Infested

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Infested is a live-action documentary series that airs on Animal Planet. It premiered in 2011 and the second season has just started earlier this year.

Each episode focuses on three different families as the share their horror stories about different infestations from various pest species (often insects and rodents, but bats have also been featured and one episode featured an infestation of snakes).


Tropes used in Infested include:


  • Bat Out of Hell: Two episodes have featured brown bats. Unlike most other species of pest animal, brown bats are endangered (due to a disease known as "White Nose Syndrome" which has severely decimated the population) and cannot be killed due to being protected by law.
  • Bittersweet Ending: A few episodes end like this. On the one hand, the people involved ended up spending thousands of dollars on extreme exterminating techniques. On the other, at least they're finally free from their pest infestations.
  • Creepy Cockroaches: Several episodes have featured cockroaches. One episode in particular featured an episode in which the infestiation overwhelmed an entire apartment complex just because one guy refused to let them be exterminated (it went against his religious beliefs to kill anything).
  • Downer Ending: A few stories end like this. See You Can't Go Home Again below for details.
  • Earn Your Happy Ending: For a good number of people involved. They have to go through all sorts of trauma before they can start living a normal life.
  • Hope Spot: Happens often in each story. The first attempts at exterminating the pest in question seem to be working, only to have them return and in greater numbers.
  • It Got Worse: Every story falls under this. First it's the homeowners noticing an unsual smell or finding strange bites on them. Then they see one or two of the animal in question (or hear strange sounds the animal is making). Then they investigate and see just how many have infested their home. And, finally, they try to stop the infestation which seems unstoppable.
  • Jerkass: Several episodes have featured landlords or building managment that have either outright refused to help stop the infestations, or have blamed the people suffering for the infestation.
    • One episode in particular featured a family whose apartment was infested by cockroaches. Not only did the building managment refuse to help (even when shown evidence that the exterminators were unable to stop the increasing number of cockroaches invading their home), but they also threatened to evict the family just for leaving behind some spilled baby formula. And, to make matters worse, this was all in the same week that one member of the family's own father died. Talk about Kick the Dog.
  • Kill It with Fire: Well, not quite actual fire, but it seems like blasting the home with intense heat is the most effective way to get rid of bedbugs.
  • Manipulative Editing: This show goes out of its way to make the infesting species of the episode look like an unstoppable deadly force from Hell itself.
  • Once an Episode: Each episode has the family (gradually) discovering the infestation, trying to stop it, failing at first, and then either finding an effective way to stop it or having to move out of their home.
    • Stories featuring brown recluse spiders will almost always feature someone getting bitten.
    • Bedbug episodes often start with people getting mysterious itchy rashes on them and trying to figure out why.
    • Any episode featuring rats, bats, raccoons, or oppossums will begin with the family either hearing strange "scratching" noises or stating the house has a "weird musty" smell.
  • Rascally Raccoon: One episode featured an infestation of raccoons living in an attic.
  • Reptiles Are Abhorrent: Surprisingly subverted. While the infestation of garter snakes (to the point where the home was put up for market several times and had been dubbed "the Snake House") was shown to be very serious (due to the fact that snake droppings carry various diseases), the snakes themselves weren't portrayed as a threat to the family (while garter snakes are venomous, their venom isn't strong enough to cause serious harm to a human).
  • Scary Scorpions: At least a couple of episodes have featured scorpion infestations.
  • Small Reference Pools: While a few stories have focused on more unusual infestations such as snakes and cave crickets, most of the episodes feature animals people commonly recognize as pests (e.g. rats, cockroaches, bedbugs, etc.).
  • Spiders Are Scary: A few episodes have focused on brown recluse spiders. In all fairness, brown recluses are extremely dangerous.
  • The Swarm: One story featured a family being overwhelmed by a swarm of ants. We all know how annoying one or two ants crawling around the house can be. Now imagine thousands.
  • There Is No Kill Like Overkill: A good number of episodes end up with the homeowners having to take drastic and (often) expensive measures to stop the infestation.
    • A few episodes that have featured bedbugs required the families to pretty much roast them alive using blasts of intense heat.
    • An episode featuring an ant infestation involved the family having to pay thousands of dollars to have their home gutted and reinforced with concrete walls to keep the ants out.
    • Taken to the extreme with a tick infestation in one episode. Not only did the highly toxic and industrial grade insecticide used to kill the ticks end up destroying the family's photos, but it also ended up utterly damaging all their electronics to the point where they were useless.
  • Too Dumb to Live: A lot of the people on the show fall under this. Deadly brown recluse spiders crawling around your floors? Disease-carrying cockroaches invading your kitchen? Rabies-carrying raccoons scurrying about in your attic? Staying home with such dangers is a great idea!
    • One episode featured an exterminator who had to remove some birds to prevent bird mites (which feed on human blood as well as bird blood) from ivading the home. Said exterminator forgot to remove the birds' nest when he sealed up where the nest was standing to prevent other birds from nesting there. Guess what was still living in said nest and was still feeding on the family living in the house?
    • Many of the people in the show state that they refuse to leave because they don't want the rats/cockroaches/bats/spiders/etc. to "win". When the invading species has already begun invading everywhere and efforts to stop them have utterly failed, you've already lost.
  • Yank the Dog's Chain: Sometimes happens when a family thinks they've finally gotten rid of a pest, only to find out that the infestation has somehow gotten even worse.
  • You Can Panic Now: As stated above, the show goes out of its way to make it seem like infestations in general are unstoppable. In reality, severe infestations are rare and often can be treated pretty quickly and efficiently.
    • Bats in particular are subject to this. The show goes out of its way to remind people that bats carry diseases such as rabies. While rabid bats are dangerous, you're more likely to be bitten by a rabid dog or raccoon than you are by a bat (this is because bats are nocturnal and encounters with them are rare).
  • You Dirty Rat: Several episodes have featured rat infestations.
  • You Can't Go Home Again: In some cases, the homeowners end up moving out because the infestations are far too great and overwhelming for them to handle. To make matters worse, they often have lost so much money trying to get rid of said pest species that they end up having to live with relatives until they can afford to buy/rent a new home.
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