Carpenter ants are some of the largest ants found in New England. Normally workers are black or reddish in color and range in size from 3/8 to 1/2 inch. Carpenter ants are a common wood destroying insect that can infest and damage your home or business. Carpenter ants nest in wood and the tunnels they create can cause structural damage to buildings they invade. Unlike subterranean termites, however, they do not consume wood for food: these tunnels, called galleries, are merely passageways.

To construct their galleries, carpenter ants take bits of wood and expel them outside the nest. This discharge, called frass, will build up into sawdust-looking piles and may be the first visible sign that a carpenter ant nest is present. If the nest is allowed to grow, the galleries can become quite large possibly damaging the structure of your home.

Carpenter ants are attracted to foods high in sugar content and must have water in their diet to survive. They prefer to nest in water-damaged wood because it is easier to excavate than undamaged wood. High levels of moisture and easy access to a food source can make a location highly attractive for carpenter ants.

Carpenter ants are controlled with exterior perimeter treatments, interior bait applications, direct nest treatments, and through sanitation efforts like eliminating the sources of food & water.

House Mice

The house mouse is the most common rodent. The house mouse is gray and it weighs one half to one ounce.　 The body is three to four inches long and the tail three to four inches long.  The muzzle is pointed, the ears are large, the eyes and body are small. Typically, the house mouse is slightly smaller than deer mice.  Typically house mice produce their largest litters in the spring, depending on climatic conditions and begin to breed at five to six weeks of age.  The life span is one year. House mice are good climbers, they can jump 12 inches high, and jump down from eight feet.  House mice easily squeeze through holes and gaps wider than ¼-inch.  They are very social in their behavior, very inquisitive about things in their environment, and readily explore anything new. House mice prefer to nest in dark secluded areas where there is little chance of disturbance, and in areas where nesting materials, such as paper, cardboard, attic insulation, cotton, etc., are readily available.  Their foraging territories are small usually no more than 20 feet; however, if abundant food is nearby they nest within four to five feet.  They nibble on food, preferring items such as seeds and cereals.  They feed at dusk and just before dawn. The major health risks associated with house mice are salmonella contamination and leptospirosis.

Deer Mice

The deer mouse is bi-colored – the upper portion of the body and tail is medium- to dark-brown, and the underside of the tail, feet and stomach areas are white.  The body is 2 ¾- to 4-inches long and the tail two to five inches long.　 The eyes, ears and body of a deer mouse are slightly larger than those of the house mouse.  Deer mice are found throughout the United States.  Deer mice are active year round.  Their range of activity is one-half to three acres.  They often construct nests in hollow logs and tree stumps, under logs and stones, and occasionally in bird nests and shallow burrows.  In the fall and winter, deer mice enter houses, garages and outbuildings, and occasionally campers and other infrequently used vehicles.  Once inside these areas, they can cause significant damage to furnishings and stored materials as they search for food and construct their nests.  Their typical diet consists of nuts, seeds, berries and insects.  They often store food in their nests for the winter months.  They are nocturnal and are rarely seen in their outdoor habitat.

Cimex lectularius

“Don’t let the bedbugs bite!”
This popular bed-time benediction used to actually have some “bite” to it. Between the late 1940s and the early 1970s, the use of DDT, now known to be an environmental hazard, bedbugs went through a dramatic decline in population that is now beginning to creep upward again.

Identifying Bed Bugs

Bed Bugs resemble tiny reddish-brown flat seeds. They are about a quarter of an inch in length and swell to 3 times normal size after a good feeding. Their calling card takes the shape of little reddish brown spots on bed linens. Since bed bugs feed on warm-blooded animals (like you), the spots usually appear near your head and lower legs since they are attracted to warm dark places and the carbon dioxide you exhale while you sleep. Their bites, which can appear on your skin over an hour after feeding, are reddish flat welts that can trigger allergic reactions of varying intensity.

Dwellings can become infested with bed bugs in a variety of ways:

Bugs and eggs that “hitchhiked in” on pets, clothing and luggage

Infested items (such as furniture or clothing) brought into the home.

Nearby dwellings that are infested, if there are easy routes (through duct work or false ceilings)

People visiting from a source of infestation; bed bugs, like roaches, are transferred by clothing, luggage, or a person’s body.

Life Cycle of a Bed Bug

An adult female bed bug lays between 1 and 5 minescule eggs PER DAY. After incubating about 10 days (or longer in colder weather), the babies emerge and begin to look for a host.  They reach adulthood, and begin making more little baby bed bugs, after about 5 full feedings, molting their exoskeletons in between each one. These bug “casings” are one way to detect the presence of bedbugs. A well-fed bed bug can live for 4 to 6 months. A dormant bed bug is capable of surviving 18 months.

Best Management Practices for Bed Bugs

A detailed inspection by a qualified pest management professional is the first component of a successful bed bug control program. The inspection focuses on the sleeping areas and objects near the sleeping areas such as headboards, bed frames, night stands. The process of inspecting then treating for bed bugs is very labor intensive. Followup treatments are also essential because eggs are not affected by most insecticides therefore chemical treatments should be repeated after about two weeks to kill any newly hatched nymphs.

Preparation for Treatment

Clothing, stuffed animals, linens or other items that can be laundered in hot, soapy water and then put into a hot dryer should be securely bagged and then laundered. Note that hot water and soap may not kill bed bugs but the high heat of the dryer will! Vacuum thoroughly, especially along carpet edges and then place vaccum bag into a sealed plastic bag and dispose of OUTSIDE in dumpster or trash bin immediately. Discard cardboard boxes, bags, newspapers, and magazines. Remove all articles from under the beds,empty bureau drawers, empty closet areas, empty luggage and leave open for treatment.

The most effective method of addressing a suspected bedbug infestation is to contact a professional pest control company. Empire Pest Control will conduct a thorough inspection to ensure that your infestation is, in fact, a bedbug population and will then arrange for appropriate treatment.

Thanks to Ken Walker from the Pests & Diseases Image Library at Bugwood.org for his permission to use the photo above

Common types of household spiders

Orb Weaver

Garden Spider

Orb Weavers & Garden Spiders: (Family: Araneidae) These spiders spin the archetype flat wheel-like web to trap flying insects. Some varieties construct elaborate webs in gardens especially in the late summer and early fall. Orb weavers have poor vision and locate trapped prey by sensing the vibration of the threads of the web. In the fall, the female orb weaver produces an egg sac that contains several hundred eggs which will hatch the following spring. The adult spider can be quite large, with and abdomen that ranges from black to yellow, red, orange, white, brown or green. Garden spiders, commonly seen with black and orange or yellow markings, are usually about 1 inch long and they hang head down in the center of their webs, which tend to be spun in brambles, bushes and tall grass. Their egg sac is spherical with a narrow end like a hen’s egg, and is covered in a tough brown papery silk. Both the orb weaver and the garden spider are not considered dangerous, but they can bite if you pick them up or otherwise annoy them.

Wolf Spiders: Here’s a slightly comforting fact:  Wolf spiders do not normally want to come into your home, or any other building and, if they are found inside, it’s because they have wandered in by accident.  Here’s an un-comforting fact: they have pretty good vision and like to “actively” hunt and pursue prey during the daytime.  Most of the time, wolf spiders can be found in shrubs and high grass, hunting for insects.  And what human mother can’t relate to the female wolf spider’s ability to carry her entire brood on her back when it’s time for a road-trip?

Wolf Spider

Wolf spiders are not poisonous, but their bite can be pretty irritating depending on your chemical make-up.  Should you find one in your home, it’s nice to trap them in an empty jar and politely, yet firmly, escort them outside.  However, it’s perfectly alright to swat them with a phone book if no empty jar is on hand.

Black Widow Spider

Unlike some of their less-harmful kindred, black widow spiders can become aggressive when they feel that their egg sac is in danger and will actively bite. And, their venom, while not fatal to humans, can cause a fair amount of discomfort with effects such as overall aching of the body, especially the legs, headache, elevated blood pressure, nausea and profuse perspiration (although this may occur only in severe cases-but who wants to put that theory to the test?).

Male black widow spiders lack the distinctive red hourglass-shaped marking on the abdomen, instead having red and white markings on either side of its elongated abdomen. The female spider’s fearsome reputation stems from the tendency to ferociously defend her egg sac in the web and the famous fact that female spiders will try to eat the male spider after mating. In contrast to the female of the species, male spiders do not bite humans and if they survive their courtship, are quite content to live out their days eating what their aggressive better half has caught in her web.

Black widow spiders prefer to make their webs in dark, secluded areas such as woodpiles, under the eaves of your house, in boxes, underneath unused construction materials, inside wooden toy boxes, outdoor toilets, and meter boxes attached to your home. When doing any work in places like these, wear heavy gloves and take a second to inspect the area with a flashlight to avoid any encounters.

So how do you tell the difference? The most noticeable difference is that flying ants have 3 body sections, head, thorax and abdomen. Flying termites only have 2, a head and a body.
Also, on a flying ant, the bottom pair of wings is shorter than the top, while on a flying termite, both pairs are the same length. And if you really want to be sure, a flying ant’s antennae curve inwards and have a ball at their tip (called a club) whereas the flying termite’s antennae point outwards with nothing at their tip.

What does matter is the direction they are swarming from if you encounter them near your home. If they are coming from the house, that could be a possible infestation and needs taking care of. If they are swarming onto the exterior, such as the roof, then it’s likely that the swarm has simply chosen your home as a rest stop. Lucky you.

If you aren’t so lucky and you’ve realized that there is a swarm living in your home, then you will need a licensed professional to get rid of the colony.