Ticks are carriers of Lyme Disease.  The bacteria that causes Lyme Disease does not appear to enter the eggs before being laid.  Therefore, the first stage ticks are not infected.  In most of the western United States, the percentage of ticks infected with Lyme Disease is only around one or two percent.  As the tick enters the adult stage their choice for a meal becomes large animals such as deer, dogs, or other animals available.  If the ticks fed on an infected animal in either of the previous two life stages,  they will pass the bacteria into the blood of the larger animal, causing it to be a carrier as well. There are vaccines for pets against Lyme Disease. Check with your veterinarian.

Here are some of the common remedies for removing a tick from the skin of its host.

• they spin themselves in clockwise (false), twist it out counter-clockwise
• put a cigarette near it and the heat will make it back out
• coat it with Vaseline and once it starts to suffocate it will back out
• put rubbing alcohol on it and it will back out or be killed

You want to avoid being inoculated with whatever disease-causing pathogens the tick may be carrying. The remedies above will irritate the tick and it will become distressed, causing it to vomit its stomach contents into the skin before releasing its host.

There are 2 species of rats in our country, very widespread in their range, that do not belong here and these are the Norway Rat and the Roof Rat.  Both are native to eastern Asia, but came to this country on ships sailing across the Atlantic Ocean.  As with many imported species there are no specific natural controls for these rats in the U.S., and  they live and breed with relative impunity.  Of course, many of them are eaten by natural predators such as owls or coyotes,  but because these two species have chosen to live closely with humans there are few native predators available to control their numbers .

Some other common names for these two rats might be:

• Norway Rat – sewer rat, brown rat, wharf rat, ship rat, burrowing rat, house rat
• Roof Rat – black rat, tree rat, climbing rat, gray-bellied rat

These names are descriptions of the appearance and habits of these rats. The Norway Rat is an excellent swimmer, and is found often around waterfront areas, in sewers or storm drains, in our homes, or in underground burrows where it prefers to nest. The Roof Rat is a phenomenal climber, easily scurrying up trees, power poles or the side of houses. They prefer to nest above ground, perhaps as an escape from the Norway Rat, and commonly nest in trees or thick shrubbery, as well as in the attics of our homes.

How do rats affect us?

• Food – worldwide, rodents destroy about one half of the food we produce  due to contamination of the food with excrement. Rats eliminate an average of 20-50 droppings per day, along with an ounce of urine, onto whatever surface they are on, including food products.
• Disease – rats carry parasites such as fleas, mites, and lice that have been responsible for the deaths of many humans.  Even if they are not spreading a life-threatening disease to us, parasites such as Tropical Rat Mites feed on people who live in a structure with a rodent infestation.
• Damage – due to their constant “gnawing” rodents destroy personal property. It is believed that about one third of structure fires of “unknown” origin likely are caused by rats chewing on electric wires.
• Attacks on humans- as awful as it seems, rats will readily feed on humans . There are numerous reported cases of attacks on babies as they slept in their cribs.

Rodents other than gophers will burrow in the soil.  To avoid confusion here are some characteristics:

• Gophers – dirt mound is “horseshoe” shaped, and on the inside of this horseshoe arc there will be a small “plug” of dirt about 2 to 3 inches across. This  “plug” is where you can find the entrance to the gophers burrow.
• Moles – evidence usually is surface tubes or tunnels created by the foraging mole.
• Norway Rats – an open hole with well defined paths leading away from it.
• Ground squirrels – very large opening with dirt spilled out below it.

Gophers are rodents, and there are over 100 varieties in the United States.  They have long, hard front incisor teeth, tiny ears and eyes, and short tails that act as “feelers” when the gopher moves backward through its burrow.  Gophers are solitary animals, and there is never more than one adult living and working in a tunnel system at a time.  During breeding season males will be allowed to enter a  burrow occupied by a female, and the baby gophers are evicted when they enough fend for their themselves.

Gophers are vegetarians and live almost entirely underground, feeding on roots of grass, landscape plants or trees.  They may even chew on the lower trunks of small trees, killing the tree. They will appear above ground for brief periods of time to gather plant material that is stored in a food caches below ground.

Gophers do not hibernate, but are active year around.  Even when the ground is covered with snow the gophers will tunnel at the surface of the soil, leaving mounds of dirt at the tunnel openings.  These surface mounds can be seen after the snow melts in spring.  In warmer weather, the main tunnels stay around 4 to 8 inches below the surface, and may include over 800 feet of tunnels for a single gopher.  Small side chambers are created for their nest area, food caches, and for depositing their feces.

The mound is created when the gopher pushes the dirt out of the chambers it is digging, and it digs a lateral tunnel to the surface and then pushes the dirt away from the opening, creating the arc or semi-circle around the opening. A fresh plug of dirt then is placed in the opening to close it off. The gopher may remove this plug at night and feed carefully at the soil surface, and then replace the plug when it crawls back underground.

People who have done a lot of gopher control know these are intelligent animals that are not easily fooled. You might get lucky, you can chase it to the surface by flooding its burrow then success might be in the works for you. Some people claim good results from using the gas cartridges, but overall these methods are not particularly effective.

Remember that because you have eliminated gophers from your property does not mean that new ones won’t move in very quickly. They are territorial, and once some ground is rendered free and clear of the competition new gophers may take over the vacated area, even moving into the burrow system. Gopher control often needs to be an ongoing process if your landscaping is to survive.

Interesting facts:

• A flea may remain in its cocoon for as long as 6 months, waiting for a stimulus to cause it to emerge as an adult.  Once stimulated by weather, temperature, or vibration, it can hatch in only 1 second and begin feeding in a mere 3 seconds.
• A single female flea can lay up to 2,000 eggs in her lifetime, with as many as 50 eggs per day.  Under ideal conditions, with all of the offspring surviving and breeding, a single pair of fleas could produce 2 trillion offspring in only nine months.  To support her huge production of eggs,  a female flea may consume up to fifteen times her own body weight in blood each day.
• A flea is capable of jumping up to 8 inches high, or about 150 times its own height.  This would be the equivalent of a human leaping over 1,000 feet high.  It can jump horizontally about 13 inches, or 100 times its body length.
• Fleas can survive for months without feeding.  They can remain frozen for a year and survive inside an impenetrable cocoon during that period of time.  When first emerged as a hungry adult flea they can jump up to 40,000 times without a break in search for food.

This spider is called different names, including

• common Jumping Spider
• the Daring Jumping Spider
• the 3-Spotted Jumping Spider

The jumping spider has a high contrasting black and white coloring, and the males are blessed with a shimmering, metallic green chelicerae, or  coverings that hide their fangs.  Since it is the male who needs to entice the female into mating, he relies on convincing her of his abilities by dancing in front of her with his vibrant colors.

Jumping spiders are very common to structures, often being found on the exterior.  As hunting spiders they do not spin webs for capturing food, but instead rely on excellent eyesight and rapid reflexes for capturing food on the run.  The jumping spider’s eyesight so well developed that it can detect objects without the need for movement by that object. Their huge, forward-facing eyes allow them to see effectively from as much as a foot away.  They have even been observed leaping  from one surface to another in efforts to capture an insect that is flying past them or resting on a surface nearby. Their movements are erratic, with a series of quick starts and stops and side to side movements which allows them to rapidly cover more ground. Their appearance is described as stocky and compact, with short legs and hairy bodies. Their colors range from the nearly all black to some with bright red abdomens, and others in combinations of red, yellow, tan or other color shades.

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There are four species of bed bugs:

1. Bat Bed Bug:  Native to North America, and found from British Columbia south into California, and east to the Rocky Mountains, this bug is associated with bats in structures or other roosting areas.  They appear not to be particularly inclined to feed on humans, but they can be a concern if their numbers are high and they invade human activity areas.

2.  Common Bed Bug: While this species is not associated with the spread of any diseases, the bite itself is generally painless.  Allergic reactions to those sensitive to its bite may include swelling, severe itching or other immune system reactions.  The Common Bed Bug is nocturnal.  During the daylight hours it hides in any available crack in the immediate area.  The presence of bedbugs may be determined by an unusual “sweet” odor in the room. Another  sign is small brown spots on bed linens due to the the bed bugs feeding habits.  Adults can live over a year, and in the absence of human hosts they have been known to feed on birds and rodents.

3. Swallow Bed Bug: Possibly native to North America, and an extremely common pest in association with swallows and their nests.

4.  Tropical Bed Bug: Possibly from Africa or Asia, but found occasionally in the United States as a parasite of humans or bats.  It appears to be most common in Florida, preferring to live in warm, humid climates.  This is an uncommon species, but may prefer humans as a food source when it is present.

The first Argentine ants set foot on U.S. soils in the late 1890′s, as coffee ships from Brazil unloaded their cargo in New Orleans. Being prolific breeders and constantly on the go, they moved across the southern half of the United States. A single colony may contain 10,000 female workers, and there may be hundreds of colonies around your home; the total number of ants could easily reach a million. Although they cannot sting, they can bite; however, they are only about 3 mm long and there tiny mandibles are too small to hurt humans.

They are very aggressive and readily overtake other ant species, even ants that are much larger and with powerful stings. Argentine ants are relentless and simply outnumber their adversaries until the enemy colony is destroyed. They even attack paper wasp nests under the eaves of a house, forcing the huge wasps to flee their nests in terror. Even nests of large carpenter bees are no match for these relentless ants.  One possible redeeming quality about these little warriors is that they may attack dry-wood termite colonies in your home.

Most ant colonies are very territorial, and will fight different colonies of the same species. Since Argentine ants in the United States originated from the original colonizers in Louisiana, they are all closely related with very similar DNA.  In fact, Argentine ants from different colonies will actually “team up” and attack together in vast swarms. They simply outnumber and overpower their enemy.

Black Widow venom is a bit unusual, in that it is a “neuro” toxin, and it affects the nervous system.   While the actual bite itself may feel like just a slight pin-prick, or not even be felt at all, the results of the bite can be quite intense.  Very young children and older people are at the highest risk of serious complications from black widow venom.   If you suspect that you or someone else has been bitten by a black widow it is advisable to seek medical attention quickly.

Black widows are very distinctive spiders.  Only the female is capable of biting people, and as an adult spider she is medium sized, shiny black, and nearly always with a bright red spot on the bottom of her abdomen that is the shape of an hourglass.   Since they are the ones that may bite us this distinctive coloration allows us to identify them quickly.

Black widows are web spinners, and the webs are built in a very haphazard manner.  Black widow silk is some of the strongest silk in nature, and if you pass a stick through the web you will feel a distinct resistance, hear a snapping sound as the strands are broken.   The black widow is comfortable only when it is in its web, and usually rests upside down to allow its heavy abdomen to hang properly.  While it can move rapidly across its own webbing to capture prey, it is clumsy and out of place on the ground.  When disturbed their first instinct likely will be to curl up in a ball, hoping to avoid whatever threat they perceived, as their defenses are not nearly as effective when they are not in their web.

These are also spiders that prefer their privacy and will be found in undisturbed areas.  Your garage can be a wonderful habitat for black widows, with its semi-darkened environment and not much traffic.  Be careful when you are reaching for things that have been in storage there, such as boards against the walls, boxes or other objects piled on shelves or the floor.  In the yard be cautious when picking up lumber in piles, firewood, or boards or other objects on the ground that may provide good hiding places for the spiders beneath them.  It is highly advisable to wear thick gloves, such as leather, to prevent spiders and other biting insects from having any opportunity to harm you.

The bite of the Brown Recluse certainly can cause a problem, but it rarely could be considered life threatening.  The venom of the Brown Recluse is a cytotoxic venom, meaning it attacks only the local area surrounding the bite.  There is no antidote for Brown Recluse venom.  The problem is that the venom from the Brown Recluse is removed from our system very slowly, perhaps over a course of several months, until our body is able finally to metabolize it and remove it from our system.

What are the symptoms of the Brown Recluse bite?

Some bites are not  detected until hours or days later when a reaction at the site of the bite begins to develop. Others report a “pin prick” feeling or slight stinging sensation, followed in a few hours by intense burning and pain. Within 24 hours this may lead to general feelings of illness – fever, chills, nausea, weakness – followed by swelling and tenderness at the site of the bite, with a lesion beginning to form at the center. The healing process could take as long as six to eight weeks.  If you truly believe you were bitten by a Brown Recluse spider you should contact your doctor. First aid measures, in the meantime, include applying an ice pack to the bite site, and possibly an antiseptic to reduce the chance of infection.

How do I prevent Brown Recluse spiders?

• Remove trash, old boxes, piles of lumber, piled clothing, and general clutter
• Store boxes and other items off of the floor
• Dust and vacuum more frequently – the Brown Recluse likes to hide in quiet, undisturbed areas
• Make sure all window and door screens, as well as screens to crawl spaces, are in place
• Shake out shoes and clothing before putting them on, check towels before using
• Handle firewood while wearing gloves