Check overstuffed chairs or sofas, especially antiques. If these have woolen fabric covers, are stuffed with animal hair, or have accumulations of pet hair, they could be the source of fabric pests.
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Your “thousand-leggers” are better known as millipedes and we get calls about them whenever there is a change in outdoor conditions: too wet, too dry, too hot. These arthropods (they’re not worms and they’re not insects) live outside in damp conditions such as under mulch or leaf litter, in grass clippings, or under logs or stones. They feed on decaying vegetation and remain pretty much hidden outside.
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“Resistance” means that the lice have genetically mutated and are able to survive the insecticide. But it didn’t happen overnight. The use of DDT against bed bugs in the early 1900s played a role in today’s head lice resistance to permethrin. The ancestors of today’s head lice were incidentally exposed to DDT when homes were treated for bed bugs. Since both insecticides have the same mode of action, lice surviving the DDT also carried a mutation that gave them and their offspring cross-resistance to permethrin.
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Clothes Moths CLOTHES MOTH ID – There are two main clothes moth pests, the webbing clothes moth and the casemaking clothes moth. The adult moths are small (about ½ inch long), yellowish-brown or golden, and their wings are fringed with long hairs. They are often confused with stored food moths, but unlike food moths, clothes
VIEW MOREIf your situation requires pest control inside your home, there are usually non-pesticide options that can be used such as traps, heat treatment, or specialty vacuuming. In fact, non-pesticide options are usually our first choice in handling a pest problem. Some pest problems can be solved by simply using air circulation to decrease humidity, or by “pest-proofing” certain areas of your home to keep pests from getting inside. Traps are an excellent non-pesticide option that we use for many types of pests.
VIEW MOREOnce inside, boxelder bugs may wander until the weather gets colder, at which time they will find a place to settle in (often in wall or ceiling voids) and will become relatively inactive. They may reappear, however, on mild, sunny, winter days when they will re-enter living spaces and end up at windows or in warm corners. In spring, as boxelder trees leaf out, the bugs will all be looking for a way to get back outside. Boxelder bugs don’t feed on anything while inside but their feces may stain walls or curtains, and they can produce a disagreeable odor when crushed.
VIEW MOREWe’re getting close to that time of year when people start complaining about various insects trying to get into their homes, sometimes in large numbers. We call these pests “fall invaders” or “occasional invaders,” or simply “overwintering pests.” Overwintering is what they have in mind. When the weather cools, days get shorter, and an insects’
VIEW MORESac spiders get their name from the protective sac that they spin to hide in during the day (rather than in a web). The sac is a short, flat tube of silk that can be found in protected cracks or in upper corners where the wall meets the ceiling. The spiders rest in the sac during the day and also lay their eggs in the sac. Since each spider can construct multiple sacs, the number of sacs is not a reliable indicator of the number of spiders present. Large numbers of sacs can clog the inside of equipment, car parts, and outdoor appliances such as gas grills.
VIEW MOREWe almost never see mealworms as pests in a home, but they are pests in facilities that store or process grain. Even in these sites, they are not major pests because they rarely feed on clean grain that is food quality. They prefer grains that are old and moldy, and so they are found in dark, damp, musty sites where there is damp grain spillage. In addition to moldy grains, mealworms will also feed on meat scraps, dead insects, and feathers.
VIEW MORE32 Lake Ave.
Worcester, MA 01604
47 Thames Rd Ste 6&7
Hooksett, NH 03106