School Staff and Students Play an Important Role in IPM Monitoring

Students and staff are the eyes and ears of what happens day-to-day in schools. This applies not only to classroom activities, but also to the detection of pests. As classrooms wind down from a month filled with holiday sweets and treats, followed by a winter break, this could be the perfect recipe for pest invasion. For this reason, now may be a perfect time for students and staff to review signs of pest presence.  

Integrated pest management starts with monitoring. Monitoring for pests may sound daunting to the average person but can be quite simple if one knows what to look for.  

Signs of Insect Pests 

• The most obvious sign of pest presence is finding living and dead insects, exoskeletons, and egg cases. If you find multiple individuals of the same species, you may have a pest problem (Pestech, 2024). 

• Structural damage in wood could be a sign of termite infestation. Look for small holes, maze-like structures, or swelling, sunken, or indented lines in wood floors, walls and furniture. You can also tap wooden items to see if they sound hollow (Layton, n.d.; Pestech, 2024). 

• Smell can be a sign of a pest invasion. Cockroaches can produce an oily and musty odor when numbers are large. Occasionally, this odor can also be accompanied by a sickly-sweet smell attributed to bacteria that cockroaches carry  (Bennett and Wang, 2017; EcoGen Pest Control, 2023). 

Signs of Rodent Pests 

• Look for dark, cylindrical rodent droppings in areas secluded or near food and trash (Hayes and Alder, 2024; Vantassel et al., 2012). 

• Keep an eye out for rodent nests. Classrooms readily supply nesting materials like paper, cardboard, and fabric. Nests made from these items can be found in secluded areas near food (Hayes and Alder, 2024; Pestech, 2024; Vantassel et al., 2012). 

• An unexplained smell of ammonia and musk may be a sign that you have a mouse or rat problem (Hayes and Alder, 2024; Vantassel et al., 2012). 

• Look for gnaw marks on electrical wires, plastic, and wood (Hayes and Alder, 2024; Vantassel et al., 2012). 

• Make a note if you notice any obvious holes in walls, floors and school grounds (Pestech, 2024). 

• Rodent tracks can be found in dust, soil or snow. Typically, the front paws will be broad with four toes, and the hind paws will be narrower with five toes. You may also see a thin line imprint from the rodent’s tail (Critter Control, 2025). 

• Look for “rat rubs,” which are dark, oily marks along walls made of secreted oil from rats’ fur (Hayes and Alder, 2024). 

Some of these signs of pest presence might seem obvious, but they also hide in plain sight. The untrained eye may not recognize them. If you find signs of pest infestation in your school, make a detailed description and share it with your designated IPM professional, school administrators and custodial staff. 

For more information about pests and prevention using IPM, check out these other Pest Defense articles: 

• Creating a Rodent IPM Plan for Your School 

• Keep Stink Bugs Out 

• How to Make Schools Safer Using Integrated Pest Management 

• How to Prevent Tick Bites This Fall 

• Why IPM for Mosquitoes is More Important Now Than Ever 

As the year ends, the School IPM Working Group would like to thank the readers of The Pest Defense for Healthy Schools blog. Your engagement has allowed us to have another successful year of sharing IPM strategies with schools for safety and health. Thank you, and wishing you a pest-free new year! 

 

 

Sources 

Bennett, G., & Wang, C. (2017, January). A practical guide to cockroach control in multi-family housing units. Purdue University Extension Entomology. https://extension.entm.purdue.edu/publications/E-241.pdf   

Hayes, C., & Alder, P. (2024, December 20). Surveillance and management of common structure-invading rats. NC State Extension Publications. https://content.ces.ncsu.edu/surveillance-and-management-of-common-structure-invading-rats   

Layton, B. (n.d.). Signs of termite infestation. Mississippi State University Extension Service. https://extension.msstate.edu/insects/termites/signs-termite-infestation   

Rodent tracks. Critter Control. (2025, November 28). https://www.crittercontrol.com/wildlife/rodents/rodent-tracks/  

Vantassel, S. M., Hygnstrom, S. E., & Ferraro, D. M. (2012, March). Controlling house mice. Nebraska Extension Publications. https://extensionpubs.unl.edu/publication/g1105/na/html/view#target   

What does a cockroach infestation really smell like?. EcoGen Pest Control. (2023, July 13). https://ecogenpest.com/what-does-a-cockroach-infestation-smell-like/ 

Why are pests such a problem in schools?. Pestech. (2024, September 20). https://pestech.com/blog/why-pests-problem-in-schools/