City inspectors found more than 800 flying insects in the produce areas of a Northwest Side grocery on Tuesday, and it was enough to order the store closed.
Pests in the NewsAugust 24, 2011
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QUESTION:
What are some outside ant bait stations that hold liquid ant bait as well as granular ant bait?
ANSWER:
This can be confusing, can’t it, with so many products coming and going in our industry. One of the largest stations that can be considered is the Multiplex from Syngenta, which is primarily considered a rodent station but which also has a compartment where you can place insect baits. This would be an awfully large station to dedicate to just ant baiting, but if rodent control also is being done then the insect option is there. Another fairly large one is the Pest Sentry PPS-20 from B&G, although this one may be getting harder to find and it also would be fairly large for only ant baiting.
For insect control only some options are the Ant Cafe from Innovative, Ants-no-More from Kness, and the PFT Inground from Rockwell. The Ant Cafe is just a little plastic capsule that would need to be secured to something such as a stem of a bush or a pipe, etc. However, it probably is by far the least expensive. Better might be the larger stations that can be buried in the soil (PFT Inground) or pushed into the soil as an above-ground station (Ants No More). These are reasonably priced and hold a lot of bait for continuous ant baiting needs.
Pest QuestionsAugust 24, 2011
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Dear Mary: Once each quarter, we have our house and property treated for pests by Terminix. The results have been excellent, and we no longer have the problem. Dear Gloria: The reason that pest control performed by a professional service like Terminix is …
Pests in the NewsAugust 23, 2011
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The beetles are attracted to the white bucket and will drown in the soapy water. As the summer progresses, you will see fewer of these insects. These beetles won’t harm the tree unless the tree is small and all the new leaves get devoured. Insect samples …
Pests in the NewsAugust 23, 2011
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 USA Today |
UW on alert for bed bugs as infestations rise
KOMO News A new report shows that pest control companies are getting triple the business – from schools, day cares and college dorms. But administrators at the University of Washington say they are keeping a sharp watch and are ready to take quick action if bed … Pest control association says bedbug infestations are on the uptickUSA Today Bedbug problem getting worse, survey saysBoston Globe Bed bugs: There's less sleeping tight as the scourge spreadsLos Angeles Times |
Pests in the NewsAugust 23, 2011
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China's 'Cat Army' Fights Rats
Voice of America Rodents and other pests have grown more numerous as a result of overgrazing and killing off natural predators like foxes. Some information for this report was provided by AP. Comments (1) Post Your Comment * Required Your Name (Optional) Your Country … Rounded-up stray cats unleashed on rodents in western ChinaWashington Post Stray cat 'army' battles west China rodent plagueSan Jose Mercury News |
Pests in the NewsAugust 23, 2011
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Mysterious insect bites on Lady's Mile
Cyprus Mail THE HEALTH Services are sending a team of experts to Lady's Mile beach in Limassol tomorrow in an effort to get to the bottom of the reported outbreak of phantom insect bites. … |
Pests in the NewsAugust 23, 2011
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Some insect problems more of a threat to trees than others
Grand Island Independent Squirrel damage can look similar to oak twig girdler insect damage. These insects have a two-year life cycle and symptoms generally occur every other year. The oak twig girdler is a small beetle that emerges from May to September. … |
Pests in the NewsAugust 23, 2011
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QUESTION:
I pride myself in being good at pest ID’s. Several days ago however, I was baffled by what appeared to be a hybrid bug/beetle creature crawling on the wall about 5 feet down UNDERWATER in my swimming pool. It has an oval-shaped back that looks like half an egg shell, maybe 1/2 inch long, and shiny, dark emerald green color with black spots. The closest thing in appearance would be a tick or cockroach, but my dogs do not have ticks, and I’ve never seen a tick with such a perfect shiny oval shape. After three days, it STILL is underwater, so unless it is sneaking out between 9-5 while I am at work, it seems to have no problem living underwater for long periods of time.
ANSWER:
Hi Tino. There is a nice variety of bugs that are happy to swim around in our pools for awhile, although generally after a few days of finding nothing to eat they will move on to more productive pastures. These insects normally live in nearby aquatic habitats, such as a local creek or lake or pond, but many of them can fly, and during the course of this excursion they may see a swimming pool and ……….well, water is water, and in they go. The group includes backswimmers and water boatmen (both true bugs that could bite if handled) and predaceous diving beetles and water scavenger beetles. I suspect you are looking at one of these, based on the shiny back and dark color. Take a look at this fabulous website – http://bugguide.net/node/view/195/bgimage and compare with some images there. This is Bug Guide and this page is the Dytiscidae, or predaceous diving beetles, and if you don’t see the bug you have then put “Hydrophilidae” as a search word in the search field and compare with images of beetles in that family.
My initial thought was that you had one of the huge Predaceous Diving Beetles that are so common in California, and which frequently end up on the pavement at car dealerships, where they were attracted to the mercury vapor lights overhead. These fit your description except for the fact that the big ones I so often see are over an inch long and are a solid dark olive green color with no spots on them. However, you could just have a different species. All of these beetles are harmless to people and frankly should be enjoyed as a curiosity and cute visitor to the pool. Occasionally I am asked how to eliminate the various bugs that get into pools and there really is no chemical answer. You either have to wait for them to leave on their own or take the leaf-remover and yank it out and toss it in the garden, and then hope it does not crawl back in. For most of these bugs they can just be ignored and in a few days they leave. A clean pool is not going to have the food resources needed by these predatory bugs to keep them interested for long.
All the beetles and the bugs do have to breathe oxygen and must come to the surface for it on some regular basis. But, they manage to “hold” their breath for quite awhile, and it could be that the beetle simply sees you and is avoiding coming up while you are there. After all, you could be some bird trying to eat it, so when it sees movement above it stays underwater. So that’s my bet on the ID – either Dytiscidae or Hydrophilidae, and the Bug Guide website will probably have images of exactly your creature.
Pest QuestionsAugust 23, 2011
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As one man tells of his misery after a break out of fleas at his home, pest control tell Sophie Hazan that bug infestations are on the increase around the world. Andrew Jackson’s legs are red raw from bites he cannot help but scratch. The 49-year-old …
Pests in the NewsAugust 22, 2011
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