Creepy crawlies having a banner year
Published Friday July 10th, 2009
Bad year | Weather was great for bug populations
What's bugging you?
If it's ants, earwigs, slugs and wasps, you aren't alone.
Wet, humid weather has generated a bumper crop of household pests and while most won't harm you, some are so annoying, they have homeowners running to their nearest pest- control specialist.
Greg Ricker, owner of Excel Pest Control Centre in Fredericton, said earwigs are aggravating his customers.
"We're having heavier, heavier calls with the earwigs again this year and everybody hates earwigs. They just crawl in everything - your barbecues, your children's little tyke toys outside and everything else,'' said Ricker.
"They freak people out terribly. People have this belief that earwigs crawl in your ears. I get asked this all the time.''
Put that one on the urban legend list, he said.
All insects need food, shelter and water, so if you can rob pests of their nutrients you'll help curb the populations.
His favourite trick for collecting earwigs is to wrap newspaper, secure it with an elastic and soak it in water, then place the papers around the base of a home.
"The earwigs gather in the newspaper," he said. "They're also drawn to plates of beer. Same idea for slugs."
He said wasp season is beginning.
"We'll have heavy wasps in July and August and into early September. It's the season."
Keeping your lawn cut short will help with ant and flea control, he said.
Stefane Richard, manager of customer care, New Brunswick branch for Orkin Pest Control Services, said Fredericton callers are complaining about the usual array of critters, including spiders and wasps.
"Wasps, typically we see them later in the summer, however, wasps and ants are in the same insect order, so generally there are a lot of similarities between the both of them," Richard said.
"Moisture and humidity are ideal conditions for them to breed and multiply, so that would be the reason we're seeing them a little earlier this year and we might see an increase across the summer."
While the garden variety of ant - often nicknamed sugar ants or pavement ants - is more of a nuisance than anything, Richard said keep an eye out for carpenter ants.
"They're the ones that attack wood. They make their nests in decaying wood. Because of all the rain and the moisture we've had, it creates a lot more opportunities for colonies to develop," he said.
"If you look in the normal house, you'll find those ants around window sills, roof pillars, anywhere where there's been water leaks or water damage in your home, even in and around your dishwasher because when your dishwasher dries it creates steam. It's an area where the wood can become moist," he said.
"Carpenter ants, can over time, cause structural damage to your home and you want to get rid of them.''
Richard said his best tip to help homeowners prevent outdoor critters from taking over the interior of a home is to seal off all potential entry points.
Greg Flynn, supervisor for Braemar Pest Control in New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island, said the weather makes for a catch-22 for insecticide treatments because applying pesticide in the rain will diminish its effectiveness.
Flynn said his 35 technicians have a list of jobs to be done but are waiting for drier weather in order to best apply treatments.
New Brunswick has also seen the first inroads of fire ants in Charlotte County, and they've been spotted in Maine and Nova Scotia.
"They're a little tougher to control and they're very aggressive and they hurt. They call them fire ants for a reason. You feel you're on fire when they bite you," Flynn said.
This is also the time of year when homeowners are piling up their winter supply of wood and some homeowners like to put wood indoors in the basement, but that can be an invitation to run-of-the-mill ants, spiders, hornets, even garter snakes who like to hide in woodpiles.
"We always suggest that you just keep it covered outside, away from the house and that you only bring in what you're going to burn. It's just common sense," Flynn said.
Make sure any food sources, such as birdseed in the garage, are stored in containers to avoid attracting rodents or insects into the garage, he said.
"Standing water is a big one," Flynn said.
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