Focus on the Home: Pest Management Leader s Guide Objectives As a result of this program, participants will: Develop a greater understanding of insect pests that may affect the home (e.g., bed bugs, ants, termites, pantry infestation pests, and spiders) and basic pest management practices to eliminate and prevent pest problems. Evaluate and make changes in their home to eliminate and prevent pest problems. Introduction Kentucky is home to many species of insects and spiders. Luckily, most of Kentucky s creepy crawlies are not harmful to people or to our property, and there is little need to worry about them. However, there are a small number that can damage our homes, eat our food, or even deliver dangerous bites or stings. Teaching Points: Please note: This lesson focuses on indoor insect and spider pests. For information about mammals (rodents, raccoons, or bats for instance), birds, snakes, or other creatures that may infest homes, contact your local County Extension office. Teaching points about several insect and spider pests are provided below. You may want to present on each of the insect and spider pests or you may only want to focus on one or two of the pests. This will largely depend on the time you have available to present the information and your comfort level in presenting the various pests information. If you have any questions feel free to contact your local county Extension agent or Ashley Osborne, Extension Associate, at 859 257 2505 or ashley.osborne@uky.edu. Introduction to lesson: Kentucky is home to many species of insects and spiders. Most of Kentucky s insects and spiders are not harmful and do not pose a threat to us or our property. A small number of insects and spiders found in Kentucky can damage our homes, eat our food, and even deliver dangerous bites and stings. This program is designed to help you tell the bad bugs from harmless ones, and show you a few basic steps that can help you detect indoor pest problems before they happen. If you need additional information about any of the pests discussed, contact your county Extension agents. Factsheets about each of the pests discussed are available. These factsheets provide additional tips on how to control each pest. Bed Bugs: Although bed bugs were practically eliminated from the United States in the 1940s and 50s, they are making a comeback. Populations are now common in Kentucky, especially in multi unit structures like hotels, apartment buildings, dormitories, and other buildings where lots of people come and go. Bed bug infestations are not related to economic conditions.
While bed bugs have not been implicated in the transmission of disease, infestations must be taken seriously. Bed bugs can cause painful bites and their presence can bring stress to a household. Bed bugs are small, reddish brown insects that emerge, mostly at night, to feed on human and animal blood. During the day, they hide in the seams of mattresses, behind headboards, between bed slats, and other locations where humans sleep. They are also sometimes found where people commonly sit and rest, like couches or armchairs. Homeowners can work to prevent bed bug infestations by taking care while traveling and when bringing new or used objects into their homes bed bugs infestations typically originate when an infested suitcase, clothing item, or piece of furniture is brought into the home. For detailed travel tips and other information and bed bug detection and prevention a factsheet titled Bed Bugs is available at your Cooperative Extension Service Office, and online at http://www.ca.uky.edu/entomology/entfacts/ef636.asp. Once bed bugs have established inside a home, control will only be effective with the help of a pest control professional. If you have bed bugs, contact a pest control professional to get the elimination process started. If you find bugs in a bedroom and are not sure if they are bed bugs, bring them to your county extension office for confirmation. Wood Destroying Pests: Several Kentucky insects can damage the wood in our homes. The subterranean termite has the best potential to cause major economic damage to a home, barn, or other wooden structure. Most termites live in Kentucky s forests. There, they perform a valuable service: turning dead trees back into soil. Generally, they avoid homes: they do not like to eat the bone dry wood that is used in homeconstruction. But when wood becomes wet from leaky faucets, leaky roofs, or flood damage termites will readily move indoors. Termites can be very difficult to detect. They do most of their damage underground and behind walls, and in other places that are hidden from view. Many times, a homeowner will not become aware of a termite infestation until they see swarmers. Swarmers are the winged stage of a termite. They leave the hive during spring to look for new nestingsites, and often enter the living spaces of homes as they move out and away from the hidden wood that they have been infesting. This doesn t mean that the termites are gone, though. It means that there are lots more, still hiding and feeding. The good news about termites is that they do their damage very slowly. If you see swarmers in your home, it is a good idea to take action, but it doesn t mean that your home is ruined. It can take termites five years or more to do serious structural damage. If you suspect that your home is infested with termites, call a pest control professional. Kentucky s other most important wood organisms are powderpost beetles and carpenter ants. Carpenter ants cause damage similar to termite damage, but they work more slowly and rarely cause major structural damage. Powderpost beetles are primarily pests of new homes and new furniture. Likewise, they rarely cause major damage, but it is a good idea for homeowners to be aware of them. Pantry Pests: Stored product or pantry pests include several beetles, moths, and mites that can infest whole grains or processed foods. Usually, the first sign of a problem is the appearance of small beetles crawling over counter tops, moths flying across rooms, or caterpillars crawling up walls or across ceilings. In general, the greater the number of insects seen, the older the infestation.
Often the initial source is partially used boxes or bags of products that have been forgotten in the backs of pantries and shelves. A thorough search is needed to locate all infested items. If they are not found in pantries or cupboards, then begin to look at such things as decorative items or bird seed. Disposal of all infested materials. Check all items in pantries or on shelves. Often beetles can be found beneath cans and other items. Thoroughly clean and vacuum the shelves, both upper and lower surfaces, and use a crevice attachment to clean cracks and crevices. After treatment, good sanitation and proper storage are keys to preventing future problems. Place products from cardboard, paper, or plastic containers into jars or other containers that can be sealed tightly. Decorative items such as Indian corn, dried flower arrangements, or bird feed may be treated with heat (155 F for about 20 minutes with the oven door propped open) or in a non self defrosting freezer at 0 F for 4 days. Afterwards, decorative items and pet foods that have been de infested can be kept and reused by the homeowner. Fabric Pests: Like pantry pests, there are several Kentucky insects that feed on dry organic fabrics. Clothes moths or carpet beetles will feed on wool sweaters, rugs, taxidermy, or even feathers. They are controlled in exactly the same way as pantry pests: a homeowner should find the infested item and either dispose of it or eliminate the infestation using cold or heat. Cockroaches: The occasional cockroach shows up in every home from time to time. These loners are usually wood cockroaches, and they are nothing to worry about. Large infestations of German or American cockroaches, however, can spread disease and even cause or exacerbate respiratory illnesses. Effective products are available to homeowners to combat roach infestations. If a homeowner sees multiple cockroaches in a kitchen, bathroom, basement, or any other indoor location, the first step is sanitation. Remove food sources (empty soda bottles, open food containers, piles of crumbs) and hiding places (cardboard boxes and piles of wood or paper). Next, eliminate the roaches using over the counter cockroach bait stations or pastes. These products are very effective, but must be placed where the roaches congregate read the product label for instructions. Boric acid may also be used, but it requires more care to be effective. If over the counter methods fail or are not desirable, or if a particularly large infestation occurs in a large or multi unit structure, a pest control professional may need to intervene. Fleas: In Kentucky, cat or dog owners are likely to encounter flea problems if preventive measures are not taken. Fleas are highly mobile, and will jump from pet to carpet to person, and then back again. Fleas are able to complete their life cycle indoors, breeding and making new fleas. Fleas are not able to spread diseases to humans in Kentucky, but their bites can be annoying, and can transmit dangerous diseases to pets. The best way to manage fleas is by using pet centered flea control. These are pills, liquid drops (often applied to the back of the pet s neck), or collars. All can be equally effective, but may work better for some pets than for others. 3
Because of Kentucky s mild climate, it is best to use these products all year round or at least from springfall. These treatments are typically also effective against ticks. Visit your veterinarian to find the best option. If a flea outbreak occurs before this approach is initiated, a homeowner should still seek a pet centered approach as a first step. Eventually, the flea population will die off. In the meantime, bites can be reduced by vacuuming any area where pets congregate, or by contacting a pest control professional. Ladybugs: In some parts of Kentucky, ladybugs are a common home invader. Ladybugs, also known as lady beetles and ladybird beetles, are small red or orange beetles, usually with black spots. Most of the time, ladybugs are beneficial to humans. They are predators that feed on many garden and crop pests, including aphids and caterpillars. In the fall they can become a pest when they are looking for a place to spend the winter. Sometimes, they will enter homes by the hundreds or even thousands. Once inside, they do not infest food or destroy belongings, but they can stain carpets and clothing and they produce a foul odor. They will also give occasional bites (the bites are harmless but annoying) and there is evidence that they may contribute to indoor allergies. Pesticides do not work very well to keep ladybugs out. The best defense is to seal cracks and crevices and to remove any ladybugs that get indoors, either by hand or by vacuum. Crickets: Common inhabitants of unfinished basements, garages, and other cool, humid indoor locations. Not harmful to humans. They do not infest food or damage possessions. Control is not necessary, and it is difficult to completely eliminate them from unfinished basements and similar locations without consulting a professional pest control service, but their numbers can be reduced by sealing cracks and crevices and by reducing moisture. Flies: While the houseflies and mosquitoes that occasionally wander indoors are beyond the control of a homeowner (other than keeping doors and screens closed, there isn t much you can do about houseflies and mosquitoes), there are a few other types of flies that are able to establish breeding populations indoors and which can be eliminated. Pomace flies, moth flies, and fungus gnats all breed in damp organic material and are very common inside homes. If you see lots of very small dark colored flies inside a home, it is probably one of those three types. They are all harmless to people, and they can all be controlled by finding and eliminating their breeding sites. Pomace flies, often called fruit flies, resemble small houseflies, and they often breed in ripe fruit that has been left in garbage cans or on countertops. Removing the fruit will quickly eliminate the problem. Moth flies, also called drain flies, resemble tiny moths. They often breed inside clumps of wet hair and other organic materials that are trapped inside drains. These can usually be eliminated with the same methods used by homeowners and plumbers to unclog drains. Fungus gnats are the smallest of the indoor flies. They resemble tiny black or gray mosquitoes, although they cannot bite people. Fungus gnats often breed in the damp soil of house plants. Silverfish: Silverfish are not really fish. They are insects. With their silvery scales and quick, fluid movements, they look less like bugs and more like marine dwellers.
They feed on some unusual items, such as wallpaper paste, book bindings, and other glue or starch like materials. They will also feed on dried foods (just like the pantry pests mentioned previously). Sometimes, they don t eat anything: a silverfish can survive without any food for months at a time. Silverfish are not harmful to humans, though, and they rarely cause significant damage to property, although they are sometimes a threat to antique books, historic wallpaper, carpet, tapestries, and other collectibles that are made of paper, glue, or other organic materials. In situations where those types of items are kept, it is best to consult a pest control professional. In most other cases, control is not necessary, and silverfish numbers can be reduced by following the general pest control guidelines (sanitation and moisture control, especially) presented at the end of this document. Spiders: Kentucky is home to hundreds of species of spiders. Wolf spiders, grass spiders, cellar spiders, and house spiders are among the types that are most commonly encountered in homes. None of these are dangerous. Only two species the black widow and the brown recluse can deliver a potentially dangerous bite. Both species are secretive and reclusive, and neither is commonly encountered in household living spaces. And although their bites are dangerous, the black widow and brown recluse probably don t cause many bites in Kentucky. Still, both species occur in our state, so it can be useful to know how to identify them. The black widow is very easy to identify. It is a medium sized spider with a large abdomen and glossy black coloration. No other common spider in our area shares this glossy black color like black metal or black automobile paint. Sometimes, red markings can be seen as well (especially on the spider s belly), but the glossy black color is the most important feature. Black widows are very common in Kentucky, but they are usually found outdoors. They are common in piles of rocks, piles of wood, or inside hollow spaces such as drain pipes or hollow trees. They are also sometimes found in dark, unheated buildings, like barns and abandoned doghouses. They are also occasionally found inside the dark corners of garages and homes. The bite of a black widow is very serious. The venom attacks the nervous system, and the victim experiences a variety of symptoms (pain, rigidity, difficulty breathing) almost immediately. Rarely, the bite is fatal. Victims should be taken to the hospital right away. Bites are very rare, though. Although black widows are common, they almost never leave their small webs (their webs are usually about the size of a grapefruit), and they cannot run or even crawl very well if they are outside of their web. They never roam the insides of homes or get into beds, and, unlike some types of orb weaver spider, they never build webs at face height. Bites typically occur when people accidently touch a black widow inside its web. If care is taken when picking up rocks or firewood, and when reaching into dark spaces, black widow bites are easy to avoid. Brown recluses are also associated with dark, hidden spaces, but they are otherwise very different from black widows. Unlike widows, recluses are very difficult to identify, even for experts. They look like many other brown spiders, like grass spiders and funnel weaver spiders. Brown recluses are medium sized brown spiders with long, dark brown legs and a tan abdomen. They have a distinctive fiddle shape on their heads, but the marking is difficult to see without a microscope. They are also distinguished by their eyes: most spiders have eight eyes, but recluses have only six. Again, this feature cannot be seen without a microscope. The bite of a brown recluse is also different from a black widow. Instead of a nerve toxin, recluse venom causes a variety of localized and systematic symptoms, the most notorious of which are large ulcerated wounds that sometimes develop a few days after the bite. Anecdotally, these wounds are sometimes categorized as flesh eating, but brown recluse wounds typically do not become very large unless accompanied by bacterial infection a condition which can complicate any scratch or cut, not just a brown recluse bite. In fact, recent scientific studies suggest that many of the wounds that are diagnosed as brown recluse bites are actually bacterial infections. A bacterial infection is suspected any time a person 5
does not remember being bitten by a spider. Brown recluses are more common in the western part of Kentucky, but they have been found in most counties. If you think you see a brown recluse in your home, take a moment to consider its behavior. Is it running across the kitchen floor during the daytime? If so, it is probably not a brown recluse, but a harmless wolf spider or grass spider. Brown recluses are truly reclusive, and tend to roam only at night, and even then tend to crawl next to walls or behind furniture, or inside wall voids, crawlspaces, attics, or other places that are seldom visited by humans. If you suspect brown recluses, contact a professional pest control company for confirmation. Or, you can buy a glue board (available at most farm supply stores) and place it in an area (preferably in a corner, right against the wall) where you have seen spiders. If spiders get trapped in the glue, bring the board to your county extension office for identification. If brown recluses or black widows are suspected, the best plan is to contact a local pest control professional. They can positively identify the spider and develop a control plan. Other types of spiders are much more common in homes, however. Wolf spiders, grass spiders, cellar spiders, and house spiders will make their way into almost every home in Kentucky every year. None of these spiders are dangerous, and control is not necessary. In fact, these spiders can help to eliminate other pests, such as cockroaches, ants, and flies. If control is desired, though, many spiders can be eliminated by sealing cracks, crevices, and other entry points into the home. Mesh can be installed over vents, for instance. A spider population can also be greatly reduced by vacuuming the webs: look for cellar spider and house spider webs in the upper corners of rooms. Centipedes and Millipedes: Centipedes and millipedes are not insects, but they are closely related to insects. Both centipedes and millipedes are long bodied with dozens of legs, and so they look very similar, but their behavior is very different. Centipedes are fast moving predators that feed on small insects, while millipedes are slow moving scavengers that feed on bits of dead plant material and other scraps. Both can be very common inside homes; neither is cause for concern. The centipede that is most commonly seen inside homes is the House Centipede. This strange looking creature has 14 pairs of very long legs and it is sometimes seen at night as it races across floors and walls in search of prey. Although their presence can be startling, they are harmless, and can actually help reduce the numbers of other pests, including roaches and ants. The small black millipedes that sometimes invade homes are usually seen in the fall and spring, and sometimes in large numbers. These creatures are simply looking for a place to spend the winter, and they are harmless, although they will sometimes scavenge for food in places that are close to the floor, like houseplants, spilled food, and even litter boxes. They do not harm people or pets, and they rarely cause significant damage to food or other possessions. General Indoor Pest Control Tips: Sanitation: Remove spilled foods and dispose of garbage quickly, and do not allow it to accumulate in indoor wastebaskets or in garages or other indoor spaces. Look for spilled food behind stoves, underneath refrigerators, and in other spaces inside kitchens. Do not allow clothing or paper products to pile up inside closets or garages. Vacuum carpets and upholstered furniture frequently, especially if there are indoor pets. Do not bring used clothing or furniture into homes unless they are cleaned thoroughly. Cracks and Crevices: Seal entry points into a home, including vents and cracks underneath doors. Many pest control companies will search out and seal cracks and crevices as a service. Doors and Windows: Make sure that the family knows to keep doors and windows closed. Screen covers work well to keep flying insects out, but only when they are undamaged and properly closed.
Water: Many pests thrive in wet conditions. Eliminate them by fixing leaky faucets and inspecting for underground waterline breaks or leaks inside walls or floorboards. Watch for water damaged wood in bathrooms and kitchens. Make sure that shingles, flashing, and other roof structures are undamaged and working properly. Do not allow piles of wet clothing or paper products to accumulate. Handouts for Participants: Insects and Spiders Inside the Home: Basic Pest Management Factsheet (one per participant) or ENT Fact Sheet for specific insect or spider pest you are presenting on Pest Patrol Activity Checklist (one per group see activity below) Pest Patrol Checklist (one per participant) Activity: Pest Patrol Activity This activity is designed to guide participants through a series of steps to reduce and eliminate home pests. Please note that a kitchen or kitchenette would be ideal to do this activity. However, if a kitchen or kitchenette is not available, you can stage several areas in your meeting room. A few suggestions to stage areas include having a trashcan that is overflowing with garbage and food waste, spill flour or other food item on the floor, have a pile of papers stacked up in one area, etc. Materials Needed: Pest Patrol Checklist (one per group) Pest Patrol Checklist (one per participant to take home) Pens/pencils Prior to the activity the instructor should: 1. Visit the kitchen, kitchenette, or staged area where the activity will be conducted. 2. Stage the area if necessary (such as placing a trashcan that is overflowing with garbage and food waste in the area, spill flour or other food item on the floor, have a pile of papers stacked up in one area, etc.). 3. Go through the Pest Patrol Checklist. Note your findings for each question in the Additional Notes and Plans section to refer back to. Activity Instructions: 1. Place participants in groups of 4 5. Give each group one copy of the Pest Patrol Checklist with a pen or pencil. 2. Instruct participants to work with their group to fill out the Pest Patrol Checklist. If the group answers YES to a question in column one, instruct the group to read the Take Action tip in the next column. In the Additional Notes or Plan column have the group write what they would do to correct the problem. If the group answers NO to a question place a checkmark in the appropriate space. If a question does not apply due to the current setting (such as a garage is not present) have groups mark NA in the Additional Notes or Plan section. 3. After each group has finished, come back together as one large group and go through the checklist with all participants. Discuss what each group found. Discuss any corrective measures that the groups noted. Did all the groups answer the questions the same? If not, discuss why. 7
4. Give each participant a copy of the Pest Patrol Checklist to take home. Tell participants that this checklist is the same as the checklist used in this activity. Encourage participants to go home and fill out the checklist. Focus on the Home: Pest Management Evaluation: 1. Give each participant an evaluation form to complete and turn in. 2. Give each participant an envelope. Have participants write their name and mailing address on the envelope. In 6 months, send a follow up evaluation (and self addressed envelope) to participants using the addressed envelope. Ask participants to complete the follow up evaluation and mail back to you. (Option: An online version of the follow up evaluation is available at https://uky.qualtrics.com/se/?sid=sv_1ufbvivjhd995o9. You can send this link to participants via email and ask them to complete online). This leader s guide was prepared by Blake Newton, 4 H/Youth Development Specialist, Department of Entomology, and Ashley Osborne, Environmental and Natural Resource Issues. February 2013. Blake Newton, M.S., 4 H/Youth Development Specialist Ashley Osborne, M.S., Extension Associate for Environmental and Natural Resource Issues