RI, MA EHS Pest Control Blog

A team of ecologists discovered that urban birds may be inserting cigarette butts into the lining of their nests in order to repel arthropods. The scientists published their findings in the journal Biology Letters. Chemicals in the tobacco leaves are known to repel parasitic mites. Researchers examined the nests of house sparrows (Passer domesticus) and house finches (Carpodacus mexicanus), measuring the amount of cellulose acetate, a component of cigarette butts. The more there was of it, the fewer parasitic mites were found.

Heat traps were used to see whether the repellent effect of cigarette butts was related to their nicotine content or other features. The traps, which use heat to lure parasites close, were fitted with cellulose fibers from smoked and unsmoked cigarettes.

The devices with unsmoked butts had many more parasites than devices with smoked butts, which contained more nicotine. In nests that contained bird eggs, traps with unsmoked butts caught on average more than twice as many parasites.

Source: Nature.com

George Williams,
General Manager - Staff Entomologist

Pest Control, RI, Pest Control, MA

Pest Control, RI, Pest Control, MA 

RODENTS are being blamed for starting a fire at a house in Wakefield in the early hours of the morning.

It is believed mice gnawed through wiring, causing a small fire at a house in a small English town called Netherton.

Crews from Ossett Fire Station were alerted to the blaze at the property in Netherton Hall Gardens shortly after 3am this morning.

Watch commander Richard Humes said: “It is not something you get everyday. I think we can logically put the cause down to mice as there were droppings found nearby.”

The exposed wires caused boxes to smoulder in a utility room, filling the property with smoke and waking the owners.

George Williams,
General Manager - Staff Entomologist

Pest Control, RI, Pest Control, MA 

A CBS 6 Facebook friend contacted the station worried about intruders at her child’s school. She wasn’t talking about thugs or drug dealers; rather, she said John Marshall High School is infested with mice.

She even sent pictures taken during the school day. An exterminator said it’s that time of year when rodents begin to move inside to escape colder weather.

Students complained the mice are becoming a distraction during the day. Parent Yvette Dansby told CBS 6 her daughter doesn’t want to go to school.

“They’re coming out all day long, running across the floor, they’re coming out of computers, they’re coming out of the gym,” Dansby said.

Students snapped two pictures of two dead mice last week on the gymnasium floor.

Dansby said a teacher at the school killed one Wednesday.

“Stepped on it like a bug and killed it,” she said.

School officials told CBS 6, by phone, that they are aware of the mice and an exterminator recently responded to the school to set traps and get rid of them.

Pest control experts said it’s not surprising this time of year, and added the mice are seeking warmth and looking for food.

Parents said it’s unacceptable.

“Get them out of the school it’s not a place for them,” said Dansby.

Richmond City Councilman Chris Hilbert said he couldn’t agree more. He said he was unaware of the multiple mice sightings until we contacted him.

Hilbert called the school’s principal, who reassured him an exterminator has been on site and set traps.

“We need rodent traps and get them out of the building regardless of how old it is,” Hilbert said. “It’s something that cannot be tolerated, we need to get to it and get to it now. Our kids deserve a safe, clean area and that appears not to be happening, so we need to do better for them and I’ll do what I can to make it happen,” he added.

George Williams,
General Manager - Staff Entomologist

Pest Control, RI, Pest Control, MA

Alternative means of controlling urban insect pests by using ultrasonic frequencies are available and marketed to the public. However, few of these devices have been demonstrated as being effective in repelling insect pests such as mosquitoes, cockroaches, or ants. Despite the lack of evidence for the efficacy of such devices, they continue to be sold and new versions targeting bed bugs are readily available.

However, according to a soon-to-be-published article in the Journal of Economic Entomology, commercial devices that produce ultrasound frequencies are NOT promising tools for killing bed bugs. In "Efficacy of Commercially Available Ultrasonic Pest Repellent Devices to Affect Behavior of Bed Bugs (Hemiptera: Cimicidae)," , authors K. M. Yturralde and R. W. Hofstetter report the results of their tests of four commercially available electronic pest repellent devices designed to repel insect and mammalian pests by using sound.

The devices, which were purchased online, were used according to manufacturers' instructions. A sound arena was created for each ultrasonic device, in addition to a control arena which featured no sound. However, the authors found that there were no significant differences in the number of bed bugs observed in the control (no sound) and sound arenas, and that bed bugs were neither deterred nor attracted to the arena with the sound device.

The authors conclude that the ultrasonic devices may not have deterred, attracted or get rid of bed bugs because they may not have produced the right combination of frequencies. Bed bugs are commonly exposed to frequencies made by their host species (humans) and by appliances and machines found in homes. Therefore, it may be possible that bed bugs also would exploit sounds made by their human hosts, such as breathing or snoring. Future studies of  bioacoustics bed bugs treatment may be served well by using low-frequency sounds produced by host species.

source: Entomological Society of America

George Williams,
General Manager - Staff Entomologist

Pest Control, RI, Pest Control, MA

Bed bugs and their eggs can hide in the spines of hardcover books, according to an article in the New York Times.

Bed bugs and their eggs can hide in the spines of hardcover books, according to an article in the New York Times titled “A Dark and Itchy Night.” This finding raises concerns that the bugs may be getting transported from book borrower to book borrower. The article notes that bed bugs will crawl out of the books at night to feed, find a new home in a headboard, and soon readers are enjoying not only plot twists but post-bite welts. As libraries are scrambling to deal with the problem, so are some book borrowers. Not wanting to spread the misery, considerate patrons sometimes call ahead to discuss with librarians how best to return lent materials from their bed bug-infested homes. Usually, a meeting is arranged so the patron can hand off the offending books or DVDs in Ziploc bags to an employee outside the library.

John Furman, the owner of Boot-a-Pest, a team of Bed bugs service professionals based on Long Island, said he has had hundreds of clients buy a portable heater called PackTite to kill bed bug life, baking any used or borrowed book as a preventive measure before taking it to bed.

George Williams,
General Manager - Staff Entomologist

Pest Control, RI, Pest Control, MA 

(click on images to enlarge)

George Williams,
General Manager - Staff Entomologist

Pest Control, RI, Pest Control, MA 

George Williams,
General Manager - Staff Entomologist

Pest Control, RI, Pest Control, MA 

A seven-year-old girl is recovering at a Denver hospital from a rare case of bubonic plague she likely contracted from fleas from a dead squirrel at a southwestern Colorado campground, hospital officials said on Wednesday.

Sierra Jane Downing is "fortunate to be alive," but is on the road to recovery after her near-fatal bout with the disease, the Rocky Mountain Hospital for Children said in a statement.

It is the first confirmed case of bubonic plague in Colorado since 2006, the hospital said.

Sierra's father Sean Downing described how his daughter had a seizure and stopped breathing for a couple of minutes.

"I thought she died, and I was just running for the ER," he said.

At first, Sierra's parents -- and even Sierra herself -- thought the illness was a flu. "She told me, 'Mommy, this is just the flu. Can't we go home?'" Darcy Downing said.

Bacteria that cause bubonic plague are carried by rodents and can be transmitted to humans through parasitic fleas or the handling of infected animals.

The plague is believed to have killed 25 million Europeans during the Middle Ages, when it was known as the Black Death.

Today, the disease is treated with antibiotics, and seven U.S. cases a year are reported on average, most of them in the western states, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.

Tried to bury dead squirrel

Sierra was at an outing with her family in Pagosa Springs, Colorado, last month when she came across a dead squirrel that she tried to bury, hospital spokeswoman Angie Anania said.

"She never touched the squirrel, but laid her jacket next to the dead squirrel, and the fleas looking for a new host might have jumped onto the jacket," Anania told Reuters.

The girl tied the jacket around her waist, and doctors discovered bites on her torso, which led them to believe the plague came from the squirrel encounter, Anania said.

Sierra was taken by her parents to a Pagosa Springs hospital on Aug. 24 suffering from a high fever and seizures. She was later flown to the Rocky Mountain Hospital for Children, which has facilities and pediatric specialists better equipped to care for gravely ill children.

The girl's temperature reached 107 degrees Fahrenheit, and doctors detected swollen lymph nodes in her groin after she complained of severe leg pain, said Dr. Jennifer Snow, the pediatrician who treated her in Denver.

Once the diagnosis was made, Sierra was placed on a special antibiotic regimen. She may be discharged in a week, the hospital said.

When a Clay County Sheriff's Office deputy pulled over a driver he believed to be driving under the influence, he found a man who claimed a squirrel was "eating him" under his shirt.

The caller stayed on the line reporting the driver's location until a Clay County deputy caught up to them.

As the deputy followed the possibly impaired driver, the report said he saw the passenger side tires cross into the grass shoulder.

The deputy stopped the driver, identified as 23-year-old Warren Michael III, after he nearly hit a stopped vehicle head on.

When the deputy went got to driver's window, Michael immediately told the deputy he had a "squirrel eating him." The report says Michael as this point pointed to a small squirrel wrapped under his shirt.

After a brief continued discussion on interesting facts about the squirrel, the report says the deputy noticed an odor of an alcoholic beverage coming from Michael and that his eyes were glassy and bloodshot. While talking to the deputy, about the squirrel and other questions posed by the deputy, the report notes Michael's speech slurred slightly while being "very talkative and frequently using profanity."

After Michael could not provide police with his driver license or registration, deputies asked him to secure his squirrel and exit his vehicle to take a field sobriety test.

While being tested, the arrest report says Michael did not perform well. The report says he appeared unsteady, leaning and swaying during the walk and turn. He also, according to the report, put his foot down twice during the one leg stand.

Due to his performance during the field sobriety test, the report says deputies had reason to believe Michael was driving under the influence.

Since Michael was being arrested for DUI, police called his girlfriend to come to the scene. When she arrived, the report says she repeatedly told Michael he was too drunk and should not have been driving. The girlfriend, who told police she had been dating Michael for over a year and knew when he was drunk, took possession of both Michael's vehicle and his squirrel.

Deputies took Michael to the Clay County Jail for a breathalyzer test. When deputies gave him the test, the report notes he blew two breath samples. One was a .145 and the second a .156. The legal limit in the state of Florida is .08.

Police cited Michael for DUI and driving without a seat belt. He was given a written warning for driving his vehicle in an unsafe condition.

Why did more than 3,000 Northern Virginians lose power on Wednesday? This time it's not because of a storm. It's because of a squirrel.

According to Dominion Power spokeswoman Le-Ha Anderson, approximately 3,100 customers were affected in the neighborhoods surrounding Lee Highway and Glebe Road. Anderson said a squirrel made its way into the substation equipment on N. Culpeper Street, and caused a transformer to go out.

Dominion Power spokesperson Le-Ha Anderson tells The Huffington Post that all customers had their power on before 11 a.m., and that while squirrels sometimes survive their substation misadventures, "we did see evidence that the squirrel was killed in this particular incident."

A little over a year ago, squirrel misbehavior shut off the lights for more than 9,000 Arlingtonians. A Maryland power outage earlier in the summer was also attributed to squirrels.

As it turns out, squirrels are often responsible when the lights go out. Here's a 2012 white paper put out by TE Connectivity, finding that squirrels are a surprisingly effective foe to electricity users (and power companies):

The second highest cause of power outages -- estimated to be approximately 7 percent overall -- is caused by animals; mostly squirrels who gain access to substations. The cost to utility companies for recovering from animal-related outages is estimated to run between $15 million and $18 million per year. But, when commercial entities and consumer frustration are taken into consideration, the overall cost of these outages to utility companies can be much higher.

For every problem, there's a solution. And for every solution that happens to involve cute animals, there's a video.

Anderson says that about 10 percent of Dominion Power's outages are caused by animals -- among them snakes, squirrels and birds.

George Williams,
General Manager - Staff Entomologist

Pest Control, RI, Pest Control, MA