Pestoryx Pest ControlPest Control Scope Limits in Henrico County
A Henrico pest control company handles insects, spiders, and house-invading rodents in and around your structure — nearly everything else, from raccoons in the attic to honeybee swarms in a wall to aphids on your tomatoes, gets referred out to a wildlife operator, a beekeeper, a vet, a doctor, or a carpenter. I learned part of that list the embarrassing way. Years back I told a homeowner off Lakeside Avenue I'd take care of her "bees" before I got close enough to see they were honeybees. Walked back to the truck. Called a beekeeper. Felt about two feet tall.
What pests won't a Henrico pest control company handle?
Most Henrico pest control companies stop at insects, arachnids, and commensal rodents — mice and Norway rats — and refer out wildlife, honeybees, garden and crop pests, and anything living on a person or a pet. That's the short version. The longer version is an actual list, and you deserve to know it before you spend twenty minutes on hold describing scratching noises. Off the top of my head, the standard "no, but here's who does" list runs: raccoons, opossums, squirrels, groundhogs, skunks, bats, snakes, most birds, honeybees, deer, feral cats, head lice, scabies, aphids, tomato hornworms, Japanese beetles, dust mites, and mold. Some of those are licensing. Some are biology. Some of it is just that another trade does the work better, faster, and for less money than we would. Does that make us less useful? I'd argue the opposite. A company that says yes to everything is a company that's about to guess in your crawlspace. <strong>The fastest way to waste money on pest control is to hire the wrong trade for the problem.</strong> So here's where the lines actually fall in Henrico.
Attic wildlife in Glen Allen and Lakeside needs a nuisance wildlife operator, not a bug tech
Raccoons, squirrels, opossums, groundhogs, skunks, and bats are wildlife work, and in Virginia that handling is regulated separately from insect and rodent service. Yes, a gray squirrel is technically a rodent. Doesn't matter — it's handled under wildlife rules, not the mouse-and-rat side of the house. So when you call at 6 a.m. because something is running the length of your attic above the master bedroom, the first question is which animal, because that answer decides which phone number you need. Rule of thumb I use: mice and rats scurry and skitter, mostly after dark. Squirrels are heavy, loud, and clock in around dawn and dusk. Raccoons sound like a person moved into your ceiling. In the older brick ranches around Lakeside and Bryan Park, the entry is usually a chewed gable vent, a rotted soffit corner, or a gap where an old TV antenna cable came through. Newer Glen Allen and Wyndham builds? Ridge vents and roof-line junctions. <strong>Bats are protected, and exclusion has timing restrictions around the maternity season</strong>, which makes it specialist work — never a spray, never a trap, and never a DIY weekend project. We'll tell you what we heard and hand you off. Mice and rats we own outright.
Honeybees in a Short Pump wall get a beekeeper, and carpenter bees are what we actually treat
Honeybees get referred to a beekeeper for live removal rather than treated, while carpenter bees, yellowjackets, bald-faced hornets, and paper wasps are ordinary pest control work. This trips up a lot of homeowners, so let's sort it fast. Honeybees are fuzzy, brownish-gold, and travel in big slow clouds — a swarm on a Short Pump crepe myrtle in April is a temporary thing and often moves on by itself. Bumblebees are the round fuzzy ones nesting in the ground; mostly leave them be. Carpenter bees are the shiny black-bottomed ones drilling perfect round holes in your unpainted deck rail and pergola, and yes, those are ours. Yellowjackets in a retaining wall by your front steps? Ours, and honestly one of the more satisfying calls. <strong>The difference matters because killing a honeybee colony inside a wall leaves pounds of comb and honey behind</strong>, which then draws roaches, ants, and beetles for a year afterward. That's a second infestation you paid for. A beekeeper pulls the comb out. Better outcome for your wall and for the bees.
Need it handled now? See Pest Control Service in Henrico.