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Rats!, Mice!!
As the weather starts to cool during the fall months, rats and mice start moving indoors, looking for food and dry, protected shelter. We receive calls for rodent control throughout the year, but rats and mice cause far more problems now and during the months ahead than at any other time. Even homes and businesses that are normally rodent-free can start having problems.
Rats and mice eat and contaminate a good deal of stored food with their urine, numerous droppings, and the hairs they shed. They also damage property by chewing and digging. In fact, about 20 percent of all fires of unknown cause are due to rats and mice gnawing on
electrical wires. House fires tend to occur most frequently in autumn when rats and mice move indoors to seek shelter.
Rats and mice also transmit a wide variety of diseases. More than 200 species of disease-causing micro- organisms (including salmonella food poisoning, murine typhus, Hantavirus, and plague), and parasitic worms (such as trichinosis) are associated with rats and mice. Insects and mites associated with rodents include blood-sucking fleas, ticks, mites, lice, and bed bugs.
These blood"'sucking pests are an important means by which many disease-causing organisms are transmitted from rats to people and our pets.
Not all mice and rats are infected with all 200 diseases, but the possibility that they do carry some and could transmit something to us and our pets is reason enough to call us and have
us control these common fall pests.
Insects Invade in Fall
Rats and mice are not the only pests that invade buildings in the fall. As the weather starts to change in the months ahead, many insects also begin looking for a suitable place to spend the fall and winter. And "guests" is too kind a word for them!
For these pests homes and other buildings may seem to be nearly perfect places-they provide lots of cracks and crevices in hidden places, well protected from rain and cold. But it doesn't turn out to be the utopia it appears at first, because many of the bugs become confused and eventually work their way further inside, mistaking the warmth and lights indoors for spring-time conditions. Usually they dry out and die there, but they can become a real problem stinking up the house, staining curtains, spoiling food, etc. They can even set off smoke alarms.
Fall invading the pest include the new Asian lady beetle, crickets, cluster flies, ants (some species may move their entire colony indoors), boxelder bugs, elm leaf beetles, root weevils, and certain mites. (Mites are not insects, but closely related pests.)
A few of these pests can be vacuumed up. If there are lots of them, they can be sprayed indoors. Caulking cracks around the outside of a home is a good idea too. But a treatment around the foundation outdoors, to control the pests before they get indoors, is the wise preventative step. Ask us about special treatments now to help stop these and other fall invaders.
Bugs Slow Windmills
Surprisingly, dead bugs may be contributing to higher energy costs, according to a recent article in the journal Nature. It turns out that dead bugs accumulate on windmill blades as they turn, making the blades rougher. Much as barnacles on ship bottoms greatly slow ships as they move through water, dead bugs can slow the speed of windmill blades as they cut through air by as much as 50%. This has been a cause of unexplained shortfalls of energy production from windmills.
Interestingly, the bulk of the bug impacts occur during low wind conditions, but it's during high winds that accumulated bugs affect windmill performance the most. Rains help clean the blades. If the rains are not frequent enough, the bugs must be scrubbed off.
Bed Bug Problems Increasing
Remember when Mom would tuck you into bed and say, "Good night- don't let the bed bugs bite?" Bed bugs, once rare in this country, are making a comeback across the nation. Florida is noting a ten fold increase in bed bug problems in the last couple of years. It's not just seedy hotels and motels that are having problems with these blood-sucking pests-they are even in luxury hotels.
Part of the resurgence is because pest management professionals are using more baits and other treatments to reduce the number of sprays where possible. The sprays in cracks and crevices for cockroaches had been eliminating bed bug infestations.
Increased numbers of international tourists have also contributed to the problem. Bed bugs can be transported in luggage from infested areas.
Your Questions Answered
Q. "Do compost piles attract rats?"
A. Compost piles can attract. ." both rats and mice. The piles provide food and shelter, which are essential for these creatures to survive. And as we start into the cooler months ahead, semi-active compost piles may provide another benefit to rodents-extra warmth. But there are things you can do to prevent rats and mice from taking advantage of your composting efforts.
Stick to composting yard wastes and do not add kitchen scraps. These pests will eat any food that people eat. Maintain your compost pile properly to maximize composting. Temperatures inside these piles can reach up to 1500 F because of the heat produced in the composting process. This heat, plus the regular turning of the pile to aerate it and keep it "cooking", creates an environment where rodents can't nest.
If there are still problems, perhaps because table scraps are being added or the pile is not being maintained properly, consider enclosing the compost in materials such as 1/2 inch hardware cloth (20 gauge wire meshing) to keep out rats, or buy a compost bin that physically keeps out rodents.
Hantavirus An Ongoing Hazard
There have been 277 cases of hantavirus in this country and more than 100 human deaths since the disease was first recorded eight years ago. The virus source is dried urine, feces, saliva, and blood of infected rodents-mostly deer mice.
The disease is usually contracted by breathing in airborne particles containing the virus.
Pest Trivia!
CHALLENGE YOURSELF & FRIENDS WITH THESE!
1. How many muscles do bees use to sting?
2. What is "entomophilately"?
3. Why is NASA studying insects for long-term space flights?
4. How many times can the larva inside a Mexican jumping bean jump?
5. How many hairs does a rat shed each year?
ANSWERS TO PEST TRIVIA!
1. 22
2. Entomophilately is the practice of collecting stamps that have insects on them. One study showed that from 1892 to 1988, there were 4,971 stamps issued by 289 countries that depicted insects or their close allies.
3. NASA has commissioned studies on insects as food for long-term space flights, because of the high nutritional value of many insects. Plus, certain garbage-eating beetles have been considered as a way to recycle garbage in space. These beetles could then be harvested and eaten. Yuck!
4. Half a million times during its life span.
5. 300,000 hairs!
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