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The house mouse (Mus musculus) is one of the most bothersome and economically important pests in Greece. House mice thrive under a variety of conditions; they are found in and around homes and commercial structures as well as in open fields and agricultural lands. House mice consume and contaminate food meant for humans, pets, livestock, or other animals. In addition, they cause considerable damage to structures and property, and they can transmit pathogens that cause diseases such as salmonellosis, a form of food poisoning.

House mice are small rodents with relatively large ears and small black eyes and usually are light brownish to gray in color. An adult is about 5-1/2 to 7-1/2 inches long, including the 3- to 4-inch tail.

Droppings, fresh gnaw marks, and tracks indicate areas where mice are active. Mouse nests are made from fine shredded paper or other fibrous material, usually in sheltered locations. House mice have a characteristic musky odor that identifies their presence. Mice are active mostly at night, but they can be seen occasionally during daylight hours.

Rats are the most problematic and damaging rodents in Greece. They consume and contaminate food, damage structures and property, and transmit parasites and diseases to other animals and humans. Rats live and thrive under a wide variety of climates and conditions; they are often found in and around homes and other buildings, farms, gardens, and open fields.

People do not often see rats, but signs of their presence are easy to detect. It is important to know which species of rat is present in order to place traps or baits in the most effective locations.

The two species of rat in Cyprus are the Rattus Rattus and the Rattus norvegicus.

Cockroaches may become pests in homes, restaurants, hospitals, warehouses, offices, and virtually any structure that has food preparation or storage areas. They contaminate food and eating utensils, destroy fabric and paper products, and impart stains and unpleasant odors to anything they touch.

Cockroaches, which can come into contact with human excrement in sewers and with pet droppings, may transmit bacteria that cause food poisoning (Salmonella spp. and Shigella spp.). They are also believed to be capable of transmitting disease-causing organisms such as Staphylococcus spp., Streptococcus spp., hepatitis virus, and coliform bacteria. They also have been implicated in the spread of typhoid and dysentery. Some people, especially those with asthma, are sensitive to the allergens produced by these cockroaches. However, a major concern with cockroaches is that people are repulsed when they find cockroaches in their homes and kitchens.

Cockroaches are medium-sized to large insects in the order Dictyoptera (formerly Orthoptera). They are broad, flattened insects with long antennae and a prominent pronotum. Some people confuse them with beetles, but adult cockroaches have membranous wings and lack the thick, hardened forewings or elytra of beetles. They are nocturnal and run rapidly when disturbed. Immature cockroaches (nymphs) look like adults, but are smaller and do not have wings.

There are three types of Cockroach in Greece: Americana, Germanica and Orientalis.

Ants are among the most prevalent pests in households. They are also found in restaurants, hospitals, offices, warehouses, and other buildings where they can find food and water. Once ants have established a colony inside or near a building, they may be difficult to control.

Ants belong to the insect order Hymenoptera and are close relatives of bees and wasps. They are familiar insects that are easily recognized, especially in their common wingless adult forms, known as workers. However, winged forms of ants, which leave the nest in large numbers in warm weather to mate and establish new colonies, are often mistaken for winged termites, which also leave their nests to mate.

Inside a building, household ants feed on sugars, syrups, honey, fruit juice, fats, and meat. Long trails of thousands of ants may lead from nests to food sources, causing considerable concern among building occupants. Outdoors they are attracted to sweet, sticky secretions, or honeydew, produced by soft scales and aphids. Frequently outbreaks of scales and aphids occur when ants tend them to obtain their sweet secretions because the ants protect scales and aphids from their natural enemies. Ants can bite with their pincerlike jaws.

Adult fleas are very small insects (up to 1/8 inch), so it is difficult to see a number of the characteristics used to describe them. These reddish brown to black, wingless insects are compressed from side to side so that they look like they are walking "on edge." They have piercing-sucking mouthparts through which they obtain blood meals from their hosts.

The flea is suspected of transmitting murine typhus to humans, but its primary importance is in its annoyance to people and pets. Cat fleas readily try to feed on almost any warm-blooded animal. Some people are bothered by the sensation of fleas walking on their skin, but bites are the major nuisance. Bites tend to be concentrated on the lower legs but can also occur on other parts of the body. The bite consists of a small, central red spot surrounded by a red halo, usually without excessive swelling. Flea bites usually cause minor itching but may become increasingly irritating to people with sensitive or reactive skin. Some people and pets suffer from flea bite allergic dermatitis, characterized by intense itching, hair loss, reddening of the skin, and secondary infection. Just one bite may initiate an allergic reaction, and itching may persist up to 5 days after the bite. Fleas may also serve as intermediary hosts of dog tapeworms. Cats or dogs may acquire this intestinal parasite while grooming themselves by ingesting adult fleas that contain a cyst of the tapeworm.

Of the thousands of species of flies, only a few are common pests in and around the home. Some of the more common nuisance flies are the house fly (Musca domestica), the face fly (Musca autumnalis), the stable fly (Stomoxys calcitrans), the little house fly (Fannia canicularis), and several species of garbage fly (especially in the genus Phaenicia). These pests breed in animal wastes and decaying organic material from which they can pick up bacteria and viruses that may cause human diseases. In addition, adult stable flies (sometimes called "biting flies") feed on mammalian blood and can give a painful bite.

Because they have sponging mouthparts, house flies cannot bite; however, they may play an important role in disease transmission to humans and animals. House flies serve as carriers of disease agents due to their predilection for feeding on animal wastes, garbage, and human foods. House flies are known to carry bacteria and viruses that cause conditions such as diarrhea, cholera, food poisoning, yaws, dysentery, and eye infections.

Bedbugs are in the insect family Cimicidae and include three species that attack people. Of these, the most important is Cimex lectularius, which may also bite bats, birds, and rodents.

Bedbugs are not usually considered to be disease carriers. They do suck blood from their host with piercing mouthparts that contain two stylets: one stylet has a groove that carries saliva into the wound, while the other has a groove through which body fluids from the host are imbibed. Saliva that is injected during the feeding can produce large swellings on the skin that itch and may become irritated and infected when scratched. In addition, bed bugs have stink glands that leave odors; they also leave fecal spots on bed sheets and around their hiding places.

Female mosquitoes of nearly all species require blood from vertebrate animals to develop eggs, and many species bite people, pets, and livestock for this purpose. The most important consequence of this is the transmission of microorganisms that cause diseases such as western equine encephalomyelitis and St. Louis encephalitis. Both of these diseases can cause serious, sometimes fatal neurological ailments in people. (Western equine encephalomyelitis virus also causes disease in horses.) Western equine encephalomyelitis infections tend to be more serious in infants while St. Louis encephalitis can be a problem for older people. Some mosquitoes are capable of transmitting malaria to humans. If these mosquitoes suck the blood of a person that has malarial parasites, they may pass on the infection to the next person(s) they bite;

Even when no infectious diseases are transmitted by mosquitoes, they can be a health problem to people and livestock. Mosquito bites can result in secondary infections, allergic reactions, pain, irritation, redness, and itching.

Termites are social and can form large nests or colonies, consisting of very different looking individuals (castes). Physically the largest individual is the queen. Her function is to lay eggs, sometimes thousands in a single day. A king is always by her side. Other individuals have large heads with powerful jaws, or a bulblike head that squirts liquid. These individuals are called soldiers. But the largest group of termites in a colony is the workers. They toil long hours tending the queen, building the nest, or gathering food. While other species of social insects have workers, termites are unique among insects in that workers can be male or female. Surprisingly, termites can be long-lived: queens and kings can live for decades while individual workers can survive for several years.

As termites live up to twenty feet underground, problems with them stem from the earth. They come into the house through cracks or dampness and feed on wood. Some termites have wings, while others don't.

Signs of termite infestation include swarming of winged forms in fall and spring and evidence of tunneling in wood. Darkening or blistering of wooden structural members is another indication of an infestation; wood in damaged areas is typically thin and easily punctured with a knife or screwdriver.         

There are 4 prominent types of woodworm in Greece.  The Furniture Beetle, the House Longhorn Beetle, the Deathwatch Beetle and the Powder post Beetle.

The Furniture Beetle

The furniture beetle is the most common woodworm. This beetle attacks softwoods, leaving 1-2mm exit holes behind it. They will seek out and occupy plywood for longer than any other timber. Damage by the furniture beetle is identified by tiny holes in the surface of the wood. These holes are in fact exit holes, showing that the adult beetle has emerged from and left the spent timber after thoroughly tunneling through it. The beetle lays its eggs on top of the wood, and the grubs burrow and tunnel into it. With active woodworm there is a visible scattering of tiny dust piles on the timber. Structural weakening to the building is possible with the furniture beetle in timbers with a small cross section and there is a lot of damp. This is especially common in old houses.

House Longhorn Beetle

The house Longhorn Beetle is principally found in roof timbers where it attacks the sapwood of exclusively softwood timbers often resulting in structural weakness. The House Longhorn Beetle prefers unfinished wood like old floorboards and loft rafters in the roof - these are good targets for the beetle, as are damp floorboards, damp loft timbers and old furniture where the polished finish has worn off. The holes and tunnels of this beetle are significantly larger than the furniture beetle.

In Europe, building Societies and insurance companies will insist that a specialist company provides treatment for this infestation. Treatment for this beetle can be done only by professional, certified pest control companies such as Atom Exterminators.

Deathwatch Beetle

This beetle viciously attacks large hardwood timbers such as Elm and Oak. Due to its incredible appetite, after starting in hardwoods like these, the beetle will move onto softwoods in a all-you-can-eat extravaganza. The beetle is able to develop extremely rapidly. Treatment must be done by a certified professional immediately.

Powder Post Beetle

Powder post beetles can spend anywhere from 1.5 months to 12 years embedded inside wood. Their presence is only apparent when they emerge from the wood as adults, leaving tiny holes behind them. If wood conditions are right, female beetles may lay their eggs and reinfest the wood, continuing the cycle for generations. Heavily-infested wood becomes riddled with holes and rooms or basements packed with a dusty frass (wood that has passed through the digestive tract of the beetles). Both hardwood and softwood can be attacked by powder post beetles. Items that can be infested by powder post beetles include any wooden tools or tool handles, frames, furniture, gun stocks, books, toys, bamboo, flooring, and structural timbers - which presents grave danger.