Port Jervis
Railroad-era frame houses near two rivers. Mice in old cellars, rats near the water and bats in the attics.
Port Jervis · Deerpark · Greenville
Port Jervis and Upper Delaware Pest Control
Out where New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania meet, the Delaware and the Neversink carve through steep, wooded country. Old railroad homes, river lots and mountain cabins each bring their own pests. Call and reach a local exterminator who works this corner every week.
- Bats & wildlife
- Mice in older homes
- Snakes on rocky ground
Two rivers, three states and a lot of woods
Port Jervis sits on a point of land where the Neversink River runs into the Delaware, and a short walk from downtown is the Tri-States Monument marking where New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania come together. The city, home to about 8,800 people at the 2020 Census, grew up first on the Delaware and Hudson Canal and then as an Erie Railroad town. A lot of its housing dates from those years: two-story frame houses on tight lots, many with stone or brick foundations and cellars that have seen their share of high water.
Around the city, the Town of Deerpark (roughly 7,500 people) follows the Neversink valley north through Huguenot, Cuddebackville and Westbrookville, and the Delaware upstream through Sparrowbush toward the cliffs along Route 97. To the east, the Town of Greenville, about 4,700 residents, sits on higher ground along the New Jersey line with no villages at all, just small clusters of homes along US 6 and the back roads near I-84.
This is the most heavily forested and most river-shaped part of Orange County. That combination puts it at the top of the county for bat calls, raccoons, squirrels and snakes, while the older city housing keeps mouse control and rat work steady all year.
Upper Delaware communities
Seven places from the Tri-States corner up to the Sullivan County line.
Deerpark
Mostly woods and river valley. Raccoons, squirrels and carpenter ants in homes surrounded by forest.
Huguenot
Homes along Route 209 on the way up the Neversink valley. Mice in fall and bats in older attics.
Cuddebackville
Old canal hamlet on the Neversink. Damp ground means moisture pests, plus wildlife from the river corridor.
Sparrowbush
Riverside and hillside homes near the Route 97 cliffs. Snakes on rocky ground and bats feeding over the water.
Westbrookville
Wooded lots near the Sullivan County line. Cabins and year-round homes see mice, flying squirrels and raccoons.
Greenville
A rural town with no villages, just homes, farms and woods along US 6. Field mice, skunks and woodchucks lead.
Bat in the house tonight in Port Jervis or Deerpark?
Close the door to that room and call. Many local wildlife operators answer evenings, and urgent bat calls are often seen quickly.
27 pest calls from the Port Jervis & Delaware Valley area today. Most recent: 16 minutes ago.
The Upper Delaware at a glance
- Municipalities
- City of Port Jervis, Towns of Deerpark and Greenville
- Rivers
- Delaware, Neversink and the old D&H Canal route
- Major roads
- I-84, US 6, Route 97, Route 209
- Landmarks
- Tri-States Monument, Hawk's Nest on Route 97, D&H Canal Park in Cuddebackville
- Housing
- Late-1800s city homes, river cottages, mountain cabins, rural ranches
- Pests that stand out
- Bats, snakes, raccoons, moisture pests, mice
What river living does to a house
The Delaware has flooded Port Jervis many times, including a run of serious floods in the mid-2000s. Even homes that stay dry deal with high water tables and damp basements in spring. Damp wood and wet soil are an invitation to subterranean termites, carpenter ants, silverfish, centipedes and camel crickets. After a flood or a long wet stretch, those calls go up noticeably.
The rivers also feed one of the best insect hatches in the region, and where there are insects there are bats. On summer evenings you can watch them work the water from the bridges and riverbanks. Big brown and little brown bats roost in attics, behind shutters and under loose trim on older homes close to the water, and Port Jervis has a lot of those.
Rats follow the river too. Norway rats nest along banks, under porches and around older commercial buildings, then move toward homes when food is easy to find. In the city, rat control usually means finding burrows along the foundation and fence lines and closing the gaps around pipes.
If you meet a snake near the ledges at Hawk's Nest or Sparrowbush
The rocky cliffs and ridges of the Upper Delaware are timber rattlesnake country, along with plenty of harmless species.
Back away and keep watch
Give it plenty of room and keep kids and dogs away. Note where it goes, especially if it heads under a porch, into a woodpile or through a foundation gap.
Do not try to kill it
Timber rattlesnakes are a threatened species in New York and protected by law. Most snakes people find around houses are not venomous anyway, and they eat a lot of mice.
Call a licensed operator
A DEC-licensed wildlife operator can identify the snake, move it legally if it needs moving and show you what attracted it.
How the year runs along the Delaware
- March to April
Snowmelt and spring rain raise the rivers. Damp basements bring out centipedes and silverfish; raccoons look for den sites in chimneys.
- May
Termite swarms in older city homes. Snakes come out of winter dens on the ledges and begin moving.
- June to mid-August
Bats are raising young in attics, so exclusion has to wait. River towns see the most bat activity of the year.
- Late August to October
Bat exclusion season. Squirrels and flying squirrels start testing rooflines on cabins and wooded homes.
- November to February
Mice move into cellars and walls. Cabins and second homes closed for the winter take the worst of it.
Black bears are a DEC matter, not a pest company job
Bears are common in the woods around Deerpark and Greenville, and they will raid trash cans, grills and bird feeders. Private pest and wildlife companies cannot trap or move them. Keep garbage in a secure building until pickup and take feeders down when bears are active. For a bear that will not leave, contact the DEC regional wildlife office.
Pest control near me, at the corner of three states
Search "exterminator near me" from Port Jervis and you will see companies from Milford, Matamoras and Sussex County alongside New York names. Living on the state line means you have options. It also means the company that shows up should be licensed in New York, because pesticide and wildlife rules differ from state to state.
Call us with your town or hamlet and what is going on. A bat removal near me search in Sparrowbush, a mouse problem in a Port Jervis cellar or raccoons in a Westbrookville cabin, we will connect you with an independent provider who covers the Upper Delaware and holds the right New York licenses.
For the towns just east of here, see Middletown and Mount Hope, and to the southeast, the Warwick Valley.
Port Jervis and Deerpark pest questions
Should I hire a Pennsylvania or New Jersey company since they are so close?
You can, as long as they are licensed in New York. Applying pesticides for hire in New York requires DEC certification, and removing wildlife for a fee requires a New York Nuisance Wildlife Control Operator license. A company licensed only across the river cannot legally do that work on your New York property.
Why are there so many bats around Port Jervis?
The Delaware and Neversink produce huge numbers of flying insects, and bats feed over the water every summer night. Older homes close to the river have the attic gaps and loose trim bats like for roosting. Exclusion with one-way devices is done once the pups can fly, from about mid-August on.
Our cabin near Westbrookville is closed all winter. How do we keep mice out?
Seal it before you leave: screen crawlspace vents, close gaps around plumbing and wiring, add door sweeps and remove anything edible. Many providers will set monitored stations and check the cabin during the winter.
We had water in the basement after a storm. Do we need a pest inspection?
It is a good idea, especially in an older Port Jervis home. Soaked wood near the sill is attractive to termites and carpenter ants, and a wet basement draws centipedes and silverfish. A technician can check for activity and point out where moisture needs to be fixed.
ZIP codes in Port Jervis, Deerpark and Greenville
- 10940
- 12729
- 12746
- 12771
- 12780
- 12785
Greenville has no post office of its own, so its addresses use Port Jervis (12771) or Middletown (10940).
Services available in the Upper Delaware
Where the rivers meet, local help is a call away.
Bats, mice, snakes or water-loving bugs, talk to someone who works Port Jervis and Deerpark.