Will County Pest Control & Exterminators

Pest Control Across Will County

Will County has been one of the fastest-changing places in the Chicago region. For generations it was defined by Joliet, Lockport and the river and canal towns along the Des Plaines and the Illinois and Michigan Canal. Beginning in the 1990s, Plainfield, Bolingbrook, Romeoville, New Lenox, Frankfort, Mokena and Homer Glen filled with new subdivisions, many of them built directly on corn and soybean fields. The southern and eastern parts of the county, around Peotone, Beecher, Manhattan and Wilmington, remain largely agricultural. The DuPage and Kankakee rivers, Hickory Creek, Spring Creek and the forest preserve district's many holdings add wooded corridors, and Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie covers a large stretch near Wilmington. That mix of old limestone-era housing, brand-new construction and working farmland creates very different pest problems from one town to the next.

Subdivisions Built on Former Farm Fields

Drive through Plainfield, Shorewood, Bolingbrook or New Lenox and you will see neighborhoods that were cropland not long ago. That history shows up in the pests homeowners call about. Field mice and deer mice that lived along fence rows move into garages, basements and wall voids once the land is developed and harvest removes their cover each fall. Eastern moles tunnel through new sod laid over rich farm soil, leaving ridges across lawns. Retention ponds and drainage swales throughout these developments hold standing water, which keeps mosquitoes, midges and spiders plentiful around patios. Newer homes are generally tighter than older ones, but garage door seals, dryer vents and utility penetrations still give rodents a way inside.

Joliet, Lockport and the Old River Towns

Joliet grew up around limestone quarries and the Des Plaines River, and many of its older neighborhoods still have homes from the late 1800s and early 1900s. Lockport's historic district along the I&M Canal and older blocks in Crest Hill and Wilmington share a similar story. Stone and brick foundations, wood porches and detached garages give Norway rats, house mice and eastern subterranean termites plenty of opportunity. Older multi-unit buildings can harbor German cockroaches, while damp stone basements attract oriental cockroaches, house centipedes and silverfish. The river and canal corridors also support raccoons, opossums and skunks that roam into nearby yards at night looking for food, water and den sites under porches.

Rivers, Forest Preserves and the Prairie Edge

The Des Plaines River, the DuPage River and the Kankakee River all pass through Will County, and the forest preserve district protects woodlands and prairies along many of their banks and along Hickory and Spring creeks. Homes near these corridors in Homer Glen, Lockport, Channahon and Frankfort often deal with raccoons in attics, woodchucks and skunks under sheds and decks, and bats roosting in older rooflines. In the far south, Midewin and surrounding farmland mean rural homes contend with mice moving in from fields, snakes around outbuildings and birds nesting in barns and vents. Wet springs push moisture pests like millipedes and earwigs toward foundations and window wells throughout the county.