The World’s 10 Most Dangerous Bugs

Bugs play a vital roll in our world’s ecosystem. They’re food for other species higher on the food chain, help pollinate plants, and decompose dead animals.  There are over one million known species of insects, and that’s not including spiders (arachnids). Most of the time we act like bugs are not a big deal, but bugs and diseases they carry kill millions of people every year. Most bugs are perfectly harmless, but there are a few that people need to avoid. Understanding their danger is half the battle so we have listed below the top ten most dangerous bugs.

#10 Puss Caterpillar

The Puss Caterpillar often referred to as the southern flannel moth has a body covered with long, red-brown hairs. This creature looks soft, but when frightened, its hair will rise. Causing needle like spines connected to a poison filled gland to be released. This poison can cause swelling, burning pain, and numbness at the point of entry, and in a severe case it can cause vomiting, high fever and paralysis. The Puss Caterpillar rarely causes death, but crossing its path could be a painful experience.

#9 Human Botfly

The Human Botfly is considered a parasite. When reproducing, they look for a warm, moist place on a person’s body to lay their eggs. Often times they attach the their eggs to a mosquito. The eggs will ether hatch while the mosquito is feeding or use the site of the mosquito’s bite as an entry point. These eggs hatch as maggots and develop inside the subcutaneous layers of the skin. While inside they feed off of human tissue for close to eight weeks before coming to the surface and dropping to the ground.

#8 Brown Recluse

The Brown Recluse Spider is a very tiny spider, measuring just 6 to 20 mm in length. This spider sports the nickname fiddle-back spider because of its brownish-yellow color with a black line on its belly that resembles a violin. The problem is the violin shape isn’t always visible so it can’t be used as a viable identifier. When the spider bites its victim, it releases venom into the bite. It maybe accompanied with a feeling of exhaustion or vomiting. Most of its bites are minor but some form huge lesions that can take months to heal. This symptoms can include organ damage and on rare occasions, death.

#7 Scorpion

Scorpions tend to prey on bugs, mice, and lizards. It’s rare for a human to get stung, but when it happens the symptoms are severe. The sting will burn and venom makes it way through the body, the victim starts to shake and drool. Confusion will set in as well as stomach cramps, and the victim won’t understand what’s happening. Children have the greatest risk of being stung by a scorpion. Adults can get stick but rarely die.

#6 Black Widow

The Black Widow Spider is probably the most feared and best know spider out there. It has a medium sized spider with a body about a half-inch in length. They will primary bite warm-blooded creatures releasing venom as they bite the skin. There venom is considerably stronger than that of a rattlesnake but the amount injected is too small to kill most people. It does cause a considerable amount of a pain. Your muscles will lock and you break out in a cold sweat. These spiders can be found in most southern states and are easily identified by the red hourglass on its abdomen.

#5 Deer Tick

The Deer Tick is about the size of a sesame seed. Often you don’t even realize you’ve been bitten. These ticks usually prey on deer and mice, but will occasionally bite a human. Deer Ticks are bloodsuckers and can stay attached to their host for up to four days. Each year the Deer Tick infects thousands of people with Lyme disease. They are fairly common in the US, primarily in the north east part of the Midwest.

#4 Africanized Bee

The sting of an Africanized bee is no worse than a sting from that of a honeybee. The problem is Africanized bees attack in swarms causing victims to be stung thousands of times. That many stings can and do kill. This bee is responsible for over 1000 deaths thought Mexico, South American and Central American.

#3 Assassin bug (Kissing Bug)

The Assassin bug gets its nickname the Kissing Bug because it often bites its victims around nose and mouth while they are sleeping. The Kissing Bug spreads Chagas’ disease. Victims can suffer rash, fevers and vomiting. A very small percentage of victims die from the bites. The disease can lurk in the blood stream and not surface until twenty to thirty years later.

#2 Tsetse Fly

These flies are large biting files only in Africa. They carry deadly disease such as sleeping sickness and look a lot like a common housefly. As the Tsetse Fly drinks its victim’s blood, it will pass a tiny parasite. This parasite infects the human nervous system. At first it will feel like the flu. As the brain begins to swell victims can fall into coma and thousands never recover.

#1 Mosquito

The Mosquito kills more people every year than anymore insect. The reason behind this is they are a vector agent for some of the world’s most deadly diseases. Every year 300 million people across Africa, South America, and Asia are infected with malaria. The malaria parasite destroys blood cell and clogs the flow of blood. Most deaths occur in Africa where a child dies from malaria every 30 seconds.

 

Cicadas Music Annoying You?

Summer is often filled with the sounds of children’s laughter, birds singing, sprinklers and the loud noise of cicadas! Cicada means “tree cricket” in latin, which is essentially what they are only bigger and much, much louder!

The bad news is that cicadas are pretty much near impossible to get rid of, and have a very long lifespan. The good news is that you won’t have to deal with them your entire summer since cicadas mainly live underground without bothering you, then emerge in late July.

Cicadas are typically pretty harmless. The males cannot sting, and the females can sting but are relatively calm unless attacked. Cicadas can do some damage to trees and plants when they lay their eggs, but it is typically just scaring, which is why we generally recommend just leaving them be and attempting to enjoy their music. If however, you just cannot stand it any longer, call Extermatrim Exterminating 800-620-PEST.

 

Preparing Your Home For the Changing Climate And Bugs (Continued)

For those of you who missed our last blog post, we wanted to provide our customer with helpful tips for bug proofing their homes while the weather is still cooperative. Bugs and other pests often find their way into your home come fall when the weather is cooler and the food is less bountiful. Below you will find the second set of tips for bug proofing the interior of your home.

 

Interior

  • After you have finished the exterior, move to the inside. Again assure that all cracks and holes are sealed. You can prevent entrance through the bottom of your doors by installing weather strips.
  • Store any open food in containers or tightly closed bags, and do not leave dog or cat food out for more than a couple hours.
  • Keep counters and floors clean and free of crumbs, and throw out the garbage if it has been sitting for a long period of time.
  • Place a few mice traps in your garage and in your kitchen cabinets.

One of the best solutions to keeping pests out is to hire Extermatrim Exterminating to come out and inspect your home. Not only will they point out problems which would have otherwise gone unnoticed, they may also catch a pest issue before it can cause any real problem. For tips on preparing your home’s exterior click here to read the entire article, or check out the prior blog post

Preparing Your Home For the Changing Climate And Bugs

None of us want to think about the fall coming, but whether we like it or not, it will be here very shortly. As the summer months leave us, and the crisp chill of fall fills the air, it forces a lot of bugs to pack up and move inside our homes. Boxelder bugs are notorious for invading homes in masses during the fall season. Also preparing to make your home their home are: carpenter ants, cockroaches, spiders and mice.

While it is still warm, you should begin preparing and safe guarding your home from menacing pests. The key to keeping bugs out is to completely guard them from getting in, because once they are in they multiply, and cause structural damage and health issues.

Exterior

  • Start off your preventative maintenance by going around your home exterior and sealing all cracks and holes, especially those around windows and doors.
  • Next, remove or trim anything near or touching the home. Things like debris, close tree branches, wood piles and shrubbery all serve the purpose of housing pests, and because of the proximity will direct them into your home come fall.
  • Repair any roof leaks where moisture is present. You will also want check to assure that there is no moisture surrounding your home. Warm places where the sun hits, and places where water spouts are located are a bug’s paradise.
  • Once you have completed those tasks, you can install yellow compact fluorescent lights outdoors. These lights act as a bug repellent, and although you might be pessimistic they really do work quite well.

For tips on preparing your home’s interior click here to read the entire article, or check out the next blog.

 

 

Keep Stink Bugs Out This Fall

You know those ugly brown bugs that stink when you squish them? You may know them as stink bugs because of the associated, but they are actually called Brown Marmorated Stink Bugs. Although they may stink they’re not harmful to your home…just annoying!

Here’s what those living in high-risk areas can do if stink bugs start threatening to take over their home.

Refrain from squishing them.

Stink bugs excrete a foul when they feel that they are in danger. Instead, try to get it to climb onto a tissue of a piece of paper and brush it off outside. If you have an infestation of stink bugs, you should use a vacuum hose to collect the insects. Make sure to dispose of the vacuum bag once you have collected them.

Prevent entry.

The best way to deal with a any pest problem is to prevent one from occurring in the first place. Stinkbugs become a big problem in the fall because they are looking for warm shelter.

Make sure to seal off typical points of entry, check outside and inside for cracks and holes in your home and garages.

Call and Extermatrim professional if a serious stink bug infestation occurs.

As we mentioned earlier, stink bugs seek shelter in numbers when temperatures turn cool. If you have had problems in the past, start preparing your home now by calling an Extermatrim pest professional to come out and spray.

 

How Do You Help Hoarders With Pest Problems?

We cannot help but become addicted to those television shows about hoarders, but for an exterminator, it can be their worst nightmare. Hoarding provides the prefect cluttered space for mice, rats and insects to live and hide. Not only does a hoarder provide the necessary shelter/protection for these pests, but they also typically provide food and water. Hoarder homes can also allow for easy access as there can be many maintenance issues which can be hidden by the clutter.

Part of helping a hoarder is understanding their problem. Not all hoarders have massive amounts a clutter, some hoarders can be relatively clean in some places, but have clutter hidden in garages or spare rooms.

Another misconception is people have pest problems because they hoard. This is false, people everywhere have pest problems which are completely unrelated to hoarding. However, hoarding does make pest problems worse because it often goes unnoticed and unresolved for extended periods of time.

If you or someone you care for has a hoarding problem, please call Extermatrim Exterminating (800-620-PEST) immediately. We will help you get any pest issues resolved before they become larger problems.

 

Best Natural Remedies For Bug Bites And Stings

Bug bites and stings are an unfortunate part of enjoying the beautiful outdoors. Stings and bites are often painful and/or itchy because the bug leaves traces of its saliva in you when it bites. No matter how much we tell ourselves not to itch, we always end up giving in and creating infection or continued itch.

To stop the pain and itch, their are several home remedies you can create to get some relief.

  • Most everyone has baking soda in their cupboard. You can either create a paste by adding two teaspoons of baking soda with a little bit of water, or you can add 4 teaspoons to a warm bath to soak in.
  • Some oils like lavender and peppermint reduce itchiness and inflammation by neutralizing toxicity. Apply a drop to the bite, or mix with honey to create a paste.

For other bug bites, call your family physician, or visit a local doctor.

Is Your Garbage Crawling With Maggots?

One of the grossest things to deal with is maggots. Maggots are most commonly the larva of a common house fly. As we all know, flies love dead, rotten and often stinky things, this is also where they lay their eggs. Once the eggs have been laid, they will hatch in 8-20 hours, producing wiggly little maggots. Maggots’ main goal is to eat as fast as they can to prepare themselves for their pupa phase before they become a fly.

One of the first steps to getting rid of maggots, is preventing them before they can occur. If you have a garbage disposal, use it. Never leave piles of food in the garbage for long periods of time inside of your home, especially during the summer. However, if you do get maggots, the most effective treatment seems to be dump boiling water mixed with bleach on them. While bug sprays seem like the best solution, it often does not work and makes them more active.

If you are too squeamish to deal with maggots, or if you have an extensive maggot issue, please call Extermatrim Exterminating (800-620-PEST) immediately.

 

Does Your Home Suffer From Ladybug Infestation?

Over the last few years, ladybugs have become a little less lucky and a lot more of an annoyance. Well, the first lesson to learn here is that the ladybugs infesting your home are probably not real ladybugs, but Asian Lady Beetles. Asian Lady Beetles vary in color from dark to light orange, while real ladybugs are red.

While you may be seriously annoyed with these pests invading your home, they are actually very beneficial to the outdoors because they snack on bugs which hurt your garden. Unfortunately, when temperatures start cooling off these beetles look for warm shelter—typically found in your home. Asian Lady Beetles find entrance to your home through little cracks. When they find shelter they emit an odor which attracts other lady beetles causing the quick multiplication and homeowner headache.

Although these beetles don’t do any damage, they often excrete fluid which cause little orange stains. These beetles will often enjoy sunning themselves in sunny areas of your home, on your ceiling and in bathrooms where it is humid and they can get a quick drink.

To get rid of Asian Lady Beetles start by attempting to prevent them from entering. Seal off any cracks outside your home where they can gain entrance. If they still manage to sneak in, vacuum as many of them up  as you can, then call Extermatrim Exterminating (800-620-PEST) immediately.

 

Weather Could Move Pests Indoors

Just like humans, pests have three basic needs: water, food and shelter. When one of these things is compromised due to weather conditions, they will typically move inside your house to find what they are missing. In Louisiana, we are typically dealing with hot, humid weather, as well as rainfall. Because we have these year-round conditions, it can be a little bit easier to deal with pests when you know what to look out for. Here are some weather related issues you may want to be aware of when dealing with pests.

Unfortunately, moist, warm weather creates the perfect conditions for pests to grow. Ants are especially productive in these temperatures, reproducing and multiplying in numbers. High rain levels may also force ants and other pests to relocate in large groups to find new homes and more food.

Dry conditions also create pest problems because their is not enough moisture for bugs to survive and reproduce. To solve this problem, pest will take up residence in your home.

Be sure to watch out for bees, spiders, mice, rats, ants, crickets, ladybugs and cockroaches during periods of excessive rain or heat. If you end up with a pest problem, call Extermatrim Exterminating (800-620-PEST) immediately.

 

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