Sprays kill what you can see. They also tell the rest of the colony to move and split. We use non-repellent gel bait that workers carry home — so the queen and the egg-layers go too. That's the difference between “they're back next month” and “we don't see them anymore.”
Ants aren't ants. Roaches aren't roaches. Each species has different bait preferences, foraging patterns, and weak points. Misidentifying is the most common reason a treatment fails.
Small, light brown, two dark stripes on the pronotum. Lives indoors only — kitchen appliances, cabinet hinges, walls of dishwashers. Reproduces like a hyperactive math problem. Indoor gel bait is the only effective treatment.
Treatment: EPA-registered gel bait · 30+ placements · 14-day knockdown
Big — sometimes 2 inches. Reddish-brown. Flies, badly. Lives outdoors: mulch, pool decks, sewers, palm tree boots. The ones in your kitchen at 2 AM came in from outside through a door sweep.
Treatment: exterior perimeter granular bait · door-sweep exclusion · NO indoor spray
Tiny, pale, almost translucent. Trail along countertops and bathroom grout. Sweet feeders. Spray scatters the colony — they bud into multiple smaller colonies. Worst possible response.
Treatment: Optigard non-repellent gel + Terro liquid · 7–10 day knockdown
Reddish-brown, fast erratic running pattern, found in massive numbers around AC condensate lines and pool equipment. Will short-circuit pool pumps. Won't take sweet baits — only protein-based.
Treatment: Advance 375A protein bait + perimeter residual
Large, black or red-and-black, 1/2-inch. Don't eat wood — excavate it. Found in damp, decayed wood: window sills with leak history, deck framing, bathroom subfloors. Sign of a moisture problem first, ant problem second.
Treatment: dust application to galleries + moisture remediation referral
Treated as part of any quarterly program. Spider sweeps remove webs and egg sacs from eaves. Silverfish controlled with cracks-and-crevices applications in bathrooms and storage areas.
Included in quarterly residential program
2 weeks
to 90% reduction on a German roach kitchen, every time we benchmark.
Spray a kitchen for German roaches and they scatter into walls and reproduce in the void. Place 30 carefully positioned dabs of fipronil gel and the workers eat it, feed it to the queen, defecate it in the harborage, and the rest of the colony eats that. Two weeks. We track it.
Most ant species — ghost, ghost ant, Argentine, Pharaoh — respond to repellent sprays by splitting the colony. The queen senses chemical stress and creates secondary queens. Three weeks later you have three colonies instead of one. This is documented behavior, called colony budding, and it's why every "we sprayed every month for six months" customer eventually calls us.
The fix is non-repellent chemistry — gels and liquids the ants don't detect. They walk through it, eat it, share it with the colony. The queen dies, the brood dies, the trail goes silent. Permanently.
A licensed tech walks the kitchen, baths, garage, perimeter, and palm trees. Identifies species, finds harborage, and writes a treatment plan in 30 minutes.
Gel bait at 30+ placement points indoors (German roach) or 8+ trail points (ghost ant). Granular perimeter and palm trunks (palmetto bug). No indoor spray.
We come back, check bait consumption, refresh gel, and verify reduction. Most kitchens are 90% clear at this visit.
Optional: enroll in our residential quarterly. Exterior perimeter every 90 days, interior on-demand. Stops the next palmetto bug from finding a way in next summer.
| DeBugem | Monthly spray service | DIY (sprays + foggers) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Identifies the species first | ✓ | × | × |
| Non-repellent indoor chemistry | ✓ | repellent | repellent |
| Targets the colony, not just visible bugs | ✓ | × | × |
| Visit cadence aligned to species biology | ✓ 14-day, then 90-day | monthly forever | × |
| Solves the underlying entry / harborage | ✓ | × | × |
| Cost (1-year, average household) | $320 – $440 / year | $540 / year | $80 + ongoing frustration |
Quarterly residential program billing is per-visit, not per-month — we charge less when we visit less.
All quotes are flat. Inspection is free.
Single visit for an active issue (kitchen ant trail, garage roach problem). Includes 30-day callback if it's not resolved.
Most homes: $220
Four exterior perimeter visits per year + on-demand interior. Includes ant, roach, spider, silverfish, and earwig coverage. Best value for ongoing protection.
Most homes: $95 / quarter
Full gel-bait protocol with 14-day re-treat + 30-day verification. Includes appliance pull-out (oven, dishwasher) and motor-housing baiting. If they're back, so are we — at no charge.
Most kitchens: $440
Carpenter ant and crazy ant jobs quoted separately — both require moisture / electrical assessments first. Free inspection.