Pest seasons · Virginia
The Virginia pest calendar, month by month
Richmond runs the full mid-Atlantic four seasons: spring termite swarms, a humid mosquito-and-tick summer, Virginia's famous fall stink bug invasion, and a proper rodent winter — with the James River corridor's older housing keeping every season interesting.
What’s active in VA, when
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January
Deep winter belongs to rodents in walls and attics, with house spiders and camel crickets in basements.
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February
Inspection season: find termite evidence and entry points before the spring rush. Odorous house ants can stir in late-month warm spells.
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March
Termite swarm season opens with the first warm rains; ants trail into kitchens; overwintered stink bugs wake inside walls and appear at windows.
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April
Peak termite month in Virginia. Mosquito eggs hatch as temperatures steady, and tick season opens along yard edges.
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May
Mosquito season proper — the Asian tiger mosquito makes Richmond backyards a daytime target. Carpenter bees and wasps work eaves and rails.
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June
Humid summer settles in: mosquitoes after every storm, ticks at peak, fleas cycling in yards with pet and wildlife traffic.
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July
Peak mosquito month. Big outdoor roaches (American, oriental) wander into kitchens and basements chasing moisture.
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August
Yellow jackets peak in size and aggression; mosquito pressure holds through the humid weeks.
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September
Virginia's signature season: brown marmorated stink bugs mass on sunny walls by the hundreds, staging to overwinter inside. Seal now.
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October
Overwintering insects push indoors; mice and rats begin serious probing of foundations and crawl spaces as frost approaches.
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November
Rodent exclusion month — Richmond's older housing stock offers entry gaps everywhere a sill meets a foundation.
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December
Indoor season: rodents in walls and attics, German cockroaches in warm kitchens, stink bugs dormant in voids until the first warm spell.
Calendars describe typical years — weather moves the edges. An early warm spring opens termite and mosquito season sooner; a mild fall stretches it. When in doubt, what you’re seeing at your own home outranks any calendar.
Our local teams in Virginia
Seasonal pressure is local — our Virginia technicians work these exact patterns on their routes every day:
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Pest control in Richmond, VA
Humid subtropical at the fall line of the James — hot sticky summers, mild winters, plenty of rain
Virginia pest season questions, answered straight
Why does Virginia have such a bad stink bug problem?
The brown marmorated stink bug's U.S. invasion spread straight through the mid-Atlantic, and Virginia remains a stronghold. Every September–October they mass on warm walls and slip into voids to overwinter. Exterior treatment and sealing in early fall is the play.
When do termites swarm in Virginia?
March through May, peaking in April on warm, damp days. Richmond's older homes reward annual inspections — swarmers or shed wings indoors mean the colony is already established.
When should mosquito service start in Richmond?
By mid-April most years, running through October. The dominant backyard biter is the Asian tiger mosquito — a daytime, small-container breeder — so foliage-targeting treatments plus weekly standing-water checks carry the season.
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