Maine Household Pests (and/or Nuisances)
- American Cockroach
- American Dog Tick (often carried in from outdoors via one’s clothing or a family pet)
- Ants
- Assassin Bugs
- Bald-faced Hornets
- Bed Bugs
- Black-legged Tick/Deer Tick (often carried in from outdoors)
- Blow Flies and Flesh Flies
- Booklice
- Boxelder Bugs (BugGuide.net) See also: Boxelder Bugs (Univ. of Minnesota Extension)
- Brown Marmorated Stink Bug
- Camel Crickets
- Carpenter Ants
- Carpet Beetles
- Cellar Spiders
- Centipedes
- Clothes Moths
- Cluster Flies — People often mistake cluster flies for house flies.
- Cockroaches
- Confused Flour Beetle
- Crickets (often found in basements)
- Deer Tick (probably carried in from outdoors)
- Dog Tick (probably carried in from outdoors)
- Drain Flies (found around sewage or other wet areas, indoors and/or outdoors)
- Drugstore Beetles (Univ. of Florida) | See also Drugstore Beetle (BugGuide.net) and Drugstore Beetles (Univ. of Wisconsin)
- Dust Mites (House Dust Mites)
- Earwigs
- Eastern Boxelder Bugs (BugGuide.net) See also: Boxelder Bugs (Univ. of Minnesota Extension)
- Firebrats (and Silverfish)
- Fleas
- Flesh Flies and Blow Flies
- Flour Beetles
- Flour / Grain Mites (University of Kentucky)
- Flour Moth
- Four-lined Silverfish
- Fruit Flies
- Fungus Gnats
- Grain Beetles
- Grain / Flour Mites (University of Kentucky)
- Head Lice
- Hornets/Wasps/Yellowjackets
- House Centipedes
- House Crickets (most often in basements)
- House Dust Mites
- House Flies
- Humpbacked Flies (one common species indoors is Megaselia scalaris) (BugGuide.net)
- Indian Meal Moth
- Jumping Worms
- Jumping/Snake (Amynthas) Worms in Maine (Maine Dept of ACF)
- If you believe you’ve found a Jumping Worm in Maine: Jumping Worm(s) Report Form (Maine Dept of ACF)
- Ladybugs / Ladybird Beetles (Multicolored Asian Lady Beetle)
- Larder Beetles
- Lesser Grain Borers
- Lesser Mealworms
- Lice / Booklice
- Lice / Head Lice
- Lone Star Tick (probably carried in from outdoors)
- Masked Hunter
- Meal Moths (BugGuide.net)
- Mealworms
- Mealybugs (PDF) (on house plants) (Cornell)
- Merchant Grain Beetle
- Millipedes
- Moth Flies (also called Drain Flies)
- Pantry Moth / Indian Meal Moth
- Paper Wasps/Yellowjackets/Hornets
- Pavement Ants
- Powderpost Beetles
- Red Flour Beetle
- Rice Weevil
- Roaches / Cockroaches
- Sawtoothed Grain Beetles
- Silverfish (and Firebrats)
- Sowbugs (considered an occasional household invader) (University of Maryland / UMD Cooperative Extension)
- Spider Beetles (people sometimes mistake these for spiders, bed bugs, or ticks)
- Spiders
- Spider Mites
- Strawberry Seed Beetles
- Tanbark Borer / Violet Tanbark Beetle (from oak firewood) (BugGuide.net)
- Termites (PDF) (Cornell University) — Rare in Maine; mostly occur only in pocket areas in some southern and coastal locations.
- Ticks — Ticks are often found indoors after hitching a ride on you or a family pet.
- Whiteflies (University of Missouri)
- Winter Firefly (often found on the sunny side of houses in wooded areas in search of protective crevices for overwintering purposes)
- Woodchuck Tick (probably carried in from outdoors, often on a cat)
- Wood Tick/American Dog Tick (probably carried in from outdoors)
- Yellowjackets/Hornets/Wasps
See also our photo collection of Household Critters
Occasional Household Invaders:
(Common and/or frequent critters that are sometimes found indoors for various reasons)
- Ants
- Boxelder Bugs (BugGuide.net) See also: Boxelder Bugs (Univ. of Minnesota Extension) (these bugs come inside accidentally or in search of a warm location in which to spend the winter)
- Brown Prionid (a large and intimidating beetle that is attracted to lights so sometimes gets indoors accidentally on warm summer nights) (BugGuide.net)
- Centipedes
- Click Beetles (fly in through open windows, doors, etc. at night; they are attracted to lights at night)
- Crane Flies (resemble giant mosquitoes; sometimes a household nuisance; they are attracted to lights at night)
- Crickets (Camel Crickets, Field Crickets and House Crickets)
- European Red Ants / European Fire Ants (invasive)
- Fishing Spiders (sometimes find their way indoors accidentally)
- Ladybugs / Ladybird Beetles (Multicolored Asian Lady Beetle) (often a household nuisance)
- Millipedes
- Mites
- Bird Mites [will bite people and warm-blooded pets in the absence of their bird host(s)] (University of Minnesota Extension)
- Clover Mites (Penn State)
- Mold Mites (Iowa State University)
- Pillbugs and Sowbugs (Univ. of Maryland / UMD Cooperative Extension)
- Springtails / Snowfleas
- Strawberry Seed Beetles (a type of common ground beetle; nothing more than a nuisance insect; general guidance is to just catch and release them back outside)
- Tanbark Borer / Violet Tanbark Beetle (from oak firewood) (BugGuide.net)
- Western Conifer Seed Bug (a frequent household invader in Maine if you live near conifer trees)
- Wood Cockroaches (their natural habitat is outdoors in moist, woodland areas but they sometimes find their way indoors by accident)