Identify and Get Rid of Bed Bugs

Learn How to Protect Your Property by Identifying and Eliminating Bed Bugs

Bed bugs aren’t confined to dirty places. These tiny, dark-loving pests thrive in warm spots that have a ready supply of carbon dioxide and blood.

Research has found that at least 20% of Americans have either dealt with bed bugs or know someone who has.  

These small blood-drinking critters can be found everywhere from mattresses and bed frames to stuffed animals and purses. Bed bugs affect homes and businesses across the country, and approximately 97% of pest management professionals have provided bed bug treatments within the past year.

Popular tourist cities, including Chicago, Washington D.C., and New York City, are regularly on the list of places with the highest bed bug infestations. With some upscale hotels revealed to be bed bug hot spots, many people are justifiably worried about taking the problem home.

It’s easier to avoid a full-blown infestation if you know what bed bugs look like and where they like to lurk. If you suspect a bed bug infestation, seeking professional help as soon as possible to obtain bed bug treatment increases the likelihood of eliminating the problem.

It’s important to understand that do-it-yourself efforts will not eliminate a bed bug infestation.

These public health nuisances breed quickly and become more challenging to eliminate as the infestation grows. It’s essential to understand not just how to get rid of bed bugs, but also how to identify bed bugs to ensure proper treatment.

How to Identify Bed Bugs

Many people initially confuse bed bugs with other pests, including fleas. Although adult bed bugs have a similar reddish-brown color, these critters sport a flat body that has an oval shape.

They have piercing mouthparts that allow them to break through skin and suck blood from their hosts. Nymphs have a shape that’s similar to adults, but their coloring starts out as translucent and becomes an opaque brown during the maturing process.

What bed bugs look like may matter less than signs of their presence. Most people who discover they have bed bugs after waking up with bites. In addition to seeing live bugs and bites, other telltale signs of bed bugs include:

• Bites: Bed bugs feed anywhere they can find exposed skin. The small bite marks start painless and typically become itchy welts.
• Stains: Rolling over and moving about can inadvertently crush bed bugs. When these pests get crushed, they leave behind red stains and streaks on linens and other surfaces.
• Dark Spots: Red stains aren’t the only marks bed bugs leave behind. Dark spots on fabric indicate excrement left from bed bugs.
• Eggs: Tiny, pale yellow fragments could indicate freshly hatched nymphs or skin left behind as nymphs mature.

Where Bed Bugs Hide

In addition to knowing how to identify bed bugs, it helps to know where they like to hang out. Bed bugs are notorious hitchhikers, it doesn’t take much for these pests to survive. Bed bugs attach themselves to clothing, hide in luggage, and use pets as a form of transportation.

They have been found on second-hand furniture, inside moving boxes, in office buildings, in clothing stores, on public transit, and almost anywhere else imaginable.

Bed bugs can live up to 300 days and lay one to five eggs per day — which is absolutely terrifying. The good news is bed bugs are not known to transmit diseases, and all infestations are treatable with the help of a professional.

Areas to check for live bed bugs and eggs include:

• Seams of mattresses and box springs
• Cracks in headboards and bed frames
• Between cushions and in seams of upholstered furniture
• Folds in draperies and curtains
• Inside electrical appliances and receptacles
• Behind wall hangings and in cracks where the ceiling meets the wall

How to Get Rid of Bed Bugs

Getting rid of bed bugs can be a significant challenge, which is why professional pest control is a must. Whether the infestation is in a residential or commercial location, pest control pros like Catseye Pest Control can help treat and eliminate bed bugs.

It takes a significant amount of effort, but the problem is not insurmountable. Professional treatment from Catseye relies on a combination of state-of-the-art freezing methods and monitoring to achieve effective, environmentally friendly control that targets specific areas of homes and businesses.

Although bed bugs can withstand cold temperatures as low as -13 degrees Fahrenheit, the pest cannot withstand being exposed to temperatures below 0 degrees Fahrenheit for several days. If exposed to extreme temperatures for an extended period of time, the freeloaders can be eliminated.

In addition to professional treatment and monitoring, it’s crucial to make the space less hospitable for these tiny bloodsuckers. Other helpful steps that homeowners, renters, and business owners can take include:

• Reducing clutter to reduce hiding spots.
• Washing linens, clothing, and stuffed animals in hot water and drying items on high heat.
• Scrubbing mattress and box spring seams with a stiff brush before thoroughly vacuuming.
• Repairing cracks and peeling wallpaper to reduce the number of potential hiding places.
• Using a special mattress cover to prevent bedbugs from entering or escaping the mattress.

Contact Catseye Pest Control for Professional Bed Bug Removal

Since female bed bugs can lay up to five eggs in a single day, it doesn’t take long for a small number of bed bugs to grow into a large infestation.

If even a single bed bug sign is spotted, don’t wait as it could already be a monstrous situation.

At the first sign of these pests, contact Catseye for professional control and monitoring that safely and effectively eliminates the problem.

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In last week’s visit to Hawai’i we met one of many species of small sucking insects known as psyllids that have evolved along with their iconic native host plant, the ʻŌhiʻa tree, one of the first colonists of lava flows. This week we return to the Kilauea volcano on the big island to meet two non-native invaders to these remote islands. Recall that this chain of land masses formed as the earth’s crust passed over a volcanic hot spot beneath the Pacific Ocean over the course of some five million years. Flora and fauna extant on this archipelago are comprised of descendants of ancient colonists or more recent travelers that arrived from elsewhere with or without assistance from humans. The stark beauty of the lava flow on Kilauea’s Iki trail is punctuated not only by the indigenous ʻŌhiʻa, but also by a drop-dead gorgeous orchid known as the bamboo orchid, Arundina graminifolia. Bamboo orchids are native to tropical biomes in several Asian countries but have been introduced to countries in Central America, the Caribbean, and several Pacific islands, including Hawai’i where they readily colonize newly formed volcanic soils. Plants are not alone in their abilities to colonize new lands. Insects are also renowned for their peripatetic abilities and amongst the best of these travelers are ants, anointed by famed entomologist and sociobiologist E. O. Wilson as the “little things that run the world.” Ants created quite a stir in the media earlier this year when scientists released their findings that we share our planet with some 20,000,000,000,000,000 members of this six-legged clan. Ants are found on every continent on earth except Antarctica, which seems strange as this continent is the only one with “ant” in its name (LOL). Several islands also lack ants, but not so for the Hawaiian Islands where more than 60 species of ants have been introduced over the last few centuries with an assist from humans, as imported plants and products arrived on the islands.

The lava lake on the floor of erupting Kilauea Volcano creates new land. Among the first plants to colonize a recent lava flow is the beautiful non-native bamboo orchid. Not surprisingly, an unidentified species of ant is one pioneer to make this newly formed land its home, where it searches orchid blossoms for sustenance.

While always on the lookout for bugs and their relatives, it was no surprise to find the non-native bamboo orchid colonized by one of the many non-native ants busily exploring its blossoms, apparently in search of a plant product like nectar or perhaps honeydew-producing insects like aphids. Described as “ecosystem engineers”, ants play vital roles in global ecosystems providing services such as seed dispersal for plants, biological control of crop pests, aeration of soil, linking trophic levels of food webs, and decomposition of organic matter. However, recent invasions of pestiferous “tramp ants” to Hawai’i, including little and tropical fire ants, pose threats to humans and pets by virtue of their memorable sting. These and invasive yellow crazy ants attack and kill other arthropods, including native and non-native invertebrates like spiders, crabs, and insects, and also small vertebrates, including birds, reptiles, amphibians, and mammals. They may also defend colonies of sap-sucking insects like aphids that damage ornamental plants and crops.  A small dedicated band of scientists at the Hawai’i Ant Lab are tracking the spread of invasive ants. Their mission is to protect Hawai’i from new ant invasions, prevent the spread of established invasive ants, eradicate new infestations, and help homeowners, resource managers, and businesses to find new ways to manage the ongoing influx of these emerging pests. Don’t know if the tiny ants attending bamboo orchids are a boon or a bane to Hawai’i’s’ ecosystems, but they, along with these orchids are one of the first insect colonists to gain a foothold on new land. 

Acknowledgements

Bug of the Week thanks the ranger crew at Volcano National Park for suggesting locations to enjoy the spectacular natural beauty of the geology and biology found in the park. Enlightening discussions with Drs. Dan Gruner and Paula Shrewsbury helped shape this episode. Thr wonderful articles “The Little Things That Run the World (The Importance and Conservation of Invertebrates)” by Edward O. Wilson and “The abundance, biomass, and distribution of ants on Earth” by Patrick Schultheiss, Sabine S. Nooten, Runxi Wang, and Benoit Guénard, were consulted for content presented herein.

To learn more about invasive ants in Hawai’i, please visit this website: https://littlefireants.com/  

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As the weather cools down throughout North America, let’s head to somewhere hot, really hot, to the Mauna Loa and Kilauea volcanos on the big island of Hawai’i, where lava erupts from vents at some 2000 degrees Fahrenheit and creates some of the youngest land on Earth. The Hawaiian Islands are an archipelago, a chain of land masses formed as the earth’s crust passes over a volcanic hot spot beneath the Pacific Ocean. The northernmost islands in the string, Kaua’i and Ni’ihau, were born around 5 million years ago but the youngster of the bunch is Hawai’i, which arose from the seafloor only some half million years ago. It continues to grow with ongoing eruptions and lava flows.

A hike across a lava flow on the Kīlauea Iki trail provides fascinating clues to the formation of the rich floral and faunal diversity of the Hawaiian Islands. One of the first colonists to a virgin larva field is the sacred ʻŌhiʻa tree, Metrosideros polymorpha. This keystone species comprises some 80% of the native forests on the big island and provides habitat and food for many of Hawai’i’s endangered birds and insects. Scattered across the moonscape of a 1959 larva flow are young ʻŌhiʻa trees whose roots miraculously pierce the ropy lava to collect water and nutrients, which support a leafy canopy and brilliant ʻŌhiʻa blossoms. While examining these remarkable trees, we observed several with Hershey-kiss-shaped galls on the lower surface of many leaves. Galls are abnormal growths on plants created by several species of insects and mites that secrete potent chemicals into the plant’s undifferentiated tissues. These chemicals derail the normal developmental processes of the plant and create food and refuge for the insect or mite at the expense of the unwitting plant host. We met other species on gall making insects in previous episodes on oaks, tupelo, spruce, and elm.

Spectacular eruptions of Mauna Loa and Kilauea volcanos on Hawai’i transport lava from deep within the earth to the surface to form new land. One of the first plants to colonize virgin larva flows is a keystone species, the sacred ʻŌhiʻa tree. Strange Hershey-kiss-shaped leaf galls are home to one of some three dozen psyllid species that evolved on the Hawaiian Islands. Tiny sap-sucking nymphs with wing buds will soon mature and pop the top of their gall to emerge as winged adults ready to mate and colonize new ʻŌhiʻa trees. Adult psyllids utilizing ʻŌhiʻa are similar in appearance to the adult boxwood psyllid depicted here next to its shed nymphal skin.

Galls on ʻŌhiʻa are formed by a clan of sucking insects called psyllids, members of a large order of insects known as the Hemiptera – stink bugs, assassin bugs, bed bugs and their pernicious relatives like aphids, whiteflies, adelgids, scale insects, and many others. The tiny gall-makers on ʻŌhiʻa are members of a genus of psyllids named Pariaconus, a taxon with 36 named species on the Hawaiian Islands associated with Metrosideros polymorpha. Many of these psyllids are free-living and don’t form galls, while others form unique and interesting galls on stems and leaves. Why so many species of Pariaconus on but one species of plant? Well, it turns out that ʻŌhiʻa has a remarkable ability to colonize and thrive in many different soil types, zones of varying rainfall, and at many different altitudes found on the Hawaiian Islands. From the time the ancient ancestors of modern day Pariaconus arrived on these islands, which are the most isolated islands on earth, they were able to evolve and diversify in the myriad habitats occupied by Metrosideros polymorpha. These varied and unique niches spawned the great diversity of psyllids seen on the islands today. This form of diversification or radiation of species on islands was made famous by Darwin and his observations of the Galápagos finches in “On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection”.  

But all is not well for the iconic and irreplaceable ʻŌhiʻa tree and the insects and other creatures that call it home. While it seems to tolerate its psyllid guests reasonably well, it is threatened by two species of lethal fungi, Ceratocystis lukuohia and Ceratocystis huliohia, causal agents of Rapid ʻŌhiʻa Death (ROD). First identified in 2014 on the big island, by 2019 it had infected more than 175,000 acres of trees. Through activities like moving infected wood, wounding trees with contaminated tools, and walking on or moving infected soil, humans are believed to help spread these fungi. Feral animals moving beneath infected trees and small bark beetles may also spread the disease. Efforts are underway to stop the spread of ROD and save this iconic tree so intertwined with Hawaiian culture and so important to the ecology and biodiversity of these unique and irreplaceable forests. 

Acknowledgements

We thank Dan Gruner for stimulating discussions about the ecology of Hawaiian flora and fauna and Paula Shrewsbury for images used in this episode. The great article “Making the most of your host: the Metrosideros-feeding psyllids (Hemiptera, Psylloidea) of the Hawaiian Islands” by Diana M. Percy was consulted for this episode.

To learn more about ROD and its management, please visit the following websites:

https://cms.ctahr.hawaii.edu/rod/THE-DISEASE

https://dlnr.hawaii.gov/hisc/info/species/rapid-ohia-death/

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On recent visits to the thriving metropolis of Washington, DC, we met dastardly soft scales and rambunctious red-shouldered bugs enjoying meals served-up by oak trees and golden rain trees lining the avenues of our nation’s capital. This week we return to DC to visit glorious crapemyrtle trees and scandalous scale insects intent on turning crapemyrtle branches snowy white. Originally native to Asia, crapemyrtles traveled with botanical explorers from their aboriginal homes to gardens in Europe and the Americas more than 250 years ago. As North America warms, the range of crapemyrtles has expanded from subtropical southern states to mid-Atlantic locations, including Maryland and DC where milder winters and hot summers allow them to thrive. But, as is often the case with non-native plants, sometime after their arrival in a new land, their pests from afar soon follow them to the invaded realm. This was the case for crapemyrtles, when in 2004 the crapemyrtle bark scale, a type of felt scale, was discovered in Richardson, TX. Since the first detection in 2004 it has marched steadily northward to North Carolina in 2016, to Virginia in 2017, and to Maryland in 2020. Range expansion of this and many other scale insects happens in a variety of ways. Infested nursery stock shipped from southern states may convey scales to new locations. Some scale insects climb onto the feet of birds, hair of mammals, and bodies of flying insects and become unwittingly transported by these other animals from an infested to an uninfested tree. In an even stranger twist, some scale insects actually utilize “takeoff” behavior to help them become airborne and then ride the wind from one plant to another. Insects as aeronauts, how cool is that! 

Monocultural plantings of crapemyrtles and other street trees often support outbreaks of pests in cities. Beneath the snowy white egg-sac, we find a bizarre female crapemyrtle bark scale. She can lay more than 300 bright pink eggs. Eggs hatch into pink crawlers that sally forth to settle new patches of bark. They molt before producing their own egg-sac. Heavy infestations kill branches and foul the bark with honeydew, which supports the growth of ugly sooty mold fungus.

Like the aforementioned soft scale, crapemyrtle bark scale feeds on nutrient-rich plant sap called phloem. To gain sufficient nutrients for growth, development, and reproduction, vast quantities of phloem are imbibed. Once processed, any remaining liquid is excreted in the form of a sugary waste product called honeydew. Honeydew rains down from infested plants onto vegetation, sidewalks, vehicles, and furniture below, creating a sticky mess that also attracts stinging insects like paper wasps, yellow jackets, and honeybees. Adding insult to injury, honeydew serves as a substrate for the growth of a nasty black fungus called sooty mold which discolors bark, leaves, and other objects on which it lands. Removal of vital plant sap and damage caused by thousands of piercing mouthparts can result in branch dieback and death of crapemyrtles.

Life gets busy for crapemyrtle bark scales when tiny pink nymphs hatch from tiny pink eggs laid by the female in her snowy white, felt-like egg-sac (a.k.a ovisac) which encloses the she-scale and her young. These nymphs go by the name of crawlers and that’s exactly what they do, crawl to new parts of the crapemyrtle and settle down to suck sap from their crapemyrtle host. Each female can lay from 100 to more than 300 eggs. In warm regions there may be four generations annually and it is easy to see how populations can explode seemingly overnight. While crapemyrtles are the primary target for this rascal here in the US, this scale has also been found on more than a dozen other plant species in the US and other parts of the world, including beauty berry, pomegranate, boxwood, persimmon, privet, brambles, and many others.

 So, is there any good news here? You bet. Several members of Mother Nature’s hit squad, including lady beetles, lacewings, and parasitic wasps are known to attack and kill this felt scale. However, in many cases once the scale gets rolling even these beneficial insects may not be enough to put a beat-down on this pest. Many potent insecticides are available to kill both immature and adult stages of the scale. Here in the DMV an outstanding corps of certified arborists is available to help homeowners and urban foresters manage this invader. Let’s hope that all crapemyrtle Christmases aren’t white.   

Acknowledgements

“Biology and Management of the Crapemyrtle Bark Scale: Landscape and Nursery Grower” by Erfan Vafaire, Mike Merchant, and Mengmeng Gu, “Crawler behaviour and dispersal” by David J. Greathead, and “Phoretic dispersal of armored scale crawlers (Hemiptera: Diaspididae)” by J. Magsig-Castillo, J. G. Morse, G. P. Walker, J. L. Bi, P. F. Rugman-Jones, and R. Stouthamer were used to prepare this episode.

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This week we delve into the Bug of the Week mailbag to help solve a mystery of “fuzzy” somethings, at the base of white oak leaves found on a tree near the gentle Choptank River on Maryland’s eastern shore. These curious fuzzy somethings are the handiwork of gall wasps, one of the most diverse groups of gall-formers found on plants. Galls are abnormal growths on plants created by several species of insects, mites, and some microbes, that secrete potent chemicals into the plant’s undifferentiated tissues. These chemicals derail the normal developmental processes of the plant and create food and refuge for the insect or mite within the gall at the expense of the unwitting plant host. We met other gall-making insects including those distorting leaves of black gum, elms and hickory in previous episodes.

The gall wasp family, Cynipidae, is more than 1,300 species strong with most generating unusual growths on woody plants, but some actually parasitizing other species of wasps. Dozens of species of wasps in this family have evolved intimate relationships with different species of oak. The diversity of galls on the leaves, branches, and acorns of oaks is awesome. Each species of gall wasp creates its own distinct and unique gall. Some look like bullets, others appear to be clusters of wool, some look like apples, and still others are the visage of grotesque horned creatures attached to a branch. The video accompanying this episode provides a smidgeon of this diversity of galls discovered on oaks in Maryland.

Let’s visit some gall wasps on oak. Strange horns decorate the outside of the horned oak gall wasp while the pupa develops within. These small round leaf galls are home to developing wasp larvae. When we open these green round galls, we can see the larval cell with an exit hole used by the wasp to escape the gall. Rough bullet galls wear exit holes outside and inside you see where the wasp chewed through the larval chamber and gall to get out. Pretty midrib galls and a couple spangle galls decorate this oak leaf. Potato-like galls and pouch galls adorn small twigs. Green spongy oak galls in summer turn to brown papery balls in autumn beneath oak trees.

Let’s walk through the life cycle of one cool but dastardly trouble maker, the horned oak gall wasp, Callirhytis quercuscornigera, to learn a bit more about these fascinating creatures. The saga begins in spring shortly after bud-burst of oaks when female wasps escape from their nursery inside the gall through one of the strange looking horns. These wasps are all females and are part of generation produced asexually through a remarkable process called pathogenesis. Many species of insects reproduce parthenogenically, such as aphids and scale insects we met in previous episodes. You go girls!  Wasps emerging from leaves are poor flyers and move just a short distance to developing leaf-buds, where they lay eggs. Single eggs hatch and induce the formation of an inconspicuous leaf gall. Later that summer both male and female wasps emerge from the leaf gall, mate, and females deposit girls-only eggs in tender green twigs. These eggs hatch and induce the formation of a small woody gall that enlarges over the course of the summer. Some 30 months later, fully developed female wasps emerge from large galls to complete the life cycle.   

Although details of gall inducement are not fully known, the act of egg-laying and the growth-altering chemicals subsequently released by the larva of the wasp cause the multiplication of nutritive plant cells inside the gall and abnormal development of the infested plant tissue. Wasp larvae consume these cells while non-nutritive cells proliferate to form the bizarre and characteristic gall. Inside the relative safety of the gall the larva grows as the gall enlarges. As development nears completion, the plant forms a tissue layer which can be a relatively tough, seed-like cell around the larva. Within this small chamber the larva transforms into a pupa from which the adult wasp emerges. Using powerful jaws, the wasp cuts it way out of the chamber and the surrounding gall and flies off to find food and a mate. Development from egg to adult often takes place in the gall while it is attached to the plant. However, in some species like the jumping oak gall, Neuroterus saltatorius, the gall breaks from the plant and falls to the ground with the larva inside. While completing development in the gall on the ground, the movement of the larva within can make the gall jump in the air. That’s right Little Orphan Annie, not leapin’ lizards, but leaping galls instead!

Acknowledgements

The fascinating article “Biology of Callirhytis cornigera (Hymenoptera: Cynipidae) and the Arthropod Community Inhabiting Its Galls” by Eileen A. Eliason and Daniel A. Potter, and the Maryland Biodiversity Project were used to prepare this article. Special thanks to Sue Hauser for providing the image of fuzzy gall wasps on oak leaves and inspiration for this episode.

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Last week while enjoying record breaking warm weather with a hike along the mighty Potomac River in Mercersville, MD, I was assaulted by two tiny terrors that pack a surprisingly large wallop for their size. In previous episodes we met dastardly Aedes, Culex, and Ochlerotatus mosquitoes equipped with hypodermic-like mouthparts perfect for inserting into small capillaries to obtain blood used by females to develop eggs. Although mosquito bites are itchy, to me their bites pale with respect to the aggravation and burning sensation brought on when legions of black flies and no-see-ums visit my skin.

Black flies use jaws with serrated edges to slash flesh and sever tiny blood vessels. As blood pools in the wound, the black fly laps it up. Only the female black fly has the blood lust. She exploits this rich protein source to produce as many as 800 eggs over the course of her lifetime. Males are the gentler gender and consume nectar from flowers, as do females when not taking blood. With her load of fully developed eggs, the female black fly visits running mountain streams or other fresh water sources and deposits her eggs on rocks, logs, emergent vegetation, or directly into the water. Eggs hatch and larvae attach to rocks and other submerged structures and graze on small plants and animals on the surface of their substrate.

Fast moving streams and rivers are prime breeding sites for black flies. A rock plucked from the river harbors a black fly larva hiding in the vegetation. A series of video clips show the expanding abdomen of the black fly as she feeds. When she is done, my flesh continues to ooze blood from severed capillaries. Watch as an even tinier no-see-um tanks up while feeding on my arm.

The wound of the black fly is quite something to behold. While the bite itself is cloaked by anesthetics administered in the saliva of the fly, the aftermath can be quite disagreeable. For many victims of their bite, reddish-purple blood spots appear beneath the skin at the site of each bite as the body reacts to anticoagulants and other allergens injected into the site of the wound. These red welts were accompanied by intense itching that can last several days and may be accompanied by fever, swelling, and nausea. There are reports of domestic animals dying when legions of black flies attack. The direct injury caused by black fly bites is the lesser of the evils visited unto humans by these tiny flies. In several countries in Central and South America and Africa, black flies carry nasty filarial worms capable of invading the human body. They occupy small tumors beneath the skin. In some cases, these filarial worms take up residence in the eye and cause permanent sight loss known as river blindness or Robles disease. Yikes! Glad our Maryland black flies do not carry such diseases.

Just downstream from Mercersville, near historic Harper’s Ferry, black fly populations hit intolerable levels on the Potomac. The Maryland Department of Agriculture and Department of Natural Resources treated a section of the Potomac with a biological control agent, Bacillus thuringiensis israelensis (BTi), to quell populations of black fly larvae developing in the river.  This bacterial insecticide is derived from a naturally occurring soil microbe and has been used to mitigate several types of aquatic and terrestrial fly larvae. Government agencies reported that “the treatment may cause temporary discoloration of the water, but it is completely nontoxic and is not harmful to humans, fish, crabs or other aquatic invertebrates.”

And just how tiny is tiny? Well, black flies range in size from about 1 to 5 mm and sometimes larger, smaller than the width of a tic tac. Our second tiny terror, no-see-ums, a.k.a. biting midges, can be even tinier than black flies at 1-3 mm. Little wonder they are called no-see-ums. While these minute vampires are hard to see, their bite is easy to remember with a characteristic burning sensation. Itching associated with these bites can last several days. Like black flies, females use cutting mouthparts to sever capillaries and sucking mouthparts to imbibe the blood needed to produce eggs. Also like black flies, male and female no-see-ums obtain carbohydrates from plant nectar. Larval no-see-ums are aquatic or semi-aquatic, found in both water and in moist soils near rivers, marshes, ponds, and lakes; tree holes; and decaying vegetation and fruit. In addition to the nuisance they become when abundant, they carry serious diseases of humans and domestic animals in some parts of the world. In Central and South America, parts of Africa, and some Caribbean islands, no-see-ums carry tiny roundworms that infect humans and cause skin lesions. In parts of Africa, Europe, and Asia, a deadly virus called African horse sickness (AHS) is carried by no-see-ums to horses and their close relatives. Fortunately, at this writing, AHS is not known to occur in Maryland or other parts of the US. Lucky us, that for the most part here in the DMV, these tiny terrors remain mostly annoying and not distributors of disease.

Acknowledgements

Excellent references by J. F. Butler (University of Florida) and J. A. Hogsette (USDA) on black flies, and C. Roxanne Connelly on no-see-ums (University of Florida) as part of the University of Florida’s ‘Featured Creature’ series, and M. T. James and R. F. Harwood’s “Herms’s Medical Entomology” were consulted for this episode. To learn more about “The Black Fly Suppression Pilot Program in Maryland”, please visit the Maryland Department of Agriculture website at this link: https://mda.maryland.gov/plants-pests/Pages/Black-Fly-Program.aspx

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In previous episodes we explored the travails of iconic monarch butterflies on the eastern and western coasts of North America where these long-distance travelers struggled with habitat destruction, climate change, disease, and pesticides. Unbeknownst to many folks is the fact that monarchs are not the only migratory visitors to the DMV. Several other insects, including another beautiful orange and black butterfly, the variegated fritillary, visit the DMV in the warmth of summer and head south to escape our chilly winters. Recently, an observant naturalist inquired about the migratory behaviors of these lovely peripatetic visitors.

Here’s the deal. Several years ago, I willingly surrendered the battle to maintain a lawn as a monoculture of exotic grasses like fescue or zoysia and as a result, floristically speaking, my yard has become quite diverse. Among the winners in the ground cover competition, particularly in shady spots and landscape beds, violets rule. With regularity, I notice significant nibbles and bites at the margins of the omnipresent violets, and upon closer inspection several glorious larvae of the variegated fritillary were found grazing on violet leaves. These tiny caterpillars were the spawn of orange and black variegated fritillaries that appear in my landscape each year, attracted by the bountiful floral resources needed for their sustenance.

In many states the variegated fritillary is a migrant, moving ever northward from its winter redoubts in the south. Much like our friends the monarchs who chase fresh patches of milkweeds as they move northward from overwintering grounds in Mexico, variegated fritillaries expand their range northward and colonize fresh crops of host plants for caterpillars and flower blossoms for adults. One has to wonder if the northern migration also helps them escape from hungry predators or stealthy parasitoids that hunt them in their overwintering grounds. Following their arrival in the DMV and well into autumn, they will be regular visitors to open sunny areas such as fields, pastures, lawns, and along the edges of roads where females consume pollen and nectar from butterfly weed, milkweed, dogbane, zinnias, cone flowers, red clover, and a variety of other plants. When they are ready to lay eggs, females seek nutritious plants such as mayapple, lamb’s ear, purslane, and violets, on which to lay eggs.

Whether munching leaves of hooded violets or petals of a pansy, variegated fritillary caterpillars find these members of the Viola clan delectable. Adults love to nectar on cone flowers in the summer and can be seen in late autumn basking in the sun among fallen leaves before heading south for the winter.

The caterpillars are gorgeous, bedecked in bright bands of orange and white. The body is festooned with stout black spines. Unlike some caterpillars we visited in previous episodes, these spines are not reported to deliver a nasty sting. In addition to consuming my volunteer violets, I have discovered several fritillary caterpillars devouring the petals of my pansies, another member of the viola clan. Variegated fritillaries will be resident and complete three generations over the course of the summer here in Maryland. In some states above the Mason-Dixon Line only two generations occur each year, and in colder reaches of the US and southern Canada, but a single annual brood is found. Here in my landscape, they are one of the last butterflies seen well into fall. As the days grow shorter and the night times chillier, the last of the variegated fritillaries will head south for warmer overwintering grounds. Those not heeding Mother Nature’s warnings face a chilly demise if they remain here in the DMV, thereby removing their foolish genes from the population of these fascinating vagabonds.

Acknowledgements

“Caterpillars of North America” by David Wagner, “A Swift Guide to Butterflies of North America” by Jeffrey Glassberg, and the Maryland Biodiversity Project were used as references for this episode. Bug of the Week thanks Adreon Hubbard for providing the nice image of a variegated fritillary and providing inspiration for this story.

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In keeping with a Bug of the Week tradition of visiting bugs dressed in orange and black to celebrate Halloween, All-Saints Day, and Día de los Muertos, what could be creepier than meeting three terrifying assassins? In the lexicon of entomology, the term ‘true bug’ identifies a large and important order of tens of thousands of insect species known as the Hemiptera. True bugs are characterized by their sucking mouthparts and incomplete metamorphosis consisting of egg, nymph, and adult stages. Many true bugs are plant feeders, including harlequin bugs, squash bugs, stink bugs, and bed bugs we met in previous episodes, but many are fierce predators playing an important role annihilating pests of crops and ornamental plants. This week we visit three murderous members of the true bug clan in the family known as Reduviidae, or assassin bugs, that dress in the colors of the season – orange and black. Orange and black are Mother Nature’s warning colors, usually sending the signal to predators “don’t mess with me”! Like monarch butterflies and milkweed leaf beetles, maybe these assassin bugs have a nasty flavor by virtue of chemical protectants.

The first bug I bumped into was the milkweed assassin bug, owner of a diabolically clever strategy for catching its prey. Hiding in foliage with its forelegs outstretched, it awaits the approach of an unsuspecting victim. The front legs of this assassin bug are coated with sticky goo (a technical term) perfect for snaring a victim. Once captured, the prey is impaled with a hungry beak that injects proteolytic enzymes. The predigested and liquefied contents of the prey are then sucked into the digestive tract of the assassin bug with the aid of a tiny muscular pump in the assassin bug’s head. 

Nearby, in a patch of goldenrod, another snatcher of lives, the orange assassin bug, stalked its victims. I watched this stealthy assassin move slowly about a goldenrod blossom. A short while later, I saw this assassin with a small leafhopper skewered on its beak. How it was able to sneak up and stab a highly mobile and wary leafhopper is known to the assassin bug but is a mystery to me.   

Watch as a juvenile milkweed assassin bug takes a wild ride on a hibiscus plant. Note the black wing buds on its back. At the next molt, these will develop into pairs of jet-black wings as seen on this camera-shy adult. Nearby, on a goldenrod flowerhead an orange assassin bugs hunts. Soon, a hapless leafhopper meets its doom at the end of this spooky predator’s beak.

The third amigo in this triad of terror is the large assassin bug known as the wheel bug. We met wheel bugs and learned of their important role as biological control agents of the brown marmorated stink bug in previous episodes of Bug of the Week. In addition to dining on invasive pests including brown marmorated stink bugs, this generalist predator has a taste for native protein sources including several types of caterpillars. To see what I mean, watch the YouTube “Wheel bug stalks caterpillar”, the most watched video in the Bug of the Week ensemble, a short snippet of which is included in this week’s episode: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6bfUpaaEKcQ

In autumn the female wheel bug deposits clusters of barrel-shaped wheel bug eggs on the bark of many types of trees. The following spring when prey return to pester plants, the eggs hatch into gorgeous orange nymphs. The thorax of nymphs soon changes from orange to black, but as nymphs grow and molt a reddish-orange color is retained on the abdomen. Like other assassin bugs, the business end of the wheel bug is the powerful beak, or proboscis, stored between the beast’s front legs when it is not in use. Upon spying a tasty morsel, the wheel bug cautiously approaches, embraces the prey with long front legs, and then impales the victim with its powerful beak. The wheel bug pumps strong digestive enzymes through the beak into the prey. These enzymes liquefy the body tissues of the hapless victim. A muscular pump in the head of the bug slurps the liquefied meal up through the beak. If a string of unusually warm autumn weather prevails, dash to the meadows and you may have a chance to observe one of these beautiful and deadly assassins prowling for prey on the Day of the Dead.

Tiny wheel bug nymphs enter the world orange and yellow but soon the head and thorax darken to black. An older nymph grabs an ill-fated lightening bug and prepares to drain the beetle’s blood with its impressive beak. Nefarious pests including brown marmorated stink bugs and pesky fall webworm caterpillars fall victim to this assassin and even bristly spines of a smartweed caterpillar can’t save it from this terrifying predator.

Bug of the Week wishes everyone a spooky, fun-filled, and safe Halloween week!

Acknowledgements

The informative publication “Milkweed assassin bug (suggested common name) scientific name: Zelus longipes Linnaeus (Insecta: Hemiptera: Reduviidae)” by Megha Kalsi and Dakshina R. Seal was used to prepare this episode.

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Learn How to Get Rid of Rats, Cleanup After an Infestation and Prevent Future Rat Infestations

If you live in one of the approximately 21 million homes in the United States plagued by rats or other rodents every year, you already know just how destructive these little pests can be. Gnawing wires, getting into food items, and leaving droppings everywhere are just a few of the hazards that rats pose to humans.

In addition to making a mess, rats also carry dozens of diseases that can affect people and pets, these illnesses include hantavirus and leptospirosis.

To add to this nightmare, rats can breed quickly.

A single female can give birth to six litters of five to 12 pups every year. Those pups mature within five weeks, making prompt action essential for preventing a full-blown infestation.

How to Get Rid of Rats in Your House

To get rid of rats in your house, it’s important to act at the first sign of rat activity.

To handle the infestation without professional assistance, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends using traditional snap traps to help reduce the number of rats living in the home.

But do-it-yourself efforts sound easier than it truly is. Humans are at risk of catching rodent-borne illnesses, so not only is the infestation a cause for concern but so is the potential of contracting a disease.

Calling for professional help is the most effective way to get rid of rats and keep the rodents out. Catseye Pest Control has more than 30 years’ experience in the industry. We provide a customized approach to quickly get a handle on any infestation and necessary clean up afterward.

Rat Prevention 101

The best way to get rid of rats is to never let them in the house. Although that’s easier said than done — after all, these critters can fit through holes as tiny as 20 millimeters wide — homeowners and renters can take steps to prevent rat infestations.

A few preventive measures to consider include:

• Seal the home: Installing an exclusion system for a permanent barrier is the ultimate in protection.
• Tidy the yard: Overgrown vegetation provides shelter to rats outdoors and can help them climb onto homes and buildings. Keep the yard mowed in addition to trimming trees and shrubs to remove any limbs that overhang.
• Install tight-fitting garbage lids: Rats love garbage. Don’t extend an invitation for them to come find their next meal. Instead, add tight-fitting lids and keep cans out of the sun to reduce smells that might attract rats.
• Revamp food storage: Human and pet foods attract rats indoors. Eliminate potential food sources by storing everything in thick, air-tight containers and storing items in the refrigerator when possible.

Frequently Asked Questions

What Scent Will Help Keep Rats Away?

Rats have a strong sense of smell. Using certain scents may help repel them from homes, buildings, and properties. Strong scents, including spicy, astringent, and menthol smells may help keep rats away, although homemade repellents rarely effective. Examples include:

• Clover
• Peppermint oil
• Citronella
• Eucalyptus
• Chili powder
• Mothballs
• Bleach
• Ammonia
• Scents from predators, such as cats, ferrets, or racoons

How Do You Keep Rats Away Permanently?

Permanent control relies on a multi-step approach, starting with removing rats and thoroughly cleaning affected areas. Ongoing monitoring and treatments help to catch new infestations and remedy the situation quickly.

Filling holes and cracks that provide entry points and installing professional exclusion systems from companies like Cat-Guard provides a safe, natural, permanent barrier to keep rats out.

What Will Make Rats Run Away?

You may hear about anecdotal remedies like ultrasonic devices, which use sound waves inaudible to humans and pets to repel mice, as effective methods to keep rats away for good. However, little scientific evidence supports their use. Adopting a predator like a cat, ferret, or snake may help, particularly if the animal leaves a scent to repel rats.

The most reliable way to get rid of rats quickly is to call a professional who has the necessary expertise to remove, treat, and prevent rat infestations.

Professional Rat Control and Exclusion Services

Although these efforts may help to keep rats away, or make the critter think twice before entering the home or other structure, nothing will prevent an infestation quite like professional rat control and exclusion services.

Our top-tier defense, better known as Cat-Guard Exclusion Systems is the best way to keep pests and rodents outside where they belong, permanently. The system is comprised of three levels, each designed to defend specific areas of a structure.

• Upper Cat-Guard: From the top of the first-floor windows to the peak of the roof, Upper Cat-Guard shields homes from rodents like rats, squirrels, or bats. This service is perfect for homes with chimneys that are more easily infested by wildlife.
• Lower Cat-Guard: From the first-floor windows down to the ground, Lower Cat-Guard shields homes and structures from critters like chipmunks, snakes, and opossums entering or causing damage.
• Trench Guard: Trench-Guard ensures low-clearance areas like decks and sheds are protected from skunks, raccoons, rats, and chipmunks. Trench-guard will go below the surface to ensure that borrowing pests are unable to enter a home.

Contact Catseye Pest Control for Professional Rodent Solutions

Rats carry diseases and wreak havoc on homes, businesses, and properties.

If you have tried unsuccessfully to control the situation on your own or you want to get ahead of it from the beginning, contact Catseye online or by calling 888-260-3980.

A highly-trained technician will come to you and provide a thorough inspection of the property before creating a fully customized plan to get rid of rats quickly and effectively.

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Learn the Signs of a Rat Infestation in a House, How to Eliminate the Infestation, and Prevent Future Infestations

Unfortunately, beautiful Boston, Massachusetts, regularly makes it onto lists of the top rat-infested cities in the United States, but these disease-ridden pests don’t just affect homes in big cities.

Homeowners and renters throughout the entire New England area also grapple with rat infestations, specifically the Norway rat.

Rats may live in a home without ever making an appearance. In fact, it’s not uncommon to remain clueless about their presence until there’s a severe rat infestation in the house or yard. Knowing the signs to watch for and steps to take to get rid of rats and prevent future infestations is essential to reclaiming a home.

Signs of Rats in Houses

The sooner a person realizes rats are moving in, the better.

Rats reproduce quickly, with gestation periods of only 21 to 23 days. Females go back into heat a mere 48 hours after having their litters. Each female can have an average of more than 80 pups every year.

That’s a large rat family that can spiral out of control quickly.

Knowing the signs to watch for can help homeowners spot rat infestations faster. That means they can call for professional rodent control faster to reclaim the house and keep rats out for good.

Rat Odors

Rats leave behind a strong, foul stink with a musty quality. The odor is made worse by the large volume of urine and droppings they tend to drag their bodies through as they move around the house. 

Droppings

Anyone who has ever experienced a rodent infestation can attest to the mess these critters leave behind. Piles of shiny, black droppings ranging from a half-inch to three-quarters-of-an-inch wide are a sure sign that rats have moved in.

Chewed Food Packaging

One of the primary reasons rats enter homes is to find food, particularly during New England’s cold winter months. Rats are naturally drawn to food items and aren’t shy about ripping open packaging to get what they want.

Gnawed Objects

Rats have strong teeth that continually grow. That means they need to gnaw on objects to keep the length of their teeth in check. They will gnaw on anything from wood to furniture to insulation to wires.

Dark, Greasy Tracks

Rats have oily fur that leaves a residue behind. Additionally, they tend to use the same path to get in and out of their nests, leaving a telltale accumulation on walls, siding, baseboards, and flooring.

A Rat Sighting

Spotting a rat inside a home means the odds are high that there is an infestation in the house. Rats tend to be more active at night, when many people report hearing scurrying and scratching in the ceilings and walls.

Signs of Rats in Yards

Outdoors, rats look for sheltered areas to build their nests. Common areas include spots near bushes, gardens, planters, tree beds, buildings, sheds, and greenways. Rat burrows consist of intricate underground tunnels. Additionally, owners should watch for the following clues:

• Fresh droppings
• Gnaw marks
• Worn paths in grass and vegetation
• Excessive garbage and clutter
• Live rats

Eliminating Rat Infestations

Locating rats and ensuring they are thoroughly removed from the house can be a significant challenge.

Rats tend to nest in basements, crawlspaces, walls, attics, and other hard-to-reach areas. The most effective way to eliminate rat infestations relies on using a multi-step approach, starting with removing rats from the property. It’s equally essential to clean, disinfect, and sanitize the affected areas.

But that’s still only part of the solution. To ensure these critters — and many others, can’t find their way inside the home in the future is vital.

Points of entry will need to be sealed — like gaps, cracks, and other small openings. Although do-it-yourself efforts can work as a temporary solution, installing our Cat-Guard Exclusion System, is the only permanent solution to keep rats out.

Comprised of three levels, Upper Cat-Guard, Lower Cat-Guard, and Trench Guard, each system is designed to protect the home from nuisance wildlife critters like rats, squirrels, mice, bats, birds, and so much more.

Frequently Asked Questions

How Do You Know If You Have a Rat Infestation?

Seeing a rat inside the house isn’t the only way to know that a rat infestation exists. Droppings and gnaw marks are other warning signs. Finding food items, debris, and packaging that’s been inexplicably tampered with may also serve as clues.

What are the Six Signs of Rat Infestations?

In general, six key signs of rat infestations in houses include:

1. Odors
2. Droppings
3. Tracks or greasy smears
4. Gnaw marks
5. Food and packaging messes
6. Rat sightings

What Does a Rat Infestation Smell Like?

Rats leave a strong, musky odor in their wake. Droppings and urine accumulate wherever rats go, adding a sewer-like stench along the way.

How Many Rats do I Have?

As a general rule, there are approximately eight rats for every three burrows. This can add up to a significant number of rats rather quickly.

Eliminate Rat Infestations with Catseye Pest Control

Rat infestations aren’t a problem that can be taken lightly. Rats breed quickly, which means homeowners need to act fast. The most effective and reliable solution is professional pest control by a trusted, experienced company.

Catseye has more than 30 years of experience. Skilled technicians take an integrated pest management approach to pest control. They have expertise in wildlife removal and exclusion, disinfection, and minor repairs of the damage pests leave behind.

With Catseye, you get a free in-depth inspection and a customized treatment plan. Professionals will recommend preventive measures indoors and outside to help keep your home rat-free.

Are you ready to kick rats out of your house for good? Contact Catseye today to schedule a free inspection.

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