CICADA KILLER WASPS ARE A THREAT ONLY TO CICADAS

By Chris Williams on July 24, 2017

Cicadas have burrowed out of the ground and are singing in the trees. That means that cicada killer wasps are also out and are probably leaving impressive holes in yards. Maybe it’s because they have the word “killer” in their name, that these large wasps get a bad rap that they don’t deserve. Since we…

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IN THE CITY, RATS ARE A BIG DEAL!

By Chris Williams on July 21, 2017

City rats are an ever-increasing problem. Makes sense, rats and people go hand-in-hand and city populations are on the rise. Wherever people have established homes providing food and shelter, rats will be there to share. In a city, everything is bigger, more concentrated, and in-your-face, including the rats. Even though rats are plentiful in cities,…

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DON’T CONFUSE MUD DAUBER TUBES AND TERMITE TUBES

By Chris Williams on July 19, 2017

We just moved into a new house, new for us anyway, it’s about 15 years old and we’re worried that we might have termites. We discovered several sets of dirt tubes on the back of the house under the roofline. The tubes are about 6 inches long and attached to each other. Some of them…

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PLASTER BEETLES AS A RESULT OF NEW CONSTRUCTION

By Chris Williams on July 17, 2017

Over the past week we’ve seen quite a few tiny insects on the walls in our new townhouse. We’ve been told that they are plaster beetles but no one seems to know anything more about them. What do they do? C. G., Jamaica Plain, MA We’ll assume they are plaster beetles, but know that these…

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PHORID FLIES DEVELOP IN MANY DIFFERENT SITES

By Chris Williams on July 14, 2017

I need some information about fourid flies? They’re driving us nuts! For about 6 weeks we’ve had tiny little black flies in the house that get in your face and land on you. They’re about the size of those fruit flies, but we actually had them identified by our extension office and they said they…

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