Is March a good month to treat for pests in New Hampshire?

Generally no, because there is almost nothing active to treat. Only cockroaches are at a genuine peak, and that's an indoor, year-round condition rather than a March-specific event. A few overwintering insects like beetles and flies are stirring in wall voids, but they're populations that have been inside since last fall, not new arrivals. The one thing worth doing this month is sealing obvious entry points before the real spring activity starts in April, which is preparation rather than a response to anything happening now.

Why are there suddenly ladybugs or flies at my windows in March?

Those are Asian lady beetles and cluster flies that have been overwintering in your wall voids since last fall, waking up as the sun warms the siding and wandering toward light. They aren't entering from outside; they were already inside the structure all winter. This is one of the clearest illustrations of this month's rule: if you're seeing an insect indoors in March, it almost certainly lives in your house already, because nothing is coming in from outside yet.

Why does your calendar say raccoons and squirrels turned down when the timing guide shows them building?

Because the label describes a developmental stage, not whether the noticeable activity increased. Both species' winter mating peaks passed in January and February; March is when pregnant females settle into gestation and quiet down, even though the population is technically progressing toward spring births. The loud, attention-getting behavior — mate-searching, den competition — is what's actually declining this month, which is the change that matters to a homeowner.

Should I worry about termites or carpenter ants in March?

Not yet, and our own old March page overstated both. Carpenter ants are still dormant; a nest already inside a heated home may show isolated indoor sightings, but the spring swarm and foraging peak come later. Termites are genuinely present in New Hampshire, but most colonies live outdoors with no structural interaction, and their one real event — the spring swarm — runs from roughly March into June, not as a standing March peak. Neither species belongs in this month's changelog.

Daniel Brady · NH-Licensed Pesticide Applicator · License #782664

|Reviewed by Daniel Brady

What Pests Are Actually Active in March in New Hampshire?

The dead monthIf it’s inside, it lives inside — nothing is coming in from outside yet.

March is the quietest month on this calendar: exactly one species is at peak, and it's cockroaches — an entirely indoor animal, breeding in heated homes regardless of the cold outside. A few overwintering insects flicker awake this month, but they were already inside your walls since last fall; nothing new is entering from an outdoors that is still frozen. Meanwhile the winter wildlife breeding peak in raccoons and squirrels is passing, which reads as a turn-down even though the calendar shows them stirring. This is the shortest, least eventful page in the hub, on purpose.

March at a glance

Species at peak: 1
Turned up: 4 newly active
Turned down: 2 winding down
The floor: 8 here year-round

Where in the year

You are here · March

A pest year has a shape. This strip is the whole of it — the season you’re in, the months on either side, and the one you’re reading now.

The New Hampshire pest year

SpringYou are here · Mar

Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec

This monthSame seasonOther months1 at peak this month

Previous monthFebruary Next monthApril

The changelog

What changed in March

Not a list of seven pests re-served every month. A release log: what turned up, what wound down, what’s always here, and what isn’t here at all — 1 species at peak this month.

Turned up

newly active — more than last month

beetlesBuilding

The Asian lady beetles that spent winter in your wall voids are waking up and wandering toward windows as the sun warms the siding. This is last October's arrivals stirring, not a new entry.