Hear from Our Customers
You stop thinking about it. That’s the real outcome. No more checking the basement every time you hear something. No more keeping the kids inside because the backyard is swarming. No more waking up wondering if that bite came from something in your mattress. When pest control is done right, you just get your home back — and in Fenton, that matters more than most places.
Living near Lake Fenton or Silver Lake is one of the better things about being in this part of Michigan. But that same water that makes summer worth it also creates one of the most persistent mosquito environments in the region. Fenton Charter Township even runs its own municipal mosquito control program — that’s not a coincidence. It’s an acknowledgment that the pressure here is real. Our mosquito program handles that, and when it also covers fleas and ticks at no extra charge, families near Seven Lakes State Park and the wooded corridors along the Shiawassee River get real protection — not just a partial fix.
Rodent season hits differently here too. When October comes and temperatures drop, mice start pressing into homes along the river corridor and throughout the older neighborhoods near downtown Fenton. Getting ahead of that — before they’re in your walls — is the kind of outcome that saves you a lot more than money. It saves you the headache of dealing with it mid-winter when it’s already out of hand.
We founded First Choice Pest Control on May 31, 2005 — which means 2025 marks twenty years of showing up for homeowners across Genesee County and the surrounding area. We’re a family-owned, owner-operated business based out of Swartz Creek, close enough to Fenton that the seasonal pest patterns here aren’t a mystery. Roger has 26 years of hands-on experience in this industry, and that experience lives in the details — knowing that a lakefront property off Lake Fenton in July has a completely different pest situation than a historic home near LeRoy Street in October.
What sets us apart isn’t a slogan. It’s the fact that you get the same technician every time — someone who knows your property, your family, and your history with whatever pest you’re dealing with. No rotating strangers. No part-time college students filling a summer schedule. Career professionals only, every visit. We hold MDARD Pesticide Application Business License #250081, have earned awards with Angie’s List and HomeAdvisor, and carry IPM training that ensures treatments are applied the right way — using the least-toxic effective methods available.
It starts with a real assessment of your property — not a generic checklist, but an actual look at what’s happening, where it’s coming from, and what’s driving it. In Fenton, that means paying attention to things like proximity to the lake, mature tree coverage in the yard, the age of your home’s foundation, and whether you’re near a wooded area that connects to Seven Lakes State Park or the Shiawassee River corridor. Those details change the approach, and they should.
From there, we build a pest control program around your specific situation. If mosquitoes are the issue, our program includes flea and tick treatment at no additional charge — because in this area, those three pests tend to travel together. If it’s rodents, the focus shifts to entry point identification and exclusion work before any treatment is applied, so you’re not just chasing the symptom. If it’s ants, carpenter ants, wasps, or bed bugs, the method adjusts accordingly. There’s no one-size-fits-all plan handed to every Fenton homeowner.
Once treatment is underway, you keep the same technician. That’s not a small thing. It means the person returning to your home next season already knows your property, already knows what was done, and can spot changes before they become problems. Michigan’s pest cycles are predictable — and a technician who’s been to your home before is far more equipped to stay ahead of them than someone starting from scratch every visit.
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We handle the full range of what Fenton homeowners and businesses actually deal with: mosquitoes, mice, rats, ants, carpenter ants, wasps, hornets, spiders, fleas, ticks, bed bugs, and nuisance wildlife. We serve residential and commercial customers — whether you’re a homeowner near Silver Lake, a business on the LeRoy Street commercial corridor, or a property manager at a newer development like Silver Lake Hills dealing with a bed bug concern in a unit.
Our canine bed bug detection service deserves a specific mention. We’re one of fewer than 100 companies in the entire United States offering certified K-9 bed bug detection. Dogs trained for this work find single bugs and eggs in wall voids, electrical outlets, and furniture that human inspection routinely misses. For Fenton residents who commute regularly to Flint, Detroit, or Ann Arbor — or who’ve recently moved — this level of detection accuracy matters. It’s the most precise bed bug identification method available, and it’s available right here.
Every service is backed by our workmanship guarantee, and we’ll match any reasonable competitor’s rate. We offer discounts for seniors, veterans, and first responders — a straightforward acknowledgment of the people in this community who’ve given the most. All work is performed under MDARD Pesticide Application Business License #250081, fully compliant with Michigan state pesticide application law.
Fenton’s geography is the main driver. With Lake Fenton and Silver Lake both sitting within city limits — and roughly 58 more lakes within ten miles of downtown — there’s an unusually high concentration of standing water that creates ideal mosquito breeding conditions from late spring through early fall. The Shiawassee River corridor adds to that, providing moving water habitat that supports additional mosquito populations along the edges of residential neighborhoods.
This is why Fenton Charter Township funds its own municipal mosquito abatement program through Advanced Pest Management. Even with that township-level effort in place, it doesn’t cover your yard specifically — it’s a broader area treatment. Our private mosquito control program targets your property directly, treating breeding sites, resting areas, and active zones around your home. For families who use their yards regularly through Michigan’s short warm season, the difference between a treated yard and an untreated one near the lake is significant.
Yes — flea and tick treatment is included in every mosquito program at no extra charge. That’s not a standard offer in this industry, and it matters specifically for Fenton-area homeowners. Seven Lakes State Park, located just a short drive from the city, specifically warns visitors about prevalent ticks in the area. If your yard backs up to wooded land, borders a natural corridor, or your family spends time near the park, tick exposure is a real concern — not a hypothetical one.
Our mosquito program targets active breeding and resting areas on your property. Flea treatment addresses ground-level harborage zones, and tick treatment covers the vegetation edges and wooded borders where ticks typically wait for a host. All three are handled in the same service visit, so you’re not scheduling three separate appointments or paying three separate fees. For families with kids and pets who use the yard regularly, this is one of the more practical things you can do heading into summer.
The most common signs are droppings along baseboards or in cabinet corners, gnaw marks on food packaging or structural material, and scratching sounds in walls or ceilings — usually at night. You might also notice a faint musky odor in areas where mice have been active for a while. If you’re seeing any of these, there’s almost certainly more going on than what’s visible. Mice don’t travel alone, and by the time you spot evidence, they’ve usually been present for longer than most people realize.
In Fenton, the fall window — September through November — is when rodent pressure peaks. As temperatures drop, mice move toward warmth, and homes along the Shiawassee River corridor or in older neighborhoods near downtown tend to see it earlier and more aggressively due to the age of the housing stock and the proximity to natural habitat. Calling at the first sign of activity is almost always the right call — and getting entry points identified and sealed before winter sets in is the most effective long-term approach.
This is one of the most common questions, and it’s a fair one — especially in a community like Fenton where the average household has children and pets sharing the same spaces being treated. We use Integrated Pest Management (IPM) methods, which means treatments are applied using the least-toxic effective products available, only where they’re actually needed, and in concentrations appropriate for the target pest. It’s a science-based approach that’s been the professional standard for responsible pest management for decades.
After treatment, our technician will give you clear guidance on re-entry times — how long to keep kids and pets out of treated areas before it’s safe to return. These aren’t vague instructions; they’re specific to what was applied and where. IPM-trained application also means you’re not getting a blanket chemical spray across every surface in your home. Products are targeted, placed strategically, and chosen with the full household in mind. If you have specific concerns about a product being used — a child with sensitivities, a pet with a health condition — that’s a conversation worth having before the visit, and we’re set up to have it.
A standard visual inspection relies on a technician looking for signs of bed bugs — live bugs, shed skins, fecal staining — in areas that are accessible and visible. The problem is that bed bugs are small, flat, and very good at hiding in places that don’t get looked at: inside wall voids, behind electrical outlets, deep inside furniture joints, under carpet edges. A human inspector can miss an early-stage infestation entirely, especially if it hasn’t spread to visible areas yet.
Trained detection dogs work differently. They’re certified to identify the specific scent of live bed bugs and viable eggs, which means they can locate a single bug or a small cluster in a wall void or inside a piece of furniture that would pass a visual inspection completely. We’re one of fewer than 100 companies in the United States offering this certified canine detection service. For Fenton residents who’ve recently moved, traveled frequently for work, or purchased secondhand furniture — all common bed bug introduction scenarios — this level of accuracy is the difference between catching a problem early and dealing with a full infestation months later.
Yes — we offer discounts for seniors, veterans, and first responders. Fenton is a community with a strong sense of local identity and a real population of people who’ve served — whether in the military, in emergency response, or simply as long-time residents on a fixed income managing a home they’ve owned for decades. These discounts exist because pest control is a necessary home service, not a luxury, and the people who’ve contributed the most to communities like this one shouldn’t have to choose between getting the job done and staying within budget.
If you’re not sure whether you qualify, just ask when you call. The process is straightforward — no complicated verification hoops or fine print that makes the discount harder to use than it’s worth. We also offer price matching for reasonable competitor rates, so if you’ve gotten a quote from another licensed exterminator near Fenton, MI and it’s lower, bring it up. The goal is to make sure cost isn’t the reason someone puts off dealing with a pest problem that’s only going to get worse the longer it sits.
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