Top 10 Common Household Pests in New Jersey

Bugs and critters are a fact of life, no matter where you call home. In California, residents battle black widows and invasive Argentine ants. Down in Texas, fire ants and scorpions make regular appearances in homes. Every region has its own cast of crawling, flying, and scurrying characters that love to make themselves at home — often without invitation.

Here in New Jersey, we’ve got our own lineup of unwanted houseguests. You’ve probably spotted a few of these pests scuttling across your kitchen floor or buzzing around your windows. Maybe you’ve even had the unpleasant surprise of finding one in your bedroom at 2 AM! Below are the most common household pests you’ll find in NJ homes and what you need to know about them to keep them away for good!

Bed Bugs

Few pests trigger as much immediate anxiety as bed bugs, and for good reason. These tiny, reddish-brown insects feed exclusively on blood and love to hide in mattresses, box springs, bed frames, and headboards.

The thought of bugs feeding on you while you sleep is enough to make anyone’s skin crawl. Bed bugs leave behind distinctive bite patterns — usually in lines or clusters on exposed skin — and small blood spots on sheets. They’re notoriously difficult to eliminate because they hide in cracks and crevices during the day and can survive for months without feeding.

Carpenter Ants

These wood-destroying insects are much larger than your typical ant, usually measuring between 1/4 to 1/2 inch long. Carpenter ants don’t actually eat wood, but they just carve it out to build their nests. Even so, these industrious insects can cause serious structural damage over time if left unchecked. You’ll often spot them around damp, damaged wood in your bathroom, kitchen, or around windows. If you notice small piles of sawdust-like material (which is actually wood shavings and insect parts they’ve cleaned from their tunnels) or hear faint rustling in your walls, you might have carpenter ants.

Cluster Flies

As fall transitions to winter, you might notice large, sluggish flies gathering around your windows or attic spaces. These are cluster flies, and they’re looking for a warm place to hibernate until spring returns to New Jersey. Unlike house flies, cluster flies don’t reproduce indoors or contaminate your food. They earned their name from their habit of clustering together in wall voids and attics by the hundreds or even thousands. While they don’t pose health risks, finding swarms of flies suddenly appearing inside your home can be alarming.

Cockroaches

Is there anything more unsettling than flipping on the kitchen light and seeing a cockroach freeze before scurrying away? These flat-bodied insects are built for survival, with the ability to live without food for a month and even survive without their heads for weeks. The American cockroach and German cockroach are the most common species in New Jersey homes. They contaminate food with bacteria and can trigger asthma and allergies, especially in children. Cockroaches love moisture and are often found in kitchens, bathrooms, and basements.

House Spiders

While house spiders might trigger immediate alarm, most house spiders in New Jersey are actually harmless and even helpful, as they catch and eat other insects. Common house spiders are typically small and brown, with bodies less than 1/4 inch long. They prefer undisturbed areas like basements, attics, and seldom-used closets. Unlike some of our other household pests, spiders don’t damage your home or contaminate food.

Only two spiders in New Jersey are considered dangerous to humans: the black widow and the brown recluse. However, these species are relatively rare in homes. If you spot a spider with a red hourglass marking or violin-shaped pattern, it’s best to keep your distance and call an expert home pest control specialist.

Mice

When temperatures drop in the Garden State, mice start looking for warm places to nest, and your cozy home is the perfect spot. These small rodents can squeeze through openings as small as a dime, making it surprisingly easy for them to find their way inside.

You’ll know mice have moved in when you spot their droppings (small, dark pellets about the size of rice grains), hear scratching in walls or ceilings, or notice gnaw marks on food packages. Mice can contaminate food, damage wiring, and spread diseases.

What’s particularly concerning is how quickly mice reproduce. A female mouse can have 5-10 litters per year with 5-6 babies each time. That means a small mouse problem can become a serious infestation in just a few months if not addressed!

Mosquitoes

Nothing ruins a summer evening on your deck faster than the high-pitched whine of mosquitoes. New Jersey’s humid climate and abundance of standing water make it prime mosquito territory, with over 60 species found throughout the state. Beyond the itchy welts they leave behind, mosquitoes pose serious health concerns as vectors for diseases like West Nile virus and Eastern equine encephalitis. Just one female mosquito can lay up to 300 eggs at once, and she only needs a bottle cap’s worth of water to do it.

Stink Bugs

These shield-shaped insects have definitely earned their name. When threatened or crushed, they release a foul-smelling odor as a defense mechanism. Brown marmorated stink bugs are an invasive species that arrived in Pennsylvania in the 1990s and have spread throughout New Jersey ever since.

While stink bugs don’t bite, sting, or cause structural damage, they’re super annoying when they invade homes in large numbers during fall, seeking winter shelter. They often enter through cracks around windows, doors, and siding. Thankfully, stink bugs don’t reproduce indoors, so the ones you see in winter won’t create an infestation. The bad news? They can reappear in surprising numbers year after year if entry points aren’t properly sealed.

Termites

Working 24/7, termites cause more than $5 billion in property damage annually in the United States, and New Jersey homes are no exception. Eastern subterranean termites are the most common species in our state, living in underground colonies with as many as two million members at a time.

Unlike other pests that might give you obvious signs of their presence, termites can damage your home for years without detection. They feed on wood from the inside out, leaving a thin veneer intact, which means damage often goes unnoticed until it’s too late. Warning signs include mud tubes on exterior walls, hollow-sounding wood, buckling paint, or tiny piles of frass (termite droppings that look like sawdust). Proper termite control is the only way to get rid of them, so be sure to call on our experts ASAP.

Wasps

These stinging insects build their papery nests under eaves, in attics, or in shrubs around New Jersey homes. Unlike bees, wasps can sting multiple times, making them particularly dangerous if disturbed. For people with allergies, a wasp sting can become a medical emergency requiring immediate attention. Even for non-allergic folks, multiple stings are painful and potentially dangerous.

Yellow jackets are especially aggressive in late summer and fall, when their colonies reach peak size and food sources become scarce. They’re attracted to sweet foods and proteins, which is why they’re so annoying at outdoor meals.

Take Back Your Home from NJ Pests

Have you spotted any of these unwelcome visitors in your home? Maybe you’ve heard scratching in the walls at night, found mysterious droppings in your pantry, or woken up with unexplained bites. No matter what, you don’t have to live with these invaders. Arrow Pest Control offers top-quality pest control services for homeowners throughout New Jersey. Our team can identify entry points, eliminate current pest problems, and help you prevent future infestations. Call now!