Bug Cleaners nests and Sniffers guide
Nests only die to the pesticide sprayer. Find the easy ones by eye, then feed the cat (food icon above her head), pick her up, press use and walk her through every room — she hisses when a nest is close.
Nests are the real objective in Bug Cleaners. Kill a hundred roaches and the house is still infested; destroy the nests and the job is actually over. They only die to the pesticide sprayer, and the last two or three are usually hiding somewhere you have already walked past — which is exactly what the cat is for.
How the cat works
Sniffers is not passive. She has three states that matter:
- Hungry. When the food icon shows above her head, she will not let you pick her up. Feed her first.
- Carried. Pick her up like any other item (she takes one inventory slot) and walk her through the house.
- Working. Use her with a left click and keep walking. She hisses when a nest is close, and the hiss is directional enough to narrow down the room.
One quirk players noticed in the demo house: she does not sniff out nests inside containers you have not opened yet, so an unopened cabinet can hide a nest even with the cat in hand. Open things first, then sweep with her.
Where nests actually hide
Player reports from the demo house, in rough order of how often they were missed:
| Spot | Why it gets missed |
|---|---|
| Porch roof | You need the trampoline at the side of the house to jump up there |
| Back of the yard, by the fence | Blends in with the trash bags until you are right on top of it |
| Garbage bins at the side of the house | Easy to skip if you never walk the outside wall |
| Garage, very back of the yard | The last place people look in a house-focused sweep |
| Bathtub | The cat only detects it while you are standing in the tub |
| Cabinets and wardrobes | Needs the container opened before the cat reacts |
| Plants and pots | One pot was famously invisible for several players, right of the open garage door |
The demo house held 25 nests in total, which is why so many players ended runs at "two nests to go". Expect different counts per map now that the game has five of them at launch, but the hiding logic — containers, outdoors, rooftops, bathrooms — carries over.
When the cat cannot find the last one
The reliable recovery routine when you are stuck one or two nests short:
- Press H and look at what the game highlights. If a task object lights up, go there — sometimes the missing nest is tied to a task you have not started.
- Walk the outside of the property, fence line first, then bins, then garage.
- Check every openable container in rooms you "finished" hours ago.
- Take the trampoline to the roof if the map has one.
- Stand inside the bathtub and use the cat there — players have reported nests that only register while standing in it.
If the cat has genuinely stopped reacting anywhere, that was a real bug through the demo period: the disappearing-cat issue was fixed with a new system in the September demo update, and the J key resets a missing cat back to the truck in the current build.
FAQ
How many nests are in Bug Cleaners?
The demo house held 25. Launch maps vary in size, and the count is per job — there is no single global number, so treat the HUD objective list as the authoritative count for the map you are on.
Why does the cat not find some nests?
She does not detect nests inside containers that are still closed, and a handful of demo-era nests only registered when you stood in a specific spot (the bathtub was the famous one). Open everything first, then sweep with her.
Is the cat the only way to find nests?
No. Many nests are visible if you look properly — glowing patches, insect movement and dirty marks give them away. The cat is the safety net for the ones that are invisible or inside furniture.
What happens if the cat disappears?
In the demo this was a known bug that could soft-lock a run; the September update replaced the system that caused it. On the current build, press the J key to reset tools (and the cat) back to the truck if she vanishes anyway.
