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It's The Season For Bug Bites & Stings WFAA Let's start with some common spring and summer insects. Most spider bites do not actually penetrate the skin, and the majority of spiders found in the US are mostly harmless with the important exception of the black widow spider and the brown recluse … and more »

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INDIAN insects could be the answer to controlling one of North Queensland’s worst weed problems – prickly acacia.

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QUESTION:

I have a customer who feels something “biting”, but describes it as a burning sensation, and trapping produces nothing. The doctors cannot find a cause and there are no BITE marks. Who can you refer the customer to for help. We will not spray the property because there is no visible sign of an insect population.

ANSWER:

First of all, bless your heart for being on the right track here. Far too often I receive these kinds of scenarios where the technician has already fogged the place and sprayed several times, but still the customer complains that the “biting” continues. This is the wrong path to take, and can only get that technician into deep doo-doo. Even if there truly is a biting pest present, without knowing exactly what it is you would not be able to go about a control effort in the most effective way. Generally spraying pesticides around is not likely to get to the source of many possible pest problems. You might continue to try the monitoring and trapping program until you are reasonably certain no arthropod pest is present in this home that could account for the sensations this person is experiencing, and hopefully your negative results will also convince the customer that bugs are not the cause.

This is the tough part – convincing the customer, who may already have his mind set that bugs are the cause, and YOU simply cannot see them or capture them. Another issue here is that even if this person showed you marks on their skin that they claim came from bites of some bug, there really is no way either you or the doctors could look at them and definitively say that they are bug bites, much less determine what KIND of bug is causing them based just on the bite marks. There are dozens of other possible causes of skin conditions – bumps, rashes, necrotic sores – that are not related to arthropods, and any of these might be occurring. Unfortunately for the customer, but fortunately for you, YOU are not in the position to try to determine what is causing the sensations other than for arthropods, and a dermatologist is probably the best next resource for this person to consult with.

Just why people focus on “a bite” as the reason they are feeling these things is hard to say. Maybe a friend or co-worker planted the suggestion, or the internet – you know, that vast library of factoids and misinformation – could have been the resource consulted. Even doctors appear inclined to take a stab at it when they are stumped by suggesting that maybe there are rat mites or spiders or fleas in the home, and no one questions a medical expert. There is ample evidence that people who use cocaine and meth will experience the sensation of bugs crawling on their skin or burrowing into them, but please don’t tell this person that is must be a crack head. That won’t get you any points.

Suggest the dermatologist, and if you feel there is a reason to do so, continue the monitoring program with glue traps. Make sure you examine the glue under good magnification, because some biting mites can be pretty small, and might be overlooked without magnification. And, please do avoid any applications of any pesticides if you have not confirmed a reason to use them. Some PMP’s will tell me how they sprayed just plain old water (the customer thought they were spraying insecticide) and the biting sensations went away. I personally think this is probably either illegal or unethical to do, as we are not supposed to be psychologists either.

View past Ask Mr. Pest Control questions.

Not all mites are bad, although it is easy to think they must be, given the many kinds that feed on your plants or on your blood and skin. But, this large group of arthropods has an equally diverse number of life styles, including some common and noticeable kinds that prey on other mites.

Many insects are parasites of humans and animals, often feeding on our blood. Springtails are not one of these, and yet many internet sites will talk about “Collembola Mites” as a newly discovered human parasite. Read the facts about these harmless, beneficial insects. There are plenty of true parasites available. We don’t have to fabricate new ones.

The resurgence of an old enemy — The Common Bed Bug — is now a well known fact in North America, and with the reoccurrence of this pest comes an onslaught of false information about it. Learn the truth about some of these myths in this BugInfo article.

“Doodlebug” — now there is a wonderful word, and you may even have heard it before, but really did not know what it refers to. You likely have also seen evidence of these curious little creatures, but again did not recognize that evidence for what it is. We are going to change all of that in this article.

Pesticides can be extremely useful materials for ridding your home or landscape of unwanted, unhealthy, or even dangerous pest insects, weeds, and rodents. Should you choose to use these products yourself it is important to understand some safety guidelines. Using pesticides properly will help keep them from causing harm to you, your pets, or the environment around you.

The internet and retail store shelves may offer “non-toxic” and “safe” chemicals for controlling pests. Is there any such thing as a non-toxic pesticide. For your own safety learn more about this issue in this article.

FREMONT, Calif. (AP) — Park rangers in Fremont are trying to control a spring pest — Canadian geese. The Contra Costa Times says rangers in the East Bay Regional Park District are using a form of birth control by dipping clutches of eggs in corn oil to …

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