Your winter guests are coming.

They're uninvited but coming anyway. Some may have already arrived. Look around, check the corners of your rooms, around your windows and in the cupboard where the cereal's stored.

Your guests are pests, literally. Insects and rodents all looking for a warm place to spend the winter, something to eat, a sip of water. And we're likely to see more of them than in past years.

Last winter was mild and more insects were able to winter over. Plants suffered less winter kill too, so rodents had plenty to eat this summer and lots of cover from predators, said Gene Chafe, general manager for Senske Pest Control in Kennewick.

Unfortunately, some of your new roommates may like their new digs so much they may decide to move in, permanently. That's when you're likely to meet Chafe, one of his pest control technicians or someone from one of the many other pest control services listed in the phone book.

Because when it comes to some pests, retail poisons are generally a waste of a homeowner's money, Chafe said.

They're not as effective as what's available to professionals simply because store pesticides have an element of safety built in to protect children, pets and people who think if a tablespoon is good, a cup is going to be even better.

Some fall guests, like orb weaver spiders, are likely to be found hanging out around windows and doors checking out the insects on the menu.

These are the ones you notice on the sides of your house and buildings and around outdoor lights, mainly because their webs are full of gnats, moths and other insects they've dined on, Chafe said.

They're messy but harmless. One way to make them feel unwelcome is to turn off outside lights at night. Or switch to yellow bulbs, which don't attract as many insects.

Inside, little jumping spiders often are found on windowsills and ceilings where they stalk and pounce on unsuspecting flies.

The tegenaria domestica, or domestic house spider -- brown and the size of a quarter -- and its relative, tegenaria gigantea -- also brown but the size of a half dollar -- are relatively common in the Mid-Columbia. They're members of the funnel weaver family and can bite, but they don't cause serious bite reactions like another relative, the tegenaria agrestis, or aggressive house spider, known as the hobo spider.

Black widows -- patent leather black, and, if female, with a red hourglass mark on their underside -- is another poisonous spider to watch for in this area, Chafe said.

But bites from hobos and black widows are fairly rare.

"People who are bit by a poisonous spider have usually done one of three things. They've either rolled over on it in bed, stuck their hand in somewhere before inspecting it closely, or grabbed a pair of overalls that have been hanging out in the garage for a while and put them on without taking a good look at them inside and out," Chafe said.

Ants also sometimes try to move in. Pavement ants -- those small black ones you find making nests in cracks in your patio -- and odorous ants -- which emit a rotten coconut smell when crushed -- are the most common in the Mid-Columbia.

"They're generally not found in the house but once in a while they'll find the open sugar bowl or cereal in the cupboard or grease on the stove. Sanitation is the key to prevention," Chafe said.

Once inside, they're hard to eliminate. Spraying the ants you see, the workers, won't kill off the queen back at the nest. She'll simply lay more eggs. And some types of ants have multiple queens per nest. Kill off some workers and the rest will carry the queens in different directions, establishing new nests.

"You may have started with a single colony in the kitchen, but now you have one there, and one in the living room and in the dining room, too," Chafe said.

That's when you need to pick up the phone.

"With pest control companies, part of what you're buying is knowledge. Anything you use will be less effective, or not at all, if you don't understand the biology and behavior of the insect or rodent you're trying to kill or banish," Chafe said.

There's even a right and wrong way to use a mousetrap, the rectangular wooden type that snaps down on the mouse. The correct way is to place the short side against the wall so no matter which direction the mouse comes from, it trips the trigger.

* Reporter Loretto J. Hulse can be reached at 582-1513 or via e-mail at lhulse@tricityherald.com.