FROM THE FIELD
Pest Control in Action: Videos from Our Technicians
Real jobs in Beaverton and the Portland metro, filmed by the people doing the work. Each video comes with what the technician found, what to notice, and where to learn more.
RODENT CASE STUDIES
Real Crawlspaces, Real Rats
Straight from the crawlspace. What our technicians find under Beaverton homes, and what it tells them about how rodents get in.
BEAVERTON, OREGON, SEPTEMBER 2026
Three Tripped Traps and No Rats: How They Got In
Three traps had tripped and caught nothing. Inside this Beaverton crawlspace, the technician looked for where the rats were traveling, where they were spending time, and how they were getting into the home. Setting traps is only part of rodent control. Finding and closing the entry points is what solves it.
What to Notice
- The way in was a hole in the wall made for a pipe, with no pipe in it. A ready made front door for rats.
- Traps close fast. Three tripped and empty traps show how quick and careful these Norway rats are.
- Greasy marks on a covered wire come from rats running the same route over and over. Droppings and packed down insulation show where they stop to rest.
- The rats were settling in near the HVAC run, likely because it is the warmest part of the crawlspace.
A CRAWLSPACE CASE STUDY, JANUARY 2026
We Assumed Rats, but the Game Camera Showed a Squirrel
This job looked like a rat problem on every count. It was not, and the technician walks through what happened and what he would do differently. Diagnosis matters, and a first guess can keep a treatment going far longer than it should.
What to Notice
- The crawlspace had rat and mouse droppings, broken vents and old carcasses. The last company had used sticky traps, snap traps and poison, inside and outside the house.
- Prime did the exclusion work. The animal was trapped inside, the customer still heard noises, and every rat and mouse trap came up empty.
- A game camera finally showed a squirrel, which explained why the traps kept tripping.
- His lesson: put out a game camera sooner when the first traps trip without catching anything, and do not let one assumption set the plan.
- Once it was a squirrel, Prime removed its traps and bait boxes and referred the customer to a wildlife company.
BEAVERTON, OREGON, DECEMBER 2025
The Rat That Made Its Own Way In
Sealing the obvious holes does not always end it. On this job the technician was back for the fourth time, working out how a rat was still getting in after the first holes were sealed.
What to Notice
- Grease marks from rats running back and forth into the shed showed the route.
- The entry was tiny and easy to miss, one of the sneakier methods the technician has seen a rat use.
- After the first openings were closed, the rat found a new way into the garage. Follow up visits are how the last gap gets found.
BEAVERTON, OREGON, AUGUST 2026
Following the Smell to a Crawlspace
A homeowner noticed a persistent smell, so the technician traced it back to the source. He inspects the crawlspace, checks the rodent traps and shows what he found.
What to Notice
- He found the signs of rodent tunneling once he was under the house.
- One of the traps had just caught a rodent. The trap can be reused with fresh bait.
- Unusual odors, scratching noises and signs of rodents are worth acting on early, before the problem gets much bigger.
BEAVERTON, OREGON, SEPTEMBER 2026
Norway Rat or Roof Rat? Can You Tell?
A pop quiz from a rat caught in Beaverton: Norway rat or roof rat? The technician holds a reference diagram next to the rat, and the tail gives it away.
What to Notice
- On a Norway rat, the tail is shorter than the body.
- Telling the two apart matters because they behave differently around a home. Our rat page covers both species.
- In another video, a technician points out that large feet and a long tail on a small animal can mean a young rat, not a mouse.
BEAVERTON, OREGON, JANUARY 2026
Four Signs You Have Rats
Four things a technician looks for that are a good sign you have rats. Spot them early and save yourself the headache.
What to Notice
- Holes in the crawlspace fence, which are very common near AC units.
- Carcasses from past or present infestations.
- Rodent tracks on the vapor barrier.
- Droppings and urine stains.
BEAVERTON, OREGON, FEBRUARY 2026
The Scholar: the Rat That Learned to Avoid Every Trap
After weeks of testing traps and studying behavior, the kitchen “Scholar” finally made his mistake. Smart rodents do not fall for random bait. They learn and they adapt, and if you rush the process you just push them somewhere else.
What to Notice
- For weeks this rat evaded capture. He avoided bait, snap traps, piston traps and non-lethal traps, and even learned to avoid a live trap.
- Every night he returned to the same kitchen counter.
- When a rodent learns, control becomes strategy, not just placement. This one took patience, placement and a plan.
- Scratching in the walls or signs in your crawlspace? Do not guess. Solve it correctly.
BEAVERTON, OREGON, NOVEMBER 2025
Identify a Rat in Seconds
A quick way a technician tells whether he is looking at a rat. A lot of people think they caught a mouse when it is really a baby rat.
What to Notice
- Look at the feet. A young rat’s feet look huge on a small body, like a Great Dane puppy.
- Compare the tail to the body. A rat’s tail is long next to its body.
- This is how you can tell a baby rat from a mouse, which changes which service you need.
BEAVERTON, OREGON, DECEMBER 2025
How Big Can Portland Rats Get?
The crew caught an immense rat inside a customer’s crawlspace. The technician does not show the rat, but he shows how big it was against a size comparison.
What to Notice
- It measured 18 inches from nose to the end of the tail.
- The crew’s biggest before that was a 19 inch rat caught years ago in an industrial setting.
- This one was in a home’s crawlspace, which is why crawlspace inspections matter.
BEAVERTON, OREGON, DECEMBER 2025
That Noise in the Walls? a Rat on the Plumbing
A rat in Beaverton had chosen an unusual highway: the household plumbing. Found it.
What to Notice
- Pipes offer warmth, elevation and, most importantly, a direct route upward.
- The dark grease marks on the pipe are not stains. They are tracks from a well traveled route.
- The noises in the wall were coming from this rat.
BEAVERTON AREA, NOVEMBER 2025
Rat Highways Along a Pipe
A walk through a crawlspace job with very clear signs of rats, from the grease marks to the hole they were popping through.
What to Notice
- Grease marks show where the rats come up, and they pop straight into a hole that was loose when the crew arrived.
- The rats ran the top of one pipe so often that they wore away the insulation.
- A nest this pronounced is not something you usually see.
BEAVERTON, OREGON, DECEMBER 2025
A Rodent Follow-Up Visit, Start to Finish
No rush and no shortcuts. A technician takes you through a follow-up rodent service in Beaverton, from the first step in to the last step out. The first follow-up on this job caught two rats.
What to Notice
- Gear for a crawlspace: booties, a headlamp and a respirator.
- He checks each trap. One had tripped with no rat, and others had caught something.
- Crawlspace work is slow and low, with a lot of belly crawling, and each job calls for deciding the easiest way through.
ANTS
Why Ants Come Back
Where the colony really is, and why a fast kill is not always a win.
BEAVERTON, OREGON, MAY 2026
An Entire Ant Colony Inside the Wall
A Beaverton customer kept seeing ants near an outlet. The technician pulled the cover plate off and found an entire ant colony living inside the wall.
What to Notice
- Ants collecting around an outlet can mean the nest is much closer, and much more hidden, than it looks.
- Finding where ants actually live is the difference between a visit that helps and one that only moves them around.
BEAVERTON, OREGON, FEBRUARY 2026
A Store Bought Ant Bait, Tested by a Technician
A technician with odorous house ants at home, often called sugar ants, tries treating them with a common store bought borax bait. It looks like a win. Then he explains why it is not.
What to Notice
- Always follow the label, and keep baits away from pets.
- Odorous house ants have multiple queens. When the workers die too fast, the colony can split into several colonies, which he calls ant whack-a-mole.
- You want ants to carry bait back to the nest, not die on the spot. If you treat ants and they show up somewhere else a week or two later, the colony usually never got hit.
BEAVERTON, OREGON, JANUARY 2026
This or That: the Hardest Ant Problem to DIY
A quick round of this or that, on what makes ants hard to handle yourself.
What to Notice
- Ants all over the house is harder than ants in one room.
- A defined trail you can see is easier to follow back to where they live.
- Find the source rather than treating the trail. That is what the technician chose.
WASPS AND YELLOWJACKETS
A Close Look at Stinging Insects
Nests in the ground, in shrubs, in walls and under the roofline, and how we deal with them.
BEAVERTON, OREGON, OCTOBER 2025
Ground Nesting Yellowjackets Under a Patio
A customer called in for paper wasps. These were not paper wasps. They were ground nesting yellowjackets living underneath a patio.
What to Notice
- Telling the species apart matters, because the right treatment depends on which one it is.
- The size difference between a queen and the drones is striking, and the nest held a ton of yellowjackets.
BEAVERTON, OREGON, JULY 2026
Four Places Yellowjackets Love to Nest
Yellowjacket season in Beaverton. The technician found nests in four different places, and each was a little different. Knowing what to look for around your own property helps.
What to Notice
- At the base of an arborvitae.
- Inside a shrub.
- At the base of a patio.
- In a tree. Yellowjackets nest in the ground and in trees, and this is why the crew wears a bee suit.
BEAVERTON, OREGON, SEPTEMBER 2026
A Nest Hidden Under the Ferns
This yellowjacket nest was hidden underneath a patch of ferns. At first, everything looked completely peaceful. Within about 10 minutes of starting treatment, the yellowjackets made their presence very obvious.
What to Notice
- Just because you cannot see a nest does not mean it is not there.
- A quiet yard can still hold an active nest, so watch where yellowjackets are flying in and out.
BEAVERTON, OREGON, OCTOBER 2026
Finding a Hidden Yellowjacket Nest with Thermal Imaging
Yellowjackets nesting inside a wall. This clip shows how a thermal camera helps locate the hidden nest before treatment.
What to Notice
- A nest inside a wall cannot be seen from outside, so finding it comes first.
- Finding the nest first is what lets the treatment be aimed at the nest.
PORTLAND, OREGON AREA, OCTOBER 2026
Queen, Workers and Drones Inside a Yellowjacket Colony
A close-up look at the three kinds of yellowjacket from one colony in the Portland area.
What to Notice
- Workers are non-reproductive females.
- The larger one is the queen.
- The four at the top are males, also called drones, and they cannot sting because they do not have stingers.
BEAVERTON AND THE PORTLAND METRO, JULY 2026
Before You Spray a Paper Wasp Nest, Watch This
Paper wasps are one of the most common stinging insects we deal with around Beaverton. A technician shows the over the counter product he recommends for knocking down an active nest, what it cannot do, and what to know first.
What to Notice
- A store bought spray is good for initial knockdown. Wasps that were out foraging will return and try to recolonize.
- Stopping them from returning generally takes something extra, such as dusts and liquids applied by a professional.
- Make sure you are treating paper wasps and not yellowjackets. Spraying a yellowjacket nest with the same product will hurt.
- Follow the label and wear protective equipment. Only treat a nest if you can do it safely from a distance and are not allergic to stings.
SHERWOOD, OREGON, OCTOBER 2025
Yellowjacket Nest Removal in Sherwood, OR
A yellowjacket nest in a tree, after treatment. The nest is pretty well gone by this point, and the technician explains how it comes down.
What to Notice
- After treatment, he rips holes in the nest and applies product into them, to make sure it is all the way gone before the nest is removed.
- Nests cling to branches, so normally the crew snips the branches and removes the nest whole.
BEAVERTON, OREGON, SEPTEMBER 2026
A Nest with Several Entrances at the Base of a Tree
How we treat a yellowjacket nest that has multiple entry points around the base of a tree.
What to Notice
- A nest can have more than one opening, so one hole is not the whole nest.
- Treating around the base is part of the job when the entrances are spread out.
PORTLAND AREA, JULY 2026
Paper Wasp Removal Takes the Right Equipment
This paper wasp removal was going exactly as planned until it was not. Watch to the end.
What to Notice
- Paper wasps are generally non-aggressive unless their nest is disturbed.
- Removing a nest safely takes the right equipment and technique.
PORTLAND, OREGON AREA, SEPTEMBER 2026
Paper Wasp Nests High on the Roofline
Paper wasps do not always make it easy. A technician takes down nests tucked high along the roofline of a home in the Portland area.
What to Notice
- The nests were tucked high along the roofline of the home.
- Paper wasps do not always make removal easy.
BEAVERTON, OREGON, OCTOBER 2026
Do Yellowjacket Traps Actually Work?
Ever wonder how well yellowjacket traps work? This one was hanging about five feet from a very active yellowjacket nest, and it looks pretty good.
What to Notice
- The trap was only about five feet from an active nest.
- The technician’s verdict: it seems pretty good.
SPIDERS
Spider Season
FOREST GROVE, OREGON, MAY 2026
A Dewebbing Transformation
A before and after from a service in Forest Grove. Part of our regular pest control service includes removing spider webs and cleaning around the home’s exterior, eaves, entryways and overhangs, which helps keep the home looking clean and maintained.
What to Notice
- Webs collect around eaves, entryways and overhangs.
- Dewebbing is part of the regular service.
BEAVERTON, OREGON, DECEMBER 2025
Spider ID: the Cross Orb Weaver
Can you figure out what kind of spider this is? People usually call these garden spiders.
What to Notice
- The cross on the back gives it away.
- It is a cross orb weaver.
OTHER CRITTERS
Whatever Turns Up
Opossums, raccoons, bats and the occasional centipede. What the crew runs into on the way to the job.
BEAVERTON, OREGON, OCTOBER 2026
Is This Opossum Stalking a Rat?
Our trail camera caught something interesting in Beaverton. A rat shows up on the deck. Minutes later, an opossum follows. Then it happens again the next night.
What to Notice
- Trail cameras show what is actually moving around a property after dark.
- Coincidence, or is the opossum stalking the rat?
BEAVERTON AREA, JANUARY 2026
Mystery Tracks in the Crawlspace
A technician came down for a rodent job, and these tracks stopped him. They look like little baby handprints.
What to Notice
- After making sure he was not in a horror movie, he decided they were opossums or raccoons.
- The creepy part is not knowing whether the animal is still down there with you.
BEAVERTON, OREGON, JUNE 2026
Field Surprises: Raccoons, Squirrels and Bats
When you are out in the field, you never know what is going to pop up. Just another day around Beaverton and the Portland metro.
What to Notice
- A raccoon.
- A squirrel.
- A bat.
- Which one would surprise you the most?
BEAVERTON, OREGON, NOVEMBER 2025
Yellowjackets, Then a House Centipede Showed Up
A yellowjacket job in Beaverton, and then something else turned up.
What to Notice
- A big house centipede, which looks like a spider with way too many legs.
BEHIND THE SCENES
Inside the Gear and the Crawlspace
What the work looks like from the technician’s side.
BEAVERTON, OREGON, AUGUST 2026
The Safety Features Built into a Bee Suit
As stylish as these suits are, they have some really cool safety features. The popping sound in this clip is yellowjackets attacking the camera.
What to Notice
- The yellowjackets coming out will readily sting, and you can hear them hitting the hood.
- This is the gear the crew wears on a nest.
OREGON, DECEMBER 2025
When an Atmospheric River Flooded the Crawlspace
Oregon’s atmospheric river flooded this crawlspace and forced a change of plans.
What to Notice
- The water, and suds that turned out to be mold, made the usual route impossible.
- The tech stayed on dry land and walked the drier outside line instead.
- He doubted the rats would be swimming across to the pillars, so he adjusted where to look.
OUR STORY
Who Is Behind the Truck
BEAVERTON, OREGON, JULY 2026
The Story of Prime Pest Solutions
Nine years ago, two friends from Idaho packed up everything and moved to Oregon with a dream of building something different. Today, Prime Pest Solutions serves homeowners throughout Beaverton and the greater Portland metro with personal, high quality pest control.
What to Notice
- Two childhood friends who ended up working at the same pest control company, then went out on their own.
- A family owned company serving Beaverton and the greater Portland metro.
KEEP WATCHING
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