Q. We have an annual problem with what we think are boxelder bugs. Every fall they end up in the house. Last year, we vacuumed up over 100! Why are they coming inside?
VIEW MOREQ. After my mother died, I went to Atlanta and brought many of her things, including an oriental rug, to my home. When I was vacuuming the rug, I noticed that some of the yarns were falling out. When I turned it over, I found two whitish worms and a lot of webbed tube-like things stuck onto the bottom of the rug. What are these and are they eating the rug?
VIEW MOREQ. I cancelled my quarterly service with another pest control company because the smell of the stuff they used made me sick. Do you use anything less toxic?
A. Actually, the odor of a pesticide has nothing to do with how toxic it is. But many people do associate odor with toxicity. They feel that the stronger the smell, the more toxic and the more potentially hazardous the pesticide.
VIEW MOREQ. We’ve had a problem with cockroaches. I don’t know if I’m seeing the same cockroaches that I started with or if these are new ones. How long do insects live anyway?
A. Some insects only live for hours; some insects live for years! There’s a huge range in life expectancy from one insect species to another. A German cockroach can live from 3 to 6 months (unless it meets up with an effective pesticide, or a predator, or a shoe!).
VIEW MOREQ. A pest control company told us we had old house bores feeding on the wood in our house! We found some holes in our basement beams. How serious are these bores?
VIEW MOREQ. Can you give me some information about chiggers? Our doctor thinks that’s what has been biting my daughter. Should I have our house treated?
A. Treating inside your home won’t have any effect on chiggers which are outside pests. Chiggers (sometimes called red bugs) are the immature larval forms of a particular mite. They are pale to red in color and smaller than the period at the end of this sentence. So small, in fact, that most people cannot see them without magnification.
VIEW MOREQ. Different kinds of bugs keep getting into my house. I’ve had ants, earwigs, crickets, and a couple of things I don’t even recognize. I don’t understand how or why they keep getting inside? What can I do to keep them out?
VIEW MOREWho hasn’t caught fireflies (or lightning bugs, if you prefer) as a child and placed them in a jar to watch their blinking display?
Fireflies are true beetles, not flies, although they are very soft-bodied compared to other beetles. The female lays her eggs in the ground where the developing larvae feed on worms and slugs, which they first paralyze. Adult fireflies usually feed on nectar or pollen, but some species are predators on other insects including other fireflies. An adult firefly lives for only a few days; just long enough to mate and reproduce.
VIEW MORE32 Lake Ave.
Worcester, MA 01604
47 Thames Rd Ste 6&7
Hooksett, NH 03106