Pest Control questions from Williamson County homeowners

A first general treatment, inside and outside, is $150 to $300. Quarterly service after that is $100 to $180 a visit, and a callback between visits is usually part of the plan. Termites, bed bugs and rodents are priced after an inspection because the size of the job decides the number.

One visit handles a single problem: an ant trail, a wasp nest, a few roaches that came in with a box. Quarterly service is for houses that see bugs every season. The barrier along the slab and the weep holes breaks down with sun and rain, and a visit every three months keeps it working.

Products are applied by the label, and the label is the law. Most interior work is crack-and-crevice and bait, not a broadcast spray across the floor. Keep kids and pets off a treated surface until it dries, usually an hour or two. Ask for the product name and the label, and a copy of the state's consumer information sheet.

No. Traps and bait take care of the rats already inside; sealing where they got in keeps the next ones out. Expect a setup visit, one or two follow-ups to check traps, and the exclusion work. Skip the sealing and you will be calling again by next winter.

For the first visit, yes, or someone who can open the house, the garage and the attic hatch. Quarterly visits are mostly outside, so a gate code and a text are often enough. Termite and bed bug work always needs someone there.

Pest control for pay in Texas is licensed by the Texas Department of Agriculture's Structural Pest Control Service. The company holds a TDA business license with a certified applicator responsible for the work, the technician at your house is licensed in the category being treated, such as pest control or termite and wood destroying insect control, and apprentices are registered and work under supervision. Ask for the TDA license number and check it against the TDA's published list of current licenses.

Maybe. Native subterranean termites live in the soil across Texas and swarm in daylight from late winter into spring, often after a warm rain. Texas A&M's list of counties with confirmed Formosan termites includes Travis County next door but not Williamson. Swarmers inside the house mean a colony is already feeding in or under it. Termite swarmers have two pairs of wings the same length and a thick waist. Flying ants have a pinched waist and a longer front pair. Save a few in a zip bag and call.

Texas requires the termite report for a home sale to be written on the TDA's prescribed form, the Official Texas Wood Destroying Insect Report, form SPCS/T-5, issued by a TDA-licensed pest control business. A VA or other lender may ask for its own form on top of it, never instead of it. The report covers visible, accessible areas and conducive conditions; it is not a warranty and not a structural damage report. Give the closing date when you call.

Small rust or black spots along the mattress seam, shed skins, and bites in a line on skin that was exposed while you slept. About 22 percent of Williamson County's 252,000 housing units are in multifamily buildings, and bed bugs travel between units and come home in luggage and used furniture. The EPA says getting rid of them can take weeks to months and often more than one round.

Texas A&M AgriLife names the striped bark scorpion the most common scorpion in Central Texas and the only one found statewide, and in hot, dry weather it comes into houses after water and cooler hiding spots. No scorpion in Texas is considered lethal. A sting hurts and swells. Trouble breathing or hives after a sting is a call to 911, not to us.

Live honeybee colonies go to a beekeeper. In Texas a beekeeper removing bees needs a current registration with the Texas Apiary Inspection Service, which lists registered beekeepers who do removals. Africanized honeybees have been in Texas since 1990, so a colony that is defensive or cannot be moved safely is treated by a licensed applicator and the comb taken out.