Pest Control in Urbandale, IA

Connect With a Local Pro Who Knows Polk & Dallas County

Urbandale is the established middle of the north-west metro. The eastern half filled in through the 1950s, 60s and 70s and now sits under a mature tree canopy, while the western end has kept growing into Dallas County farm ground. Walnut Creek runs the length of the city and Living History Farms preserves a working farm inside the city limits. Old trees and a farm edge in the same city pull in two directions. PestAlly is a free service connecting Urbandale homeowners with independent, licensed local pest control pros working Polk and Dallas County.

Call (888) 921-7764Get a Free Quote
Free QuotesNo ObligationLicensed Local ProsPolk & Dallas County

Why Urbandale

Why Urbandale Homes Get Hit Harder Than Most

The mature canopy is Urbandale’s defining feature and it has changed in the last decade. Emerald ash borer moved through the Des Moines metro and killed a very large share of the ash trees that shaded these 1960s streets, leaving dead and declining trunks standing close to houses, garages and decks. Dying wood is precisely what carpenter ants — Iowa’s main structural wood pest — nest in, and a colony in a dead ash twenty feet from the house frequently ends up with a satellite nest in the soffit or a damp rim joist.

The rest follows Iowa’s standard pattern with a sharper edge on each end. Full basements with sump pits and egress window wells give mice a route in at the rim joist and give camel crickets, centipedes and cellar spiders somewhere to live year-round, and the 1960s housing has original penetrations that were never properly sealed. On the Dallas County side the newer subdivisions sit against working corn and beans, so the September and October harvest push and the soybean lady beetle flights hit that end of the city hardest.

Pest control technician meeting a homeowner outside a house in Urbandale, Iowa

Seasonal Activity

What’s Active in Urbandale, and When

Spring · Mar–May

Carpenter ant swarmers appear indoors from damp framing or a nearby dead ash, and snowmelt fills sump pits and window wells.

Summer · Jun–Aug

Mosquitoes along Walnut Creek, Japanese beetles on turf and gardens, and wasps under the deep eaves of the older houses.

Fall · Sep–Nov

Harvest pushes mice indoors on the west side, and lady beetles, boxelder bugs and stink bugs cover south walls city-wide.

Winter · Dec–Feb

Mice in rim joists and attics, squirrels denning where limbs reach the roof, carpenter ants quiet in damp wood.

Coverage

Areas We Cover in Urbandale

The 1960s core & the ash-loss streets

Dead and declining ash close to houses and garages — the most reliable carpenter ant source in the city.

Walnut Creek corridor

Damp, wooded low ground running the length of Urbandale, holding water after storms and driving mosquito calls.

The Dallas County west end

Newer subdivisions against working corn and soybean — the harvest mouse push and the heaviest lady beetle flights.

Living History Farms & the farm ground inside the city

Working farmland, livestock and outbuildings inside the city limits, supporting rodents and filth flies nearby.

Douglas Avenue & the apartment corridors

Denser rental and commercial stock where German roaches and bed bugs move between units and buildings.

ZIP codes covered: 50322 · 50323
Urbandale sits north-west of Des Moines, running from established 1950s and 1960s neighbourhoods out to newer Dallas County development.

See the whole state on our Alabama pest control page, the metro hub in Des Moines, or the nearby towns we also cover: West Des Moines, Ankeny, Johnston, Altoona.

Services

The Pest Problems Urbandale Calls About Most

Ant Control

Emerald ash borer left thousands of dead ash trees standing in this metro, and carpenter ants nest in them before moving into soffits and rim joists.

Rodent Control

Mice enter Iowa houses at the rim joist, garage seals and utility penetrations, and the west-side fields deliver them every October.

General Pest Control

Lady beetles off the soybean, boxelder bugs, stink bugs and cluster flies all arrive on south walls within the same few weeks.

Mosquito Control

Walnut Creek and its low ground hold water for days after storms, breeding the Culex that carry West Nile in Iowa.

Spider Control

Egress window wells and unsealed sump pits keep cellar and wolf spiders going in Urbandale basements right through winter.

Wasp Nest Removal

The deep eaves and covered porches of the 1960s housing are ideal paper wasp sites, usually out of safe reach from a ladder.

Also available in Urbandale: Bed Bug Treatment · Cockroach Control · Yellow Jacket Removal · Flea Control · Fly Control · Termite Control

Common Questions

Urbandale Pest Questions, Answered

We took down a dead ash and now there are ants in the house.
That sequence is common here and it is not a coincidence. A carpenter ant colony in a dead or dying ash sends out satellite nests, and removing the parent tree can push the satellites toward the next suitable damp wood — often a soffit, deck ledger or rim joist. Treating the structure and correcting any moisture at the same time as removal is the way to avoid it.
How do I tell carpenter ants from termites?
Look at the waist and the wings. Carpenter ants have a pinched waist, bent antennae, and front wings longer than the back ones. Termite swarmers have a straight body with no waist, straight antennae, and four wings of equal length. In Iowa the answer is nearly always carpenter ants, but the treatments are completely different, so it is worth checking.
Water in our window wells every spring.
That is worth fixing rather than tolerating, because it feeds several problems at once. Standing water in a well keeps the basement wall damp, supports camel crickets and centipedes, and gives mice a sheltered spot right beside a foundation gap. Clear well covers and correcting the grading so runoff moves away from the house solve it more permanently than any treatment.
Why are there so many wasps under our eaves compared with newer houses?
Design. The 1960s and 70s houses here have deeper eave overhangs and covered porches than most modern construction, and that sheltered, dry underside is exactly what paper wasps want. There is nothing wrong with the house — it just offers more of what they look for, so it needs checking each June before nests get large.
Should we be treating for termites?
Probably not as a priority in Urbandale. Iowa termite pressure is low compared with the southern states, and with the amount of ash decline in this metro, damaged wood found here is usually carpenter ants or rot. Get an identification first; paying for a termite treatment on a carpenter ant problem is a common and avoidable waste.
Ant trail entering at a foundation and slab joint in Urbandale, IA

Get a Free Quote From a Urbandale Pest Pro

Tell us what you’re dealing with and we’ll connect you with an independent, licensed exterminator working in Polk & Dallas County. Using PestAlly costs nothing and there is no obligation.

Call (888) 921-7764Contact Us