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ANTS

There are several kinds of ants that may occur in and around the home ranging in size from about 1/32 to 3/4 inch long and colored yellowish, light brown, reddish-brown, brownish-black or jet black. Ants, as all insects, have three body parts, head, thorax, and abdomen. Most are wingless, but the homeowner sometimes may confuse swarming, winged ants with swarming, winged termites, causing alarm. Ants can be easily distinguished from termites by several characteristics:

• Ant bodies appear constricted or pinched in at the waist (shaped like a figure 8), while termites do not have the waist constriction.
• Ants have elbowed antennae, while termites have straight, bead-like antennae.
• The forewings of ants are much larger than the hindwings. Termites' wings are equal in size and shape.
• Ant wings are transparent or brownish, while termite wings are milky-white or grayish and longer than the body.
• Ant wings are firmly attached, while termite wings are easily removed or shed (fall off).

These are the differences between a winged termite and a winged ant.

Life Cycle and Habits

Ants are social insects that live in colonies or nests usually located in the soil near the house foundation, under concrete slabs, in crawlspaces, in structural wood, in the yard or garden, in trees and in other protected places. Ants have three castes, namely queens, males and workers. Queens and males are the reproductives. Workers are sterile wingless females. New ant colonies are started by a single fertilized queen that lays eggs and tends her brood (larvae and pupae) that develop into worker ants. Tending of the brood is then taken over by the worker, which may shift the brood from place to place as moisture and temperature fluctuate in the nest. When workers forage for food for the queen and her young, they often may enter houses and become a nuisance by their presence and contaminate food.

Control Measures

The most important step in ant control is to locate the nest and destroy the colony. Sometimes a chunk of jelly, spoonful of honey, pile of sugar or piece of bacon, placed near the site where ants are found, will attract them and help in locating their nest. Once the route is discovered, treatment can be made in the crack or crevice, greatly reducing or eliminating the problem.

Labeled Insecticides

There are literally hundreds of insecticide formulations labeled for ant control. Some are labeled for general use (homeowners) while others are restricted use (licensed pesticide applicators only).

In many cases, once an ant infestation has been found, control measures are best accomplished by a licensed, professional pest control firm. Homeowners often do not have the experience, availability of certain insecticides and equipment needed to perform the job effectively on certain ant species.

TERMITES

Termites are social insects that eat wood. There are two basic types of termites, those that live entirely in wood, and those that can tunnel into the ground.

Most termites are the subterranean type and are able to tunnel in the soil. The ability to tunnel allows them to find many separate pieces of wood, on which to feed. Since they are not limited to one piece of wood, their colonies can be much bigger than those of wood-inhabiting species. Usually their colonies number from hundreds of thousands to several million. The mother of the colony is usually quite grossly pregnant. These mothers are the mothers of all mothers, so to speak. Hence, they are called queens. The soil-tunnelling termites have a more advanced caste system with true workers. True workers are never able to become alates although they can become soldiers and sometimes they even transform into special reproductives called ergatoids. Soldiers of subterranean termites have a gland on the head that secretes defensive chemicals. The soldier jaws are modified in many weird and wonderful ways; they may be sword-like, serrated, toothed, hooked, rod-like, etc. Some soldiers have extraordinary snapping mandibles. In another group, the mandibles are regressed to tiny points while the defensive gland is produced forward as a nose; these are the nasute termites. Many subterranean termites have specialized diets and may eat plant litter, grass, dung or humus, instead of wood. In tropical areas many subterranean termites build nests or mounds which are among the most impressive examples of animal architecture.

Subterranean termites can be very serious structural pests of houses. They do not produce fecal pellets like the drywood termites. Instead, the entry of subterranean termites into a house is usually revealed by the presence of mud shelter tubes on walls. Soil inhabiting termites can also be serious pests of rangelands, tropical forestry and tropical agriculture. However, 90% of termite species may be considered highly beneficial in their unique keystone ecological roles in breaking down wood; turning, aerating and enriching the soil; and providing food and harborage for many other forms of life.

ROACHES

Wherever man can survive, so can cockroaches. Cockroaches are born scavengers.

Indoors, cockroaches are fond of starchy materials, such as cereals, sweetened or sugary substances and meat products. A few of the substances upon which they feed include cheese, beer, leather, hair, wallpaper, artwork, paper documents, postage stamps, draperies, paper currency, plus dead or rotting organic matter. They eat books, and the book bindings.

Cockroaches acquire pathogenic bacteria simply by walking over cultures and these pathogens are subsequently transferred to foodstuffs during the normal foraging behavior of the infested roach.

The phrase "cockroach asthma" has been used to describe instances of broncospasm brought on by inhalation of cockroach allergens.

The worldwide estimate of the number of cockroaches is given as 3,500 species, but that number is likely far greater.

Many homes and business establishments become infested with German cockroaches when they are introduced inside infested cartons, foodstuffs and other materials.

American cockroaches are commonly found in sewers and basements, particularly around pipes.

Control

Proper identification of the infesting species is important in controlling the infestation.

Cockroaches are secretive and often go unnoticed until populations are so large that evidence of contamination or potential health problems is readily apparent.

Inspection for cockroaches usually involves visual inspection. A thorough knowledge of preferred habitats of cockroach species helps determine potential harborage sites.

The reduction of clutter is one of the keys to effective long-term control of cockroaches.

Like all animals, cockroaches need food and water to survive in and around structures. By reducing access to food and water, cockroach populations become stressed to survive in urban environments. Conversely, poor sanitation, inadequate maintenance and overcrowding in apartments can create chronic cockroach infestations. Once German cockroach populations are established, it can be impossible to reduce the population by sanitation alone.

Harborage alteration for indoor cockroaches often entails removal of materials such as paper bags and boxes, newspapers, excessive household goods, litter and any other items that produce clutter.

WASPS

You would be amazed at how many different types of wasps there are in this country.

Most wasps are social and like ants and sawflies, are of the order Hymenoptera and Family Vespidae. Hymenoptera has about 6200 known species, with more being discovered every year.  We are only disccusing the "The Home" infestation types. There are five or six species out of the nearly 300.

Unlike the Honey Bee, wasps have not developed methods of storing food for the winter, and this is why their colonies only last for one season in temperate regions. Each colony starts to break up in the autumn and the workers die of cold. However, before this happens new queens and males have been developed and have swarmed out of the colony to mate. The males die soon after mating, but the young fertilised females search for a sheltered spot where they can spend the winter. Such dormant queens can often be found in outhouses and lofts during the winter.

As with the ants, the colonies are divided into queens, males, and workers. The queens and males are only concerned with reproduction with the workers doing everything else.  The first cell of the colony is built by the queen (who usually emerges from her winter quarters in mid-April) as there aren't any others, inside this nest the queen constructs between 10 - 20 hexagonal cells where she lays an egg in each.  When these hatch the queen is kept busy for the first month feeding the larva.  When the larva pupate and hatch (about the end of May) they become the workers after which the queen can concentrate on laying more eggs as the workers take over the running of the nest.  In late summer, round about September, a fully mature nest can have up to 25,000 individuals in it; not something you would want to poke with a stick.

All wasps fed their young on meat - insect larvae, scraps of carrion and so on - and in this respect differ greatly from bees which feed their young on nectar and pollen. The wings of the prey are cut off by the workers powerful mouthparts and the remains are divided up and chewed into round food balls which are carried home to the larvae.

Although wasps are fond of sweet things, they don't have the nectar sucking mouth parts of bees, but they do have very powerful jaws and a short tongue. Even so they can be seen drinking nectar from flowers and the juices of ripe fruit, and curiously enough they are also fed by the larvae. In exchange for fly flesh the larvae regurgitate a sugary liquid which the workers eagerly lick up. In addition to providing the workers with a form of energy this mutual feeding also has a social function, for it serves to bind the colony together.

Wasps possess no pollen gathering apparatus and are generally less hairy than bees.  Their colours are due mainly to the colours of the body plates or sclerites and not to the colours of the hairs as in bees.

Towards the end of the summer, the wasps rear males and females in special large cells. Once these wasps have reached maturity, the colony begins to break up. The workers have no more larvae to feed and they turn their attention to fruit, jam, and other sweet substances, and this is when they become a nuisance. But as the weather turns cold they die, leaving only the mated queens to carry on the race in the following year. A nest, which you may find in your roof space that is empty will not be reoccupied, except in the case of Hornets which can occupy the same nest although a completely new colony. Treatment of Wasps Nests

Controling Wasps

In the early months of the year when the nests are small you can get away with knocking it down with a stick or a shovel, as some people have told me they have done, but as you get towards August-September this is really not advisable.

When nests are small, buying an insecticidal powder in a puffer pack and dusting the nest yourself is feasible, but as the months progress and the size of the nest increases it also becomes busier. Wasps have flight paths to and from the nest, so one bad idea is to stand in the wrong place, as you will get dive bombed and stung. Wasps also know when the nest is under attack and will marshal their forces from the nest and attack you. If have stood outside the nest area and have killed a wasp; by batting it one, that wasp will give off a pheromone (scent) which will penetrate the nest giving the alarm and bringing the rest of the workers out at you.

To treat a mature nest takes expertise, it is a risky business especially if it is sited in a roof void. The best idea at the end of the day is to get in a professional.

HOUSE MOUSE

The adult house mouse is small and slender and about 1-2 inches long, excluding tail. The house mouse has large ears (as seen the the photo below), pointed nose and small eyes. The tail is as long as the head and body combined.

The fur color varies, but it is usually a light grey or brown, but could be darker shades. It has an overall coloration. Since mice have a higher population number than rats, they are more widespread.

Do I have a house mouse or a young rat?

A rats's head and feet will be proportionally larger to it's body than a mouse's head or their feet.

HOUSE MOUSE DIET

A mouse will eat almost anything, but prefer cereal grains, seeds, or sweet material. They require very little water, obtaining most of their water needs from their food. Mice can consume large quantities of stored seed and grains from farmers and granaries.

HOUSE MOUSE HABITS

If there are good living conditions (food, water, and shelter),they can multiply rapidly. They sexually mature in two months, producing about 8 litters in a one year life time. Each litter has 4-7 pups.

A house mice in a city environment may spend it's entire life in buildings. In rural and suburban settings, it may not only live inside, but be found outside near foundations, in the shrubbery, weeds, crawl spaces, basements, or in garages.

They survive well on weeds, seeds, or insects, but when their food supply is shortened by the colder months they move inside nesting closer to a food supply. They make their nest from soft material like paper, insulation, or furniture stuffing. These nest are found in many places including: in walls, ceiling voids, storage boxes, drawers, under major appliances, or within the upholstery of furniture. Outside the nests are found in debris or in ground burrows.

House mice have a characteristic musky odor that identifies their presence.

Mice while being "nibblers" eating many times at different places, they do have two main meal times...just before dawn and at dusk...they simply "snack" at other times at intervals or every 1-2 hours. They can eat about 10 to 15% of their body weight every day, the adults weighing about 5/8-1 oz. Mice also cache food as supply permits. They get much of there water from food products.

Mice are active mostly at night, but they can be seen occasionally during daylight hours.

A house mouse is an excellent climber and can run up any rough vertical surface. It will run horizontally along wire cables or ropes and can jump up 13 inches from the floor onto a flat surface

HOUSE MOUSE INSPECTION

Their droppings (feces) are about 1/8-1/4 inch long, rod shaped. They gnaw small, clean holes about 1-1/2 inches in diameter. Many times in kitchens you will find gnawing damage on the corner of boxes and paper, shredded for their nest. They will gnaw at bar soaps.

Mouse dropping, fresh gnawing and tracks indicate areas where mice are active. Mouse nests, made from fine shredded paper or other fibrous material, are often found in sheltered locations.

For a free inspection,call Pest Guard.

SQUIRRELS

Squirrels are members of the rodent family. The most frequently dealt with nuisance squirrel is the Eastern Gray Squirrel. They measure around 16-18 inches from nose to tail and weigh approximately one pound. Gray squirrels are active year-round and arboreal, meaning that they live primarily in trees. They feed on a great variety of foods, such as nuts, seeds, fungi, fruits, and of course the seed in your birdfeeder. They store nuts and acorns in holes in the ground. Gray squirrels breed throughout the year, but there are two distinct peaks, in the winter and summer. After about six weeks, two to four young are born, and raised in a nest for about three months. They prefer cavities in trees (or homes), and when cavities aren't available, they will build a nest out of leaves and twigs high in a tree.

Nuisance concerns: Squirrels have easily adapted to humans. They frequently use buildings as nesting areas. Squirrels love to stay in an attic or soffit. They often find a small opening and will chew a wider hole to gain access to the building. They bring nesting material into the home, and make quite a bit of noise scurrying around and caching nuts. They often fall down the chimney flu and make a lot of noise or enter the fireplace. Sometimes they fall down a wall from the attic and get stuck. They often chew their way into commercial buildings or apartments. They often enter the attic through the gable vent. Squirrels can cause a fire hazard in homes by bringing in nesting material, and by chewing on power lines. Squirrels can leave behind a lot of droppings and urine in the attic. The droppings not only smell bad, but they pose a bio-hazardous risk, and the smell attracts new squirrels.

Wondering how to get rid of squirrels? There is no magic spray or device that you can use to make them go away. Biologists know that these attempts won't work. It's important to call a professional trapper to have your problem quickly taken care of! Contact Pestguard for professional help.