INSECT AND RODENT INFORMATION

A-Action Pest Control, Inc. incorporates the IPM (Integrated Pest Management) approach to pest management.
IPM is a comprehensive approach of controlling insects and other pests with environmentally and economically sound practices.
The steps involved in a thorough IPM approach include:

IDENTIFY the pests that are the source of the problem. Correct identification is required to identify optimum solutions.
BIOLOGY of the pest and the surroundings in which the pest exist.
MONITOR pests and natural controls by::
1. removing pest food sources
2. eliminating water sources (leaky pipes, damaged wood)
3. exclusion (proper screen fittings, caulking)
4. using appropriate pesticides when necessary
SELECT appropriate strategy of cultural, mechanical, biological or chemical prevention and control techniques
EVALUATE pest management program and improve upon them when possible

Call A-Action Pest Control, Inc. for information on service plans for the following common pest problems:

ANTS - Ants are social insects living in colonies comprised of one or a few queens, and many workers. The queen generally stays deep and safe within a nest. Most ants that you see are workers and these are all females. Depending on species, workers may be similar in size, or come in a range of sizes.

Ants tend to come in dark or earth tones. Different species are black, earth-tone reds, pale tans, and basic browns.

Most ant species live in the soil. Some, like the carpenter ants, also live in wood (they excavate, but do not actually eat the wood). Some ants live in cavities made inside plants, such as acorns and twigs.

Since ants are social they display many behaviors that remind us of our families and society. For example, worker ants take care of larvae by feeding and washing them. Ants are able to communicate with each other. They are able to communicate, among other things, directions (to where the food is) and alarm.

CARPENTER ANTS - Most Carpenter Ant species establish their initial nest in decayed wood, but once established, the ants extend their tunneling into sound wood and can do considerable damage to a structure.
These species commonly nest in standing trees (living or dead), in stumps, or in logs on the forest floor. Since many houses are being built in forested areas, well established, vigorous colonies are readily available in the immediate vicinity to attack these dwellings. This is especially true when the homeowner insists that the home be built with a minimal removal of trees.

Carpenter Ants typically have a parent colony in outside nesting areas, such as live or dead trees, stumps, logs or decorative landscape wood. When the colony grows larger and needs room to expand satellite colonies are established. These satellite colonies often develop in nearby structures presumably because they offer warm protection.

Only the parent colony contains the queen(s), young larvae and workers, while the satellite contains the mature larvae, pupae, workers, and/or winged reproductives. Ants move back and forth from parent nest to satellite nest, but just a few ( less than 10 % ) will be visible foraging for food.

Sometimes they can be seen moving mature larvae (white and grub-like) or pupae (papery cocoons).

Ants are generally active along ant trails from April to mid-October. These trails follow natural contours and lines of least resistance and also frequently cut across lawns. Traffic on these trails may be noticeable during the day, but peak traffic occurs after sunset and continues throughout the night.

The parent colony is often located in a tree, stump, stacked wood within 100 meters of the house or wood and stumps buried in the yard when the house was constructed. Decorative wood landscape ties brought in to enhance the beauty of a yard or driveway may also be the source of a parent colony. The colony does not produce reproductives (winged males and queens) until it is from 3 to 6 years old and contains about 2,000 workers. The natural food for these ants consists of insects and other arthropods and sweet exudates from aphids and insects. They are also attracted to other sweet material such as decaying fruits.

Reproductive carpenter ants ( winged males and females ) leave the nest as early as January if the nest is in a heated structure. Those living outside in logs and stumps will not swarm until about early May. The fertilized queens must then find wet wood to establish a new nest, and the cycle starts over again.

The new queen could live 15 years or more and lay 70,000 fertilized eggs.

MICE - The common house mouse is the most frequently observed species and is the ancestor of the white mice that are raised for scientific experimentation. In its wild state, the house mouse is slightly less than 17 cm (less than 6.5 in) long including the tail, which is slightly more than 8 cm (more than 3 in) long; domestic mice, because of better nutrition, are often considerably larger. The house mouse is yellowish-gray above, sometimes streaked with black, and lighter gray beneath. It breeds every 10 to 17 weeks throughout the year, producing five to ten young in a litter. Mice have been known to spread various diseases and can cause damage to your property through constant chewing. Mice have been known to damage computer systems and electrical wiring as well.

SPIDERS - A spider is an araneae, an order of arachnid. There are many thousand different kinds of spiders. All spiders have eight legs. Most spiders have eight eyes but some have fewer than eight. They don't have ears, they feel the sound vibrations with tiny hairs on their legs. Their bodies have two parts, the head and the abdomen. The abdomen is plump. Spider blood is light blue. Blood fills up all the empty space in the spider's body, it helps to keep the legs stiff so the spider can walk. Spiders breathe, too. As spiders grow, they molt. That means they shed their old skin and grow a new one. They molt many times before they become adults. Many spiders live for only one year but some, like tarantulas can live much longer. Spiders come in different sizes. Some are fuzzy and others are smooth, and they come in many different colors. Spiders live in many different kinds of places, water, gardens, houses, and the ground. They live where it is hot and where it is cold. They live where it is wet and where it is dry. Some are poisonous and others are not. They all eat insects and some other animals.

WASPS - Wasps comprise an enormous and diverse assemblage of insects ranging from the smallest known insects—tiny parasites of insect eggs—to immense cicada killers and tarantula hawks. Most wasps are predators whose young feed on other insects or arthropods, but a few groups have become vegetarians, similar to bees, and collect pollen to be fed to their larvae. Both sexes of wasps are typically strong fliers, but some species are flightless, and in others, one sex, usually the male, is an excellent flier while the other sex is flightless. Velvet “ants”—actually female wasps that superficially resemble ants—are an example of this.

Paper wasps are large, (about 1 inch, or 20 to 25 mm) social wasps that build paper honeycomb nests. Paper wasps are longer, thinner, and more smooth and shiny than honey bees and have longer, narrower waists (called petioles) than do bees.

YELLOW JACKETS - Yellow jackets (Vespula species, Vespa species and Dolichovespula species) are considered beneficial around home gardens and commercially grown fruits and vegetables at certain times of the year because they feed abundantly on insect pests such as caterpillars and harmful flies. Unfortunately, in late summer and early fall when their populations peak, the yellow jackets’ normal insect diet disappears and their feeding habits become a problem to man. At this time of year, the yellow jacket has an appetite for much the same food and drink as those consumed by man. Also, yellow jacket stings can result in a life-threatening situation, especially if the person is allergic to yellow jacket venom.

The yellow jacket worker is about ½ inch long and has alternating yellow and black bands on the abdomen. Foraging yellow jackets are often mistaken for honey bees by the untrained eye because of their similar appearance and the fact that they are sometimes attracted to the same food source. Honey bees are slightly larger than yellow jackets and are covered with hair or setae which are absent on yellow jackets. Foraging honey bees can be identified by the pollen baskets on the rear legs that are often loaded with a ball of yellow or green pollen. The yellow jacket has a smooth stinger that can be used to sting multiple times, whereas the honey bee has a barbed stinger than can be used to sting only once.

A yellow jacket does not leave a stinger in its victim, so therefore it can sting multiple times. To reduce swelling following a stinging incident, a person may use several sting remedies. A convenient material to place on the sting site is moistened table salt. Mound the dry salt on the sting entry point and moisten with a few drops of water. Leave the salt on the site for several minutes. This procedure must be applied within three to four minutes following the stinging incident to be effective.

Yellow jackets and other stinging insects often get inside moving vehicles, which may result in a very dangerous situation. The driver should carefully stop the vehicle on the side of the road and all passengers should exit on the front passenger’s side of the vehicle to avoid traffic. The driver should open all windows and leave the passenger doors open to allow the insects to exit the vehicle. Flying insects normally go immediately to the windows when inside a moving vehicle in an attempt to escape and are rarely in a defensive posture inside a moving vehicle unless provoked by an occupant. Persons should refrain from swatting the insect inside the vehicle.

HORNETS - Hornets are far more difficult and dangerous to control than paper wasps. The nests resemble a large, inverted tear-drop shaped ball which typically is attached to a tree, bush or side of a building. Hornet nests may contain thousands of wasps which are extremely aggressive when disturbed. The nests are often located out of reach and removal is best accomplished by a professional pest control firm.

EARWIGS - Earwigs are elongate, flattened insects, that may be light red-brown to black in color. They are easily recognized by their forcep-like appendages (cerci) on the end of the abdomen. The size and shape of the cerci vary between species and between males and females. These insects have chewing mouthparts and long, slender antennae and are either winged or wingless. If wings are present, the first pair are hard and very short, barely covering the first segments of the insect's abdomen.

Life Cycle and Habits - Earwigs get their name from a European superstition that these insects enter the ears of a sleeping person and bore into the brain. During the spring or autumn, the female earwig lays 20 to 50 smooth, oval, white or cream-colored eggs in a chamber in the upper 2-3 inches of soil. Earwigs are somewhat unusual (among insects) in that the female cares for the eggs and for newly hatched nymphs (immatures) until they molt for the first time. The nymphs leave the nest and spend one season maturing. Both eggs and adults overwinter in the soil below the frostline to escape the cold temperatures. Earwigs rarely fly and are unable to crawl long distances, but often hitchhike in laundry baskets, cut flowers, luggage, newspapers, carboard boxes, lumber, baskets of fruits and vegetables, automobiles, etc.

Earwigs require moist, cool places and are usually found in damp crawl spaces or basements, flower gardens near the home, in mulches, compost piles, trash, under boards and in wood piles. During dry, hot weather, earwigs sometimes migrate indoors. They are active primarily at night and are often found around lights. They feed on mosses, lichens, algae, fungi, insects, spiders and mites, both dead and alive. Some earwigs are predators, feeding on aphids, while others feed on living plants and may become pests in greenhouses and on certain crops such as vegetables, fruits, ornamentals, forages and field plants.

ASIAN LADY BEETLES - The multicolored Asian lady beetle is 1/3 inch in length; dome-shaped; yellowish-orange to red with variable black spots on the back. Deep orange is the most common color. The 19 black spots may be faint or missing. There is a black “W” shaped mark on the thorax.

Asian lady beetles, like other accidental invaders, are "outdoor" insects that create a nuisance by wandering indoors during a limited portion of their life cycle. They do not feed or reproduce indoors; they cannot attack the house structure, furniture, or fabrics. They cannot sting or carry diseases. Lady beetles do not feed on people though they infrequently pinch exposed skin. Lady beetles may leave a slimy smear and they have a distinct odor when squashed.

Asian lady beetles follow their instinctive behavior and fly to sunny, exposed surfaces when preparing to hibernate through the winter. The time of beetle flight varies but is usually from mid-September through October (depending on weather). Light colored buildings and walls in full sun appear to attract the most beetles.

PILLBUGS - This pest is the only crustacean that has become completely adapted to spending its life on land. Pillbugs have oval bodies and seven pairs of legs. They are easily recognized by their back, which is made up of seven hard individual plates. Pillbugs are sometimes referred to as rollie-pollies. Pillbugs live in moist locations. They are found under damp objects or under vegetable debris. Pillbugs do not spread diseases or invade food products. However, the pillbug is often considered a pest when it gains entry into a home.

BOXELDER BUGS - Adult boxelder bugs are flat-backed, elongate, narrow, about 1/2 inch long, 1/3 inch wide and dark brownish-black with three lengthwise red stripes on the pronotum (area behind the head). The head is black with the "beak" or proboscis reddish-orange and the long, thin, four-segmented antennae, half as long as the body. Wings are thick and leathery at the base and membranous at the tip. There are red veins in the wings and the abdomen is bright red under the wings. The nymphs or immatures resemble the adults in shape except they are smaller, more rounded, wingless and bright red. Eggs are dark reddish-brown.

Boxelder bugs may invade buildings, especially during the warm days of autumn, to seek shelter sites for overwintering. They are attracted to lights and will readily fly in open doors and windows. Indoors, these bugs are a nuisance by their presence, produce a foul odor when crushed and may stain curtains with fecal matter. Outdoors, they can be found clustering in large numbers on the sides of trees, buildings and other structures. Large populations are often correlated with long, hot, dry summers. During warm winter and spring days, they may become active, moving from their hiding places into living spaces.

FLEAS - Fleas, mange mites, and ticks are the most frequently encountered and most troublesome pests that attack humans and their pets.

Fleas are small (1/16"), dark, reddish-brown, wingless, blood-sucking insects. Their bodies are laterally compressed, (i.e., flattened side to side) permitting easy movement through the hairs on the host's body. Their legs are long and well adapted for jumping. The flea body is hard, polished, and covered with many hairs and short spines directed backward. The mouthparts of an adult flea are adapted for sucking blood from a host.

Several species of fleas may be pests in Illinois, and five kinds have been found on a single animal. The cat flea is the most frequently found flea, although the dog, human, and sticktight fleas are also found in Florida. Fleas may attack a wide variety of warm-blooded animals including dogs, humans, chickens, rabbits, squirrels, rats and mice.

CRICKETS - The field cricket is one of the most common household accidental invader insect pests. There are several species of field crickets ranging in size from 1/4 to 3/4 inch, but the best known is the black field cricket, a large, shiny black insect. Like other accidental invaders, field crickets spend most of their life outdoors where they feed, grow, develop and reproduce. Only during a limited portion of their life cycle do they wander indoors by mistake and create an annoyance.

Field crickets spend the winter as eggs laid in the soil. These eggs hatch in late spring or early summer, and tiny immature crickets called nymphs begin to feed on a variety of succulent grasses and weeds. The nymphs look like the adults except for their smaller size and the absence of wings. Nymphs develop into adults within approximately 90 days. The adults mate and lay eggs in late summer before succumbing to old age or freezing temperatures in the fall.

Chirping, one of the hallmarks of crickets, is done only by the males as a way to attract the females of their own species. Chirping is produced by rubbing the wings together.

Often some combination of the following suggestions will work. Ultimately, cricket problems end in the fall when the adults are killed by heavy frost or freeze.

1. Seal cracks, gaps and holes in foundation, siding, windows, doors, screens, and other possible entry points. Remove vegetation and debris from next to the house that serves as a hiding place or breeding site.

2. Reduce the number of pests at the source if possible. Spraying outdoor use insecticides on lawns, fencerows and other cricket habitats may help reduce the population of rickets. Spraying in mid summer when crickets are small is more effective than late summer applications.

3. Use barrier perimeter sprays on and along the foundation to stop migrating invaders. In years of abundance the barrier should extend all the way to the source if possible; that is,all the way to the fencerow, ditch bank or other identifiable habitat for crickets.

SILVERFISH - Silverfish and firebrats are wingless, flat insects with two long, slender antennae on the front and three long, slender "bristles" at the rear of a tapered, carrot-shaped body. They are 1/2 inch long when fully grown.

Silverfish may be found almost anywhere in the house, but are most commonly found in moist, warm locations (such as around sinks and other plumbing fixtures). They are covered with shiny silver scales that give the body a metallic sheen. They are frequently found in sinks or bathtubs because they fall in seeking moisture and then cannot climb out. Silverfish are most active at night and run very swiftly with a wiggling motion that resembles the swimming action of a fish.

Firebrats are similar to silverfish in overall appearance but lack the silvery sheen. The body color is gray or brown, usually with numerous dark markings that give a mottled appearance. Unlike the silverfish that may be found in any part of a house, firebrats prefer areas of high temperature (90° F and above) and high humidity. Therefore, firebrats are more common in attics and around furnaces, ovens, and water heaters.

Silverfish and firebrats are pests primarily because they are a nuisance and an annoyance. They may consume or stain foods, fabric, paper, books, or wallpaper. Damage to these items is significant, however, only in cases of very large infestations present over long periods of time.

MOSQUITOES - Each summer, hordes of these insects descend on backyards, parks and campgrounds. While most mosquitoes are merely nuisances, some can transmit serious diseases such as encephalitis and malaria in humans and heartworm disease in dogs.

What kinds of mosquitoes are common in Illinois?

Two different kinds of mosquitoes plague Illinoisans. Floodwater (temporary pool) mosquitoes deposit their eggs singly in low-lying areas that will be flooded later. Under normal summer temperatures, large numbers of biting mosquitoes will emerge about two weeks after heavy rains and can be a major nuisance problem for several weeks. The most common of these in Illinois is the inland floodwater mosquito. A vicious biter, this mosquito will commonly fly 10 or more miles from where they hatch, particularly along prevailing winds. Floodwater mosquitoes have not been significant disease carriers in Illinois.

Vector mosquitoes carry diseases and lay their eggs in stagnant ditches and sewage treatment ponds or water in treeholes, old tires, clogged gutters, old tin cans and anything else that will hold water. Eggs are laid on or just above the water surface, where they usually hatch within two to three days. Two of the more common vector mosquitoes in Illinois are the Culex, or house mosquito, and the tree-hole mosquito. Neither migrates long distances.

Another disease-carrying mosquito is the Asian tiger mosquito, which arrived in the United States in 1985 in old tires. An aggressive day-biting mosquito, it breeds in large numbers in water-filled artificial containers.

What is the best way to reduce populations of mosquitoes?

The first and best defense against these pests and the illnesses they may carry is to eliminate the places where they breed. Here are a few suggestions:

Remove or empty water in old tires, tin cans, buckets, drums, bottles or other places where mosquitoes might breed. Be sure to check clogged gutters and flat roofs that may have poor drainage. Make sure cisterns, cesspools, septic tanks, fire barrels, rain barrels and trash containers are covered tightly with a lid or with 16-mesh screen.
Empty plastic wading pools at least once a week and store indoors when not in use. Unused swimming pools should be covered or drained during the mosquito season. (Note: If you choose to drain your pool, be sure the hydrostatic relief valve is open in order to keep it from floating out of the ground if the water table rises.)
Change the water in bird baths and plant pots or drip trays at least once each week.
Store boats covered or upside down, or remove rainwater weekly.
Empty your pet's water bowl daily.
Level the ground around your home so water can run off and not collect in low spots. Fill in holes or depressions near your home that accumulate water.
Fill in tree rot holes and hollow stumps that hold water.
If you have an ornamental water garden, stock it with mosquito-eating fish (e.g., minnows, "mosquito fish," or goldfish). They eat mosquito larvae.
Keep weeds and tall grass cut short; adult mosquitoes look for these shady places to rest during the hot daylight hours.
Use a flyswatter or household spray to kill mosquitoes, flies or other insects that get into buildings. Spray shrubbery and high weeds to kill adult insects. (Check the insecticide label to make the sure the spray will not damage flowers or ornamental plants.)
Small impoundments of water can be treated for mosquito larvae with "Bti," a bacterial insecticide. Many hardware stores carry doughnut-shaped Bti briquets (Mosquito Dunks R) for this purpose. Be sure to follow the insecticide label directions exactly.
Some mosquito control methods are not very effective. Bug zappers are not effective in controlling biting mosquitoes. Various birds and bats will eat mosquitoes, but there is little scientific evidence that this reduces mosquitoes around homes.
Community-wide mosquito abatement efforts can be quite effective if they are conducted as part of an integrated pest management program. This includes monitoring and draining or treating areas where mosquitoes breed — such as street catch basins, occasionally flooded marshes, river backwater areas, swamps and other low-lying areas.