The Pest Bulletin
Summer, 1999

Written especially for our valued customers by Dr. Wayne S. Moore
© Moore Consulting, 1999.
All Rights Reserved

Other Pest Bulletins

Fire Ants in California!
Protecting What's Precious
Pest Prevention Tip of the Month
Need A Bear Repellent?
Rat Grounds Plane
Your Questions Answered
Rhinoceros Beetles--Weaklings?
Trivia!


Fire Ants in California!

Fire ants are intercepted at our borders hundreds of times each year. Occasionally some ant colonies pass through undetected but are quickly discovered and eradicated. But recently well-established fire ant colonies have been discovered in larger areas of Orange, Los Angeles, and Riverside Counties.

Because of the size of the area infested with fire ants, they will be very difficult to eradicate. However, the consequences of not eradicating these ants are very great. Fire ants cost about $1 billion each year in the southeastern U.S. and about 20,000 people a year seek medical attention after being stung by fire ants. A few people are killed each year too--about one percent of the population is allergic o the venom and can die if not attended to by a physician.

Usually, people are stung when they accidentally disturb a mound of ants. Large fire ant mounds can be several feet high and contain several hundred thousand ants. As soon as their mound is disturbed, the ants swarm out and begin stinging. The stings are painful, although not as painful as a bee sting. But they are painful enough that one sting tells you this isn't like any other ant we've seen in California.

Fire ants wreak havoc with other wildlife species. They eat baby birds still in their shells, and our ground-nesting California Quail (our state bird) would be particularly vulnerable. Fire ants kill small animals like lizards, and even occasionally larger animals like young livestock and deer.

This is one ant we definitely don't want established in California!

Back to Top



Protecting What's Precious

Did you know that as recently as 1935, before widespread mosquito control, 4,000 Americans died every year of malaria? In fact, modern pest control has improved the quality of our lives in many ways. Because of it, many insect-transmitted diseases are either greatly reduced or a thing of the past. We live longer, healthier lives in this country, without fear of sometimes deadly diseases like malaria, yellow fever, and louse-borne tyhpus.

Yet there are other pest-transmitted diseases that we have to watch for vigilantly. Tick-borne lyme disease is flourishing, and there are deadly pest-transmitted diseases like hantavirus, encephalitis, and plague, along with many common everyday diseases like pest-transmitted food poisoning and diarrhea.

Cockroaches can cause asthma, and rats bite 45,000 people annually--mostly children and babies. Stinging and biting pests like fleas, ticks, wasps, and spiders, would inflict harm on even more people and pets if it weren't for professional pest control.

Professional pest control also enables us to better protect our property from pests. Termites, carpenter ants, and other wood-destroyers left uncontrolled can severely damage a building. And indoors pests ruin fabrics, carpets, stored foods, and many other important household items.

These are just some ways professional pest control greatly improves the quality of our lives.


Back to Top


Pest Prevention Tip of the Month

Have you checked the weather stripping seals around our doors lately? Not only can a loose seal mean a higher utility bill, but it also provides an easy entryway for pests. Install new stripping if needed and readjust door sweeps that have worn. Also check the botgtom seal of your garage door.


Need a Bear Repellent?

If you've ever been on an outing and seen an angry bear, you may have felt the need for a good bear repellent. Well, wait no longer. A new product is coming out, called "Counter Assault Bear Deterrent." Really!

This product was registered by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and is supposed to act as an effective bear deterrent "when used as directed." The EPA was careful to specify that the tests be conducted using "free-ranging bears who are not afraid of people." (We wonder who volunteered to meet the bears head on and see if the product really worked!) The active ingredient in the product is capsaicin, which is extracted from hot peppers.

Back to Top


Rat Grounds Plane

After a rat was spotted in the first-class cabin, a Malaysia Airlines flight was recently aborted and the plane returned to the Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Malaysia. The plane was in the air for about half an hour before it returned to the airport with its 251 passengers and 15 crew members.

Rats have been a major problem at the airport, which cost $2.3 billion to build. More than 3,000 rats have been caught since the airport opened in June, and the rats have frequently disrupted airport operations.



Your Questions Answered

Q. How was the "ick factor" eliminated in "A Bug's Life?"

A. The makers of the mega-hit movie worked very hard to soften he image of their characters to make them more appealing to the audience. They called their efforts getting rid of the "ick factor"!

This is how they did it. Some employees working at Pixar Studios have a phobia about bugs, according to Director John Lasseter. When Pixar created an insect character, they would show it to these people to see if it scared or repulsed them.

In the finished product, ants were given two arms and legs, rather than the more correct six legs. Real insects' mouthparts were taken out and replaced with human-looking lips. Eyes were humanized and given pupils to make the faces cuter. Hairy body segments were removed so that viewers wouldn't be grossed out. The only characters allowed to be a little icky were grasshoppers--the bad guys in the film.

All these changes were needed to make the insect characters more appealing than they really are, similar to the way a lovable Mickey Mouse was created from a yucky, disease-carrying pest most people find gross. In fact, if you polled most Americans, they would say most insects are really "icky"--or down-right creepy.


Back to top


Rhinoceros Beetles--Weeklings?

These beetles are supposed to be the world's strongest animal. But just how strong are they?

The Guinness Book of World Records says that they can support 850 times their own weight. That statement caught the attention of a research physiologist, who conducted tests to determine if this was true.

The researcher created a special cradle to fit on top of the beetle's back, and on it he placed tiny lead weights from a hobby shop. (The weights are normally used to give model trains better traction.) What he found was that the beetles, which weigh one-tenth of an ounce, could carry 100 times their own weight--but they could hardly move with that much weight. With 40 times their own weight, they became tired after 10 minutes. But with 30 times their own weight, they showed no sign of fatigue even after half an hour of walking.

This feat is comparable to a man walking a mile with a Cadillac on his head, without tiring. Not bad for a morning workout!

Back to top


Trivia

1. How fast can a fly see something coming--like a fly swatter--and change direction?
2. How long do adult fleas live?
3. What is a typical cost for a professional nit-picking company to rid a family infested with lice?
4. What do you get when you cross a praying mantis with a termite?

ANSWERS TO PEST TRIVIA!

1. A fly can see an object coming and change direction in an astonishingly fast 30 milliseconds--which is why the extra speed of a plastic fly swatter caused by its 'snap' as it nears the fly, is much more effective than simply a hand hurtling towards it.

2. Adult fleas can live up to one year in captivity if they are allowed to feed regularly on blood.

3. In some cities there are professional nit-picking companies that will come to the homes of the rich and famous to de-louse the family. A typical cost for the service is about $900.00.

4. An insect that says grace before it eats your home!

Back to top