The lowly mosquito has always been the number one biting pest responsible for transmitting diseases to people. Malaria has been killing people for a long time, but thankfully not in this country. Yet here in the Northeastern U.S., we’ve got West Nile virus (WNV) and Eastern Equine Encephalitis (EEE) to worry about, and our dogs
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You’re right. When I was growing up, ladybugs were seen and appreciated only occasionally. Things began to change back in 1994 when we first noticed a new species of ladybug in New Hampshire, Harmonia axyridis, otherwise known as the multicolored Asian lady beetle (the “bugs” are actually beetles). Some say that the lady beetles arrived
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You may know them as groundhogs (see Woodchuck or Groundhog – It’s the Same Pest!) or even “whistle-pigs!” Woodchucks can be a real problem in residential properties where they are responsible for more than one type of damage. All of the damage that woodchucks do is “big” because they are large animals (up to 12
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New Years Pest Checklist: Mice and various rodents form a common holiday cadre that also includes spiders, ants, pantry pests, flies, and wasps among others. With traveling, shipping, baking, shopping, and decorating at a feverish pitch it is easy to overlook pest activity until it becomes a problem. Lets start with mice and rodents as
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You call them pillbugs, some call them roly-polys, and they’re often confused with the closely related sowbugs (see Sowbug or Pillbug? It’s Just a Chucky Pig!). Pillbugs aren’t insects, they’re crustaceans and actually more closely related to shrimp! When threatened, both pillbugs and sowbugs roll up into a protective ball. Pillbugs Are Common in Damp
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That’s not the most common place to find clothes moths, obviously, but it’s not that uncommon either. It’s the clothes moth larval stage that does the feeding damage but these small (up to 1/2 inch long) caterpillars are rarely seen since they spin silken tubes in which they hide. The “strange debris” that you see
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Maybe yes, maybe no. Unfortunately, it is very difficult to pin down the source of a food insect infestation. Food can become infested at several stages from harvesting through storage, through packaging and shipping, and even while sitting on store shelves (see How Do Food Pests Get Into My Food?). People think that once a
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Many of us think, or at least hope, that ticks die off after the first hard frost. Unfortunately, that’s not so. In fact, the adult blacklegged (deer) ticks that spread Lyme disease begin their prime feeding activity just about the time of the first frost. That’s because their main host animals are deer and deer
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It is definitely not bird nesting season here in the Northeast. Bird mites feed mostly on the young birds in the nest and they migrate to new locations when the young birds fledge and leave the nest. Bird mites are primarily a spring and early summer problem. If what you’re seeing are indeed mites (and
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