Common Pests in Memphis & How to Control Them: An Essential Guide

Pests are everywhere — in your home and your landscape.

Sure, insects first evolved 480 million years ago. But just because they got here first doesn’t mean they can continue to send you into hysterics every time you see a cockroach scatter across your counter, ants hold a conference on the floor near your front door, or grubs take up residence in your lawn as they eat their way through its roots. You are the larger species, after all!

You may deal with bugs as you go about your day; it’s just a normal part of life. But when bugs enter your space — especially where you live, eat, and spend downtime — they become a nuisance.

Table of Contents

• Common Household Pests in Memphis: Even a Clean Home is a Target for Common Invaders
• Getting Started With Pest Control: Set Up a Barrier With Perimeter Pest Control
• Taking the Battle Inside: Signs that Pests Have Already Entered Your Home
• When Pests Are More Than Just a Nuisance: Avoiding Termite Damage in Your Memphis Home
• Pests in the Landscape: How to Protect Your Lawn, Plants & Guests from Common Insects
• DIY Products & Low-Cost Providers Are No Replacement for Professional Pest Control
• Pest Control Costs: What to Expect, and How You Can Build the Right Program For Your Home
• Average Pest Control Pricing in Memphis, TN
• Work With a Professional to Keep Pests - And Pest Control Costs - In Check

Of all the pests that can bother us, some are certainly more prevalent in Memphis and North Mississippi.

That’s why we’ve put together this comprehensive guide on how to recognize and fight the most common Memphis pests. The goal is to help you better identify, prevent, and control these insects so you can take back your personal space from the bugs that get in your way.

Common Household Pests in Memphis: Even a Clean Home is a Target for Common Invaders

Even though they are a terrible nuisance to you — and in some cases can even bring disease and filth — common Memphis household pests have reasons for coming into your home.

Their motivations are driven by some typical attractions that all homes possess—even if you keep yours as clean as possible. Dealing with a pest infestation starts with knowing what lures them indoors.

Motivation #1 of Household Memphis Pests: Food

A common reason you may have bugs in Tennessee is because you have food.

Most pests are attracted to sugars, crumbs, and uncovered foods. Cockroaches, ants, and rodents, for example, are attracted to things like dirty dishes in your sink, garbage or pet food left out, and crumbs on the floor. For instance, if you don’t have food in sealed containers, that’s a bug magnet. Once they find your food, they bring their friends to show them the jackpot they found. That’s when your pest infestation escalates.

Even pet food is attractive to pests. They also seek water, so if you have high humidity or water leaks, bugs may come into your home to seek that moisture. This is especially true if it’s dry and hot outside.

So, one way to keep household Memphis pests out of your home is to keep it clean. Remove crumbs and spills off of floors; store all food in sealed plastic containers, including pet or bird food; and take the trash out regularly, keeping it in a sealed lid.

Motivation #2 of Household Memphis Pests: Safety and Shelter

You might be great at cleaning your home to ensure you don’t leave crumbs that can attract common indoor pests, but they are also looking for other things your house offers, like shelter and safety.

Just like you crave a warm, cozy place to rest and sleep feeling safe and protected from the outside world, pests want the same thing. They want to find a place where they can hunker down and get what they need in the form of food, water, and shelter while they multiply.

Sealing any cracks or crevices around your foundations, windows, basement, siding, and insulation can keep bugs outdoors where they belong.

Getting Started With Pest Control: Set Up a Barrier With Perimeter Pest Control

Despite your best efforts, when you have persistent common Memphis household pests, you may need some extra help keeping them out.

This is where a perimeter pest control treatment outdoors can help stop pests from entering your home.

But as you hear about perimeter pest control, you might wonder how it works to limit pest invasions in Memphis and North Mississippi homes.

Memphis Pest Control Starts With Managing The Perimeter

Pests hunt for shelter, food, and secure places to hide and make more bugs. Gross, right?

Your home is pretty inviting. Moisture and humidity can draw insects in, and crumbs, spills and trash are all things insects find quite attractive.

And if you have any small openings—cracks around your windows, for instance—bugs can find their way in.

Perimeter pest control involves blocking a bug’s entrance into your home by applying a product around the foundation to discourage entry. Regularly refreshing this barrier ensures it doesn’t break down, keeping pests out.

For instance, Lawn & Pest Solutions offers a Pest 360 service that keeps a barrier of defense outside your home and ensures a technician is on-site at least once every three months. You remain on call with your pest professional should pests come in. That technician can then come inside to take care of the problem with indoor Memphis pest control at no additional cost.

How Does Perimeter Pest Control Work?

Pests don’t like to cross the Memphis pest control perimeter barrier because it contains a product they dislike the smell or taste of, so they stay away. This works for all bugs, including cockroaches, ants, spiders, and centipedes.

Your pest control professional may also suggest sealing entry points or trimming trees and shrubs to further discourage insects from coming inside.

Pests are excellent at hiding. So just because you don’t see them doesn’t mean you don’t have a problem. If you go from seeing occasional pests inside to seeing very few or no pests, that’s when you know your perimeter pest control is working to keep bugs out.

Taking the Battle Inside: Signs that Pests Have Already Entered Your Home

The very idea of pests poking around your home can make you feel much less safe and secure. No one likes thinking about bugs in cupboards, spiders in basements, or mice lurking behind appliances.

But the reality is that in Tennessee, one or more of 40 common pests are found in every home at one time or another. Even the most conscientious person cannot always avoid an occasional pest infestation.

This means you could share your home with some unwanted visitors – from cockroaches to spiders to centipedes.

Fortunately, there are some signs you can look for if you suspect you have an infestation by a common Memphis household pest.

Sign #1 of Household Memphis Pests: Messes You Didn’t Make

One sign of common Memphis household pests might be random, strange, small piles of messes you don’t remember making yourself.

For instance, mice leave little pet food or birdseed caches behind appliances. You might even find random pieces of paper, cotton balls, and twine in hidden places.

These things show that pests or rodents are sneaking food or crumbs and attempting to gather materials for building nests.

Sign #2 of Household Memphis Pests: Strange Noises

Some common Memphis household pests can be pretty noisy.

You might hear cockroaches scampering about along a floor or counter. And mice tend to be noisy as they move in walls or attics. Rodents also gnaw a lot to file down their continuously growing teeth. You might hear them gnawing wood or walls or even electrical wires.

Sign #3 of Household Memphis Pests: Droppings

This sign of common Memphis household pests might be exclusive to mice. It’s the droppings they leave behind.

Yes, we’re talking about poop, and mice do quite a bit of this. Each mouse can drop up to 75 small, smooth black pellets daily with pointed ends. Rat droppings look a little different. They are shiny black and are ½ to ¾ of an inch long.

And since they don’t clean up after themselves, you can usually spot these droppings in places mice or rats frequent, including kitchen cabinets, pantries, attics, crawl spaces, and near air vents or holes in walls.

You might also smell rodent pee as it collects in one area near their nesting.

Sign #4 of Household Memphis Pests: Actual Pest Sightings

An obvious sign of common Memphis household pests is spotting them.

You might see ants crawling around kitchen floors or near entryways. You might see spiders and their webs in corners of windows or basement nooks. You might see centipedes on your basement floor.

Other pests, like mice and cockroaches, are usually most active between dawn and dusk, so you might spot them scurrying away when you flick on a light as you enter your kitchen. If you don’t see an actual mouse, you might see holes or debris they leave behind as they gnaw through dark corners in your kitchen cabinets or pantry areas.

What You Should Do When You Find Pests in Your Home

Now that you know the signs of common Memphis household pests, you might want to take action quickly once you spot a few.

It starts with removing nests or webs and progresses to elimination tactics for specific pests.

This might sound overwhelming. We completely understand. If you are concerned about quickly and adequately eliminating all the pests in your house, you might want to hire a pest control professional.

When Pests Are More Than Just a Nuisance: Avoiding Termite Damage in Your Memphis Home

Some common pests in Memphis are more extreme than others.

Take termites, for instance. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, termites cause billions of dollars in structural damage yearly and cost property owners more than $2 billion to treat each year.

And if this fact worries you, we understand. Termites can quickly deteriorate the value of your Memphis and North Mississippi home.

Pests that can cause this kind of extensive damage require more than DIY treatment methods to tackle.

Because termites don’t leave a lot of signs of their presence and are very small, you might not even know what’s happening until they’ve done a decent amount of damage. And no one wants to deal with massive, unexpected repair costs.

Let’s look at termites in Memphis, signs of termites, termite prevention tactics, and termite control strategies so you can shield your home from these invasive insects.

Signs of Termites in Memphis and North Mississippi

While many other common pests in Memphis have a season or time of year when they appear most active, termites can be active in your home all year.

Termites swarm when they search for mates around April and establish a new colony. This happens as the weather warms, usually after rain.

Other than this timing, though, when you see termites moving around, you may not see them until the damage is done. That’s why it’s essential to watch for these signs of termites.

Flying Termites

When termites swarm, they fly into the air, drop to the ground, shed their wings, and seek out a mate. So, you might see termites flying in the air. They tend to look like winged ants when they do this.

Termite Roads

Another sign of termites in Memphis is the vessels they use to travel in, which are known as mud tubes. Mud tubes are about ⅛-inch thick tubes that shelter termites as they travel between their underground colonies and your home to find wood to eat. They keep termites protected and moist. These mud tubes typically extend over foundation walls or support beams. You can see the tunnel trails going along wood, concrete, cinder blocks, or even in mid-air to help the termites reach their destinations.

Damaged Wood

Since termites eat wood, an obvious sign of termites is damaged wood. You’re looking for crumbling wood. If you push on it with your finger or a screwdriver, it might cave in because the center is hollow and eaten away by termites. The wood may also be discolored.

Termite Control Starts With Prevention

One of the best ways to combat termites is through prevention.

Try these ways to avoid termites in Memphis:

Control Moisture

Termites love moist environments. They use this moisture in the soil to create mud tubes for their termite colonies to survive. To prevent excess moisture, ensure proper drainage, eliminate excess condensation or dampness in crawl spaces, and clean your gutters.

Keep Foundation Areas Clean

Excessive mulch, firewood, or scrap lumper left to pile up around your home are termite attractants. Add moisture to that, and you’ll invite termites in.

Get Annual Termite Inspections

Many pest control companies perform your first termite inspection free unless it’s part of a home inspection for refinancing or a real estate transaction. Once you call and request an inspection, a pest control professional can schedule it 24 to 48 hours later.

You should be home for the inspection to let the technician inside. They need access to the exterior and interior of your home, especially vulnerable areas like crawl spaces, basements, attics, and garages. They look for tell-tale signs of termite activity and current or past signs of termite infestations. The whole inspection process takes approximately an hour.

Termite Control Strategies That Work

Many termite control companies offer a trench and rod treatment to fight termites.

During this treatment, a pest control professional digs a shallow trench around your home's foundation and injects a termiticide every 1.5 to 2 feet along this trench.

This is an involved and invasive process because you must surround your home for it to work. Any break in the perimeter is an entryway for termites, so the company must drill into your driveway and walkways.

However, there are less invasive ways to tackle termites. Lawn & Pest Solutions offers a treatment using the Sentricon System. As Certified Sentricon Specialists, rather than pumping gallons of termiticide around your home, we place stations that contain termite bait around the house and monitor them for termite activity.

When the worker termites consume the active ingredient, they feed it to their colony, which dies. This is an environmentally friendly and highly effective option.

How Much Does Termite Control Cost?

Lawn & Pest Solutions’ termite control treatments include annual interior and exterior inspections to ensure termites aren’t returning to your home.

Sentricon usually starts at approximately $69 per month for the first 12 months and then drops to $26 monthly. Most homes fall into this price range.

Pests in the Landscape: How to Protect Your Lawn, Plants & Guests from Common Insects

Pests don’t only invade your home in Memphis and North Mississippi.

There are also outdoor pests in Tennessee that can wreak havoc on your lawn and landscape.

Let’s review some common pests in Memphis that destroy your grass, feast on your plants, trees, and shrubs, and even feed on you and your pets.

Lawn Grubs

You know what white grubs are if you have heard of Japanese beetles, the northern masked chafer, or June bugs. These fat, C-shaped, white, common Memphis pests are the larvae of adult beetles.

If you see Japanese beetles crawling around your roses or other plants, that could be a sign they are laying eggs in your grass nearby. And those eggs turn into the white grubs that feed on your lawn all summer and fall. As temperatures get cooler before winter, they burrow deeper into your soil. In spring, they awaken and resume feeding on your lawn until they emerge as adult beetles in late spring.

How does it start? In spring, grubs wake up from winter hibernation. They dig their way up from deep in the soil to just beneath the grass surface and begin to feed on your lawn’s root system. But because your grass is vigorously growing in the spring, it’s less likely that you’ll see damage.

Later, you may notice yellow or brown spots or dead patches. A heavily infested lawn may feel loose as if it’s not connected to the ground. If you try to pull it up, it might come like a carpet that isn’t tacked down. If you walk on your lawn when it has grubs, it may also feel spongy.

Unfortunately, nearly everyone has some grubs in their lawn and may need lawn grub control in Memphis and North Mississippi. However, based on the weather and whether or not you’ve tried to control them, there can be light years and heavy years of infestation.

A complete, proactive lawn care program best accomplishes lawn grub control.

Fall Armyworms

Fall armyworms usually infest lawns in southern and transition zone states, making Memphis and North Mississippi ideal locations for these common Memphis insects to attack.

Their larvae are 1 inch to 1.5 inches long and dark greenish-brown to black, with long, white, orange, and dark brown stripes along the abdomen.

The adult moths have 1-inch long bodies with a 1.5-inch wingspan, a tan body and a tiny white spot centered on each of their forewings.

Early feeding damage by fall armyworms looks like drought-stressed grass, but if many of these pests are present, it can quickly progress to complete browning. Look closely; you might even see ragged holes in your grass blades, creating brown patches.

Another sign of armyworms includes a lacy or transparent effect on your grass blades where they have been chewed.

Armyworms prefer new sod or newly seeded grass.

If you’re in an area of Memphis or North Mississippi that is suspected to have fall armyworms, you can look for sticky egg masses to appear on buildings, patio sets, decor, plants, and other outdoor surfaces. That’s when you can get ahead of fall armyworms, which is the best way to avoid their damage.

Armyworm control can happen with an insecticide treatment. But since armyworms can have multiple generations per year, you may need numerous applications per year to keep these pests at bay.

Chinch Bugs

Chinch bugs are another lawn-destroying common Memphis insect.
Since they are only one-sixth of an inch long, you may not notice their blackish-gray bodies or white wings, but you will notice the lawn damage they cause.

Chinch bugs suck the moisture right out of your grass blades, usually during summer. These pests can multiply pretty quickly. You may not even notice the damage until it’s pretty extensive.

If you suspect chinch bugs, you’ll likely see yellowing grass. Any change of color is something you should watch for.

Aphids

Sometimes called “plant lice,” aphids are tiny, soft-bodied common outdoor pests that use their mouths to pierce leaf, stem, and root tissue and suck out the sap. This feeding tends to happen on new plant growth, too.

Despite their small stature, many aphids can cause visual damage, including yellow leaves. You may also notice your plant leaves or stems are covered in a sticky substance that may look black, a honeydew they emit, followed by black sooty mold.

Scale

Scale insects, like aphids, are also sap-feeding common outdoor pests. But there is a difference. They have a hard shell covering their bodies, giving them protection and concealment.

You might see scales on branches, stems, foliage, or fruit of trees and shrubs.
Crape myrtle bark scale, in particular, can be a problem here, leading to black trunks. The sooty mold the pests create can cover surrounding plant material and structures, causing an overall messy appearance.

Spider Mites

These teeny tiny mites have 8 legs and resemble spiders, but you’d need magnification to see them.

Spider mites can be highly destructive and are common outdoor pests in boxwoods, arborvitae, and other evergreens. These insects have piercing mouths that suck out plant chlorophyll, resulting in white spots or a spotty appearance. As they keep feeding, needles will turn yellow and then brown.  

Moreover, fine-needle evergreens do not produce new growth once a branch, limb, or portion of the plant turns brown.

Lace Bugs

These common outdoor pests are tiny – about ⅛ an inch long – and feed on the undersides of leaves on vital plant fluids.

These bugs tend to attack azaleas. You might see silver, white, or yellow spots on the leaves, making them look bleached. Azaleas hold their leaves for 2 to 3 growing seasons, so once they show damage, that unsightly growth can be there for up to 3 years.

Mosquitoes

Mosquitoes are another common outdoor pest that is different from these others. They can be present in your yard but don’t feed on lawns or plants.

These bugs feed on you and are pretty prevalent in this area. Mosquitoes can not only be a significant source of frustration, keeping you from being able to spend time in your very own yard, but they can also be a serious threat in some areas. Memphis is one of the most mosquito-infested cities in the U.S.

A female mosquito can lay nearly 400 eggs at a time. Approximately 12 days later, you’ll have new adults buzzing about. They love moist areas and can breed in the littlest bits of water.

If you can believe it, mosquitoes only live for about 14 days, but they can cause a lot of trouble in that time because mosquitoes can spread diseases like West Nile, Zika, dengue, and malaria.

Lawn & Pest Solutions provides mosquito control in Memphis and North Mississippi, including fine mist applications once a month, starting in March and ending in October. The technicians also scout for harborage areas and eliminate them when possible.

These applications also help control ticks, another common outdoor pest that can be troublesome in the Greater Memphis area.

Fighting Common Outdoor Pests in Memphis and North Mississippi Lawns & Landscapes

Lawn & Pest Solutions sees many common outdoor pests in customers’ lawns and landscapes.

We believe in an integrated pest management approach. We’ll inspect your lawn and landscape for pest problems and recommend applications as needed or during high insect pressure.

Plus, we offer other lawn care and tree and shrub care services, such as fertilization and weed control, that can enhance your plants’ health and restore them from damage. While we’re on your property taking care of your lawn and landscape, we will continue to monitor for pests to ensure they stay away.

DIY Products & Low-Cost Providers Are No Replacement for Professional Memphis Pest Control

These days, it’s not uncommon for homeowners to attempt some do-it-yourself pest control in Memphis. Various products are advertised as being easy and safe to use. You may even wonder why you would spend money on a pest control company to take care of bugs in Tennessee if you can do it yourself.

Professional pest control tends to have a lot of advantages over do-it-yourself pest control.

Fighting insects requires knowledge of all the pests that can invade your lawn, landscape, and home, their regular patterns and hangouts and the best ways to control them. Experience also means knowing how to monitor pests and care for areas susceptible to repeat pest invasion.

This is in addition to regular pest control treatments designed to ensure pests stay away. Professionals have spent years studying and managing these pests, so they know what they’re doing, while the DIY approach may suffer from a lack of this deep knowledge.

DIY pest control also involves understanding products. It is essential to read instructions and follow label directions while doing this. Using more product than necessary is never the right solution to your pest problem.

Professional pest control companies study safety best practices and have the experience necessary to target minimal product amounts in the specific areas that need it to control the pest. This is safer for your family and your pets.

A reliable pest control company will also have the latest information on the safest and most effective products to keep pests out of your home. They also have access to specialized sprayers that more accurately target product applications.

While DIY pest control can make you feel accomplished for learning a new skill and completing a big task in your home, your patience for pests is low. You don’t want to be stuck chasing pests around your home or landscape every few days if you haven’t fully kept them away with your initial attempts.

This is where the costs of DIY can add up. The initial purchase of products is usually low. Still, the repeated purchasing of more or different products can add up if you haven’t identified the right pest or treated that specific pest effectively.

Professional pest control in Memphis also offers other perks, such as thorough inspections, integrated pest management strategies, year-round programs, multiple levels of service, and technicians with extensive qualifications and professional accreditations.

Pest Control Costs: What to Expect, and How You Can Build the Right Program For Your Home

When you consider bringing in professionals to help keep pests out of your home, lawn, and landscape, your search may yield a long list of companies. 

Once you have this list, you can’t help but compare Memphis, TN and North Mississippi pest control pricing among your various options. You want to know what you’re getting for your money and that you're receiving something of value.

The challenging part of comparing pest control pricing is that you want to make sure you’re comparing apples to apples and not apples to oranges.

Choosing the cheapest price can be a temptation, but that can cost you more later if the service and results aren’t up to par. Pest control service and quality can vary significantly from company to company due to these factors:

Technician Experience: The pest control service professionals who work on your property are essential to keeping pests out of your home.

Quality and Proper Use of Pest Control Products: The right products that are safe to use around people and pets in your home and effective against pests can significantly impact pest control service results. Higher quality, modern products will produce the best results.

Service Visits and Thoroughness: A once-a-year or twice-a-year service won’t be as effective as quarterly or regular visits. This is because even the best products can’t be effective long enough to keep pests away. In addition, regular inspections ensure pests aren’t sneaking into places where they don’t belong.

Ongoing Investments in Your Customer Experience: Quality control measures and the development of internal processes, people, and technology help produce better service outcomes. Returning your calls/texts/emails quickly—within 24 hours max—is a part of this.

Average Pest Control Pricing in Memphis, TN

Professional Memphis pest control costs vary based on service. Here are some ranges based on the type of insect management.

General Pest Control: General pest control for Lawn & Pest Solutions usually costs about $49 per month, up to $500 to $600 annually. Other companies in Memphis, TN, and North Mississippi typically charge an initial service cost of $200 and then an ongoing charge of about $125 for each of approximately four quarterly visits. Lawn & Pest Solutions tends to be unique in offering monthly billing that splits the cost out over the year, while many other companies charge an upfront fee or a professional pest control cost per visit.

Lawn Care: Lawn & Pest Solutions’ Lawn 360 program costs $39 monthly. The cost is typically based on lawn size, so the average lawn in a standard subdivision would cost approximately $75.

Plant Health Care: For Lawn & Pest Solutions specifically, the Basic Program starts at $29 per month, the Ultimate Program starts at $69 per month, and the Plant Health 360 Program starts at $49 per month.

Mosquito, Flea, and Tick Control: Lawn & Pest Solutions offers mosquito and tick services for roughly $45 per month, while flea control costs approximately $25 monthly.

Work With a Professional to Keep Pests - And Pest Control Costs - In Check

We hope this guide helps you better understand the different types of pests you encounter in this area.

And you deserve affordable, value-based professional pest control services to manage them.

When searching for the best pest control in Memphis, TN & Hernando, Oliver Branch, Oxford, and Tupelo, MS, Lawn & Pest Solutions wants to be at the top of your list. At Lawn & Pest Solutions, we offer a full array of professional pest control and lawn care services. This means you don’t have to deal with two companies for these services; you can have one contact to call and one to handle these issues.

During an initial consultation, we want to gather information about your home, landscape, and pest control challenges to prepare a plan that makes the most sense for you. We don’t want to sell you services you don’t need or waste your time.

And when your pest problem disappears without a trace, while we appreciate the thanks, you’re the real winner here.

Ready to learn why Lawn & Pest Solutions could be your choice for the best pest control services for your home and landscape in Memphis, TN and North Mississippi? We’d love to learn more about you. Get started today with a free quote. Together, we can prepare a customized plan perfect for you and your home.