Waves Pest Control

10/31/2026

MYTH FILES № 07 — “Every spider in the house is dangerous” 🕷️
We checked: UF/IFAS counts just four Florida spiders with venom that's actually medically significant — the widow spiders. Nearly everything else indoors is free pest control, not a threat.
What actually works: learn the one mark. Shiny body, red or orange hourglass underneath — that's a widow. Give it space, let everything else work.
Happy Halloween from the crew that actually likes spiders. 🎃

10/31/2026

Fall is a good time to fix the low spots in your Lakewood Ranch lawn 🌱

After the next heavy rain, walk the yard and note where water sits or where the mower scalps a high spot. Sand top dressing fills those dips in. We price it by your measured lawn area and depth, with a discounted rate on recurring plans.

Request an estimate.

10/31/2026

Millipedes all over the garage after that rain? 🌧️ Waterlogged soil pushes them up and out, and the yellow-banded bumblebee millipede is the one most SWFL homes see. Pick one up and its defensive fluid can leave an orange-brown stain on your skin. Wash up and keep your fingers out of your eyes. The blog covers which species you've got and why they wander inside.

Florida millipedes: the bumblebee, rusty and ivory species, why they come in after rain and if their fluid is poisonous. Learn more on the Waves blog.

10/30/2026

SNOWBIRD HOUSE WAKE-UP № 04 — the irrigation valve box 💧
Pop the lid before you turn the system back on. Six months closed up is plenty of time for a wasp nest, debris, or a cracked lid to move in — better to find that out with the lid off than with the sprinklers already running.
Quick check, then water away.

10/30/2026

Honey Bee or Yellowjacket? Here is how Sarasota homeowners can tell the difference.

Honey Bee: fuzzy, golden-brown body; visits flowers, ignores your food; leave it: a pollinator at work.
Yellowjacket: smooth, bright yellow and black; nests in the ground or wall voids; drawn to drinks and cookouts.

Fuzzy means bee. Shiny and bold means yellowjacket. Not sure which one you have? A quick inspection settles it.

https://www.wavespestcontrol.com/book/

10/30/2026

UF entomologists count 8 cockroach types around Southwest Florida homes. That big reddish one cruising your lanai at night is an American cockroach (yes, the "palmetto bug") wandering in from the mulch. A small tan roach with two dark stripes behind its head is a German cockroach, and it breeds indoors near the fridge and dishwasher. 🪳 How to ID all 8 is on the blog.

The 8 cockroach types Southwest Florida homeowners find, per UF entomologists: how to tell them apart and which ones live indoors. Learn more on the Waves blog.

10/29/2026

WHICH IS WHICH № 02 — the answer 🐛
A feeds at night, B feeds in a mob. A (the moth) is the tropical sod webworm — the adult you actually see fluttering up off the lawn, while the caterpillar does the real chewing after dark and hides near the soil by day. B (the striped caterpillar) is the fall armyworm — feeds right out in the open, in daylight, moving across the lawn in a pack, exactly where the name comes from.
Both are lawn caterpillars, not a drought problem. Tag whoever's been blaming the weather.

10/29/2026

Sarasota palm owners, peek at the boots before you trim. 🌴 Those old leaf bases hold moisture and give pests a spot to hide, and your tech counts harborage like that when scoring your Pest Pressure on a 0 to 5 scale. Feeding the palm too? A trunk injection of manganese, magnesium, and potassium gets taken up faster than a soil drench. Read the local guide.

10/29/2026

Ever notice a tiny black wasp bobbing its tail in the garage? UF/IFAS identifies that one as an ensign wasp. It lays its eggs inside cockroach egg cases, and the larvae eat the roach eggs. 🪳 Big hunting spiders go after roaches too. Seeing these hunters indoors usually means roaches are close by. Full breakdown of SWFL roach enemies on the blog.

Do beetles eat roaches? A Southwest Florida look at what UF/IFAS says hunts cockroaches, from egg-case wasps to big spiders. Learn more on the Waves blog.

10/28/2026

WHICH IS WHICH № 02 — same patchy lawn, different culprit 🌱
Two of SWFL's top lawn caterpillars show up in totally different ways — guess which photo is which before you scroll.
Hint: one of these flutters up off the grass when you walk through it or mow. The other one you'll catch moving in a group, in broad daylight.
Drop your guess in the comments ⬇️ Answer tomorrow.
📸 UGA/Bugwood specimen archive