A U.N. Conference held in 2008 in Thailand was the scene of an insect eating research Summit. As far as I can tell none of the superpower presidents or any high ranking diplomats were in attendance, but 36 scientists from 15 countries were and they had some interesting things to say about eating bugs like grasshoppers, crickets, grubs and ants. What may seem like an odd food source to us in our homeland, may actually be a delicacy in another part of the world. In fact, Dutch, Australian and American scientists noted that increasingly more restaurants in their respective countries are popping up with insects on the menu. The research is aimed at showing that eating bugs is not just for emergencies or famine, it might very well be the breakfast of champions at your favorite bistro!

So what countries have what bugs on the menu? In the US, the cochineal, an insect native to South America, is used in red dye for things like red lipstick and red candy. In Japan, hachi-no-ko (boiled wasp larvae) is a popular delicacy you can find all over Japan; like chicken nuggets at every fast food restaurant, on almost every corner in America. In Thailand, fried crickets are a common sight in bars (just like pretzels or peanuts in the US), and in Brazil, queen ants like the icas ant are wildly popular because of it’s mint like flavor.

I remember being a kid perusing the buffet line at a restaurant, or the offerings on a menu, trying to decide what to eat, or, what not to eat, based on what it looked like or what I was told the food was. It was a veritable mine field of chance-by-choice. Ewwww, peas. Fast forward a few years, okay decades, and I eat most of the stuff I wouldn’t dream of touching as a child. That raises an interesting question. What if all this bug eating was the same thing? How will we know what we like if we don’t try it first? I’ve had chocolate covered grasshopper and no, it didn’t taste like chicken. It tasted like chocolate and peanuts. Not bad. That being said, if you have an ant infestation, or cluster flies buzzing about, don’t run to the cupboard for the chocolate sauce, call a professional.

Would You Like Flies With That? is a post from: deBugged - The Rentokil Blog

Items from private collections occasionally went missing. Some say the Beast of Bodmin Moor is a black panther, escaped from a private zoo. The first wild black squirrel was spotted in 1912 near Letchworth in Hertfordshire after escaping from a private collection owned by the Duke of Woburn. The black squirrel is a genetic mutation of the grey squirrel which could soon outnumber the red squirrel. There are an estimated 25,000 black squirrels in the UK and 30,000 red squirrels.

In 1902 a handful of the enticingly named edible dormouse (Glis glis) escaped. Today there are an estimated 20,000 Glis glis residing in 25 mile radius of Tring. Although very cute, Glis glis are incredibly noisy and have become a nuisance to Chiltern homeowners sharing a home with the noisy critters who like to gnaw electrical cable and produce humongous amounts of waste.

In the US escaped pets are more sinister. A paper published on Monday by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences reported a severe decline in the number of small mammals in the Everglades. The culprit was the Burmese python. The gigantic 13 foot constricting snake which is native to Asia, slivers through the waterways of south Florida, preying on a wide variety of mammals and birds. The report stated that before 2000, mammals were encountered frequently during nocturnal road surveys within the Everglades National Park. A decade later there is a 99.3% decrease in the frequency of raccoon observations, decreases of 98.9% and 87.5% for opossum and bobcat observations, respectively, and no rabbits. Some of the Burmese pythons are escaped pets, others dumped or introduced into the Everglades on purpose.

The Americans have spent $78million trying to keep Asian carp out of the Great Lakes. The Ontario Commercial Fisheries Association claim it could be catrosophic if the Asian carp infests US lakes. Anyone found in procession of asian carp can be fined $60,000. If you spot an Asian carp click here to learn how to report it.

Evicting the outlaws from your home it not straightforward. It is an offence under Section 14 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 to release or allow the escape of any invasive species into the wild, including Rattus norvegicus, the brown rat.

Invasive species not only create havoc for native species, they can be bad for your health. The Giant African Land Snail was banned from being kept as a pet in the US in 2004 because it can carry a parasite that can lead to meningitis.

The legacy left by the Edwardian collectors has been costly. Invasive non-native species cost the British economy over £1.7 billion a year, with the Norwegian rat creating £62 million pounds worth of havoc.

To report a sighting of a black squirrel go to www.blacksquirrelproject.org to help map the population of this invading species.

When Escaped Pets Become Pests is a post from: deBugged - The Rentokil Blog

Unseasonably warm winters mean insects that go dormant for the winter stay active. It means insects will breed earlier than usual, supported by accelerated life cycles; also due to warmer temperatures. Ticks, for example, are likely to start the phone ringing sooner than anyone would want due to their resiliency and a biology that supports activity in months most of us relax our tick prevention efforts. (Remember, treat your pets and your home year round for year round protection.) While we cannot control what mother nature does as she drops two-feet of snow in October, or  as you walk the dog in shorts January 14th (it was 68 degrees), you can protect your home and family from pests year round and be prepared for the unexpected twists and turns the weather is going to throw at you.

Mild winters also mean more rodent activity. Rodents that moved into structures in the fall for warmth, while happy with their new surroundings, could mean that rodent populations increase instead of decreasing as they should in colder months. More importantly, populations can quickly surge in the spring bringing ticks, fleas and other parasites that rodents carry along for the ride. Not a good scenario for pets or humans alike.

So if you’re noticing the odd fly or ants sporadically throughout the winter, or if the mouse activity you suspected suddenly ceases to make itself known, brace yourself. Spring’s true measure of pest activity now begins with winter’s puzzling display of climatic oddities.

How Mild Winters Affect Pests is a post from: deBugged - The Rentokil Blog

Luckily for homo sapiens, having fun Friday or Saturday night may one day mean not having to pay the price the day after. But what about the dreaded hangover and other effects of overindulging? More good news from the scientific community with regards to alcohol consumption.

The January 4th Journal of Neuroscience reports that researchers dosed rats with an ancient herbal remedy called dihydromyricetin, or DHM, from an extract of the seed of the Asian tree, Hovenia dulcis. Records touting the herbal remedy as an effective means of reversing or eliminating alcohols effects date back to the year 659.

Getting rid of rats in your home or business, while still one of the topics you will commonly find here, you would be hard pressed to find a more intriguing news story than one about rats drinking beer.  A lot of beer. It really just begs the question, “how much beer can a rat drink?” By the way, I’m not embarrassed to admit these rats could easily drink me under the table. The rats in this study performed by the University of California Los Angeles, drank the human equivalent of 15 to 20 beers in under two hours. Yeah. And they weren’t even playing a drinking game with friends. I’m curious if they will be testing with wine anytime soon…

During the study the rats were separated into two groups. Those getting lots of beer and no DHM dosage, and those getting lots of beer that was dosed with DHM. The rats who enjoyed several “cold ones” without DHM passed out and could not get their bearings for an hour and were unable to flip-over off their backs.

The rats that had alcohol dosed with DHM fared better, but still showed signs of inebriation. Dosed rats recovered more quickly (although they still struggled to flip off their backs), regained their composure in 15 minutes and also showed no signs of alcohol addiction after several weeks of imbibing. The DHM dosage also notably eased rat hangover symptoms including seizures and anxiety. A researcher at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York City found that rats drinking the untreated beer gradually consumed more beer. However, and this is the studies clear cut winner, the rats drinking beer dosed with the herbal remedy showed reduced consumption further supporting the researchers theory that DHM might also prevent alcohol addiction.

Beer Drinking Rats Support Science is a post from: deBugged - The Rentokil Blog

The nursery rhyme about mice, with roots firmly planted in English history, dates back to around the time of Queen Mary I of England.

Another source sites Thomas Ravenscroft, a teenager at the time, who may have authored the rhyme in 1609. A timeless rhyme that you can hear just about anywhere in the world today. You’re probably humming it right now. There’s only one problem. Mice aren’t blind. While this isn’t earth shattering news, it may come as a surprise that mice have poor vision, as opposed to no vision.

So how do mice find our homes, kitchens and cupboards?Ah now we’re getting somewhere grasshopper! Mice are the decathletes of the mammalian world. They can only see clearly at a distance of about six inches and are color blind. However, that’s where their physical limitations end. Now the facts get cartoonish. They can climb walls with ease as long as the walls are textured, they can swim but prefer not to, and they can survive a fall from as high as 8 feet without so much as a scratch. Mice can also jump 12 inches high, and if that weren’t enough, they can also squeeze through openings around ¼” in size. These are the types of problems professional pest control is designed  to resolve for you.

The reasons mice find our homes and businesses are simple. Mice are curious, they are hungry and as the weather gets colder, mice want shelter. When near structures, mice follow warm air currents passing under door thresholds, and escaping out cracked windows or through utility lines. Mice also find and follow the food odors these air currents carry. These two scenarios bring mice, quite literally, to our doorstep.

And in case you think seeing a mouse means you only have one, think again. Mice are social mammals with established hierarchies complete with compatible, related males and females. Unrelated males and females are met with aggression and quickly evicted. Mice are prolific breeders reaching sexual maturity in 35 days. This is problematic since new mice begin breeding at 6-10 weeks with pregnancy lasting 19 days. With an average litter size of 6 mice, and the average female producing about 8 to 10 litters per year, a female mouse can produce a new litter every 40-50 days. I will leave the rest of the jaw-dropping math to those within arms reach of a calculator, or a really smart fourth grader!

The real problem is the filth mice introduce into our environments. Mice leave droppings just about everywhere they visit. Mice are known disease carriers and their presence is never a good thing. Among the organisms mice spread are Salmonella, a source of food poisoning caused by mice droppings, tapeworms (also via droppings) and Weil’s disease (infectious jaundice) caused by mice urine in food or water.

If you have mice, or if you know you get mice this time of year, the best time to get started on getting rid of mice is right away. As the old saying goes, “prevention is better than cure.” Besides, your health and the health of your family and pets depend on not letting three blind mice, turn into twelve blind mice…..

Three Blind Mice, See How They… is a post from: deBugged - The Rentokil Blog

This pest which is dark-bodied, yellow-legged, and up to 3cm long, was introduced to Europe in 2004 via a shipment of pots imported from China. With its favourite food being the honey bee, the implications of an infestation could be disastrous.

The nature of these pests means they are unlikely to be easily eradicated and could cause considerable problems for the bee population. The British Beekeeping Association is preparing for the worst and is on red alert while they await the arrival of this menace.

Not only are they a real threat to the bee population, people are at risk too. In one year, seven people were taken to hospital after being stung by this hornet. Should the bee population be wiped out, it is estimated that the UK economy could suffer a yearly blow of £1.7bn.

The average person may come across the Asian Hornet and not notice the difference, or register the implications this pest could have on the country. To be completely honest before joining Rentokil, I struggled with the difference between a wasp and a bee! It is therefore important that we warn people of the danger, that way we can all contribute to identifying this pest and saving the UK bee population from a potential wipe-out.

UK On Red Alert As Killer Hornet Threatens To Invade Our Shores is a post from: deBugged - The Rentokil Blog

Alan Avery from the Avery Garden Centre in Taunton first spotted the nest back in April. Located inside the roof insulation of a shed, the wasp nest continued to grow over the coming months. Over this time the nest was home to tens of thousands of wasps, although no one was ever stung. The irony being that the nest was built directly above a shelf full of pesticide products.

Because the nest was partially growing inside the roof insulation the actual size of the nest will never actually be known, but the ‘accessible’ part of the measured approximately 4 ft in length.

While this nest won’t take the title from the team at the Southampton pub, it sounds like it sure would have been a contender had the entire length of the nest been visible.

The 4 foot portion of the nest has now been donated to a local school.

For more information on wasps and to check if there’s a wasp nest in your area please visit UK WaspWatch.

Giant Wasp Nest Found In Somerset is a post from: deBugged - The Rentokil Blog

Signs of the smelly offender’s presence vary from finding them on or around windows, to hearing the buzz of a nearby flying insect: something like a tiny propeller whizzing past your head, to finding them in the unlikeliest of places, like in your cupboard or walking across your television screen. Wait, they like sports and sitcoms too? Their shield shaped back is painted in hues of brown, and their slow, lumbering gate confirm what you may suspect: the stink bug has invaded my home!

The Stinkbugs Are Coming

Increasingly more at home with each new city they arrive in, the brown marmorated stink bug is a nuisance pest that doesn’t bite or sting. What the stink bug does do and do very well however, is stink. This, the unfortunate outcome of their demise once crushed or corralled to be disposed of. The stink bugs not so subtle, scented remnants can be gleaned by sniffing your hand or whatever surface they were on when you, well, took care of…that one. There will be more. A solitary insect and pollen feeder, the stink bugs arrival signals temperature changes that will soon reveal fall and it’s chilling transition to winter.

There is however good news. There are some things you can do to reinforce the battle front; your home for all intents and purposes. Measures like sealing cracks and crevices around doors and windows, sealing gaps around utility lines entering the structure, and making sure your screen windows fit nice and tight are all simple, if not quick fixes. If you want to keep the smelly, lethargic buggers out completely, your best bet is combining the methods mentioned above with a stink bug solution timed seasonally for maximum effect.

From the looks of it stink bugs are not going away. And unless your plan includes cave dwelling or living underwater, where you will have far more curious pest concerns to contend with, your best stink bug defense is a strong stink bug offense.

If You Haven’t Heard of Stinkbugs Yet…You Will is a post from: deBugged - The Rentokil Blog

The Empty Sky Memorial with New York City in the Background

Ehrlich Pest Control’s Bird Division was actually in New York City at the time of the terror attacks performing bird deterrent installations, giving a deeper level of respect and meaning to Ehrlich’s role 10 years later as the service provider keeping the Empty Sky Memorial free of pest birds.

The monuments, designed and built to resemble the Twin Towers, which mimicks the Twin Towers unmistakable shape and iconic grandeur, are also aligned in a way that is both visually striking and poignant:  All the more reason to keep birds from roosting and otherwise defacing this historic and important gesture of remembrance. The installation of bird deterrent will keep the monuments free of roosting birds and the telltale signs they so often leave behind. The monuments will stand for many years serving as a place of solemn, heartfelt reflection for future generations to learn this important part of American history, while remaining free of nuisance pest birds.

Ehrlich’s Bird Division is also the bird control solutions service provider responsible for keeping birds from leaving their mark on other popular landmarks you may have heard of, like the MTA Station at Yankee Stadium, the Smithsonian Institute, the Museum of Jewish Heritage, and the Washington National Cathedral.

Ehrlich Protects The Empty Sky Memorial is a post from: deBugged - The Rentokil Blog

In mediaeval times enemies would catapult wasps nests and scorpions at their enemies, and the Viet Cong who fought the United States and South Vietnamese governments during the Vietnam War (1959–1975) created booby-traps from nests of wild bees.

Weekly I read articles like the next insect invasion: Stink bugs?! and mice invading homes, but this is nothing compared to the horrors in which man has engaged insects to do his dirty work. Microbes often can’t survive long periods outside of their hosts, but insects can act as vectors delivering a lethal disease.

During the second world war much research was done by scientists on both sides, experimenting on how insects could be used as weapons. Japanese bombers dropped ceramic containers filled with cholera-infested flies on Southern China, killing over 400,000 people. The Japanese scientist Ishii held that the plague could help win the war against the allies. He set his sights on creating mayhem in America. By 1945 a plague factory called unit 731 was constructed which housed three million rats and 4,500 flea breeding machines producing over 200 million fleas a week.

A plan was hatched, but luckily never spawned. A balloon was to carry the rats infested with plague-ridden fleas across the Pacific. The rats would descent upon America and distribute the pathogens across the states.

Several flea-bomb attacks were successfully launched against China from 1939-45. In 1944, an assault was planned to sprinkle plague-infested fleas around the Saipan airfield, which the Americans held. The ship carrying the assault team was sunk by an American submarine and the mission never completed.

The Nazi’s tried to hit the Brit’s where it hurt most – by attacking their precious potato crops. They reared millions of Colorado potato beetles and planned to air-drop them onto fields but there is no evidence to suggest the beetle invasion ever took place.

During the Cold War, the US military planned a facility which would produce 100 million yellow-fever-infected mosquitoes a month. An “Entomological Warfare Target Analysis” of vulnerable sites in the Soviet Union was drawn up. To test the dispersal technique uninfected mosquitoes were secretly dropped over American cities in Georgia.

Today globalization has brought insect invaders to our shores. Bed bugs, Stink bugs, Fire ants and the Asian longhorned beetle are creeping across the states but thankfully they don’t spread disease. However they are eating our finances.  According to the US Department of Agriculture the Asian longhorned beetle has the potential to destroy more than $700 billion worth of forests. In 1989 the Mediterranean fruit fly almost devastated crops in California with a sinister undertone.

In a superb article published in The Boston Globe entomologist Jeffrey A. Lockwood commented on how exposed the US is to insect warfare. In 1989 a group naming themselves The Breeders claimed to have secretly released the Mediterranean fruit fly in Los Angeles and Orange counties, threatening to expand the attack into the San Joaquin Valley, a major center of California agriculture. The Mediterranean fruit fly is a major-agricultural pest, attacking a wide-variety of fruit and vegetables reducing them to mush. An infestation of the fly had been detected a few months before and infected crops were successfully treated by spraying pesticides. It was inconclusive whether The Breeders were responsible for the outbreak but a sizeable economical disaster had been averted.

Although insects have the potential to create chaos and spread disease, we have the tools to combat them. Biting insect infestations can be treated with pesticides.

If you want to read more about entomological warfare, Six-Legged Soldiers by Lockwood is a fascinating account of the creative ways that scientists and military strategists have used insects as warfare tools. There are some excellent references on the role of insects as biological weapons by R.K.D. Peterson presented in 1990 at the University of Nebraska. The Monterey Institute of International Studies offers a detailed timeline of biological incidences targeting agriculture.

War Tactics: Catapulting Wasps Nests And Flea Bombs is a post from: deBugged - The Rentokil Blog