# Pest identification helper

Choose the evidence you can see. Get a likely inspection topic and a question for a professional. This helper cannot identify a species from symptoms or replace a specimen check.

Use the tool on the [web page](https://exterminator.fyi/tools/pest-identification-helper). It works without JavaScript.

## How to use it

1. Choose what evidence do you have?.
2. Read the result.

## How it works

EPA describes unfed adult bed bugs as brown, flat and oval. That description alone cannot confirm a bed bug. Source: US EPA, Bed Bugs Appearance and Life Cycle, fetched 2026-11-10: https://www.epa.gov/bedbugs/bed-bugs-appearance-and-life-cycle

EPA distinguishes swarming termites with roughly equal wing lengths and straight antennae from ants with longer front wings and bent antennae. UC IPM also describes elbowed ant antennae. Sources fetched 2026-11-10: US EPA, Termites: How to Identify and Control Them, https://www.epa.gov/safepestcontrol/termites-how-identify-and-control-them ; University of California IPM, Ants, https://ipm.ucanr.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/pn7411.html

CDC names droppings and gnaw marks as signs of rodents and warns against sweeping or vacuuming waste before disinfection. Sources fetched 2026-11-10: CDC, Controlling Wild Rodent Infestations, https://www.cdc.gov/healthy-pets/rodent-control/index.html ; CDC, How to Clean Up After Rodents, https://www.cdc.gov/healthy-pets/rodent-control/clean-up.html

The result is a prompt for inspection, not a confirmed identification. No pesticide, dosage or treatment method is selected.

> Inspection aid only. Descriptions overlap. Confirm identification and current licence scope before booking treatment. Do not handle rodent waste or unknown insects to use this helper.

## Questions

### Can bites identify bed bugs?

Do not select a pest from bites alone. EPA recommends collecting a sample and asking an extension agent or expert to identify it. Source: US EPA, Do-it-yourself Bed Bug Control, fetched 2026-11-10: https://www.epa.gov/bedbugs/do-it-yourself-bed-bug-control