Editorial Policy

Last updated: November 12, 2026

Who writes our articles

Articles are published under the name BugWise Editorial Team. Drafts are written with the help of AI writing tools, then checked against their sources and approved by a person before they are published. We do not invent authors, credentials, product tests or personal stories.

How we choose sources

  1. University Cooperative Extension and entomology departments, such as UC IPM, Penn State Extension, the University of Kentucky, Texas A&M AgriLife and UF/IFAS.
  2. Government agencies: the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (pesticide safety, bed bugs), the National Pesticide Information Center, and the CDC (ticks, mosquitoes, rodents, and when to seek care).
  3. Other universities and public health agencies when the first two do not cover a question.

Pest control company pages, product sellers, forums and social media are not cited as evidence. Every number, size and season in an article comes from a cited source; if we cannot verify something, we leave it out.

Regions and seasons

Pests and their seasons differ across the United States. Our calendars show typical activity across much of the country, and articles name the regions where a pest lives (for example, the brown recluse in the south-central Midwest).

Safety rules we follow

  • Bites: we describe identification clues and when to get medical care. We never recommend medicines, creams, doses or home remedies.
  • Pesticides: non-chemical steps come first. When a pesticide is mentioned, we only describe EPA-registered home-use product types and repeat the rule: read and follow the label, because the label is the law.
  • No dangerous shortcuts: we never describe homemade chemical mixtures or off-label uses.
  • Pets: flea and tick treatment for pets is always a question for your veterinarian.
  • When to call a pro: termites, large infestations and homes with vulnerable people are pointed to licensed professionals.

Photos and illustrations

Identification pages use real photos that are in the public domain or licensed under CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA. We credit the photographer, license and source under each photo and on our photo credits page, and we note when a photo has been cropped. We avoid unpleasant close-ups and never show bites or skin. Cartoon illustrations are made for this site with AI image tools; they are friendly drawings, not photos of real specimens, so use the real photos and diagrams to identify a bug. Diagrams are drawn by us from cited sources.

Opinions

Each article ends with an "Our Take" section. It is clearly an opinion based on the sources cited.

Updates and corrections

The "Updated" date only changes for substantive edits. Factual corrections are listed on ourcorrections page; to report an error, contact us.

Advertising and affiliate links

Ads and affiliate links never decide what we recommend. Product suggestions are matched to the pest and room, and pages with affiliate links say so at the top. Details are in our affiliate disclosure.