Q. I don’t understand how cockroaches and rats and other pests can live in sewer systems. What are they feeding on?
VIEW MOREQ. I’m doing a science fair project on how insects grow. Do they all shed their skins to grow? How many times do they change skins before they’re grown?
VIEW MOREQ. What eats wood? My carpenter brought me a piece of wood that looks like it has been eaten! He showed me what look like chambers and tunnels in the wood, and some material was falling out! There were no live bugs that he could find but he did say that it looks like there is more damage where he is going to replace a section of siding. I’m concerned that my house is being eaten by something. What could cause this type of damage?
VIEW MOREQ. Last summer at my son’s elementary school, there was a large bee swarm on a tree at the edge of the playground. You could barely see the trunk of the tree it was so covered with bees. What can you do about a swarm like that? I never did hear how they got rid of the bees.
VIEW MOREQ. Who Needs A Pest Inspection?
VIEW MOREQ. My wife’s mother gave her a wooden dresser that is fairly new. It has groupings of small, shallow holes in the surface. My wife thinks these are some kind of wood borer holes, but I think they might have been done on purpose by the manufacturer. Have you ever heard of anything like this?
VIEW MOREBiologists know that when favorable conditions result in a heavy crop of tree nuts, there’s a corresponding increase in rodents and other animals that feed on these nuts. There is also a correlation between this increase in nuts, the increase in rodents, and an increase in certain diseases in humans.
VIEW MOREQ. My brother and I made a bet about something and my mom said to ask you. My brother says all insects have wings when they get to be adults. I say he’s wrong. Fleas don’t have wings, do they? This is important because the winner gets the other guy’s allowance this week.
A. You can tell your brother that you win that bet, just remember to save some of that money for college. Maybe you’ll be an entomologist some day!
VIEW MOREInsects are without a doubt our greatest competitors here on planet Earth. Worldwide crop losses due to insects and other pests are estimated to be about 48% of production every year. Another 25% of this production is lost in storage predominately due to insects and mites. Insects (invasive forest insects) cost US taxpayers and homeowners billions of dollars in lost property values every year. http://biology.cos.ucf.edu/2011/10/insects-cost-homeowners-taxpayers-billions/
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