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The lowly House Mouse - my goodness but there have been a lot of images placed before us about this little rodent. While some of them may already be going through your mind's eye, let me offer a few that I can remember.
How easily we stereotype things, often leading us to misunderstand the reality. Is it closer to the truth that the House Mouse is a hero, or is it really something to fear? Let's learn a little bit about it, and allow you to judge for yourself.
Where did the House Mouse come from? Well, as it turns out, it really does not belong in the United States, or anywhere else in the Western Hemisphere. It is native to the dry grasslands of eastern Asia, but hundreds of years ago it managed to hitchhike with human caravans, traveling to the coasts of Europe where it then hopped aboard ships that transported it to America and all those other countries that it now inhabits. As an introduced species of animal, now living where natural controls and natural predators do not exist, the House Mouse flourished, breeding, multiplying, and expanding its range without anything to stop it, and competing with the existence of native animals in the process.
There are many kinds of mice in the United States, and it may be easy to confuse those that are natives with those that are introduced. Others you may be aware of around your business or your home are species such as Meadow Mice (also called Voles) or Deer Mice. These usually stay outside the structure, but they too can cause some severe problems, and we are well aware of the recent disease outbreaks spread by Deer Mice - the Hantavirus and Arenavirus, which we have profiled in a separate BugInfo article for you.
Probably most common around homes, of these other mice, will be the Meadow Mouse, and you easily can distinguish between these different kinds by the following characteristics:
His arm swelled up to the size of a football and went to ER twice.
Black widow spider. Those three words can strike fear in many hearts. And although most of the time a bite from the shiny little arachnid isn't an emergency, sometimes it is.
For one man, a bite from at least one spider meant a four-day stay in the hospital.
The man, who doesn't want his name used, was bitten on his hand and watched as it ballooned to the size of a football.
His wife took him to Mercy Medical Center's emergency room, where he received antibiotics and pain medication and then went home.
But he didn't get better. After another visit to the ER, the man ended up in the hospital on intravenous antibiotics. Mercy doctors told the man he may have been bitten by more than one spider, possibly a nest of them.
"The pain can be significant," said Dr. Charlie Kano, a primary care physician at the Family Care Clinic in Merced.
The black widow is one of only a few species of spiders dangerous to humans. In the mainland U.S., the black widow and the brown recluse are the most common ones.
According to the Mayo Clinic, black widow spiders like warm climates and dark, dry places where flies are plentiful. Closets and woodpiles, along with barns, are common sites for the spider.
Although a black widow bite is rarely lethal, it is serious. The spider can be identified by the red hourglass marking on its belly. The bite from a black widow often feels like a pinprick, and victims may not know they have been bitten for awhile.
But within hours, intense pain and stiffness can creep in. Common symptoms can include chills, fever, vomiting and severe abdominal pain. Only the female spider is dangerous to humans.
"A bite can cause a lot of muscle cramps and pain," Kano said. "Usually the cramps are in the stomach."
A trip to a physician or emergency room, depending on the severity of the pain, is usually prudent, Kano said.
The man who ended up in the hospital for four days underwent an especially severe reaction to the bite.
"Usually, we can control the symptoms with pain medications," Kano said. "But some people may have to stay in the hospital to get the pain under control."
According to the California Poison Control System, no one has died from a black widow spider bite in more than 10 years. Many times the spider won't inject any venom into the bite, and no serious symptoms develop.
"If the pain is severe, a trip to the emergency room may be necessary," said Kano.
The black widow's parlor is definitely not one you wish to walk into.
When the termite inspector arrived at the Orange County, N.C. home, he didn't immediately strap on a backpack filled with chemicals or crawl on his hands and knees into the depths of the garage, shining a flashlight into the corners.
Instead, he opened the door of his car so Silas, an energetic black dog of Labrador and terrier ancestry, could hop out and get to work.
Rick Wade, a professional dog trainer and pest-control agent, walked Silas around the outside of the house, commanding him to sniff for termites. About six weeks earlier, while homeowner Ed Jenkins was in the midst of remodeling an upstairs bathroom, termites were discovered beneath the shower. The company treated the areas where they could find termites but had trouble discovering the infestation's entry point into the house.
So Silas was called in to help. Specially trained to sniff for termites and bed bugs, Silas represents a small but growing trend in the pest-control world: employees that work for food, or even a few minutes chewing on a rolled up towel.
The emergence of pest-sniffing dogs mirrors the national resurgence of bed bugs, said Greg Baumann, who is based in Raleigh, N.C. and is the senior scientist for the National Pest Management Association. Recent years have seen the number of bed bug infestations rise, with apartment buildings, dormitories and hotels falling victim to insects that are less than one-quarter inch long and extremely difficult to find.
The highly trained dogs aren't cheap. Jeremiah Smith of Raleigh, who owns a bed bug-sniffing terrier named Scout, said a trained dog costs in the neighborhood of $10,000.
Pest control workers are licensed by the state. Those without licenses can work under another licensee, which is what Smith is doing while he works to obtain his own. He contracts with pest control companies who rely on Scout's expertise to find tiny critters.
Because people know about drug- and bomb-sniffing dogs, they're usually comfortable having a dog sniff their home, Smith said. He starts each job with a quick demonstration, hiding a small vial of bed bugs and asking Scout to find it.
With two dogs, Wade can use one to check the other's work. In addition to the spot in the garage, both dogs also found another spot in the basement. The termites had been burrowing through the cinder-block wall.
With the spots marked so another worker could treat for termites, Wade gave Silas his paycheck, a small handful of dog food from the fanny pack around his waist.
Sexual signals do more than just attract mates - in the case of crickets, says a new study.
Buzz up!Adult male crickets produce loud song to lure females, but the song can be overheard also by unintended receivers - such as young males unable to produce song due to a mutation they carry.
So far, researchers have not understood how non-singing male crickets use the song of singing males to modify their behavior or physical attributes to their advantage. Now, researchers at the University of California, Riverside have shed light on this mystery.
As part of the research, the scientists exposed one set of juvenile male crickets to a silent environment (which mimicked a population without very many singing males) and a second set of young male crickets to a song-rich environment (mimicking a population that contained lots of singing males).
Comparing the two sets of data, they found that male crickets growing up in the presence of abundant male song tend to be larger than male crickets growing up in a silent environment, and invest nearly 10 percent more reproductive tissue mass in their testes.
The researchers also found that male crickets that do not hear song during rearing are more likely to act as 'satellites,' hanging out near singing males and intercepting females on their way for matings.
"Subtle modifications of behavior depending on the environment, not genes, means that even in insects, animals aren't 'programmed' or 'hard-wired' to do what they do," said Marlene Zuk, a professor of biology, whose lab conducted the research.
Nathan Bailey, the lead author of the research paper, said: Larger is probably better for the crickets because it allows males to better compete against other males in their environment. Being flexible according to who is around can be beneficial and help maximize the chance of reproducing."
The new research suggests that sexual signals may play a hitherto under-appreciated role in determining how an animal looks and behaves once it grows up.
"Sexual signals do more than just attract mates. They can also influence other animals' development just by virtue of being perceived. The ability to change oneself according to the prevailing social conditions might be adaptive, especially in an environment that is constantly changing," Bailey explained.
"On a more global scale, people often think of insects, especially the non-social insects, as mindless automatons, pre-programmed to carry out simple procedures throughout their lives."Our research shows quite the opposite, and demonstrates how even small, inconspicuous animals respond to the vagaries of their social environment by capitalizing on conspicuous signals that are intended for a different receiver," Bailey added.
NEW YORK CITY — The New York City Health Department has long been hard at work keeping the city streets free of unwanted rodent visitors. Now, it has taken its efforts to the next level through participation in the non-profit IPM Institute of North America's Green Shield Certified program.
Three years ago, the department launched an innovative Rat Indexing Initiative to proactively control urban rodent populations block-by-block while protecting city residents and the environment from potentially harmful pesticides. Now, the program has become the first in the nation to achieve Green Shield Certification. In earning this credential, the Health Department's Rat Indexing Initiative demonstrates that it meets the requirements of an independent audit and guarantees effective, less toxic pest control.
"Rats are an unfortunate and inevitable part of city life, but we all share responsibility for tackling the problem," said Dan Kass, Acting Deputy Commissioner for Environmental Health at the NYC Health Department. "We are proud to achieve Green Shield Certification, and look forward to continued community support for our Rat Indexing Initiative."
First piloted in the Bronx in 2007, the Rat Indexing Initiative uses advanced Integrated Pest Management (IPM) principles paired with hand-held computers and sophisticated mapping technology to tackle the city's rat population. Trained inspectors conduct block-by-block inspections to provide property owners recommendations for addressing any pest-conducive conditions such as debris, food or water, and comb the area for any signs of rats. Property owners then receive a notice from the agency to correct conditions observed by the inspectors and have up to two weeks to address the issue. If the owner fails to act or if measures taken are inadequate, the Health Department issues a "Notice of Violation" to the property owner that is adjudicated by the City's Administrative Tribunal and the Health Department addresses the issue at the cost of the property owner.
Simultaneously, the agency set up a three-day, quarterly Rodent Control Academy to teach pest control professionals and property owners how to effectively and safely control rats. To teach the course, the Health Department enlisted a world-renowned rodent expert Dr. Robert Corrigan. Under Corrigan's tutelage, City personnel and private-sector professionals alike learn the nuts and bolts of "green" rodent management. The Rodent Control Academy has helped to create a new generation of proactive pest management professionals in the city who can adopt elements of the Rat Indexing Initiative's innovative approach in their own practices.
The results of the pilot Rat Indexing Initiative in the Bronx have been positive. From December of 2007 through July of 2009, 29,994 properties in the Bronx were inspected three times by the Health Department; once per each round of the initiative. Infestations declined in every neighborhood inspected and the percentage of infested properties dropped from 10% to 5%, a decrease of 1,460 properties with signs of rats. All results of the Bronx Rat Indexing Initiative are available to the public and can be found online at www.nyc.gov/rats. Due to this success, the Rat Indexing Initiative was expanded to the entire borough of Manhattan in January of 2010, and is expected to cultivate continued community-scale results.
According to Dr. Thomas Green, president of the IPM Institute of North America, Inc., "The New York City Rat Indexing Initiative is truly groundbreaking in its block-by-block approach. The positive results have carefully documented this program's potential for replication throughout the City, and for other cities nationwide."
The first Argentine ants set foot on U.S. soils in the late 1890's, as coffee ships from Brazil unloaded their cargo in New Orleans. Being prolific breeders and constantly on the go, they moved across the southern half of the United States. A single colony may contain 10,000 female workers, and there may be hundreds of colonies around your home; the total number of ants could easily reach a million. Although they cannot sting, they can bite; however, they are only about 3 mm long and there tiny mandibles are too small to hurt humans. But, in the world of insects, these ants are truly a living terror. They are very aggressive and readily overtake other ant species, even ants that are much larger and with powerful stings. Argentine ants are relentless and simply outnumber their adversaries until the enemy colony is destroyed. They even attack paper wasp nests under the eaves of a house, forcing the huge wasps to flee their nests in terror. Even nests of large carpenter bees are no match for these relentless ants. A "killer bee" nest probably could not withstand an invasion of Argentine ants. They also will attack bird nests, driving off the mother bird and killing the helpless young. One possible redeeming quality about these little warriors is that they may attack dry-wood (aerial) termite colonies in your home. I have observed this Lilliputian massacre in a termite infested table in the Palomar College greenhouse.
Most ant colonies are very territorial, and will fight different colonies of the same species. Since Argentine ants in the United States originated from the original colonizers in Louisiana, they are all closely related with very similar DNA. They apparently will accept ants from different colonies as members of their gigantic family. In fact, Argentine ants from different colonies will actually "team up" and attack together in vast swarms. They simply outnumber and overpower their enemy.
Argentine ants have become a serious threat to the coast horned lizard (Phrynosoma coronatum) in southern California. The primary food source for these endangered lizards are native harvester ants, particularly the California harvester ant (Pogonomyrmex californicus). I spent many years observing this fascinating red ant while growing up in San Gabriel Valley, and I can personally testify that it has a painful sting. As of 2006, this large red ant is seldom seen in urbanized areas of coastal southern California.
Native bees come in a wide range of colors and sizes, from tiny sweat bees less than a quarter of an inch long to bumble bees over an inch in length. While some of these species may look like the familiar image of a bee with hairy yellow and black stripes, they may also be dark brown, black or metallic green and blue, with stripes of many colors. Most are solitary, with each female creating and provisioning her nest without the support of a caste system of workers. Most are unlikely to sting (Shepherd et. al., 2003).
The common names for native bees often reflect their nest building habits: miner, carpenter, mason or plasterer. Other names depict behavioral traits. For example, sweat bees drink salty perspiration to acquire nutritionally important minerals.
About 70 percent of native bees excavate underground nests (Potts et. al., 2005). Solitary bees dig narrow tunnels leading to a series of brood chambers, each one provisioned with a mixture of pollen and nectar and each holding a single egg (Michener, 2000).
About 30 percent of bees nest in wood tunnels, usually pre-existing holes such as those made by wood-boring beetles, but some will chew out the center of pithy twigs (Michener, 2000). Females of these wood-nesting bees create a line of brood cells, often using materials such as leaf pieces or mud as partitions between cells (O'Toole and Raw, 1999).
In the case of both ground-nesting and wood-nesting bees, once the nest is complete, the mother bee generally dies. Her offspring will remain in the nest, passing through the egg, larva and pupa stages before emerging as an adult to renew the cycle.
For some species this life cycle may progress over a matter of weeks, resulting in a second generation of bees in a single season. A few species may remain dormant for over a year. Most solitary bees however complete this life cycle over the course of a full year.
Native bees often only live for a few weeks as actively flying adults. They mate immediately upon emergence and the females begin nesting. They lay relatively few eggs compared to other insects, with a single female often laying less than 50 eggs before she dies. Male bees do not live long beyond mating, they do not collect pollen and have little value as pollinators.
While most of these wood-nesting and ground-nesting bees are solitary, some are gregarious, preferring to nest near others, a behavior that allows large aggregations to develop in favorable locations. Only a few tunnel and ground-nesting bee species ever develop truly social colonies, and often such behavior is environmentally dependent with some bees being social in one situation and being solitary in another (Michener, 2000).
The one group of strictly social bees native to the United States is the group of approximately 45 bumble bee species (Kearns and Thompson, 2001). Bumble bees live in a colony with a caste system of workers, males and a single egg-laying queen. Within this social structure, bumble bees share the labor of foraging and rearing their young.
Similar to honey bees, bumble bees construct a wax comb; however, this comb is not a symmetrical series of hexagonal cells, but rather is an abstract configuration of round wax pots, some containing brood and some containing small amounts of pollen or nectar.
Bumble bees nest in cavities such as abandoned rodent burrows, brush piles and grass tussocks (McFrederick and LeBuhn, 2006). The colony grows through three or four generations and, depending on the species, may have several hundred workers at the peak in mid-summer. Unlike honey bees, bumble bee colonies do not survive over the winter.
It was wonderful to visit family. Most of our relatives are in that area, and some who live elsewhere, visited also. We extended the time of the vacation, and took the grandkids to an indoor water park for a few days. After I returned home, and rested for an extra day, to get caught up, I knew I had a mission to accomplish. Clean up, and paint the rental property. I entered the property, ready for a full day's work. I didn't see any roaches run, good! But, what was happening? I was being attacked, by something. Mostly, it was around my ankles, but I felt myself being bitten on my forearms also. Roaches don't do that,... fleas? No, the lease didn't allow for pets. I couldn't take one second more, so running from the house, I stopped to brush fleas, (what seemed to be millions), off my ankles, shoes, and arms. I got in my car, and went directly to get flea spray bombs. Can you believe it, the same spray that can kill a roach doesn't kill a flea. As I was buying the flea bombs, I was alternating between trying not to scratch, and scratching without using my fingers, so supposedly no one would know I was scratching. Anyone who saw my contortions, knew I had some kind of problem. I got the flea bombs, and went back to the house. Ran in, and set them off in all the various rooms, all the while trying to hold my breath, so I wouldn't get the fumes in my lungs. So, I ran outside again, repeating my ritual of brushing off fleas.
As I drove home, I tried to decide the best sequence of events, pressing the gas, pressing the brake, or scratching my bites. As soon as I got home, I took a nice long hot shower, then spayed some bite relief on me, took the clothes I had been wearing to the laundry room. In the laundry room was a basket of clean clothes that had been taken out of the dryer earlier. My PJ's were there, so I put them on early, and relaxed, as much as I could, (except for the itching). The next day I took off. Besides the discomfort, I wanted to make sure the fleas were dead. So, the next morning, I started out in my car, for the house, to really get it done. What was that? A flea bit me. So, I detoured, and went to the store to get more flea bomb. Right then and there, I set off that flea bomb in my car. I waited a while, then went back out to air out the car, so I would be able to drive it without being overcome. While I was killing time in the store, I saw a special of men's work socks. I decided to buy some of these to put on right over my shoes, just in case there were more fleas. I was also thinking of getting some flea collars, and putting them around my ankles, but the package strictly warned against human use. There must be other people who think like me,... scary. Well, the car was ready for me to drive. Thank goodness, no more fleas. I went to the house, and as a precaution, I put on the socks over my shoes, and on top of my jeans. (It's not real easy). I wasn't disappointed, there were still fleas, not as many as before, but some had escaped the "nuclear attack". I had purchased some extra bombs, so I decided to continue working for a while, and use the bombs before I left. I set off the bombs, and before getting in the car, I took off the socks, and threw them away. The drive home was uneventful. Well, I finally got the fleas, I thought. When I got home, I took a shower, but this time changed into other clothes. While I was eating supper, I started to feel uncomfortable in the area of my bra. It was a flea! Yes, remember those clothes I threw into the laundry room, and there was a basket of washed clothes nearby. Yes, even though those clothes had since been put away, a flea had hopped into the clean clothes. Okay, time for the flea bombs! Fortunately, it only took one time at my house. But at the rental house, it had to be done again in 14 days to kill any that hatched. Now, mind you, I am not a sissy when it comes to bugs. I will usually flick bugs away, when others are screaming. But, from then on, I let a pest control company go to battle for me. They can get the battle scars. Not me! Ooh, my ankles are itchy, now my waist, oh, oh, my neck. Could it be?
I live in Brooklyn, New York and around last August I found myself with a strange but horrible looking “allergy,” or “rash” nearly covering my arms and legs for about a month that I was very desperately trying to determine the origin of. Well, you know what it was. I’m from the West coast and in my lifetime (experience) I didn’t even know bedbugs were actual, real things (just something from that “nighty nite..” ditty if anything). They are unbelievable in the absolutely worst senses of that word. Former generations should/would have thanked God for DDT, meaning, at least that stuff worked like a blanket killer for these things. Evolution has honed these little evils into the sharpest little voracious, patient, “invisible”, prolific, trenchant, perfectly adapted to evade and yet torture man little survivalists ever. To cut to the chase, I did a lot of research by myself on the Internet—about them, about peoples’ absolutely shell shocked, drop jawed nightmare experiences with them, about treatments, chemicals, PMPs, anything and everything I could. And not because it was fun, but because I had to. My landlord agreed to get a guy to come treat the place but little did I know he would only come twice and wanted $300+ for any further visits. I knew from what I had read and my growing experience with them that that wasn’t ever going to knock them down let alone out for good. Sure enough within a week and a half I saw one coming down the door frame after the first treatment. They actually were introduced by me because I picked up a (very clean looking, I thought, and smelling, nearly new mattress) left outside by some neighbors. You will never know how horrific I have felt about that moment and that decision. By the time I identified the problem, they had spread to floorboards, door frames as well as the mattress and pillowcase… I’m really kind of just “waiting” for summer because I know “the truth” about this problem will come out then. —Elias, Brooklyn, N.Y.
My wife and I watched your bed bug information show with great interest. We are currently using Orkin to try and get rid of them in our home. To make a long story short, we first noticed the bed bugs late last summer. I had let cliff swallows nest on the south side of our home (backyard side) that spring thinking that they would help the mosquito problem that exists in this part of the country. What a mistake!!! We later found out that swallows, especially cliff swallows are host to bed bugs. I’m not sure about other types of nesting birds and the bed bugs but cliff swallows are a colony type bird with nest packed tightly together and what I’ve read on the Internet since our misfortune is that fact makes them very conducive to bed bugs.
We haven’t seen any in our home for the last several months now but we will have [our pest management company] continue the treatments for at least another year. Like your show stated, they can go for a year without a blood source for food. They never bothered me but they loved my wife. She had welts just like the ones that the lady on your show had.
Just thought I would pass this information along. We will no longer allow any birds to attach nest to our home. I have bird houses out for wrens, tree swallows, and bluebirds in the yard and we enjoy watching and listening to them. We found that using aluminum foil attached to the inside of the windows where the swallows want to nest is a deterrent to them building nests. I hope this info will help some other unsuspecting people from having the same problems that we do. —Anonymous
Indian Meal Moths:
You go to make your child hot cereal for breakfast and a moth flies out of the box. You quickly hatch Plan B before the school bus arrives.
Indian meal moths are the most common of these so-called "pantry pests."1 As adult moths they are harmless, other than to your sensibilities as a good housekeeper and parent. But the larvae are the culprits when it comes to eating and contaminating stored foods in the cupboard.
Having a few moths in your pantry may not be the end of the world, but it can be unnerving to find something you are about to eat full of worms and grit, especially with kids to be fed before school or guests about to arrive. The good news is that with a bit of effort, this nuisance can be eliminated.
Description And Life Cycle
Adult Indian meal moths (Plodia interpunctella) are about one half-inch in length and have distinctive bi-colored wings. The part of the wing closer to the head is tan or a light gray, while the other section is a darker brown or copper color.2 The adult moths only live for about a week, long enough to mate and for female moths to lay eggs on food items.3 In a few days, whitish caterpillars with brown heads hatch 4 and may feed in your cupboard for several weeks or months, depending on the temperature.3 When they are ready to pupate, the caterpillars will often wander away from the foodstuff to spin a loose cocoon in some corner where they may spend up to several weeks before emerging as adult moths.3 In warm weather, the entire life cycle takes six to eight weeks,4 but it can take up to six months under cooler conditions.2
Favorite Foods
Indian meal moth caterpillars have eclectic tastes and eat a wide range of foods. Commonly infested foods include: coarsely ground grain (e.g. cornmeal) and cereal products, dried herbs and fruits, nuts, powdered milk, flour, hot pepper flakes, spices, dry pet food, bird seed, and decorative items made with seeds.1,2,3
Detecting An Infestation
Finding webbing in a stored food product is a sign that you have an infestation.1 You may also find small, pale caterpillars. Look a little more closely and you may see a fine gritty material; this is frass, the scientific term for insect poop.3
Another pretty sure sign of an infestation is seeing adult moths fluttering weakly through the kitchen. Though they can sometimes be found throughout the house, more often than not they are where the food is. People sometimes confuse clothes moths with Indian meal moths.4 The wings of clothes moths are always a single color, usually a tan or buff color of some sort, while the Indian meal moth wings are bi-colored, like a '50s Chevy with a two-tone paint job.
Control Steps
The only way to control Indian meal moths is to locate infested materials and them out. A thorough cleaning is also needed to get rid of errant caterpillars, cocoons and food sources. No one recommends spraying insecticides in cupboards or food areas because of the risk of illness from eating contaminated food.
The healthy solution is to take all food items out of the cupboards and going through them one by one. Focus especially on items you bought "in bulk" or that are in open or loosely sealed containers. Inspect each item, looking for webbing and caterpillars. Discard anything that is infested and take the trash out right away. When in doubt, throw it out! Then make sure that you transfer any non-infested food from bags or open boxes into tightly sealable containers.5
The final step is to clean the cupboards thoroughly before putting food back. Vacuum cracks and crevices and wash the shelves. Indian meal moths need remarkably little food to survive so you should also clean behind appliances and anywhere else crumbs and other bits of food may be hiding.2
Packaging - Seal It Tight
It is essential that all food be kept in containers that can be tightly sealed, like a Mason-style glass jar with a screw lid, plastic container with a tight snap-on lid, or a metal container with a tight-fitting lid.3,5 Leaving food in open boxes is just asking for trouble, but a box of cereal that is finished up a week or two should not be a problem.
Hot and Cold Treatments
You might want to rescue infested birdseed or a treasured decorative item. Both freezing and heating will kill Indian meal moth larvae. Effective freezing methods include keeping the contaminated item for four to seven days in the freezer. To eliminate larvae with heat, bake the item for one hour at 140°F or two hours at 120°F in a shallow pan or tray in the oven, or for five minutes in the microwave2. After the hot or cold treatment, be sure to store the seed or item in a tightly sealed container.
Traps for Monitoring
For those of you with scientific inclinations, pheromone traps can be fun, educational, and even useful for determining if you still have a problem. A pheromone is a hormone that attracts males in much the same way that perfume or cologne catches the attention of the opposite sex. A pheromone trap with an Indian meal moth lure attracts the male moth to a piece of glue-covered cardboard where it gets stuck and dies, indicating that you still have moths.4
Future Prevention
Re-infestations are always a possibility.
Refrigerate or freeze small amounts of highly susceptible foods such as spices.5
Avoid purchasing large quantities of bulk items that are consumed slowly. Susceptible items stored for six months can develop serious infestations.2
Re-package slowly eaten foods into tightly sealable containers.
Clean up spills in cupboards and elsewhere promptly.
If you do see more moths, do a thorough inspection to find the infested food items, including dried pet food. They will be hiding somewhere.
The German cockroach — one of the most common and hated household pests — is winning the war against some of the newest insecticides and baits, according to University of Florida researchers.
“Whatever you throw at them, they have an amazing ability to quickly adapt and overcome adversity,” said Phil Koehler, an entomology professor with UF’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences. “We know that they have developed resistance to many of the most widely used insecticides, and now they are turning up their noses at baits, including some that were very effective just a few years ago.”
He said the bait-avoidance problem was first noticed about five years ago in Florida, where the state’s warm climate is ideal for roaches, and in recent months has spread to other states as far north as Michigan.
“In Florida, pest control operators say that 60 percent of their customers have German cockroaches (Blattella germanica) that are refusing to eat most commercial baits, indicating there is something in the baits that roaches do not like,” he said.
Koehler and Barbara Bayer, a graduate research assistant, are working with pest control operators and product manufacturers to develop and test more effective baits for the German cockroach.
“It’s the roach that gives all other cockroaches a bad name,” Koehler said. “It’s also the most common cockroach species in homes, apartments, restaurants, hotels and other institutions in the United States and in most parts of the civilized world.”
As a result of their research, two new bait products designed for use by pest control operators have been shown to kill cockroaches that are refusing to eat existing baits, and the UF researchers are monitoring their effectiveness. The new products are Advion roach bait manufactured by Dupont and Max Force FC Select roach bait made by Bayer Environmental Sciences.
“It remains to be seen how long these two products will be effective,” said Bayer, who is not affiliated with the bait manufacturers. “Ten years ago, German cockroaches began avoiding baits that contained glucose sugar, and now they are developing an ability to avoid other ingredients in some of the newest baits on the market. We need to learn more about which chemicals they like and do not like.”
Koehler said that their research shows that the development of a more effective bait will also provide a secondary kill of the pest.
