We use Terminix for both Termites and pest control. Separate bills.

They come out every 3 months and spray around the house, under sinks, in the cellar, for $75.00. But we get fiddlebacks so I won't stop having it sprayed!

The amount depends on the size of your house. Our's should cost more but for some reason when we added-on, they never raised the price. :)

We're very happy with them, if pests show up before the 3 mos. period ends, they come back and do it for free.

Thanks very much for sharing oakleyok and natal. I think I've let this slide for far too long and I'll adjust it on Monday.

I use Ortho Home Defense pump spray around the perimeter of our house. It lasts a long time and I don't see anything other than an occasional centipede. It's not common around here to have a pest service.

Judie, it's almost impossible to live in the south without it.

I lived in Florida for six years and after a year or so of regular pest service, I decided to gradually cut back to see what would happen. By the three-year mark, I wasn't getting any treatments at all and did not see the difference. I lived in a cinder block house...maybe lessens the susceptibility to termites. Frankly, I was much more afraid of the chemicals.

Amy, no roaches?

We have a separate service for termites and I'm not going to get rid of them. That's all tied up with our termite bond and in the south, you don't wonder if you'll get termites, you wonder when you'll get them!

It's interesting, at the same time I posted the question to this list about Pest control, I sent an email out to about 10 of my friends. Out of those 10 people only one has kept their pest control service and she only has them come in once a quarter.

I talked with DH about this years ago but he's very much "if it's doing OK leave it alone" so I backed off and just kept paying the bill. If they hadn't tried to sneak a fee increase of more than 10% past me I probably would have simply paid the bill. Raising the rate without sending any kind of notice just ticked me off enough to bug DH about it again. This time he's said I can do whatever I want to about it and I think I'll just discontiue service and get stuff from Home Depot to spray if/when I need to.

Here in coastal SC roaches, (we call them "palmetto bugs"), are rampant. We used Terminex on a monthly basis for several years, and then other local pest control companies who generally charge around $50 every month.

Two years ago I dropped from monthly service back to once every quarter, and did not see any increase in bugs. Our pest service also increased their rates without any warning, and I told DH that I couldn't justify the increase.

We cancelled our service and have been doing it on our own ever since with chemicals DH orders online. He only has to spray once a quarter and I've only seen one roach, and it was dead.

Amy: I lived in Tampa in a cinderblock-walled house, built on a concrete slab, covered with stucco. One day when I was moving a dresser to give away, I noticed the baseboard had lines on it. I thought it was mold, so I touched it, and the board literally disintergrated. There was nothing behind it. It turns out that I had subterranean termites that somehow entered the house between the cinderblocks and the slab, and were chewing up the wood trim in that guest bedroom. Since I didn't grow up in the South, I knew nothing about termites and concrete houses, but learned quickly after that big bill.

I'd see a big roach/palmetto bug about three times a year, usually in the bath tub. One at a time was not a big deal to me.

(I lived in an ancient apartment when I was 20 where there were many, many roaches. It was absolutely horrible and I never rented again without first practically crawling into the cupboards with a huge flashlight! Rental agents and landlords thought I was nuts.)

The Florida house was inspected thoroughly before we moved...no termites.

Every now and then, I'd see ghost ants around the kitchen windows. Diligent wiping with plain white vinegar took care of that.

I guess my experience was limited and if I'd stayed in FL, I might have a horror story to tell. But, I left it all behind...escaped, if you will.

I'm with Amy. I am in the deep south - home of the bugs, but honestly, we don't seem to have a problem (KNOCK ON WOOD!!!).

We have a great termite service and I honestly think their service (perimeter) helps with the other creepy crawlies. I have never, ever seen a roach in our house, I'm wondering if they are not so much of a problem here in my area. Anyhoo, we have an indoor pup and because of her (and us!) we were concerned with chemicals being sprayed in the house.

The only problem we seem to have is this time of year - the little gnats that come because of all the garden produce. For some reason they congregate around my sink and the kitchen window (tomatoes are often in the window). My sink drains are clean, but hubby put a little pest spray in the drains and along that window sill (of course, no more tomatoes there - sunroom for them now!). Solved that problem.

We may have to spray outside for ants, I was mulching some mixed pots and noticed a few of those teeny-tiny ants around the patio area.

I totally agree about the termite service, we will never, ever give that up. I believe they service every 5 years, but we have a yearly inspection.

tina

Tina, why do you put tomatoes in your window?

I've tried many sprays myself for ants and bed bugs and they're usually not effective as professional pest control products. For bed bugs I used this article (How to Check for Bed Bugs) to inspect our apartment.