PEST FACTS I Sales reps who understand the basics of entomology will prove to gain trust with their potential customers and be looked upon as an expert in the industry. The more you know, the more you are trusted and ultimately that results in the more sales you make. Ants Ants can live almost anywhere. There are about 10,000 species of ants. Within each species there are usually many different types. Ants are social insects that live in colonies. Ant colonies include one or more queen, as well as workers, eggs, larvae, and pupae. The worker ants maintain their developed structures known as nests. Nests protect the ants against their enemies, offer some protection against weather, and are often placed close to water and food sources. Some ant species nest in the ground, often under concrete or slabs. Some species are found in wood, such as fence posts, dead logs, hollow trees, or within buildings. Ants cannot eat wood like termites can because they can't digest cellulose. The body structure of an ant is typical of almost all insects: six-legged, with a tough, outside skeleton, called the exoskeleton which encases its three separate body parts. It also has two multi-purpose antennae and unlike most other insects, ants have a waist, making them easier to identify. The ant s exoskeleton protects it from the weather, injury and water loss. Insects with external skeletons have great strength for their size which allows them to carry objects many times their weight. Bed Bugs The common bed bug is visible to the naked eye. Adult bed bugs are brown to reddish-brown, oval-shaped, flattened, and about 1/4 to 5/8 inch long. Their flat shape enables them to hide in cracks and crevices. After a blood meal, the body elongates and becomes swollen. Eggs are not known to be placed on the host's body but are found on surfaces near where the host sleeps or nests. Bed bugs have a beaklike piercing-sucking mouthpart system. Adults have small, stubby, nonfunctional wing pads. Newly hatched nymphs are nearly colorless, becoming brownish as they mature. Nymphs have the general appearance of adults. Eggs are white and about 1/32 inches long. Although the preferred host is human, bed bugs will feed on other animals, such as poultry, mice, rats, birds, dogs, and cats if necessary. They normally feed at night, but may feed in the daylight in rooms that are not used at night. The life cycle stages of a bed bug are egg, nymph, and adult.
The females lay about 200 eggs, usually at the rate of three or four a day, in cracks and crevices in the floor or bed. Females lay eggs after a blood meal. Eggs will hatch in one or two weeks into nymphs. Newly hatched nymphs begin feeding immediately. At room temperature, and with an available food supply, the nymph period will last 14 to 30 days. Bed bugs shed their skin five times before becoming adults. They will mate soon after becoming mature, so under favorable conditions, the time from egg hatching to egg producing will be four to nine weeks. Bed bugs are not usually considered to be disease carriers. They do suck blood from their host with piercing mouthparts but the bite is painless. The skin may become irritated or inflamed due to the salivary fluid injected by the bed bugs. A small, hard, swollen, white welt may develop at the site of each bite. Bed bugs do not live under the skin. If you experience biting sensations during the day, it may be an allergic condition. To prepare for treatment, a customer should: wash and dry all bedding at hot temperatures, remove all pillows and either dry-clean or replace them, inspect mattresses for brown or black spots, and vacuum to remove dust, lint, and other matter from the mattress, its cover and the box springs. After vacuuming, remove the vacuum bag, place it in a sealed plastic bag and discard it. Black Widow Spider Black widow spiders are venomous spiders. They are not usually deadly, especially to adults, because they inject only a small amount of venom. Despite its reputation, it often attempts to escape rather than bite, unless it s guarding an egg mass or if it is cornered and pressured. After mating, the female sometimes eats the male, earning the name "widow." The female black widow is the most easily recognized. She has a shiny black body which gives great contrast to the red hourglass marking on her round abdomen. Adult black widow males are harmless, about half the female's size, and usually have yellow and red bands with spots on their backs. The legs of the male are much longer in proportion to his body than that of the female. Black widow spider webs are usually built near the ground, (occasionally within dwellings) normally in trash, rubble piles, under or around houses and out-buildings such as sheds and garages. They can be found under eaves, in storage bins, underneath unused construction materials, inside wooden toy boxes, firewood boxes, outdoor toilets and sheds, meter boxes, and other undisturbed places. Black widow spiders can be found on the underside of ledges, rocks, plants and debris, or wherever else a web can be strung. Cold weather and drought may drive these spiders into buildings. The female black widow spider rarely leaves her web. The web she constructs is an irregular, tangled, crisscrossed web of rather coarse silk. This same web may be rebuilt or changed on an ongoing basis depending upon her needs. The female spider spends most of her daylight hours inside her web. She is often found hanging upside down. The female captures her victims with her silk, wrapping it around the prey. After the covering of silk, the prey is killed by an injection of venom. The prey might be eaten immediately or reserved for a later feeding.
Female black widows stay close to their egg mass, defensively biting anything that disturbs her or her egg sac. Egg sacs are oval, brown, papery and about ½ inch long. They hold from 25 to 750 or more eggs, which have an incubation period of 20 days. Newly hatched spiders are predominately white or yellowish-white, gradually acquiring more black and varying amounts of red and white with each molt. The female black widow stores sperm, producing more egg sacs without mating. Some female black widows live more than three years. If bitten by a black widow spider: You may not always feel the bite at first. The first sign of a bite is small, local swelling. There may be two small red spots in the center of the swelling. Clean the site of the bite with soap and water. Apply a cool compress over the bite and keep the affected limb elevated to heart level. Treatment in a medical facility may be necessary for children under five years old or for adults with severe symptoms. After three hours, the site of the bite becomes more painful. Common reactions include an overall ache of the body, in particular the legs. Other symptoms include alternating salivation and dry-mouth, paralysis of the diaphragm, profuse sweating and swollen eyelids. In severe cases, a headache, elevated blood pressure, nausea and perspiration could occur. The poison injected by the black widow can cause abdominal pain similar to appendicitis as well as pain to muscles or the soles of the feet. In most cases symptoms disappear in two or three days. Calcium gluconate is used intravenously to relieve muscle spasms produced by black widow venom. The victim of a black widow bite should go to the doctor immediately for treatment Box Elder Bugs Box elder bugs are common over much of the United States. Adults are about 1/2 inch long. They are bright red or black with narrow reddish lines on the back. Box elder bugs feed principally by sucking juices from the box elder tree, but are sometimes found on plants. They do very little damage to the trees they attack, but at certain times of the year they can become a nuisance. Box elder bugs develop by gradual metamorphosis, from egg, to nymph, then to adult. When box elder bugs build up to large populations and invade a home they are usually pests only by their presence, although their piercing-sucking mouthparts can sometimes puncture skin, causing slight irritation.
Adults will enter structures in the fall, seeking winter shelter. They seek shelter in protected places such as houses and other buildings, cracks or crevices in walls, doors, under windows and around foundations, particularly on south and west exposures. Box elder bugs can come out even during the dead of winter when it is cold outside and the sun is shining. They will then emerge in the spring to seek out host trees on which to feed and lay eggs. Brown Recluse Spider This spider prefers undisturbed places, so it typically lives in dark corners and also under furniture, boxes and books. It has a rather shy and nonaggressive behavior, although it will bite humans if it feels threatened. Its web is of a loose and irregular, yet very sticky thread. It is only built as a daytime retreat, and as an egg holder. These spiders can survive six months without food or water, hidden in its lair during daytime, roaming at night. The most identifiable mark on the brown recluse spider is the violin shaped pattern on top of its abdomen. Differing from most spiders, which have eight eyes, recluse spiders have six eyes arranged in pairs (dyads) with one median pair and two lateral pairs. About 50% of Hobo Spider bites are 'dry,' meaning that no venom is injected and nothing happens to the victim. In fact, often times the victim does not even realize that he has been bit. Typically, when venom is injected, the victim will experience an immediate redness which develops around the bite then begins to disappear within a few hours. Very often, for the first 24 hours, the bite appears to be no worse than that of a mosquito; then it begins to blister in the center. Within 24 to 36 hours the blister breaks open, leaving an open, oozing ulceration. This ulceration 'scabs' over within three weeks from the initial bite, leaving a permanent scar. If the bite is delivered in fatty tissue, the lesion may be very deep and extensive, not healing for over two or three years. In extreme cases where the bite is not taken care of early, skin graft, amputation, and the possibility of bone marrow failure may occur. Centipedes Centipedes usually live outside, but the house centipede can be found inside as well. Centipedes are usually brownish, flattened, and elongated insects having many body segments. They have one pair of legs attached to most of these body segments. Centipedes differ from millipedes in that millipedes have two pairs of legs on most segments and bodies which are not flattened. Centipedes are between one and six inches in length and the house centipede is between one and two inches long.
Centipedes usually live outdoors in damp areas such as under leaves, stones, boards, tree bark, or in mulch around outdoor plantings. If they are around the foundation of the house, they may wander inside. Larger centipedes can bite that may cause light swelling. Most centipedes are active at night. In the summer, they will lay 35 eggs or more in or on the soil. Newly hatched centipedes have four pairs of legs. During subsequent molts, the centipede progressively increases the number of legs until becoming an adult. Adults of many species live a year and some as long as five to six years. Clothes Moths The most prevalent fabric destroying insects in the United States include two clothes moths: webbing clothes moths and the case making clothes moths. After damage to fabric is discovered, it may take some detective work to determine the culprit. The insect pest is usually no longer present when the damage is found. To properly determine the pest, an investigator should make notes of the following clues: Look for live or dead insects. Live insects may be hard to find because these pests avoid the light, hiding in the folds of the fabric or in the cracks and crevices of closets. Look for cast skins, insect fragments and products. Cast skins of larvae are often found with damaged fabric or fur. Clothes moths will often leave silken webbing, cases or pupae in the damaged fabrics. Type of fabric. Carpet beetles and clothes moths can digest keratin, a component of animal hair, which includes wool, fur and feathers. Fabric made of wool blends or silk may also be damaged. Cockroaches Roaches are very adaptable insects, surviving where other insects would be extinct. Because of their adaptable natures they are one of the more difficult pests to control. Roaches are a health hazard, carrying bacteria on their bodies that are transmitted to humans. The main diseases transmitted are different forms of gastroenteritis including food poisoning, dysentery, and diarrhea. There are several species of cockroaches located all over the United States. Crickets Like cockroaches, crickets have a gradual metamorphosis. The young, or nymphs, look like adults, except their wings are not developed fully. The two most common types of crickets found are the house cricket and the field cricket.
House crickets live outdoors, but will come inside in great numbers. Adults are 3/4-1 inch long and light yellowish-brown with three dark bands on the head. They will eat almost anything and will chew on damaged silk and woolens. House crickets are nocturnal, staying hidden during the day. They have a distinctive chirping sound. House crickets can be found in warm places like kitchens, basements, in cracks and crevices and behind baseboards. Field crickets are widely distributed over the United States. This cricket is slightly longer than the house cricket and is dark brown to grey or black. Field crickets prefer to live outside, feeding on plants, but will come inside if food sources dry up or there or unfavorable extremes in temperatures. Field crickets are often attracted to lighted areas at night, thus, problems with crickets can be lessened by turning off lights during periods when crickets are numerous, or at least manipulating lights so the crickets are less bothersome. Earwigs Earwigs are easily recognizable by their pincers (forceps harmless to humans) at the ends of their abdomen. They are dark reddish-brown, with light brown legs, and are about 5/8 inch long. In a season, females reproduce up to 20-60 eggs laid in burrows (called chambers), about two to three inches beneath the soil. Most species have one generation a year, over-wintering in the soil. Both adults and the young require moisture to live. Earwigs are primarily nocturnal, feeding at night. They are scavengers, eating primarily dead insects and decomposing plant materials. Some earwig species are attracted to lights. During the day, earwigs will seek shelter under organic matter such as mulch, pine straw, leaf litter, and other debris. They prefer dark and damp areas like under sidewalks and stones. Earwigs can eat plants and do damage to field crops. They are found in homes and can get in through entry points like doors and windows, and by going up the foundation. Their populations build up around foundations. Earwigs produce large populations rather quickly and are often a major problem in new subdivisions. Earwigs live in habitats also harboring centipedes, sow bugs (pill bugs), and millipedes. Removing earwig habitats is very important to control all insects.