Identify the pest, find the source and get rid of it fast. Practical tips against fruit flies, fungus gnats, moths and wasps in your home and garden.
See what works against fruit flies →
See what works against fungus gnats →
See what works against clothes moths →
See what works against pantry moths →
See what works against silverfish →
See what works against cockroaches →
See what works against mosquitoes →
See what works against wasps →
Cockroaches lay their eggs in an egg case, a brown capsule. This is how you identify it for each species, where to look, how long the eggs take to hatch and what to do when you find one.
Tiny grey, fuzzy flies on the tiles are drain flies, also called sewer gnats or moth flies. They come from the slime inside a drain. This is how you find the right drain and clean it.
How to remove a tick step by step with fine-tipped tweezers or a tick removal tool, what not to do, what to do if the head stays in, and when a rash after a tick bite means you should see your GP. Following NHS and UKHSA advice.
Why a mosquito bite itches, how long it lasts, when to see a pharmacist or GP and what soothes the itch. Plus why mosquitoes bite some people more than others, with the NHS and RIVM as sources.
A tiger mosquito is small and black and white, with one white stripe down its back and banded legs. How to tell it from a common mosquito, whether it is in the UK and how to report one to UKHSA.
Vinegar, cloves, basil, a bag of water or a homemade bottle trap: what each home remedy against flies does, what is known about it, and what does help against flies in the house.
Big flies in the house are usually bluebottles or cluster flies. How to recognise the house fly, bluebottle, greenbottle, cluster fly and stable fly, why they suddenly appear indoors and what to do.
The European hornet, the Asian or yellow-legged hornet and the common wasp side by side: how to tell them apart by size, colour, legs and nest, and how to report an Asian hornet in the UK.
A European hornet nest can usually stay; an Asian hornet nest you report straight away. See how to tell a hornet nest from a wasp nest, who deals with a nest that is in the way and what happens after you report one.
Vinegar, washing up liquid, cinnamon, chalk or baking soda: see what each home remedy does against ants, what is known about it and when it makes sense. Plus what to do if the ants keep coming back.
Flying ants are the winged queens and males of an ordinary ant nest on their nuptial flight. See when Flying Ant Day happens in the UK, how to tell flying ants from termites and when you need to tackle the nest.
Moths in the house are usually pantry moths in the kitchen or clothes moths in the wardrobe. Use this table to identify every moth, and what only looks like one, and see what to do for each.
You can kill a silverfish, but it does little good. What is true about the advice not to kill them, and what you should do instead.
The grey silverfish is grey, hairy and up to 15 mm long, and it also lives in dry rooms. How to tell it apart from the common silverfish and the firebrat, and how to deal with it.
How to identify the German cockroach by its two black stripes, and how it differs from the Oriental, the American and the brown-banded cockroach and from the wood cockroach.
A wood cockroach in the house is an outdoor cockroach that has come in by accident. It does not breed indoors and is not a pest. This is how to tell it apart from a German cockroach.
Small black flies in the house are usually fungus gnats from houseplant compost. Here is how to recognise them and tell them apart from fruit flies and drain flies.
A homemade fruit fly trap works, but only up to a point. A glass of vinegar with a splash of juice and a drop of washing up liquid will catch the first flies. With a real infestation it often falls short: you have to refresh it every few days, and it has to compete with the smell of your fruit bowl and food waste caddy. Below you will find the recipe, the weak spots and when a tested trap does a better job.
Fruit flies do not come from the fruit itself. The eggs often come home on fruit from the shop and hatch as soon as the fruit ripens, and the flies follow the smell of fermentation: ripe fruit, the last drop of wine or juice, the food waste caddy and a dirty drain. Remove those sources and a fruit fly has no reason to be in your kitchen.
The first home remedy for fungus gnats costs nothing: let the top 2 to 3 centimetres of compost dry out between waterings, because the larvae need moisture. Washing-up liquid, cinnamon, hydrogen peroxide or coffee grounds? Here is what each remedy does and what we know about it.
If the little fly is by the fruit bowl or the food caddy and has red eyes, it is a fruit fly. If a black gnat sits on the soil of your houseplant, it is a fungus gnat. It sounds like a detail, but the fix is completely different: one breeds in fermenting fruit, the other in wet potting soil.
Pests hide in your home in warm, damp or dark spots with food or a place to breed nearby. These are the seven places to check first, which insect lives there and what to do in each spot.
In summer the warmth makes insects develop faster and food spoil sooner, and on top of that the windows stay open. Seven habits keep your home calm: keep fruit cool, clear up straight away, close the bins, fit window screens, get rid of standing water, tidy the garden and put out a trap as soon as you see the first ones.
An insecticide spray works instantly on the insects you hit; a trap lures and keeps catching, even when you are not there. For fruit flies and fungus gnats a targeted trap works well; a spray suits an insect you want to hit directly, as the label says. Always start with the source.
Wasps come for sweet food and drink, especially in late summer. See what each home remedy does, what a fake wasp nest does and does not do, and how to keep wasps away from your patio and out of the house.
Small moths in the kitchen cupboard or webbing in a bag of flour? Those are pantry moths. This is how to clear out the cupboard in one afternoon: what to check, what to throw away or freeze, how to clean and how to tell they are gone.
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A guide for each pest: how to recognise it, where it comes from and what helps. With the right trap to match.