Archive for the ‘Bedbugs’ Category

Life Cycle of Bedbugs

Friday, January 13th, 2012

Every one knows that Bedbugs are annoying biting pest and it is noticeable that they require blood to reproduce and complete their life cycle. The life style of bedbugs seemed to have five nymph stages and one adult stage. The process of developing from the stage of egg to adult is called as “Gradual Metamorphosis”. Pupal stage is seemed to be absent in the life cycle process of bedbugs.

Bed Bug Vancouver

The five larval stages of bedbugs are in need of blood meals for their next level of growth. It is found that the first larval stage of bedbug is about 1mm long. The body of bedbugs is seemed to be white at its initial larval stage. It turns into red when it bites for the blood. Both the male and female bedbugs mainly feed on blood for their survival.

The larval stage of bedbugs cannot be molt to the next stage without a blood meal. Blood meal is very much needed for the female bed bugs in order to develop their eggs. Adult bedbugs can survive very long without the blood meal but again it is difficult for them to develop their eggs in the absence of blood meal. The five larval stages of bedbug are seemed to be completed within a month.

Protect yourself from being bitten by Bedbugs

Tuesday, January 10th, 2012

The best approach to protect yourself from being bitten by Bedbugs is to prevent your self from bed bug infestations. Prevention of Bedbugs involve a thorough inspection for bed bugs or signs of infestation in any appropriate hiding place, such as bedding, furniture stuffed with cushions or covered with fabric, or packing materials that might be introduced into your home or apartment. You should look for for feces, eggs, and discard “skins” of larval bed bugs, as well as for active bed bugs.

Bed Bug Vancouver

It is a good practice to inspect the hotel rooms you are staying for bed bug infestation. Upon arrival in a hotel room, verify the mattress, box springs, and behind the headboard before using the bed. It is very essential to report suspected bed bug infestations to the hotel management without any delay so that certain steps may be taken to control the infestation and prevent the succeeding spread can be executed as quickly as possible.

It is better for the hotel guests to place their luggage and clothing on dressers or on baggage racks instead of placing on beds or upholstered furnishings. Since these types of furniture may harbor bed bugs. It is good to keep the suitcases, brief cases, computers and their cases closed when not in use.

Bed Bugs Spreading Worldwide

Friday, January 6th, 2012

Bed Bugs Spreading WorldwideBed bugs were almost eradicated in Western countries in the 1940s and 1950s. The use of DDT and better hygiene caused bed bugs to almost disappear. They were still prevalent in other regions of the world such as Asia, Africa and Eastern Europe.

A ban on the use of the pesticide DDT in the United States went into effect the end of 1984. With the use of DDT bed bugs had almost disappeared.

Until the last few years bed bugs were not seen as a problem and even pest control professionals rarely saw them. Now bed bugs seem to have come back to the UK. They are being found in hotels, motels, apartments, homes, health care facilities, shelters and schools. They have even been found in cinemas, dry cleaners, outlets for rental furniture and offices.

It is believed that immigration and international travel along with less effective pesticides has caused the rapid rise in bed bugs.

Immigration and international travel have undoubtedly contributed to the resurgence of bed bugs in the UK. Changes in modern pest control practice – and less effective bed bug pesticides – are other factors suspected for the recurrence.

Adult bed bugs are a reddish brown, they are a flattened oval shape and do not have wings. They are tiny but still visible, their length is 4-5 mm and 1.5 -3 mm wide. The babies, or nymphs, are translucent and lighter in colour and the size of a pinhead. They become browner as they moult and reach maturity, which takes about two weeks. Females will lay 1-2 eggs per day, and it takes just two weeks for a bed bug to mature into an adult and reproduce.

If you bring bed bugs into your home you need help to get rid of them and the sooner you get help the better. Pete Jameson is the owner of Dynamic Pest Control who once treated a house that had let a bed bug problem go for eight months. He had to drill in the walls and bugs were found in the light fixtures, and even the microwave. “They were everywhere,” Pete said, “I mean it’s heartbreaking to tell someone you should take keys and clothes you’re wearing (or maybe not clothes) and leave as if your house burned down. Don’t take anything with you.”

The only food bed bugs feed on is blood from humans, which they prefer, but also they will feed from other warm-blooded animals such as dogs, cats, birds and rodents. They are mainly active at night and will normally feed unnoticed. This is why they infest areas where people normally sleep.

Bed bugs have an elongated beak which they use to pierce the skin. It takes from three to ten minutes to withdraw blood then they crawl off to digest their meal.

Stink Bugs: The New “It” Pest

Tuesday, December 20th, 2011

If bed bugs were the pest of summer, stink bugs seem to be hard at work earning the title of “Pest of the fall.” These smelly bugs have been invading homes across much of the country in recent years, leaving many homeowners holding their noses and running for the door (which, unfortunately, is often covered in stink bugs!).

Stink bugs are an invasive species. They were brought into the U.S. from Eastern Asia, and were first found in Allentown, Pennsylvania only 12 years ago. They have spread quickly and have now been reported throughout the Northeast U.S. as well as Pacific Northwest, Midwest and South.

For homeowners wanting to avoid stink bugs, the NPMA recommends the following advice:

• Seal cracks around windows, doors, siding, utility pipes, behind chimneys, and underneath the wood fascia and other openings. Use a good quality silicone or silicone-latex caulk.

• Damaged screens on doors and windows should be repaired or replaced.

• A licensed pest professional can treat for stink bugs in the late summer or fall just prior to bug congregation.

• If stink bugs have already entered a home or building, a vacuum cleaner can aid in the removal of live or dead stink bugs.

The bag must be removed to prevent odor from permeating the area.

• If an infestation has developed inside the home or building, a licensed pest control operator should be called to evaluate and assess the problem.

Red cotton bug

Thursday, December 1st, 2011

Physical features:
The fully grown bug is about 12-15 mm in length. Usually, the females are Lengthier (15 mm) than the males (12 mm). This bug looks blood red in colour apart from its scutellum, eyes, antennae, and anal style which are black in colour. It also has a black spot on each of the membranous forewings. Sequences of white crosswise bands are present on the lower end of the abdomen. Mouthparts are used for piercing and sucking which forms a straight beak.

Red Cotton Bug

Stages of Red cotton bug:
During spring, the full-grown female lays eggs in a groups of 70-80 eggs mainly on damp soil surface or on fallen leaves and in crevices. The eggs are sphere-shaped, yellowish-white of about the 1.2 mm in size. The eggs need 7 days incubation period and humid weather, eggs are hatched into 1 mm long red colored bug which are look like the adult not including size and wings. The small bugs mainly feed on the cotton balls and they take 49-89-days to reach adult stage. In wintry weather the life span of the adult is for 3 months duration but in summer it life span varies. Red cotton bug breeds on cotton during August- November and takes refuge under debris or leaves from December till March. The life span of bug is done within six to eight weeks.

Damage caused due to Red cotton bug:

Unlike bed bug which feeds on human blood, Red cotton bug both small and adults  suck the cell sap from the tender shoots and damage the strength of the plant. If the damage is severe, buds open badly and the lint is of low quality. Red cotton bug also feeds on the seeds which produce poorer oil content and some seeds become unfit for sowing.

Red Cotton Bug damaging Cotton buds

Control Measures:

  • Plough the Cotton fields in order to expose the eggs to the sunlight.
  • Sometimes this bug should be handpicked and killed with kerosene water.
  • Spraying of Malathion O.O5% is effective to control the pest.
  • Moistened cotton seeds should be dangled up at various places in the field where bugs gather together; later they can be killed with kerosene water.
  • If nothing works, then opting for a pest control is the best option.

PESTS Categories

Friday, October 28th, 2011

Insect pest are most talented in feeding almost all sorts of living organisms. The insects are capable of destroying crop plants, stocked food, fruit plants and residential property. The pests can lead to many health issues to man and animals. They are classified depending on the host they pests breed upon

Household Pests:
The wide environment around us seems to be very attractive to pests such as industrial complexes, lawns, flowers, parks, shrubs and houses. Pests that damage residential property are usually referred to as household pests. Household Pests are main concern to man, his belongings and his immediate surroundings.
Pests such as cockroaches, silver fish, weevils, ants, houseflies, crickets and fruit flies, etc. which pollute edible food and ruin it or spreads diseases are usually comes under this category. The insects like bed bugs,carpet beetle, cloth moths and furniture beetles cause damage to human-belongings this as well fit in the category of household pests. Therefore, all kinds of insect which are unnecessary guests to our houses which is the main reason for damage to human belongings and his wellbeing are called as household pests.

Veterinary pest

The insects which attack domestic animals such as horses, chicken, cattle, etc and other blood sucking insects such as lice, bugs, fleas, stable flies, mosquitoes are some of the examples of domestic animal pests. Biting lice such as Mallophage brings about irritation and loss of fleshy tissue in poultry farms. Horn flies, Tabanid flies suck the blood from farm animals to horses. Both flies can lead to severe stomach disturbances in horses. Grubs of ox warble flies leads to loss of flesh in cattle and can cause harm to the leather by creating holes in the skin.

Tabani

Tabani flies

Structural Pests:
Structural pests are those destructive insects which cause damage to
furniture’s, fencing posts, wooden frames, doors, library books, stored
papers, cardboards and parts of buildings are named as structural pests.
The termites are social insects and colonial, grows on cellulose which means it damages wooden objects in uneven form. Silver fishes feed on ghee and starch material, therefore damaging book bindings, photographs, wall papers and all kinds of adhesive labels. Cloth moths and carpet beetles can also be attack carpets, cloths as structural pests.

Storage Grain Pests:
The storage of food grains has been a long custom among the farmers and merchants. A significant loss both in quality and quantity of food grains happens in storage area due to several factors. Creatures like insects, rodents, bacteria, mites and fungi are directly blamed for causing damage in accumulated products.
The stored food fruits, nuts, grains, seeds, etc. are contaminated due to internal borer insects in the godowns and warehouses are most harmful of all insects. The borers can damage crops, even during the harvesting time in the farm ground itself. The moths, Red rust flour beetle, grain weevils cause a main damage to stored cereals (barley, wheat, rice,  corn, oat, millets, etc.) and pulses (beans, gram, lentils, peas, etc.) correspondingly. Mostly the pests ruin the stored food grains and make them unhealthy for human consumption, sowing. The stored grain pest can be distinguished into two kinds such as :
(i) Primary type: This group of pest’s attacks to whole grains in an uncrushed state.
(ii) Secondary type: this group of pests feed or damages the crushed or broken grains.

Agricultural Crop Pests:
Most of the agricultural crops are infected by number of pests that lead to severe harm. Pest represents many numbers of insects attacking the different crop plants. The main crops such as cotton, sugarcane, jowar, wheat, bajara, etc. are spoiled by pests like stem shoot fly, borer, armyworms, aphids, leafhoppers mites, flea beetles, jowar midge fly, etc. The semiloopers, potato beetles, cabbage worm has chewing kind of mouth parts. They chew up and swallow the outside parts of the plants. Whereas some insects like blister beetle feed on pollens, etc. therefore causing severe harm.

Forestry pest:

Forestry pest go into into the plant and lead to deformations in the structures like stem borers pierces stem causing burrowing inside and enlarging. Leaf cutters and leaf rollers leads to harmful deforestation. Gall insects leads to enlarging, bark feeder damages surface of stem. Example Bark beetle damages the timber in the forest; the termites destroy the timber logs even after parting the forest. The sap suckers such as aphids, plant bugs and Thrips absorb plant juice in nursery plants which slows down the photosynthetic activity.

Thrips

Thrips

Pestering Pests

Wednesday, October 12th, 2011

We call a person ‘A pest’ when he/she keeps on nagging us and the same way pests are insects which annoys us by spoiling our belongings. Some people try home remedy to get rid of pests and for some this problem go out of hand; in that case nothing can be done unless you opt for a pest control services. Many of us are unaware of the different type’s pests that exist and here are some commonly known indoor pests – rodent, cockroaches, fly, mosquitoes, lizard and bed bug.

bed-bug

Opting for pest control service alone does not solve the problem; you have to approach the right pest control service. Here are few steps in order to approach the best pest control.

Based on the information provided above about the types of pests, you need to identify the pest that is bothering your house. Once you identify the pest, identify the areas mainly affected due to this pest. Locating the pest affected areas is very important as it locates the pest’s territory and now, do some researches on best available pest control services in your locality. Do some initial enquiry and go for the one that suits your need. Discuss with the pest control representative about the pests affecting your house and gather information. Fix an appointment with the pest control professional   to make a visit to your house and let them inspect the affected areas.

Pest Control Services

Most of the professional pest control services provide you complete pest control treatment and will be quite knowledgeable about pests. They will be more informative about the types of pest affecting your house and will clarify any pest related doubts. You won’t face any more problems regarding the pest, if you have approached the right pest control services and so it depends on calling the right people for pest control.

House Fly and Disease

Wednesday, May 18th, 2011

Houseflies are familiar as carriers of easily infectious diseases. Flies are collect pathogens on their legs and mouths when the females lay eggs on decomposing organic matter such as garbage, feces and animal corpses.

Houseflies carry the diseases on their legs and the very small hairs that cover their bodies. It takes only a few seconds for them to transfer these pathogens to touched surfaces or food. Mature houseflies are also use saliva to liquefy hard food before feeding on it. During this process, they transfer the pathogens initial collected by landing on offal.

Diseases carried by houseflies include dysentery, cholera and typhoid. Other diseases carried by houseflies include anthrax, tuberculosis, and salmonella. Houseflies have also been known to transmit the eggs of scrounging worms.

House Fly Eyes

Friday, May 13th, 2011

House fly eyes are complex organs that are comprised of thousands of individual lenses. Compound eyes are able of detecting both the polarization of light and color spectrums that are unseen by humans.

House fly eyes can know even the least movements in a full, 360-degree spectrum. This allows the housefly to see a distant wider range, as well as detect and react to movement at a faster pace than species with the simple eyes. This is the reason that it is very difficult to hit a housefly. One method that may prove successful is to hit at the fly simultaneously with two objects: this perplexes the receptors of the housefly.

Houseflies are scrupulous in their grooming, mostly around their eyes. These are using their forelegs to remove any fabric that has come into contact with the eyes.

House Fly Facts

Monday, May 9th, 2011

The normal life span for a housefly in the wild is around one month. They can live longer indoors, where the temperatures are consistently moderate. Houseflies are passing through the egg, larval and pupal stages in around 10 days, after which adult flies come out. Houseflies finish growth after the emerging from their pupae.

Houseflies are covered with very small hairs that serve as flavor organs. Their compound eyes are very complex: thousands of the individual lenses allow them to see 360-degrees at a time.

Houseflies are the major carriers of disease. They are known to move over 100 pathogens, including typhoid, tuberculosis, malaria and cholera. Housefliesgather these pathogens on their legs and mouths when the feeding on feces, trash and the other decaying material.