Common Kitchen Pests and How to Keep Them Out
Kitchens offer food, water and warmth, so they draw more pests than any other room. Most kitchen problems start with something small: ripe fruit on the counter, crumbs under the toaster, a dripping pipe or a gap behind the stove. Fix the food and water first, then deal with the pest.
Pests you may find in the kitchen
Fruit FliesDrosophila spp. (mainly D. melanogaster)A tiny fly with a tan front half, a darker rear and bright red eyes that hovers around ripe fruit, wine or the trash can.
Fungus GnatsSciaridae (dark-winged fungus gnats)A slender black fly with long legs and antennae that flutters weakly around the soil surface of houseplants.
AntsFormicidaeWingless workers with a pinched waist and elbowed antennae, often marching in a single-file trail toward sweets or grease.
House MouseMus musculusA small, slender gray-to-light-brown mouse with large ears and a nearly hairless tail about as long as its body, leaving rice-sized dark droppings along walls.
CockroachesBlattella germanica (German cockroach) and Periplaneta americana (American cockroach)German: light brown, about 1/2 inch, with two dark stripes behind the head; American: reddish-brown, up to 2 inches, with a pale band around the edge of the shield behind the head.
Drain FliesPsychodidae (moth flies; e.g. Psychoda spp., Clogmia albipunctata)A tiny gray, hairy fly with wide moth-like wings folded roof-style over its body, usually resting on bathroom walls near a drain.
SilverfishLepisma saccharinum (often written L. saccharina)A shiny silver-gray, wingless insect shaped like a teardrop, with long antennae and three thin tail bristles, that darts away quickly when uncovered.