Yellow Jackets Are A Summer Problem

The summer is half gone, and as the season passes, behavioral patterns for the insects around us begin to change. Around this time of year, Russell’s Pest Control begins to get many phone calls about bees and wasps, particularly yellow jackets. Since you could be encountering these creatures much more often over the next few weeks, let’s have a look at yellow jackets and why they cause such trouble for people in East Tennessee.

Although they have the black and yellow stripes that we associate with the generic term “bees,” yellow jackets are, in fact, wasps (which makes them cousins to bees). We’ve covered some solitary members of this family before (cicada killers and carpenter bees), but yellow jackets live most of their lives in large groups.

A yellow jacket nest is started by a single pregnant queen at the beginning of spring. She emerges from hibernation and begins to build a nest for her future colony. Yellow jackets aren’t overly selective about their nest location. You can find their large hives hung from a tree branch, connected to the roof of a building, or tucked neatly underground with a tunnel leading out to the lawn. The queen’s nest is made up of perfectly symmetrical, regular hexagons, which she fills with eggs as quickly as she can so that she can get help building the remainder of the nest. In a short time, she’ll have all the help she needs. That single queen can lay about 25,000 eggs!

What’s interesting about yellow jackets is their feeding habits. The adults need sugars to survive, so you will find them sipping nectar like any friendly honey bee. However, the larvae need protein to survive, which sometimes earns them the nickname “meat bee.” These wasps will not apologize for getting the food that they need. They are aggressive foragers, and, in the spring, you are likely to find them landing on your cheeseburgers and hotdogs and leaving with chunks of food for their young. Actually, yellow jackets are also serving as pest control experts during this time; they willingly hunt other pests and feed them to their larvae. As the year progresses, the adult yellow jacket population increases, which means more sugars are necessary to sustain them. That’s when you find them buzzing around your desserts or even inside your soda can (yikes!).

People tend to have bad experiences with yellow jackets for one of two reasons. In the first case, people are likely to get stung if they flail and swat at yellow jackets that are foraging for food. These aggressive wasps will not hesitate to sting if they feel threatened, and people who panic increase their risk of a yellow jacket attack. In the second case, people run the risk of being stung if they block the flight path of yellow jackets trying to return to their underground nest. Most of the insects in this family have about a ten-foot flight pattern that they always use to return home. If a person invades that airspace, the yellow jackets could descend as a group to try to clear away any threat to their nest.

You should know that these creatures function like pack animals; if one yellow jacket attacks you, many more are likely to come to their companion’s aid. Unfortunately, they also have a nasty habit of pursuing their victims, so it’s best to put a lot of distance between you and the contested space if you find you’ve been stung.

We like to give good advice for readers who may want to handle a pest problem without calling a professional like Russell’s Pest Control. However, be warned that you should only deal with yellow jackets with the proper protective equipment, and you do so at your own risk. Although a yellow jacket sting may only result in localized pain and swelling that lasts for a day or two, anyone allergic to their stings can experience very serious and even life-threatening reactions.

If you are able to locate an above ground nest, you can try something as simple as knocking it down. Do this only while wearing a proper bee suit, and try to approach the nest in the evening when the wasps are more docile. Additionally, there are traps available for yellow jackets; these are most effective early in the year when you’re more likely to eliminate a larger percentage of the nest’s adult population. There are also insecticide bait stations that allow the wasps to take “food” back to the colony, and the food kills the larvae before they have a chance to develop. Even over-the-counter versions of those baits can be quite pricey, and you may be better off contacting a professional like Russell’s Pest Control for a free inspection before you spend money on a product like that. As always, you can give us a call or contact us online.

Fleas: A Pest And Plague

Since we haven’t had a good discussion about a blood-sucker in quite some time, I thought it might be good to post about the infamous flea since it can become quite a problem for many Knoxville homeowners at this time of year (I’ll spare you the puns about fleas and the “dog days of summer”).

The most common species of flea in our area (and in all of the U.S.) is the cat flea. Don’t let the name fool you: They’re more than willing to use any convenient critter as a host. You’ll find them on your pets that spend time outside, and they are also carried by raccoons, opossums, and skunks that may have nests near you.

Adult cat fleas, or Ctenocephalides felis, are extremely tiny and are usually black or reddish-brown in color. They are vertically flattened (meaning they are taller than they are fat), which helps them maneuver through thick animal fur with ease. Two of their six legs are oversized for jumping, and they have a straw-like mouth, which they use to suck blood from their unfortunate hosts.

You may be wondering why fleas are so difficult to eliminate even after the besieged pet has been dipped and scrubbed to within an inch of its life. The answer to that question is found in the flea’s life cycle. As is the case with many pests, killing the adults isn’t really all that hard. You can take your pet to get a flea bath and probably knock out most of the adults on the animal right then. The problem is that the young fleas aren’t on the pet at all; they’re hiding out at your house, and you will likely never see them until they emerge as adults, ready to suck blood again.

Let’s have a look at how their life cycle works against us. Like mosquitoes, adult fleas must have a blood meal to lay eggs. The eggs roll off the side of the host and land on the ground wherever the animal was resting. The fleas hatch from the eggs as larvae and set about looking for food and growing up as quickly as possible. Adult fleas only feed on blood, but the larvae are scavengers and can feed on most organic matter, including dried skin cells that you find in household dust or pet dander. In order to continue in their life cycle, the larvae also require a blood meal. They get this by consuming the feces of their parents, which drops off the host animal just like the eggs did. At this point, you’re probably feeling sorry that you wondered about fleas at all, right? This whole pleasant process can take as little as two weeks during ideal conditions, so, as you can imagine, flea populations can get out of control quickly.

Let us now analyze why this life cycle information is useful to us. It tells us that just cleaning your pet won’t do you any good. When freshly-bathed Rover or Whiskers lies back down in his favorite patch of sun light, he re-exposes himself to the flea larvae that are only days away from turning into those tormenting adults. This means that you must thoroughly clean the floors of your home as well as all pet bedding before bringing your pet back from the groomer. Vacuum as thoroughly as you can and wash pet bedding when possible to bring the fastest possible end to your flea problem.

This vacuuming is absolutely crucial because flea pupae are motion-activated. Normally, they wait until they sense motion to emerge because that usually means that a host is nearby. The vacuum will trick the fleas into emerging when your pet is not there, and then you can sweep them up or kill them with a product. This is extremely important because flea eggs and pupae are completely immune to pesticides. You must either vacuum them up and remove them by emptying the vacuum outside or kill them as adults. The final word on flea control is that persistence is the key. Be prepared to vacuum infested areas daily for at least a couple of weeks to be sure that all of the eggs have hatched and all of the pupae have been triggered.

Of course, this task may sound like a pretty tall order for a busy homeowner. We at Russell’s Pest Control have some impressive treatment options that, when combined with a bit of cleaning, can catch the fleas between life cycles and stop them from developing correctly. Give us a call or contact us here if you need some help.

Carpenter Ants: The Busy Builders

Since we’ve already started a mini-series about ants (including odorous house ants and fire ants), I thought we might round off our discussion of one of East Tennessee’s most troublesome pest families with an introduction to one more common species. Today, we’ll have a look at carpenter ants and the trouble that they can cause when they invade homes or businesses.

As you can imagine based on their name, carpenter ants tunnel through wood to build their colonies (much like carpenter bees). Unlike termites, carpenter ants do not eat the wood that they destroy. They grind it into sawdust while they’re excavating and push the dust out into the open with the rest of their waste. Therefore, if you find piles of sawdust near your home (particularly if they’re inside), you should suspect carpenter ants first thing. In almost every case of carpenter ant invasion, excess moisture is present. The moisture softens the wood, making it much easier to remove than dry wood. Quite often, we find this species of ant near leaks around bathtubs or by leaks at exterior doors and windows. The presence of these ants could alert homeowners to the possibility of water-related problems.

Carpenter ants are nocturnal, so they are most active at night; this means that you may not encounter them in your home until they’ve already built up a substantial colony. If you do encounter carpenter ants in your home or business in an area ranging from Lenoir City to Knoxville to Sevierville, they are most likely to look like the one pictured here. The most common species in our area is the black carpenter ant. They are solid black, and each colony contains members of three different sizes. The smaller ants are more likely to stay near the nest and care for the young while the larger ants (which can be quite large) are more likely to be out foraging for food.

So, what are carpenter ants likely to be up to inside your home? Well, they’ll be doing exactly what every other bug does: looking for food, shelter, and water. Black carpenter ants can invade homes in order to set up a primary colony in wooden siding or in the wood frame inside your walls. These pesky critters can do some serious structural damage if they’re left untreated for any amount of time. However, it’s just as likely that their primary colony is outside in a stump somewhere and they are only using your house as a grocery store and nursery.

Carpenter ant eggs require a very moist environment while their later life cycles are more comfortable in a slightly dryer atmosphere. Because of that, these little explorers will often set up a secondary colony someplace out of the elements where they can tend their toddler-aged ants. In that case, you may have a nest without the telltale carpenter ant sawdust piles. They could be exploiting a hollow void in your house for their secondary colony. This could be a wall void (which is very inconvenient) or something much simpler like an infrequently-opened drawer or a long-untouched box.

The thing to remember is that carpenter ants like to follow well-established trails and prefer “roadways” when they can get them. You are most likely to see them walking along a wall, around your cabinets, or beside your garden hose outside. You can use this tendency against them and follow them all the way back to their nest. Once you follow them to the secondary nest inside your building, you can remove it and will be well on your way to eliminating your problem. Bear in mind that, unlike many ants, carpenter ants send only a small percentage (usually less than 10%) of their colony members out to forage at a time. If you are only killing the ants that you find eating the sugary juice spill in the kitchen, you will continue to have carpenter ant problems.

The pest control industry views ants as one of the hardest pests to control, and, let’s face it, plenty of people find it creepy to have so many little insects running around the house. If ant control is simply not your forte or not something you can fit into your schedule, we at Russell’s Pest Control would be happy to offer a helping hand. As always, you can give us a call or contact us online.

Red Imported Fire Ants: The Insect Army

Good pest control professionals should view their titles literally. We believe in “pest control,” meaning that we control the populations of pests when they get into places where they don’t belong. Our job is not to exterminate every insect or rodent. If we did, the whole food chain would fall to pieces. That being said, there are some pests that are really hard to like. Right now, the word “mosquito” probably just flashed through your brain, and we understand that feeling. But today, we want to discuss another unpopular pest that is quite new to the Knoxville area. Get ready for an introduction to the fire ant.

The red imported fire ant came to the United States from South America in ships in the early 1900s. They have grown their populations since then and adapted to the cooler climate. They are verified in at least eleven states, now including Tennessee. These ants are extremely dangerous and hard to control. An average fire ant mound can have 200,000 occupants, and you can find dozens of colonies per acre in rural areas. The mounds will be noticeable because they have a large pile of dirt at their main entrance. In urban areas, this dirt pile could pretty easily be up to six inches across; in agricultural areas, they have been known to be up to two feet high. This knowledge leads us to lesson number one for those sharing a county with fire ants: Don’t stomp an ant mound! You never know what species of ant could come out, and you may regret the decision!

So, what makes red imported fire ants so much worse than other ants? Well, there is only one way to describe these colonies: militarized. A fire ant army is a war machine. If a person accidentally wanders into a fire ant mound, the workers will immediately begin swarming up to exposed skin. But, they won’t attack right away. They actually wait until a larger number of soldiers gain access to the prey. Then, they release a chemical as a signal, and all the ants attack at once to inflict the most damage.

Most people say they have been “bitten” by an ant, but serious ant encounters have nothing to do with bites. Some species of ants (though not all) are equipped with stingers, just like a wasp, and these stingers do the damage. However, fire ants are quite smart. While they are waiting for the attack signal, the ants use their powerful jaws to latch onto a hair or the skin of their victims. Then, when they begin to sting, they are very difficult to brush off and are more likely to be able to deliver multiple stings per ant.

In addition, fire ant stings are more dangerous than the stings of other ants. Most ants inject a type of acid when they sting, which can cause painful skin irritation. Fire ants inject a certain protein that is foreign to other creatures. The immediate result is a wicked-looking blister that often scars. However, some people (and other animals) are violently allergic to this protein. When you hear about fire-ant-related deaths, they are almost never associated simply with the painful stings. The worst danger is from these extreme allergic reactions, which can cause victims to go into shock and, in extreme cases, die.

This is a hard article to write and a hard article to read because we generally don’t like to make people frightened of pests (grossed out, maybe, but not frightened). However, red imported fire ants are a menace in East Tennessee, and they don’t belong here. Our native plants and animals are not equipped to withstand their aggressive attacks, and they are doing damage to our ecosystem.

With many pests, like odorous house ants, there are things we can recommend for homeowners to try if they want to spend time managing their own pest control to save money. We do not recommend that with red imported fire ants. If you suspect that you have fire ants near your house, either because you’ve received stings or because you’ve seen their large mounds, please give Russell’s a call or visit our contact page. We can do a free inspection to determine if fire ants really are a problem near you, and we have the equipment needed to treat for these pests safely.

Ants In The Kitchen? They’re Probably Odorous House Ants

We did some research to discover which sorts of bugs our pest control customers in Knoxville, Sevier County, Blount County, and other surrounding areas encounter most often. One of the top three problem pests was a critter that we haven’t covered yet on our blog. We apologize for the delay and would now like to give you an introduction to the odorous house ant, a bug that causes a great deal of trouble for East Tennessee homeowners.

The odorous house ant gets its strange name from the unpleasant smell that it gives off when you crush it. The scent is usually described as a rotten citrusy smell; imagine something that’s somewhat sickly sweet. Another common name for these ants is sugar ants (due to their tendency to forage for sweet foods). Growing up, we just called them “little back ants.” There are a lot of little black ants in the world, but these are the ones that are most likely to cause trouble in your house.

The problem with odorous house ants is that their colonies can contain thousands of workers (actually, 10,000 is not an uncommon population), and they can spawn multiple colonies in the same area. Each of these sister colonies has its own queen; in fact, unlike some ant species, odorous house ants have no problem with maintaining multiple queens per colony. Since only the queens lay eggs, having several queens at a time can result in major population explosions.

Odorous house ants build shallow nests under almost any sort of debris that they may find around your house. You may frequently recognize them by the orderly lines that they make while foraging. You are particularly likely to see these trails leading to a sweet food source, including starchy pet foods, sticky garbage cans, and sweet-smelling house plants. Like all bugs, ants’ foraging cycles are dependent on moisture. You may be more likely to find them in your house after or during major weather events like soaking rains (when they are avoiding floods) or lingering droughts (when they are seeking water in your house).

If you want to try to control odorous house ants on your own, you need to consider what ants need to survive. The key factors that every insect pursues are shelter, food, and water. Begin your ant control by removing any debris that could be harboring a colony. Move wood piles away from the house, and rake leaf litter and branch debris away from the walls. Also, bear in mind that ants are expert climbers and can easily enter your home from above by using an overhanging branch to reach your roof.

As I mentioned, these ants are very methodical. It’s possible that you’ll be able to follow one of their foraging lines back to the nest. In that case, use an over-the-counter pesticide labeled for exterior use to treat the nest itself. Don’t forget, though, that it’s quite possible more than one nest is in place around your home. Keep your eyes peeled for other ant trails even if you’ve successfully treated one or more nests.

However, it is possible that you cannot follow the ants’ trail because it is not immediately evident. We’ve heard of these ants coming right out of electrical outlets or underneath baseboards, which makes it hard to track them. In such cases, use soapy water to wipe down the areas where you find them. This will remove any sweet spills that may be attracting them and will help to eliminate the pheromone trails (basically, scent trails) that they are leaving behind for other ants to follow. Once the area is very clean, rely on ant baits to try to eliminate the hidden colony. Hopefully, if their original food source is removed, they will take the bait back to the waiting colony members and handle all of the ant extermination themselves.

Of course, Russell’s Pest Control knows that ant removal can be very tricky. If you don’t want to tackle the little black horde on your own, feel free to give us a call or visit our contact page. Ants are one of our specialties, and we’d be glad to handle the issue so you don’t have to spend time on it.

A Lesson In Termite Identification And Biology

In one of our last articles, we put out a warning because termite swarms are happening all over East Tennessee. If you have already seen a swarm at your home or found the cast off wings that indicate you missed a swarm nearby, you should contact an exterminator (like Russell’s Pest Control) for an inspection immediately. After all, termite colonies typically only produce swarms after they have already been breeding and feeding for about three years. If you’re seeing them above ground, they’ve already got the jump on you.

This time, however, I thought it might be important to cover the basics of termite biology so that you can recognize and understand these little critters if you encounter them. Termite identification is important so that you can be sure you know which enemy you’re facing and can act accordingly. First off, you should know that, unlike other wood-destroying insects, termites actually use their powerful jaws to eat the wood that they encounter instead of just tunneling through it. They are able to do so because tiny, single-celled creatures in their stomachs convert the wood particles from cellulose (which is indigestible) to starch. The term “starch” should ring a bell for you; we eat that, too, in foods like bread and pasta. Termites then convert that starch into their functional energy source: sugar. Combine this with the realization that termites work without sleeping, and they start to sound fairly alarming. They’re working 24 hours a day to sustain a life-long sugar high. Yikes!

So, how will you know them if you see them? Please refer to the photo below while we cover the basics of a termite’s appearance by comparing it to a very familiar spring-time bug: the ant. As you can see, termites are somewhat similar to ants, and swarming ants and termites are often mistaken for each other. The key differences between ants and termites are highlighted below.

  • Waist Size: The tiny, pinched waist of the ant gives it a slightly waspish appearance; termites, however, are almost the same width all the way down their bodies. This shape and the dirty whitish color of the workers give them an almost grub-like appearance.
  • Antennae Shape: Ants have long, thin antennae that bend like an elbow joint after leaving their heads. Termites have shorter antennae that do not bend at all.
  • Wing Shape: This factor is particularly crucial for identification during swarm season since swarming termites are darker in color than the workers and are more likely to have an ant-like look about them. Ants have two pairs of wings of different shapes, and the front pair is noticeably larger than the back pair. Termites also have two pairs of wings, but all four wings are the same shape and size.

If you encounter insects like these around your home, you can use these features and this picture to try your hand at termite identification. Of course, you can call Russell’s Pest Control at 865.584.8549 for a free termite inspection if you want an expert’s opinion on the subject.

Just in case you suspect a termite problem and are worried about the cost of a treatment, we’ve got good news for you. If you call and mention this blog post, you can receive $100 off the installation of an Always Active Sentricon® Termite Colony Elimination System.* In our opinion, this is the best termite treatment available, and we stand by it with our 100% damage repair guarantee. If termites get past our defenses while your home is protected by this system, we’ll handle 100% of the needed repairs. Naturally, this discount can’t be combined with any other coupons or offers. Give us a call or contact us online if you want more details.

*Trademark Dow AgroSciences

Stink Bugs And Lady Bugs: The Hassles Of A Mild Winter

Because of our mild winter, we at Russell’s Pest Control were getting calls from homeowners in Knoxville, Maryville, Lenoir City, and other surrounding cities throughout early February for pest problems ranging from ants to mice to meal moths. One thing is for sure: This winter has (so far) proven to be milder than the record-breaking cold seasons we’ve had in the past few years. Before we gear up for the spring-time swarmers, I wanted to warn you about the critters that you may be finding in your southern windows on these sunny afternoons.

You haven’t forgotten about stink bugs or lady beetles, have you? We usually try to post about them in the late summer or early fall because that’s the time to get treatments for these overwintering pests. The term “overwintering pest” just means a bug that hibernates through the cold weather inside your warm wall voids or attic. On nice, sunny days in late winter or early spring, they start to emerge and make their way outside. Unfortunately, their sense of direction is not so impressive just after they wake up. All of the ladybugs and stinks bugs that you find inside your house are just lost. They were trying to get back to the open air, and they took a wrong turn through a crack under your baseboard or through one of your light fixtures.

There is just nothing pleasant about sharing space with these bugs, particularly if you have them in large numbers. Both species give off a very unpleasant odor when you squish them, and ladybugs pack a surprisingly sharp (though harmless) bite for bugs of their size. If you’ve got them in your house now, there’s nothing you can do but buckle down and ride out the insect exodus. Do not spray an over-the-counter pesticide inside your wall voids to try to kill them there. That will only draw predator bugs in large numbers to feed on the ones you kill.

Use your vacuum with a hose attachment to suck up groups of stink bugs or ladybugs that you find inside. Be sure to either empty the canister in an outside trashcan or remove the bag and put it outside. The bugs don’t die when they are vacuumed up and will just walk back out into the house if you leave the bag inside.

Although we at Russell’s Pest Control will not do a wall void treatment to kill the stinkbugs and ladybugs that are already in the house, we would be glad to help you handle any predator pests like spiders, centipedes, or rodents that may show up to hunt the overwintering pests. We can give you safe coverage during the high-pressure pest months that are coming this spring and summer and then do a thorough treatment this fall to work on keeping out next year’s stink bugs and ladybugs. In other words, we can protect your home from pests year round so you don’t have to worry about it. Give us a call, or visit our contact page, if that sounds like the sort of help you need.

Silverfish In The Attic

Last week, I was getting Christmas decorations down from the attic when I came across a pesky critter that commonly makes its home in stored items, particularly in the attic. The offending invader was a silverfish, and I didn’t feel the need to extend Christmas cheer to it. It got squished before it ever left the attic, but seeing it reminded me that many homeowners and business owners in the area could be encountering silverfish at this time of year and may need to know what to do about them.

I did a quick online search to see what people were saying about silverfish, and I was quite surprised by the result. A lot of people were posting pictures of silverfish that weren’t silverfish at all. So, to set the record straight, please view this picture for a clear example of a silverfish. They are sometimes called bristletails (as are their cousins, firebrats, who live in climates over 90° F). When viewed from above, they have the shape of a thin tear drop with three spikes coming out of their back end. Their color can range from pail silver to a dark gray, and they can grow to be about half an inch long. Most of the classification errors I found were made by people who thought that house centipedes were silverfish (you remember those monsters, right?). If I had my preference, I’d choose silverfish over centipedes any day, though it’s best to avoid them both in your home.

You won’t be at all surprised to find that silverfish like humidity and moisture; most pests do. However, unlike camel crickets, silverfish prefer warm humid places. Their ideal temperature is about 70° F, which, coincidentally, is a fairly ideal temperature for us as well. You may find camel crickets cheerfully living in your crawl space, but silverfish would much rather live in the house. The attic is often a good choice for them because it is not dehumidified by the AC in the summer or the heat in the winter. Unfortunately, these pests are nocturnal. Homeowners may not know that silverfish are there until the problem is already quite bad. That trouble is compounded for business owners since commercial buildings are rarely occupied after dark.

Silverfish won’t bite you, but they can do some damage to items in your home. They like to eat starchy substances and, unfortunately, papers are a common meal for them. That’s another reason why they like the attic; cardboard is attractive to them. I have heard of silverfish feeding on stored papers, books, or even old photos. They can damage your possessions posthumously as well because their silver scales can leave a messy smear if you squish them.

In many cases, dehumidification can go a long way toward rousting the silverfish out of your home. HVAC units can leave houses pretty dry, particularly in the winter, and that will make these bristletails very uncomfortable. If you know you have a very damp attic, consider having a dehumidifier installed there if you’re having a major silverfish problem. That will help protect any stored items you have from moisture and will help to eliminate your silverfish issue. There are also several useful baits available that can be left in unexposed areas for the silverfish to consume. Remember to read the label if you’re going to try baits on your own. The label will tell you if a product can be used in a home or attic so you don’t have to wonder if you’re using the right thing.

At Russell’s Pest Control, we believe in a multi-faceted approach to controlling problem pests. We can inspect and inform you about any moisture issues that we find. We can also incorporate baits, sticky pads, and liquid treatments that can help to eliminate pests that may already be in the house. If you have questions, you can give us a call or visit our contact page.

Camel Crickets: The Mad Hoppers

An amusing anecdote: A friend of mine had her first close encounter with a camel cricket as a teenager. Her parents had a basement rancher; the cricket entered from the garage and came out of a dark corner to taunt her one night when she was home alone. Feeling concerned but not yet dismayed, she grabbed a shoe and proceeded to stalk the invader. You can imagine her surprise when the cricket turned on her as she approached and jumped at her instead of running away. This was no ordinary cricket; it jumped well above the height of her knee and chased her all the way to the next room. Her solution? She armed herself with three phone books and launched them one at a time from half-way up the stairs. Desperation made her aim true, and she landed the last one on the enemy. She then jumped up and down on top of it for five minutes until she was sure the offender was dead. I laugh aloud every time I imagine this.

Camel crickets are a problem in the fall and winter in Knoxville and the surrounding counties, and their nasty habit of hopping at people is unacceptable. I have never met anyone who could tolerate a camel cricket problem in their home. So, how can you bring peace to the basement once more?

Believe it or not, in most cases, camel crickets do not want to be in your house. Typically, they wander in from outside while hunting for a place to hide from the sun (they’re nocturnal). A gap under your garage door gives them access to the warm building, and then they only have to wait for the door to swing open to let them in the house. What they will find, however, is that there’s nothing good to eat there. Camel crickets (and other crickets) are rarely destructive in homes; they are plant eaters and will be unimpressed by the food in your kitchen.

In light of that, how do you stop the hoppers? I return to my stand-by advice: Seal up the holes into your house! This is especially relevant now that the weather is getting cold. Grabbing some caulk or weather stripping is a hassle that you may not need in your busy schedule, but it will benefit your wallet and help to alleviate your pest problem if you can find time for it. Every hole that you block is another place where cold air can’t get in and warm air can’t get out. Think of the good you can do for your heating bills this winter. Check your doors and windows as well as the opening around your plumbing and cable wires for potential problems.

There is a chance that camel crickets are purposely choosing to live in your basement or crawl space because they are comfortable there. This is almost always the result of dampness and perhaps clutter. Like many pests, crickets like to find undisturbed areas to hide. If you can get any boxes off the floor of your garage or basement and store them up higher, you will eliminate the majority of the crickets’ housing. Also, many pest control companies recommend de-humidifiers for basements or crawl spaces that remain damp throughout the year. A damp crawl space can lead to many (sometimes expensive) problems, ranging from wood rot, to pest invasions, to mold. A cozy, dry basement or crawl space will not be comfortable to camel crickets, and they will be less likely to enter your home to escape the cold.

At Russell’s Pest Control, we do free home inspections. Our inspectors can tell you whether you have moisture problems in the crawl space or conditions in the basement that leave you in danger of facing bug problems or home maintenance issues. They can also do a check for termite activity while they’re there. Does that sound like the sort of helpful information you need? Try calling us, or check in with us on our contact page. We promise to answer your questions and serve you to the best of our abilities.

Black Widow Spiders: The Ultimate Halloween Pest

Since it’s October, we’ve decided to continue our tradition of introducing you to a creepy beastie. Last year’s house centipede was alarming, but now let’s look at what may be the most widely-recognized “bug” in North America. Today, we’ll discuss facts about black widow spiders and what homeowners in Knoxville and the surrounding counties need to know about keeping themselves safe.

Probably almost all of our readers have at least seen a picture of a black widow. But, just as a review, you can identify a black widow by its bulbous, round body that is shiny, black, and hairless. They have thin, jointed legs, which are also hairless. Adult black widow spiders have that tell-tale hour glass on their stomachs, which is most famously known to be red but can also be orange, yellow, or even white. We are also seeing a rise of brown widows, which obviously have a different body color but usually still have a bright spot on their stomachs. Black widows prefer to make their webs near to the ground where they will not be disturbed. The webbing is extremely dense and messy; clearing it away with a broom may be difficult because the silk is so strong and sticky.

Black widows are one of the only two dangerous spiders in our area. Although brown recluses are probably more famous for their dangerous bites, pest professionals like those at Russell’s Pest Control consider the black widow to be more of a threat. They can be quite aggressive, particularly when guarding their eggs. Unlike recluses, who produce a toxin that attacks skin cells, black widow spiders produce a neurotoxin. A neurotoxin is a poison that affects the nervous system. This means that the location of the bite itself may show only mild symptoms, but other side effects could be more problematic. Additional symptoms of a black widow bite include nausea, fever, and severe muscle cramps, particularly in the abdomen. Despite the possible severity of these symptoms, black widow bites are very rarely fatal in the U.S. and usually only require observation by a doctor for a day or two.

So, you don’t want to meet a black widow…what should you do? Unfortunately, widows are very common in East Tennessee and are most likely to be found by homeowners in stored items or debris around the property. The crevices in wood piles make great homes for widows as do boxes that are rarely opened in the garage. Keep your wood piles well away from the house, and always wear long sleeves and gloves if you’re going to haul wood to burn inside. In addition, keeping your garage as tidy as possible will also deter black widows from settling at your house. If you’re going to clean out your garage and move old boxes, always wear gloves to protect yourself.

Generally, the position of a good pest control company is that spiders should be preserved because they serve such a crucial role in nature. However, black widows around your house are dangerous, and Russell’s does not recommend that you view them as good neighbors. If you find a black widow at your house, kill it (use a closed-toed shoe, not a paper towel or broom). Widows reproduce very rapidly and can easily have around 350 eggs in one sac. If you think you have a widow problem at your house and want to try to treat them yourself, read the label of your over-the-counter pesticide carefully. Most store-bought products are not labeled to kill spiders and will not do so effectively. There are plenty of people who can’t stand spiders and don’t want to deal with them. We at Russell’s Pest Control understand that completely and would be glad to set you up on a quarterly pest control plan that takes care of ants, roaches, and mice in addition to alarming arachnids. Think about it, and visit us here if you’re interested.