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TERMITES? GAIN THE UPPER HAND!
 Because termites work silently and for the most part inconspicuously, most people don’t realize how much damage they do to our homes and other buildings. In a typical year, termite damage cost much more than all the earthquakes, floods, hurricanes, and tornadoes combined! Obviously, taking the following four basic steps to help prevent this damage can save you a lot of money and heartache.
Eliminate excess moisture. Repair leaking pipes and roofs, slope soil away from your home, and trim shrubbery-blocking vents. Repair gutters and downspouts, and direct the downspout water and any other water away from your home. Make sure sprinklers aren’t set to aim water against the house, and if there are moisture loving plants near the foundation, move them further out so that you don’t need to water heavily near the foundation.
Eliminate termite food. Remove old form boards, wood debris, and tree stumps. Store firewood and lumber off the ground, and make sure it isn’t touching a building.
Remove direct soil-to-wood contacts, such as wooden post or wood siding that touches the soil. Check fence posts, too.
Have regular professional termite inspections. This is the most important step. Even if you do all the above, termites can still find their way to wood in your home. Our inspection will also locate decaying wood and other wood pest problems. If you have not had an inspection recently, call our office to arrange for one.
WEST NILE VIRUS IS BACK
The mosquito-borne West Nile Virus that last year killed seven people in New York, survived the winter and again is a concern. The virus was found early in the year in hibernating mosquitoes, and later in dead cows.
Crows are particularly susceptible (10,000 died last year from the virus), and or an important early warning sign. That means that the virus will likely cause problems a again later this summer, and could easily spread. It’s important in these areas that people drain-standing water were mosquitoes breed, and take steps to avoid being bitten by mosquitoes.
PROTECT PETS FROM POISONS
Follow these steps to help prevent poisoning of your own, and your neighbors, pets.
· Buy “safe” antifreeze that says it’s non-toxic for pets and wildlife, or clean up any spills immediately. Just one lick of regular antifreeze can kill a pet.
· Never feed your pets foods or medicines that can be harmful to them, like chocolate , onions, or aspirin.
· Keep all medicines, cleaners, insecticides, etc., in a closed cabinet where curious pets can’t get to them and tip them over.
· Use our professional pest management services to control pests rather than do-it –yourself control, so you don’t need to store insecticides in your home and garage. Also, studies show homeowners are much more likely to use an incorrect product, use one with higher toxicity than is needed, apply more than they need to, or improperly dispose of excess.
· Keep pets out of sprayed areas until the spray has dried.
· If you have pets that chomp on leaves, do not grow any poisonous plants in your home or yard. Let’s work to keep our own, and our neighbor’s pets safe and healthy!
THE MILLIPEDE
There was a millipede named Pete,
who thought he was pretty neat,
Until he walked into the street,
and a bus ran over his feet.
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ABOUT THOSE SPIDER BITES
People are glad to know that most spiders are completely harmless. In fact, only about 50 species of spiders are able to bite people, out of a total of about three thousand kinds of spiders in the United States. The vast majority of spiders cant penetrate our human skin with their small fangs. Nevertheless, spiders get blamed for an awful lot of bites, and often incorrectly. In a recent study, a researcher showed that in 80 percent of cases where a spider bite was suspected, the bite was actually caused by another pest, or was the symptoms of a disease. The true culprit was usually a flea, tick, bed bug, kissing bug, mite, bee, wasp, or biting fly. Spiders leave a very characteristic set of two tiny puncture marks, set close together. Insects leave a single puncture mark. However, the marks are impossible to see once the bite is inflamed.
The black widow causes the most painful bite. The bite can be, but rarely is, fatal to small children and elderly people, but it is never fatal when treated promptly by a physician. Bites from recluse spiders, including the brown recluse, are generally not fatal, but they can cause an open, festering wound which can take months to heal unless treated. The hobo spider, also called the aggressive house spider, has spread to areas in the Pacific Northwest, and causes an open wound similar to recluse spiders. Yellow sac spiders are very common biters, but their bite, as well as tarantula bites, is usually very minor.
Pest Prevention Tip of the Month
Be sure to daily pick up fruits and nuts that fall from trees. These attract yellow jackets and wasps during the day; at night, rats and mice feed on them. Dispose of these items in a garbage can with a tight lid, never throw them on top of an open compost pile.
LYME DISEASE NEWS
Scientists are beginning to understand why some areas are such “hotbeds” for Lyme disease. In the central and eastern United States, wherever white-footed mice thrive, the number of disease carrying ticks skyrockets. Unfortunately, Urban Development is constantly creating more areas where white-footed mice flourish. Although many small animals carry the disease bacteria , white-footed mice are much more apt to be infected., and tics feeding on these mice will almost certainly become infected themselves. Tics are born without the bacteria, but once they become infected, they can then transfer it to humans or our pets. White-footed mice thrive in areas where forests have been fragmented by clearing for farm fields, homes, and other urban development. They are less common in forests, probably because forests have more mouse predators such as Owls and Bobcats that limit their numbers. The more we encroach on forests, the more we create areas where Lyme disease is a major problem
BUG JOKES FOR CHILDREN (and everyone)
Q. What has 18 legs and catches flies?
A. A baseball team
Q. What kind of bugs do you find in church?
A. Praying mantis
Q. What has four wheels and flies?
A. A garbage truck
Q. What kind of insects are good in school?
A. Spelling bees.
TRIVIA
Challenge yourself & friends with these!
How many mosquito bites would it take to drain all the blood from your body?
It would take 1,120,000 mosquito bites to drain the blood from an average size adult.
What insects can complete a generation in the shortest amount of time?
Surprisingly, aphids. Under perfect conditions, one species can go from its own birth to giving birth to another aphid in as little as 4.7 days!
How many young cockroaches emerge from each cockroach egg case?
From 14 to 48, depending on the species of cockroach.
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