Keeping the bad bugs out — exclusion and harborage, not another spray subscription.

Exclusion — the part that actually works

A bark scorpion can pass through a gap about the thickness of a credit card, which is why seal-up work outperforms perimeter spray.

• Door sweeps on every exterior door, including the garage side door and the roll-up garage door seal.
• Weatherstrip door frames and check the strike-side gap, not just the bottom.
• Seal around plumbing and electrical penetrations, hose bibs, and dryer vents.
• Screen weep holes with stainless mesh, and screen roof and attic vents.
• Caulk stucco cracks and the gap where block wall meets the house.
• Check window screens for tears and gaps at the corners.

Remove the harborage in the yard

• Scorpions hide under and inside block wall cavities, stacked pavers, loose flagstone, firewood, and debris piles.
• Stack firewood off the ground and away from the house — never against an exterior wall.
• Keep the two feet closest to the foundation clear of dense ground cover and mulch piles.
• Cap open block wall cores where you can; open cells are prime scorpion habitat.
• Store bagged material, pool floats, and unused pots off the ground and away from the door people use at night.
• Trim tree limbs and vines off the roof line and away from the wall — they are bridges for roaches and rodents alike.

Water and food

• Fix leaking hose bibs, drip emitters, and irrigation heads; consistent moisture is what holds a roach and cricket population.
• Crickets are the primary scorpion food supply — reduce crickets and you reduce the reason scorpions stay.
• Sweep up fallen fruit, spilled bird seed, and pet food left outdoors.
• Keep trash can lids sealed and rinse cans occasionally; sticky residue feeds ants and roaches through the summer.
• Do not leave pet food bowls out overnight.

Lighting choices

• Bright white exterior lighting concentrates flying insects, which draws the predators that eat them.
• Warm color-temperature fixtures attract noticeably fewer insects than cool white ones.
• Aim landscape lighting down onto surfaces rather than out into the yard.
• Move insect-heavy fixtures away from the doors people use most.
• A UV blacklight walk at night is the fastest way to find where scorpions actually are — they fluoresce.

Ants, specifically

• Identify before treating: the common Valley ants have different diets and different weak points.
• Bait works where spray fails — foragers carry it back to the colony, which is where the problem lives.
• Spraying visible trails kills foragers, scatters the colony, and often produces budding into several new nests.
• Place bait stations where pets and children cannot reach them.
• Fix the moisture and the food source, or the next colony simply takes the same territory.

When to call a professional

• Repeated scorpion sightings indoors after a thorough seal-up.
• Any sting causing severe symptoms — that is a medical call first, poison control or emergency care, not a pest question.
• Structural roach infestations or a colony inside a wall.
• Bee colonies in walls, meter boxes, or valve boxes: licensed removal only.
• A licensed pest operator who leads with exclusion and targeted treatment is worth more than one selling a monthly perimeter spray.