Pest Control & Exterminator in Fort Lauderdale, FL for Canal Homes, Condos and Rentals

Pest control across Fort Lauderdale's neighborhoods

Fort Lauderdale is laced with canals, the New River and the Intracoastal, and that water decides where pests settle as much as the age of the building does. A seawall lot on the isles, a cottage in Sailboat Bend and a unit thirty floors up on Galt Ocean Mile each call for a different plan, so the first thing we do is figure out which kind of property you have. Just bought on the water? See the pest list for canal homes in Broward.

Canal and waterfront homes: Las Olas Isles, Rio Vista, Harbor Beach, Coral Ridge

On the finger isles and along the New River, the backyard ends at a seawall. Docks, boat lifts, stacked cushions, folded boat covers and the thick tropical planting most waterfront owners love all give palmetto bugs, ants and spiders somewhere cool to wait out the day. Roof rats like waterfront lots for the same reason: dense cover, fruit, and a short trip from the palms to the roofline.

Water brings its own visitors. No-see-ums bite hardest at dusk on still evenings near the water, and they're small enough to get through standard window screen, which is why lanais near the water often need a finer no-see-um mesh. King tides matter too. The City of Fort Lauderdale lists low-lying neighborhoods like Las Olas Isles among the areas that flood during the highest tides of the year, and when water pushes up through storm drains, ants and roaches move up with it, often into garages and kitchens.

We treat the land side of your property: the foundation, the entry points and the spots pests use for cover. We never treat the canal, the seawall face or the water.

Older homes under big trees: Victoria Park, Sailboat Bend, Colee Hammock

These are some of the oldest neighborhoods in the city. Victoria Park was platted in 1925, and the city describes the Sailboat Bend historic district as dating from the early 1900s into the 1950s. Colee Hammock grew up over the same decades. Many homes here date from the 1920s through the 1950s, with wood windows, raised floors in some cottages, settled door thresholds, gable vents and decades of plumbing and wiring changes. Every one of those is a possible way in.

The mature tree canopy is the other half of the story. Oaks and palms reach over rooflines, and roof rats use them like a highway at night. Owners usually hear scratching in the attic around dusk or before dawn. The fix isn't just trapping. Trapped rats get replaced quickly when the hole stays open, so our rodent work in these neighborhoods leans hard on finding and sealing the gaps at the roofline, soffits and utility lines.

Downtown and beach high-rises: Flagler Village, Las Olas, Galt Ocean Mile

Tower living changes the problem. German cockroaches and ants move between units through plumbing stacks, trash rooms and shared walls, so a clean kitchen can still get roaches from three floors down. In a condo or apartment we focus on your unit: the kitchen, the bathrooms and the pipe gaps under sinks and behind toilets that connect you to the neighbors.

Downtown apartments and condos are a big part of what we do. Many renters only need their own unit treated, and the quarterly plan covers that well. When an association or property manager wants trash rooms, garages and common areas covered too, we can quote that separately and provide an insurance certificate. Let us know about elevator reservations, parking or building rules when you book.

Vacation rentals, landlords and small businesses

Fort Lauderdale has a lot of short-term rentals, and guests notice pests fast. A treatment between bookings helps catch German roaches or bed bugs before the next review gets written. For long-term landlords, we offer turnover treatments between tenants, so the new renter starts clean.

Steve hosts an Airbnb in Fort Lauderdale, and when cockroaches turned up at his rental, Pro-Spray took care of it.
Read Steve's story and our cockroach tips for short-term rental hosts.

Restaurants, bars and shops downtown and along Las Olas deal with delivery doors, grease and dumpsters. That work runs through our commercial pest control service.

Mosquito control for Fort Lauderdale canal and waterfront yards

Waterfront yards get more mosquitoes, but most of them are not breeding in the canal. They're coming from the small stuff close to the house: a sagging boat cover, a bucket on the dock, a clogged gutter, plant saucers and the cups of bromeliads.

Our professional mosquito barrier spray treatment uses a backpack fogger aimed at the shaded places adult mosquitoes rest during the day, like under decks and along the land side of docks and seawalls, along fences, behind the AC unit and in dense vegetation. We avoid flowering plants. For breeding spots around the home that can't simply be dumped, such as containers, gutters and drains, we apply larvicide. On monthly mosquito plans we also add larval traps with a growth regulator, like birth control for insects. We never treat the canal, the river or the Intracoastal.

We recommend mosquito service monthly, especially in rainy season, on a schedule we can adjust. More detail is on our Fort Lauderdale mosquito control page.

How we treat Fort Lauderdale homes, condos and rentals

Good pest control is mostly about placement. We put EPA-registered products where pests live and hide, applied by licensed technicians according to the label, instead of coating every surface.

1. Free inspection first

On a house, that means the seawall side, the garage, the attic hatch, the kitchen and the baths; in a condo, the cabinets, the plumbing and anything you share with neighbors. You get a straight explanation of what's going on and what the plan would be, in English or Spanish.

2. Roaches: bait and crack-and-crevice work

In a kitchen, German roaches tuck into the hinge side of cabinet doors, the motor area behind the fridge and the gaps where pipes come through the wall. Small dabs of roach gel bait go along those paths, and crack-and-crevice treatment goes into the voids themselves. Bait works best when you skip store-bought sprays, because they can repel roaches away from the bait.

3. A perimeter treatment outside

Outside, the plan is precise rather than broad. We treat a band around your foundation and the lower foundation wall, and spot-treat entry points like door gaps, window frames, weep holes and plumbing openings. On canal lots, that's where palmetto bugs and ants try to come in.

4. Rats and mice: traps, stations and exclusion

We inspect for entry points, set traps and tamper-resistant bait stations, and seal the gaps rodents are using with exclusion work, to help keep them from getting back in. Inside the home, we use traps and, only where the label allows, rodent bait placed out of reach of kids and pets. Tamper-resistant bait stations go outside, or in building service areas like trash rooms and garages.

5. Mosquitoes and the callback promise

Mosquito visits follow the backpack fogger, larvicide and larval trap approach described above. For the rest of your plan, a callback between visits works like this: spot roaches or ants before the next quarterly date, send us a text, and a technician comes back to re-treat at no charge. After any visit, let treated areas dry before kids and pets go back out, and follow what your technician tells you.

Where we come from

We work out of 3440 Hollywood Blvd Suite 415, Hollywood, FL 33021, a short drive south down US-1 or I-95. Call or text anytime: 833-845-9284.

Fort Lauderdale pest control: common questions (FAQs)