Mosquitoes, Ticks, and Tsetse Flies

While a bug bite here in the States will seldom do more then leave you irritated and scratching at it, bug bites abroad can be serious business. Dengue fever, malaria, or sleeping sickness—which are potentially life threatening illnesses—are just a few of the horrifying possibilities, and all of them are transmitted by insect bites.

Your first line of defense is to avoid areas where the bugs are prevalent. If that fails, keep covered and wear plenty of bug spray. A compound of 50% DEET is preferred. Wear long-sleeved shirts, pants instead of shorts, boots instead of sandals or open-toed shoes, and tuck your pants into your socks to protect your ankles, a favorite spot for mosquitoes.

In areas prone to ticks, like grasslands and treed areas, keep your hair covered as well and inspect for ticks regularly. If you are sleeping in the open or in an unventilated area, you need to use a mosquito net around your sleeping area to protect yourself through the night.

Tsetse flies are attracted to airborne dirt, so if you’re riding in an open car, it’s preferable to sit up front to avoid them. You’ll want to wear light-colored clothing and avoid yellow, the color reminds many arthropods of the food they eat and might attract them to you. Finally, there are medications that can protect you from some of these illnesses, so check with your physician well in advance of traveling.

Bedbugs

Bedbugs are a problem at hotels and hostels around the world. In order to avoid bringing the six-legged hitchhikers home with you, do a visual inspection of your room upon entering. Look at the bedding, pull back the sheets and check the mattress for critters, and check floors. They are keen on carpeted and soft areas, like your luggage, so DO NOT set your suitcases down on beds or floors. Instead, upon entering your room, it’s best to put them up high on a shelf or in a tiled bathroom where bedbugs are unlikely to be until you are sure that the room is clear of pests.

If you do run across bedbugs, you’ll need to deep clean every piece of fabric before you bring it back into your home to avoid an infestation.

Outdoor Adventure Safety

When experiencing the great outdoors through activities like hiking, mountain climbing, and horseback riding, make certain to follow the above outlined tips for keeping safe from biting insects. However, you’ll also want to take further precautions if you know you will be outdoors in pest-stricken areas.

Many areas of the world are home to particularly dangerous ants, wasps, hornets, spiders, and other nasty, nest-y pests that you’ll want to make certain not to disturb. If hiking at night, you’ll want to stay aware of your surroundings and utilize a durable, long-lasting light source (I like the flashlights from 5.11 Tactical to make sure you can see where you are stepping. Stay on well-traveled trails where they are less likely to nest.

During the day, keep your vision keen on the trails. Sunglasses are recommended for blocking out the sun’s glare and allowing you to clearly see any potential pests in your surroundings. Before setting up a tent, make certain to thoroughly inspect potential campsites for anthills and nests. Also, many of these critters build nests under the cover of vegetation so steer clear of dense growths.

Finally, if you’ll be hiking through areas of stagnant water, you’ll want to keep yourself protected from leeches and other pests by wearing hiking boots that fully cover your ankles.

Water-Born Illnesses

If you are traveling to an area that has poor sanitation, you need to beware of the dreaded Traveler’s Diarrhea, which is caused by exposure to unclean drinking water. Your best defense is to not drink the water, not ever, if you are unsure whether it’s sanitary. Simply stick to bottled water, sodas, drinks that have been boiled—like tea, coffee, wine, or beer.

It’s easy for contaminated drinking water to sneak past an unwary traveler, so remain vigilant. Something as inconsequential seeming as brushing one’s teeth or drinking a soda that has water droplets on it from melted ice can be enough to make you sick. Also, when in doubt, leave it alone. If you don’t see something opened in front of you, refuse to drink it. Make certain that you carry your own liquids with you so that you always have access to safe, clean water.

Adria Saracino is a blogger, marketer, and hiking enthusiast. She often writes for  5.11 Tactical, which sells everything from polarized sunglasses to hiking gear. When not exploring the great outdoors, you can find her writing about style at her personal fashion blog, The Emerald Closet.

Avoid Foreign Pests While Traveling is a post from: deBugged - The Rentokil Blog

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

Pest management professionals must be able to take in the full picture of the environment they’re working in and determine how to perform their task without causing undue harm. Throughout all aspects of their jobs, pest control experts can benefit greatly from a biology degree as it will give them the knowledge necessary to overcome the most trying obstacles in the course of their work.

Identification

The first step in pest management is identifying the problem. Pest management professionals need to be able to recognize signs of pest problems, track them to their source and then identify the specific species involved. Being able to tell one species of mouse from another could be the key to determining their habits and where they might be congregating or spreading from.

Extermination

Some pests are resistant to certain chemicals, whether by virtue of their species in general or through repeated exposure to them. Having a working knowledge of the biological factors involved in extermination methods and how to recognize resistances greatly benefits any exterminator in their trade. Often a client may wish for a more humane method of dealing with rodents and request that they be captured alive and released in the wild.

Prevention

Many people assume that cleaning and de-cluttering alone will take care of their pest problem, but professionals know that’s not the case. There are many things that need to be done to make a home inhospitable to pests and prevent them from getting back in. Cleaning and clearing out clutter are definitely two of the main strategies involved, but people need to also make it difficult for pests to gain entry by filling cracks and gaps, covering drains and installing metal mesh over vents. With proper attention to detail and care, pest control experts can help their clients not only get rid of pests, but also ensure they don’t come back.

The Whole Picture

In addition to knowing the taxonomy of pests, exterminators also need to be able to identify the makeup of the environment they’ll be working in. They have to be able to identify beneficial creatures and determine how their methods will interact with the entire ecosystem of the house. Any pets must be taken into account and the pest technician must ensure that any chemicals used will not negatively impact creatures other than the pests they’re targeting. Animals other than cats and dogs–chickens, for instance–will react differently to chemicals that would not harm normal pets. Knowing how various plants and animals interact and how they’ll react to various chemicals and other extermination techniques will give a pest control expert a leg up in these tough times and can help them ensure more work by displaying their skill and expertise.

Learn To Know Your Enemy is a post from: deBugged - The Rentokil Blog

Just to see what would happen, Sheffield University researchers placed hungry bed bugs on the arms of 29 brave volunteers (obviously not me).  Half the bed bug victims had shaved arms and the other half retained their body hair. The test was to discover if  the bed bugs preferred their humans hairy or not hairy.

The findings were published in the journal Biology Letters and researchers reported that bed bugs preferred the hairless arms, probably because it gave them an easier access to blood vessels. A bed bug takes between three and 10 minutes to feed, a long time to avoid a good slap from a human. Bed bugs prefer to bite under the cover of darkness and leave three tell-tale bite marks, referred to in the pest control industry as breakfast, lunch and dinner. An even more sinister fact about bed bugs is that they are unlikely to wake their victim, because they inject an anaesthetic whilst drawing the blood from its host.

In the summer I often bitten on my hair-free ankles by beasts unknown and I only ever get bitten below the knee by mosquitoes. But then the OH is very hairy and get eaten alive by anything with six legs. What does that mean?

Do Bed Bugs Prefer Hairy Humans? is a post from: deBugged - The Rentokil Blog

Last year I ordered a tree from the internet. I selected Scots Pine for its heady pine fragrance, pretty cones and all-round good Christmas spirit and checked the box for the biggest tree available. A few days later an articulated lorry stopped outside my home. Stretched along the back lay a 16 foot tree. The driver hopped out. He looked at my cottage, at the tree, at my cottage and back at the tree.  I ran inside to find a saw.

After some severe pruning to the tree, which had created another christmas tree, it took three of us to carry the giant brute of a spruce into the house. I dashed to the garden center to source an enormous pot in which to secure the tree. I also brought some sand and pebbles to place in the pot which was the size of  a small paddling pool. If the tree had toppled over it would have taken out half the room.

The only way I could decorate the monster tree was by using a pole standing on top of a six foot ladder. But at last the tree was installed and didn’t wobble when tugged. I was hopeful it wouldn’t fall over. Later that night we went out to a Christmas party and left my mother-in-law to babysit. She brought over a heap of ironing and settled down to watch television.

Apparently the screams could be heard down the road. It wasn’t just a christmas tree I ordered from internet. A Pipestrelle bat flew from the tree and flapped around the room before vanishing. The next day I found the bat hanging upside down from the sofa then it flew off and I haven’t seen it since. there are a lot of bats in my area. They roost in the church belfry a few yards away, and I like to think that the local bats took the Scottish tourist under their wings (sorry, couldn’t resist!).

This year’s tree has been up two weeks and is not so much a case of evergreen, more of a case of shedding green needles all over the carpet. So far I’ve not sighted an insect or spider, and I’ve not even heard the squeak of a bat or mouse.

Creature In My Christmas Tree is a post from: deBugged - The Rentokil Blog

It sounded a bit like a science-fiction term and so I was trying to keep up with the conversation whilst racking my brain as to how this could possibly fit in with pest control.

And then the penny dropped….or should that be nickel?

It seems this US name is their equivalent of our own casual intruders – though I suspect neither term makes much sense to a non-pest control person.

Simply put, it is a collective name that refers to a group of (typically) insects that may occasionally or casually invade our homes from time to time – now you see the connection, right?

In this particular instance, occasional invaders refers to the following insects:

• Crickets
• Ground beetles
• Boxelder bugs
• Ladybugs
• Earwigs
• Millipedes

Thankfully, these insects are mostly harmless and only cause irritation through their presence in the home, rather than causing any damage or spreading disease.

The cricket can however cause damage to fabrics including silk, wool, synthetics  (particularly viscose, triacetate and acetate). Clothing soiled with perspiration are highly attractive to crickets and unlike clothing moth holes, crickets chew large holes in fabrics they take an interest in. You have been warned!

The advice to homeowners who may already have these pests in their home is to use a vacuum cleaner to get rid of them, or to employ the catch and release method.

To prevent these pests in the first place, the usual advice is to:

• Inspect your property for any potential entry points
• Seal exterior cracks and crevices
• Ensure windows and door frames seal tightly
• Install door sweeps to tighten the gap at the base of doorways
• Inspect plants before bringing them inside

Am sure that having read this email you will all now be eager to go and inspect your crawl spaces, basements and doorways to prepare your homes to withstand occasional invader insects! Good luck!

Occasional Invaders, Not Space Invaders is a post from: deBugged - The Rentokil Blog

Over 56% of all known species on Earth are insects, and there are anywhere between five and ten million species still unknown to science; there are more than 1.6 billion insects for every man, woman and child on earth. Insects are everywhere and can even be found in the chilly extremes of Arctica and Antartica during the warmer months.

Insects were here long before humans. Insects were the first animals to appear on land, 400 million years ago, and have survived five massive extinction events since then. Although there are 26,000 million insects living in every square mile of habitable land on Earth, some insects are so small that you may not even see them. Here are a few fascinating facts about these very small but important creatures.

Big Facts About Tiny Insect

• The world’s smallest cockroach is only 3mm long and lives in ants nests.
• The fastest flying insect is the parasitic wasp Dicopomorpha echmepterygis. The parasitic wasp measures just over a tenth of a millimeter and has been used for pest control to keep the chimps free of flies at Edinburgh Zoo. Males of the species are blind and wingless, but females are capable of flight.
• The Thief Ant is the smallest ant species measuring 1/32-inch. Nests occur in a great variety of locations especially indoors, in cracks and cupboards. The ants are so small they are difficult to detect, and are very persistent and difficult to control.
• The smallest insect is the fairy wasp with a length of 0.2mm. The fairy wasp flies underwater and lays eggs inside those of water beetles.
• Although individually small, termites’ total biomass per unit area is double that of the biggest herds of African hoofed grazing animals.
• And if you were wondering how humans figure in all of this the world’s smallest man is Junrey Balawing, an 18 year old, 22-inch Filipino. He is only 10.5 cm taller than the Goliath beetle, the world’s biggest bug.

The World’s Smallest Insects is a post from: deBugged - The Rentokil Blog

Over a period of six weeks, 250 Dutch drivers were asked to clean their front number plate and go for a drive. They then counted the number of squashed insects and entered the  results on the website Splashteller.

Based on the data, an estimated 133 billion insects are killed by over seven million Dutch cars driving an estimated distance of 124.5 billion miles every year.

Using the same statistics, British drivers, with 31 million cars, inadvertently kill up to seven trillion insects while travelling every year.

What you really don’t want to interface with your car is a bird, which, from personal experience,  can crack windscreen.  Birdstrike can cause engine failure in airplanes and is reputed to be the cause of the crash-landed US Airways Flight 1549 in the Hudson River, New York. It is thought the plane collided with a flock of Canada geese.

Swans, rats and snakes have also brought flights to a standstill, and that can be a real pest because the flight is likely to be cancelled.

Splat! Insects On Your Windscreen is a post from: deBugged - The Rentokil Blog

Can insects predict the weather?

For centuries sailors and farmers have looked at behavioural patterns of insects to forecast the weather. It is said, if a spider leaves its web, it is going to rain. Or, that if bees fly close to the hive this foretells bad weather, whereas bees that fly far from the hive foretells good weather.

You won’t see a wasp or a bee in the rain as they don’t like to fly in the rain. Not surprising if you think how large a rain drop is in comparison to a wasp! Here are some interesting superstitions about insects and the weather.

Fair Weather

• Spiders weaving their webs during the middle of the day indicates continued good weather.
• Fireflies in great numbers indicate fair weather.
• When spiders’ webs in air do fly, the spell will soon be very dry.
• When spider webs are wet with dew that soon dries, expect a fine day.
• Frogs singing in the evening indicates fair weather the next day.
• Ants scatter in fair weather, and travel in lines when stormy weather comes.
• Ants close their holes before storms and open the holes when clear.

Rain

• If ants their walls do frequent build, rain will from the clouds be spilled.
• Ants are busy just before rain.
• Spiders in motion indicate rain.
• Leeches kept in glass jars are active just before rain.
• Ants building up their mounds indicates rain soon.
• When cockroaches fly, expect rain.
• Fireflies fly low before a rain.
• The louder the frogs, the more the rain.
• When spiders strengthen their webs, expect a storm.
• Woodlice run in large numbers before a rain.

Cold Weather

• Spider webs floating at autumn sunset bring a night frost.
• When hornets build their nests near the ground, expect a cold and early winter.
• Fleas are many before rain and snow.

If we have missed any pests please let us know!

Can insects predict the weather? is a post from: deBugged - The Rentokil Blog

Shortly after we moved into the crumbling pile that I call home we had a problem with fleas in the carpet. A technician came round and fumigated the carpet. To ensure  we don’t get another infestation I’ve been really careful to vacuum regularly, right up to the edges using the special attachment tool, to remove any flea eggs before they hatch.

Insects may be tiny but they have a strong survival instinct. They know that the edge of the carpet is the hardest to keep clean, even with a special attachment tool. Cracks and crevices hide organic debris upon which an insect can feast. To keep on top of pest prevention I removed all the furniture from the edges of the wall, including a very heavy bookshelf. After heaving it away from the wall there were threadbare patches and some unidentifiable larvae.

I called Matt the Rentokil Entomologist.

“There are weird insects in my carpet!” I shrieked.

“Send them to me and I’ll ID them,” Matt said calmly. “It could be a case of woolly bears with alopecia” he said, knowledgably.

I gathered up the larvae and posted them to him. A few days later Matt called back.

“I’ve received the merchandise!” he said excitedly. (Matt gets VERY excited about insects). He emailed through a picture taken with his fandangled USB microsope.

“You have Tachypodoiulus niger, or Black Millipedes, which have too many legs for a purist entomologist to be concerned with. Fortunately though, I like anything creepy like that. These lovely creatures eat fruit, vegetables…. and mould.” he said. “You have some Frog hoppers too, but they aren’t eating the carpet.”

“Millipedes. Yuk!” I said, looking at the picture of the shrivelled up nasties. “What are they doing in my house?”

“They are symptomatic of damp conditions.”

Brilliant! Not only do I have the equivalent of the Mistral rattling through the drawing room I’ve got a damp house, probably exacerbated by poor building standards.

I wonder if I can get staff discount off Rentokil Property Care?

What’s Eating My Carpet? is a post from: deBugged - The Rentokil Blog