Extermco Pest Control

10/23/2026

Something running laps over the bedroom ceiling at midnight? Before you blame the squirrels, check the clock. Gray and fox squirrels keep daytime hours. Rats work the night shift.

Here in Fort Smith, roof rats climb trees, fences and power lines to reach the roofline, then slip through a gap about half an inch wide. We see it in older homes near downtown and out toward Barling and Van Buren every fall as the nights cool off.

Our new guide walks through how to tell rats from squirrels, the signs worth looking for before you spend a dime, and why sealing the roofline matters more than any trap.

Scratching in the attic at night? Roof rats in Fort Smith are the likely cause, not squirrels. Learn the signs and how to seal them out.

10/22/2026

Orange beetles covering the sunny side of your house this afternoon?

Those are Asian lady beetles. They look like ladybugs, but ladybugs do not move into your house by the hundreds.

After cold nights like Friday and Saturday, the first warm sunny afternoons send them flying to warm walls. From there they slip through tiny gaps around windows and siding and settle into walls and attics for the winter.

They do not breed inside. The ones you see this week are the ones trying to get in right now, so this week is the week that matters.

Vacuum them up and empty the vacuum outside right away. Do not crush them. They leave a yellow stain and a bad smell.

An outside treatment before they get in beats chasing them inside all winter. Seeing them pile up already? Call us. (479) 783-1822

10/21/2026

Cool mornings do not mean tick season is over. Adult blacklegged ticks feed and mate in the fall, and ticks stay active any day it climbs above about 35 degrees. That timing lands right on top of deer season.

Whether you hunt the hills outside Fayetteville or just have a wooded lot in Greenwood, ticks can catch a ride home. A permethrin-treated hunting outfit, a quick check at the tailgate and a hot dryer cycle for your gear go a long way.

Our new guide covers this year's Arkansas deer season dates, the tick diseases the health department tracks, and simple yard fixes that keep ticks at the edge of the woods.

Deer season ticks in Arkansas stay active long after it cools off. Learn when ticks bite, how hunters stay safe and how to keep ticks out of your yard.

10/20/2026

When a company drills your concrete for a termite treatment, those holes are there for good. The patching does not have to look like it.

We took over a termite policy today at a home in Bella Vista. These photos show the drill holes left behind by the last company that treated the house. See the dark patches around the holes? That is a rushed patch job, and the homeowner has to look at it every single day.

Drilling through concrete is a normal part of a real termite treatment. The holes are how the treatment gets under the slab, right where termites travel. What is not normal is leaving them looking like this.

Our techs patch every drill hole when the job is done, worked in and matched to the concrete so the repair is virtually invisible. It takes experience, and it takes a few extra minutes per hole. That is the whole difference.

Shopping for termite work? Ask one question before you sign: what will my concrete look like when you leave? The cheapest treatment can end up being the one you pay for twice.

If your home has marks like these from a past treatment, we can take over your policy and patch them the way they should have been done the first time. Inspections are free. (479) 783-1822

10/20/2026

See those little gaps in the bottom row of your brick? Leave them open, but do not leave them empty.

They are called weep holes. Your house needs them. Moisture behind brick has to get out, or you end up with mildew and mold and rot inside your walls.

The problem is that mice and bugs know right where they are, and they use them like a front door.

Our fix is simple. We pack weep holes with stainless steel wool. Moisture and air still move. Mice and bugs do not get in. Nothing gets sealed shut.

Never caulk a weep hole closed, and never use regular steel wool from the store. It rusts and it stains your brick.

Want yours checked while the weather is dry? Inspections are free. (479) 783-1822

10/19/2026

Here is something most folks do not expect a pest control company to say: you probably do not need your living room sprayed every month.

Nearly every ant, spider and cricket in a Fort Smith home walked in from the yard. That is why our quarterly service puts most of the work on the outside of the house, where the bugs actually live, from Barling to Greenwood and across the River Valley.

The honest exceptions are German roaches, fleas and bed bugs, because those get carried inside. Our new guide explains what a quarterly visit covers, why monthly billing and monthly spraying are not the same thing, and when you need more.

Quarterly pest control Arkansas homes need starts outside. Learn why we skip monthly indoor spraying and which 3 pests are the exception.

10/18/2026

River Valley, after a wet week like this one, check the yard before you mow.

Fire ant mounds pop up fast after rain. Look for loose dirt with no clear hole in the middle. Step on one by accident and you will know it in about two seconds.

Do not flood a mound out or stir it up. That just moves the colony a few feet over, and kicking one puts ants on your shoes fast.

Watch kids and pets around new mounds, and mark the spot so nobody finds it the hard way.

If mounds keep spreading across the yard, we treat fire ants across Fort Smith and the River Valley. (479) 783-1822

10/16/2026

Hearing a little rustling in the garage lately, Rogers? When October nights cool off, mice go looking for a warm place to spend the winter, and the garage is usually the easiest way in. A worn door seal or a gap at the corner is all they need.

Once they are in, the birdseed, dog food and cardboard boxes make it feel like home. Some will even nest under the hood of the car parked inside.

Our new guide walks through how to check your garage door, what to move into sealed bins, and how to clean up droppings safely. It is worth ten minutes before the first freeze, whether you live in Rogers, Lowell or Cave Springs.

Mice in garage spaces around Rogers move in as nights cool. Learn how they get in, what draws them, and how to seal your garage before winter.

10/14/2026

Do not buy this bottle. If you already bought one, do not open it.

This is Sniper, sold right here on Facebook Marketplace for ten to twenty five dollars and advertised for roaches and bed bugs. It contains DDVP, a highly concentrated organophosphate that works as a fumigant. It does not stay where you spray it. It turns into v***r and fills the air your family breathes.

The EPA has named Sniper in its own alert flyers. It is not registered with the EPA, selling it in the United States is illegal, and other states have warned residents after real poisonings from bottles bought on online marketplaces. Exposure can cause heavy sweating, nausea, vomiting, drowsiness, and headaches, and heavy exposure can cause convulsions and coma. Children are hit the hardest. The EPA also classifies DDVP as a probable human carcinogen.

The bottle itself says it was made for stored grain, warehouses, and farm crops. Not bedrooms. Not kitchens.

One check protects you on any pesticide. A legal US label has an EPA Registration Number printed on it. No EPA number, do not buy it.

Already have a bottle? Gloves on, double bag it in heavy plastic, and take it to household hazardous waste. Never pour it down the drain. Feeling sick after being around it? Call Poison Control at 1-800-222-1222.

Not sure about a product or a bug? Text us a picture at (479) 446-6566 and a real person will answer. Please share this, somebody in your friend list has seen this bottle for sale.

10/14/2026

Found a leggy, humpbacked bug jumping at you in the basement? That is a camel cricket, and lots of Bella Vista homeowners are seeing them right now as they move inside for the winter.

Here is the thing most people miss. Camel crickets are harmless, but they only pile up where it stays cool, dark and damp. So a basement or crawlspace full of them is really a moisture warning, and that same moisture can invite millipedes, earwigs and even termites.

Our new guide walks through why they show up in October, the simple fixes that dry out the space, and why sticky traps beat spraying the air. Whether you are in Bella Vista, Bentonville or Pea Ridge, it is worth a read before winter.

The camel crickets Bella Vista homes get each fall are harmless, but they flag a moisture problem. Learn why they move in and how to keep them out.