Pests are divided into the major categories of non-vertebrates, vertebrates, birds and germs. Non-vertebrates are usually small insects that take up residence in our homes and offices quite easily. Due to their small size and large numbers, they can be quite troublesome in our everyday living. The most common non-vertebrate pests are listed below.

Bed bugs, Black ants, Brown house moth, Brown tailed moth, Cable bug, Carpet beetle, Cat flea, Clothes moth, Cluster flies, Crane flies, Earwig, Furniture beetle, German cockroach, Honey bee, House cricket, Indian meal moth, Larder beetle, Mediterranean flour moth, Mining bee, Mites, Oriental cockroach, Potter wasp, Pharaoh’s ant, Psocids, Saw-toothed grain beetle, Solitary bees, Termites, White shouldered house moth, Mosquitoes, Silverfish and Woodlouse.

Vertebrates of general nuisance are British adder, Bats, Brown rat, Brushtail possum, Feral cat, Grey squirrel, House mouse, Mink, Mole, Rabbit, Red fox, Short tailed vole, Water vole and Wood mouse. Birds that cause trouble to humans are Canada goose, Collared dove, Feral pigeon, Herring gull and Seagulls. A disease known as Weil’s disease and technically termed as Leptospirosis Pathogenic Bacterial Disease is also classified in pests.

Of all the above listed pests, the most common troublemakers are rats, mice, cockroaches, ants, flies and fleas. Mice are the carriers of diseases like salmonella and Leptospirosis. Mice gnaw through pipes, cables and electrical installations that lead to costly repairs and sometimes even create fire hasards. Even though mice are found in residents, they are more in number in warehouses, hospitals and shops.

Rats had been a very big hasard for a long time and they had been the cause of serious plagues and other diseases that had devastated entire towns and cities. Further, they eat away a fair portion of food products kept for human consumption. They also cause severe damage to buildings and structures by burrowing underground and gnawing through utility lines.

Cockroaches are the source of a great threat to human health by causing diseases like diarrhoea, gastroenteritis, poliomyelitis, salmonella and typhoid. They are a big menace in houses, haunting kitchens and drains. They also inhabit restaurants, hotels, canteens, warehouses, factories and other places where food items are stored, manufactured or handled. Like rats and mice, cockroaches can also eat anything from wallpapers to leather, apart from food items.

Cat fleas and other types of fleas are also carriers of several infestations like typhus, bubonic plague and parasitic worms. Similarly, flies such as the common houseflies spread tuberculosis, cholera, typhoid, dysentery and gastroenteritis. They multiply themselves in places where rotten food and household rubbish are accumulated, where it is easy for them to lay eggs and nurture them. Beg bugs, moths and ants are some of the other common household pests that prove hasardous to human living.