 Are you bugged by ticks?
When people and their pets
begin spending more time outdoors, encounters with these nasty little
"stealth" pests become more common.
Ticks aren't actually bugs; they are
bloodsucking parasites related to spiders, mites, and scorpions. They
usually attach themselves to wild mammals, birds, and reptiles. But many
will feed on your pets ... or even on you and your family.
Like insects and spiders, ticks grow
by molting from stage to stage. Most have a three-host life cycle: the
larva feeds on the first host, drops off to molt into a nymph. The nymph
feeds on a second host, then drops off to molt into an adult tick, which
in turn finds a third host to feed on.
After mating, the female tick drops to
the ground and deposits anywhere from 3,000 to 6,000 eggs! These hatch
into the larvae, which are also called "seed ticks." They climb onto
nearby grasses or shrubs where they wait, front legs waving above them,
for an animal (or person) to pass by.
Most ticks are found where wooded areas border grassy
areas, a habitat found in parks, campgrounds, and many residential
yards. Ticks are often carried into residential yards by mice and deer,
and even on neighborhood dogs and cats. Ticks transmit many diseases to
people and animals. Lyme disease is the most common and widespread, but
ticks also carry rocky mountain spotted fever,
Colorado tick-fever,
tularemia, ehrlichiosis, and other diseases.
Fortunately, not all ticks carry disease, and even
when they do, they usually have to feed anywhere from 2 to 8 hours
before transmission can occur.
How to Remove A Tick
- Forget about those old remedies like
burning or smothering the tick. These methods are more likely to stress
the tick and cause it to regurgitate infectious material into the bite.
- Remove the tick as soon as you
discover it. The longer you delay, the greater the chances that the tick
will transmit a disease.
- Clean the bite area with a pair of
fine-pointed tweezers with alcohol.
- Using the tweezers, grasp the tick as
close to the skin as you can.
- Pull the tick out slowly but steadily.
Remove any mouthparts left in the skin.
- Apply an antiseptic to the bite area
and wash your hands and the tweezers.
- Don’t’ try to crush the tick with you
finger nails. You may squeeze out more infectious material.
- Save the tick in alcohol. If a rash or
illness develops later, see a physician and bring along the tick.
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more information
Few true bugs are of concern to Pest Control Operators,
the most common are the boxelder and chinch bug. A “true
bug” is from the Hemiptera family, and the bed bug belongs to
the true bug family Cimicidae a Heteroptera.
Bed bugs
have not been common in the United States for 50 years. However, with
more and more international travel, bed bugs are hitching rides on, or
with their hosts from countries where bed bugs are common.
Reduced use of residual insecticides in buildings and broad
spectrum uses are no longer used indoors, which permits bed bug
infestations to survive.
Many technicians have observed other cimicids such as the bat bug
and swallow bug. These bugs closely resemble the bed bug , but their
primary hosts are bats and birds.
Female bed bugs lay three to four eggs per day., which hatch in six
to 17 days. Adults live 10 months without a blood feeding. Bed bugs
live in clusters, and usually will not travel more than 20 feet from
their harborage. Bed bugs only feed at night every few days, and each
meal takes three to five minutes
These bugs are oval, flat and reddish-brown. They are from on-forth
inch to five-eighths inch in length, and are incapable of flying.
Common bed bugs feed on human blood just below the surface of the
skin. These bites itch intensely, and may leave a red hard welt.
Harborages my be stained with brown or black spots of dried blood.
Severe infestations permeate a sickening sweet odor.
The Major Pest Problems in Mid-South and Texas
The most wanted list across the country, according to Pest Control
Technology magazine, begins with “ANT” of one species or
another. In Texas the number one pest is still the fire ant. In
California it is the Argentine ant.
Overall their survey stated
that the carpenter ant rated as the number one pest
across the nation in 2002.
In the Mid-South, the odorous house ant is still the primary pest.
An increasing problem is the fire ant, and one of the biggest concerns
is the brown recluse spider.
Considerably more cases of this spider were reported by homeowners.
One brown widow case reported in Louisiana, where the species is
not a native, involved dozens of cars parked on lots in one part of
New Orleans. Hundreds of the brown widow spiders were found. Many cars
had to be fumigated. Pest Control operators, suspect several of these
spiders hitched a ride in a used car, or were transported to a lot on
some other item.
The bright lights on the car lots attracted flying insects, and
provided an abundance of food for the new inhabitant.
Head Lice Management Changes----------------
Americans suffer each year from pediculosis, or
head lice infestation. School children with head lice are sent home by
the school nurse and not allowed to return to the classroom until they
are certified "nit-free." This means parents and children must begin a
routine of shampooing, combing, checking heads, laundering clothing
and sheets, etc. This may all change.
The American Academy of
Pediatrics is urging schools to abandon their "no-nit" policies and
allow infested kids to remain in class. Research scientists have determined that head lice
are developing resistance to both the pyrethrin and pyrethroid active
ingredients in the over-the-counter shampoos that are used to kill
them. Head lice have also begun developing resistance to Ovide, a
prescription shampoo that contains malathion.
Kids and parents are
running out of good options for control of head lice.
The Academy recommends that infected kids be
treated, continue in school, but avoid head contact with other kids,
since crawling (not flying or hopping) is how lice get transferred
from one child to another.
The Washington Post, Dec. 10,
2002
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