Spiders are fascinating to me.

Spiders are Fascinating.
This was a good article and some nice pictures. All insects have their place and reason for being there. We don't want to kill all of them, most of them provide a service for us, and some of them are food sources.

West Nile Virus showing up at Blood Banks

http://www.kens5.com/news/West-Nile-Cases-Coming-out-of-Blood-Donation-Banks-168683296.html
Wow, I have read that most people carrying West Nile virus don't have any symptoms. I guess it is a good thing the Blood banks check for this.

DIY Wasp trap

I saw this instructable about making a homemade wasp trap. I thought it looked cool, maybe someone can use it. http://www.instructables.com/id/DIY-Yellow-Jacket-Bottle-Trap/?ALLSTEPS

Big Al the Bugman

Drywood swarmer and worker and fecal pellets

 These were some pictures of some Drywood termites and fecal pellets he found. They were some nice pictures.

Subterranean termites eating some books

I received these pictures from a home inspector I know, I thought it showed the destructive nature of Sub. termites on some easy to eat books.

Spiders attack town. What?

http://articles.nydailynews.com/2012-06-04/news/32037227_1_spider-bites-india-reports-antivenin
I saw this article the other day and thought how could this have really happened. It was weird.

Bedding used as pest control

I thought this was pretty cool. Sometimes we think people from earlier times were not as smart as us but think again.

Bed Bug Insurance

I don't know about you but this is just too funny. Bed bugs are bad but I'm not sure if you need insurance.

This is how those pesky fire ants get around

After a heavy rain everyone wonders why Fire ants show up on the yards by the street, this is why.

Oak Leaf rollers

I just noticed Oak Leaf Rollers falling from the Oak trees here at the office, get ready to treat the trees on your lot. I like to use BT (Bacillus thuringiensis) it is a naturally occurring bacterial disease of insects. These bacteria are the active ingredient in some insecticides. If the infestation is heavy then i will use a quick knockdown insecticide.

Spiders

I guess Spiders don't always bother us in our homes.

Mexican Honey Wasp Nest

Here are some more pictures of the Mexican Honey Wasp nest.

Swarmer pictures

Here are some more pictures.

Swarm Castles on a telephone pole

Here are some more great pictures Wendell took.

Termite Swarmers

It's Spring time. I know because the Subterranean termites are swarming here in South Texas. Be on the alert for winged insects swarming in large numbers. If you see them outside that is natural, they are all around us in the trees and fences in the ground. You don't want to see them inside the house because that will normally mean they are attacking the structure. Normally you will notice mud spots on the walls usually in areas where there is plumbing or on outer walls if they are coming up the slab of the house. When they swarm inside you normally see swarm castles, these are the take off point for the swarmers. They don't know they are inside a house they just know to get to a high point and take off to try to start a new colony away from the colony that they are in. Swarmers are the mating reproductives of the termites the only job they have is to go and start new colonies to keep the species alive. Inside when they swarm they usually die in 24 hours but they let us know they are in the house and need to be stopped. Houses with pier foundations need to be inspected inside and outside and in the crawl space to find any activity. You should have your house inspected every year to try to stop them as fast as possible so they won't cause too much damage.

Mexican Honey Wasp

I didn't know Mexican Honey Wasps were active in San Antonio, TX. Last week Wendell and Nick went to a customers rent house and removed a nest from the tree in the backyard, it was a pretty large nest and turned out to be Mexican honey wasps. These wasps make and store honey like a honey bee, but look like a wasp, they are pretty cool. here are some pics taken before they took it down. I will take some close-ups and post them later. Big Al the Bugman.

Cold Weather brings in the rodents.

Cold snaps usually cause the insect population to dwindle, but it also marks the time for rodents and animals to look for warmer homes. A thorough inspection of the perimeter of the home will show you areas that need to be filled in or sealed up. I have seen Roof rats coming from the cable wires or telephone lines to the roof and gaining access into the attic, I also notice them getting in under the garage doors, as well as the A/C lines going into the attic. The branches overhanging or touching the roof need to be trimmed away from the house by at least 2 feet. On some rare occasions they have been known to come in through the water lines. The only way to stop that would be to install a one way flap under the toilet. These things will help lower the possibility that you will have unwelcome guests this winter. If you need any other help, let me know.
Big Al the Bugman

Roaches are not all bad.

Roaches are good for something other than freaking us out. This is weird but they do move pretty quickly. Most of the time I see them they are twitching and falling off the walls , but of course that is after I have treated the house for them, LOL.
Big Al the Bugman

Black Crazy Ants

These ants are really living up to their name. This winter has been the worst that I can remember that these ants are so active. I would say that 90 percent of calls have been about these Black Crazy Ants and they are very active inside homes, in bathrooms, kitchens, living areas. If you are having a problem with these ants you are not the only one. They are having a field day.

CRAZY ANT Paratrechina longicornis: Small, dark grey to black ants, that are easily recognized by their extremely long legs and antennae. Crazy ants get their name from their habit of running about very erratically with no apparent sense of direction. Colonies can most often be found living in soil, under items such as logs, stones, landscape timbers, wood, debris, and living under above-ground swimming pools. Crazy ants feed on a wide variety of foods, including other insects, grease, and sweets. They have been known to feed on the larvae of fleas and flies, and also have been observed carrying away fire ant queens immediately following a swarm.

Crazy Raspberry Ants Headed North

tHIS IS AMAZING

SCIENTISTS EXAMINING NORTHWARD EXPANSION OF RASBERRY ANTS

11/13/2009

The ant has quickly spread as far north as Louisiana and Mississippi within the last year, researchers from Sam Houston State U. report.

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HUNTSVILLE — Poor Texas. First it was killer bees, then fire ants. Now, it’s the Rasberry ants.

The invasion of this new species of ants has scientists intrigued, businesses concerned and fire ants running for the hills, said Jerry Cook, an entomologist at Sam Houston State University.

Cook and other scientists are at a loss to explain the fast and furious spread of the rapacious ant, which is named after exterminator Tom Rasberry, who discovered the ant in Houston in 2002.

The bug has quickly spread as far north as Louisiana and Mississippi within the last year.

“This is a species that we do not know much about. Presumably the ant came from the Caribbean through the Port of Houston,” Cook said. “We know the ant is in the Paratrechina genus and is capable of growing a population of billions and they need to eat. They especially like other bugs, like fire ants and honey bees.”

The population is growing so fast, and so large, that it is potentially an ecosystem disaster, according to Cook.

“If the Rasberry ant can virtually eliminate a pain like the fire ant, what else is it capable of doing?” he said. “If bees are eliminated, plants will not be pollinated which could result to the lack of crops producing fruits and vegetables. That in turn becomes a major problem for the agriculture community. They could become more than a nuisance, they could become a danger.”

The Rasberry ant does not have a stinger and therefore cannot inject venom into a person’s body; however, it does have formic acid, which creates an irritant reaction rather than a painful poison reaction.

“The bite of the Rasberry ant is far less painful than a fire ant’s. Essentially you can get covered with them, and it might freak you out,” Cook said.

The population of the Rasberry ant is constantly growing and scientists have not yet discovered a way to eliminate them.

“Without research, we won’t discover a solution, and without proper funding we’re not likely to get much research,” Cook said.

With a research grant, government or otherwise, scientists could reach out to the community to include industries, such as pest control, to develop products and strategies that could control or even eliminate them.

Insecticides will reduce the population and remove them for about a week, but there is no known treatment that would eliminate them for good.

“If we would have had those grants a year ago, we may have been able to start a program that would have eliminated them but now it is probably beyond that point,” Cook said.

“Until then, we need to learn how to live with them because the Rasberry, like the fire ant, is here to stay.”