, mosquitoes, lawn insects and yard wildlife — and we'll tell you plainly when the job has crossed the line into pro territory rather than sell you three more bottles.