Tag Archives: Pest Control Columbus Ohio

The Carpenters

Leave a reply

The Carpenters

We’ve only just beguuunnn… The buzzing bug season, that is. You might be noticing more buzzing outside or the pitter patter of little ant feet in your walls! That’s because the carpenters are at work, carving pathways through and around structures in and out of your house. Despite popular belief, neither carpenter ants nor bees actually consume the wood, they just discard it into little sawdust piles called ‘frass’. This is one of the ways you can spot an infestation right away. If you have ants you’ll find a dust pile that includes little ant bodies, if it is a bee you’ll find the frass accompanied by a perfect circle a little less than an inch in diameter. Don’t panic! The carpenters rarely cause severe damage, especially when proper prevention techniques are met, or the situation is treated right away or regularly.

Carpenter Bees

Carpenter bees look very similar to Bumblebees. Both bees are quite large, about a half inch or bigger. Carpenter bees have shiny black bodies with purple and green reflections and are fast and erratic flyers. While bumblebees are ground-nesters, Carpenter bees dwell in wood. They’re are generally not aggressive and rarely sting. Carpenter ants can be all different colors, but the most common one is black. They are usually large but can range in size from 1/4 inch to 3/4 inch. Carpenter ants are largely identified by homeowners from the dust they leave behind and by their unique nesting patterns called ”galleries’.
It can be difficult to treat for either problem yourself, but there are things you can do to prevent an infestation. Prevention will be your main approach to managing the carpenters and will save you some time and money later on. Do a thorough walkthrough of your house and yard, inspecting any areas that might have cracks or crevasses that might make a good home for insects. Check for water leaks or areas that have had a water leak at one time as carpenter ants find moisture rich areas attractive. Clean out your gutters to prevent your roof lines from becoming soggy. Locate any dead or rotting wood and get rid of it or fix it. Bees prefer to live in unpainted and untreated wood, so it’s good idea to paint or seal any wooden structures that you may have on your property.

Before you head for the phone to call a professional to get rid of bees, you should ask yourself if it is really necessary. Are the bees threatening structures in and around your house? Are they dwelling in an area where people frequent? Is anyone in your house allergic to them? If you just occasionally see bees but don’t believe them to be living in or damaging any part of your home, it’s a good idea to just ignore them. Bees are extremely important to our environment and agriculture. It is said that bees are responsible for 1/3 of the human food supply. They are pollination agents working for Mother Nature and mankind alike.
Carpenter ants, on the other hand, can be especially frustrating. They’re diet varies and food sources are plentiful, which can be why it is difficult to treat them with ant baits. The longer you are experiencing ants the more likely damage is to occur. The areas that infestations frequently occur include around and under windows, roof eaves, decks and porches but have been found just about everywhere. The good news is that the carpenter ant parent colony is always outside, so treating outdoors will likely lessen the activity you see inside.

Do you know what Stink Ants are?

Leave a reply

Do you know what Stink Ants are?

The invasion begins! Maybe you’ve seen them or perhaps you’ve even smelled them. I’m talking about the all too common Odorous House Ant. So common, in fact, that they can be found nearly everywhere in North America and are the most geographically tolerant of all the ants. These ants emit a curious smell when crushed, similar to that of a rotten coconut or varnish and are sometimes referred to as ‘Stink Ants’. You can find these little buggers just about everywhere in your backyard from the soil to the trees and under rocks and other landscaping. They are about an 1/8 of an inch long and are brown to black in color. Although they preferably live outdoors, if their homes are compromised by rain, cold temperatures or drought, they can easily form new sites indoors.
Even though Odorous House Ants are a non-aggressive species and generally mind their business, they can indirectly harm your plants and gardens. During the warmer months of the year they seek sweet nutrients, like honeydew, which is produced in more harmful pests like aphids and scales. They form a symbiotic relationship of sorts as the odorous ant protects the sap sucking bugs. They have even been known to take aphids back to their nest in the colder months and then release them back into the environment in the spring. This can create an irritating and ongoing problem. Not to mention the untidy feeling you get when you discover a trail of ants leading from a castaway crumb under the fridge to the warm pipes under your sink. Remember, these prolific pests can survive in many different environments and are likely to show up in your kitchen from time to time if proper precautions aren’t taken.
Columbus‘ unpredictable weather will surely bring about some antsy situations, but you can start preventing the problem now by doing a thorough walk around your house and identifying any contributing factors to a possible ant infestation. This includes locating areas with an excess amount of moisture such as water leaks or sprinklers directed against your house. Shrubs or fallen branches should be cleared away from any walls and if at all doable, make sure any landscaping is away from the border of your foundation. However, Odorous House ants are very persistent and because they are so adaptive and able to easily establish satellite colonies, it is important to have regular inspections and treatments. These ants can form colonies reaching up to 500,000 in population and as their numbers increase it is more difficult to treat the problem.

Silverfish

Leave a reply

Silverfish

The silverfish is a small wingless insect that is light grey and blue with a fish-like appearance. These pests can be found in your basement, bathrooms, garages, closets, beds, pillows, and attics. They have three long cerci at the tip of their abdomen at the end of the body. These serve as sensory organs or weapons. They also have long antennae on both sides of the head, which also serve as a sensory mechanism.
Females can lay up to 60 eggs at once, which take about 2 weeks to 2 months to hatch. The little larvae are white in color. In a lifetime, which can be 2 to 8 years, a female silverfish can lay 100 eggs. This number can be quite startling if the bug turns into a pest, consuming and contaminating things around the house such as glue, book bindings, plaster, paints, paper, photos, sugar, coffee, clothing and dandruff. This doesn’t mean they can’t survive without these items however, because this bug can live for a year or more without eating. Silverfish can also get into your food, contaminating it but not transmitting any diseases.

Ant or Termite?

Leave a reply

Ant or Termite?

In Ohio, many people encounter insects that they cannot identify.  Nowadays, thousands, especially in Columbus and Cincinnati, are dealing with bedbugs.  It was a few years ago that the famous Sacatas were everywhere, following their 28 year cycle.  Deer Ticks fluctuate depending on the weather, as do many other pests.  Occasional invaders will change year to year and area to area depending on many factors, but Ants in Ohio seem to plague just about everyone in the Spring, regardless of the year.  And the Swarming Ant confuses the untrained homeowner.  “Could this winged insect be a Termite?” many homeowners ask themselves.  Well, our intention here is the put all confusion at rest.

There are three ways to separate termites from ants:

1.) Ants have a very thin waist between the thorax and the abdomen; termites are broad-waisted.

2.) Termite Wings are all the same size and shape, whereas the forewings of the ant are larger, longer, and of a different shape than the hindwings.

3.) Termite Antennae are straight; ant antennae are elbowed.

Here are some photos where you can indentify some of these distinct differences

ant or termite

After reading the above and looking at the picture, you should have no problems indentifying whether you are dealing with a problem or a BIG problem.  Subscribe to our RSS feed for more fascinating information.

Brent Draper

Ants and Carpenter Ants

Leave a reply

Ants and Carpenter Ants

Ants are one of the most common insects with about 10,000 different species. Nervous homeowners sometimes mistake these little bugs as termites but the ant is quite different from a termite. Ants have a middle section, or a “waist” between the abdomen and the thorax, which termites do not have. Termites also have wings that extend to double the length of their body, where ant wings only extend to the end of their body. The ant belongs to the insect family called hymenoptera which includes wasps and bees.
Ants have a very structured way of life that calls for order. Each small life has a specific job to do, starting with the queen who is the most important member of the colony. She begins the cycle of ant life by laying thousands of eggs. The wingless females which are most seen by the human eye have the brunt of the work and are second most important in the colony. These busy females scavenge for food, take care of the queen’s offspring, and work to protect the community’s home. The males only have one responsibility: to mate with the queen and then die…What a great life! You may see these colonies nesting above ground level, in trees, or you may not see them building a home underground. Be aware of the colony of carpenter ants which live to destroy and chomp down into wood of your home. These carpenter ants leave a telltale sawdust pile right where they work, showing they are digging deep into your walls.
The reason you may see ants coming to the same spot right by the toaster, or by the sink, is because they mark their trails using chemicals they give off to bring their friends to the food. They also use this same technique to alert their comrades of danger, which could prevent you from killing them off with products from the store. These ants also communicate by touching each other and smelling the scent of another. In this way they can smell the familiar scent of their colony and keep track of where they go and how to get back to the colony.

A sure way to get rid of ants would be to call your local Pest Control Professional, because General Use Products rarely get the job done.

Carpenter Bees in Columbus Ohio

Leave a reply

Carpenter Bees in Columbus Ohio

To those who love their nice wood around their home and have swing sets for children to roam, watch for others who might share the same bond with wood as you. The carpenter bee is one to live and dwell in the nice little holes that they personally excavate on the side of the wood leaving their family of larva to hatch and grow inside. The family if bees start its home in what is called a gallery where they all live and collect food for the eggs.
Carpenter BeesThese carpenter bees are a unique pest, as they do not live in a colony but stay in a kind of family to take care of their own eggs.
Each bee has its own unique set of jobs to carry out the life process. The mother bee lays her eggs deep inside the hole in the wood, which she has made herself using her jaws to bite away at the wood. The male goes out to pollinate and gather food for the new larva. The female bees use their stingers to protect themselves from anything trying to prevent them from getting back to the “home.” The male bee, on the other hand, has no stinger and would just swarm around you to annoy and hinder you from getting too close to the eggs.
To prevent these busy carpenter bees from chomping down on the wood around your home, paint or treat your wood with stain or a weather- proofer. Look for small holes around your home, for if you leave the carpenters to their dirty work and daily life, the bees can dig out a hole 10 feet into the wood after many generations. Leaving wood damaged by the bees leads to a more malleable structure that decays faster. So watch out for those carpenters carving their way into your house in Columbus.  For Carpenter Bee Control in Columbus Click Here

Information from the Ohio State extension of food, agricultural, and sciences

Chiggers Don’t Play Nice

Leave a reply

Chiggers Don’t Play Nice

If you are a hiker, camper, picnicker, berry picker, bird watcher or just a human hanging out outside, you are a target for dreaded chiggers. No creature causes as much torment for its size than this tiny “red bug”. They hide out in damp, low-lying areas like parks, orchards, and along lakes and streams. They don’t even care if it’s wet, they just like to be where there is lower vegetation like a lawn or golf course. Chiggers love your bushes, your garden and even your weeds in the summertime, but when you or your pet walk by, they hitch a ride and set up lodging on your waistline, ankle, or armpit.

Female chiggers lay up to 15 eggs a day in the spring and then the hairy little mites, which are 1/20 inch long, travel quickly on three pairs of legs to a stalk where they will stalk you. After penetrating your skin for a day or two, they drop off and become 8-legged nymphs, maturing to adulthood.

Unlike a tick, the chigger does not burrow into the skin, but inserts its mouth into a skin pore or hair follicle. The insect’s secretion of powerful digestive enzymes makes a red welt with a hard, white center. Then comes the intense itching that feels like your worst case of poison ivy. Welts can last up to a week or longer, but chigger bites do not transmit disease.

If you mow your lawn, trim those hedges and keep the weeds down, you can reduce chigger populations. Deet-based repellents are effective for a few hours applied to the skin and insecticides can treat infested areas.

This tiny red bug, which you cannot see, will be discouraged if you tuck your pants into your socks and your shirttail into your pants. Not only will you look like a smart dresser, you will be a smart outdoorsman.

Information from the osu extension web cite

All educational programs conducted by Ohio State University Extension are available to clientele on a nondiscriminatory basis without regard to race, color, creed, religion, sexual orientation, national origin, gender, age, disability or Vietnam-era veteran status.
Keith L. Smith, Associate Vice President for Ag. Adm. and Director, OSU Extension.
TDD No. 800-589-8292 (Ohio only) or 614-292-1868