Professor of Entomology Says Warm Winter Likely Will Result in More Ticks and Mosquitoes

An article  on CNYcentral.com indicates that the warm winter we are experiencing in 2011-2012 will cause an “explosion of ticks and mosquitoes.”  The article quotes Jody Gangloff-Kaufmann, a professor of entomology and a specialist with the New York State Integrated Pest Management Program. She says that if the  winter remains mild “This year, lots and lots of hungry ticks will emerge even on warm winter days. I anticipate the mosquito problems we normally see to be much more intense and begin earlier than usual if the weather continues to be mild. Even the fleas have had a boost so far this winter and many people are complaining about flea problems right now, in the middle of winter.”  Professor Gnagloff-Kaufmann is not the only authority to say that a mild winter will mean more ticks and mosquitoes.  In 2006, the Associated Press reported that experts in New Hampshire said “The wet fall followed by a mild winter tends to mean more mosquitoes, he said. A rainy spring would make things worse.”   Most people remember that the fall of 2011 was very wet in Frederick, MD and this has been a mild winter.  Be prepared for lots of ticks and mosquitoes in the region.  Our pest control solution has proven to be effective in controlling those and other insects.

Warm Winter Likely Will Mean More Mosquitoes This Spring

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We have been experiencing a warm winter this year (2012).  In fact, we received a phone call from somebody asking about mosquito control on February 8, 2012.  The caller reported being bit by a mosquito in early February.  A recent news article out of Georgia predicts that a warm winter could cause mosquitoes to come out earlier than they normally do.

According to the article “As long as the temperatures are below 40 degrees most insects won’t grow and spawn, according to Paul Guillebeau, professor of entomology at the University of Georgia.

But with high temperatures expected to be in the 40s this weekend, entomologists say we’ll likely see insects emerging soon.”

Professor Guillebeau also says that each generation of a species of insects cause the population to grow tenfold.   In addition to the threat to humans, the article talks about the threat to dogs.  Another entomologist at the University of Georgia,  Nancy Hinkle, says “Mosquito bites are the only way they (pets) can get heartworm. There is never a day of the year where you don’t have to worry about your dog getting heartworms.”

One piece of advice from the professors is to reduce the standing water in your yard.  ”A female mosquito lays eggs about every five days, so by cleaning things like bird baths once a week the eggs won’t have a chance to mature. ‘A lot of the nasty species develop in containers, just anything with standing water, trash, tires, etc., so it’s important to be dumping those kind of things out all year long,’ [Evan] Lampert (Associate Professor of Biological Sciences at Gainesville State College) said.   We have found that it is impossible to drain all the standing water that mosquitoes breed in.  This is due to the fact that Asian Tiger Mosquitoes, a very prevalent species here in Frederick, lay their eggs in dry areas that they know will flood when it rains.  For that reason, our customers have found that our regular mosquito treatments will help them take back their yard and enjoy the outdoors again.

Maryland Residents are at High Risk of Lyme Disease

Living in Frederick, MD, and owning a pest control company that offers to kill ticks that carry Lyme Disease, we have heard multiple stories about people getting Lyme Disease in the area.  We meet customers who appear to be permanently disabled because of the Lyme Disease that infected them.  Many experts hypothesize that most people get Lyme Disease in their own backyard and that treating your yard in the spring and fall will go a long way to eliminating deer ticks in your yard.  A story published in USAtoday on February 3, 2012 reveals that researchers at Yale University have concluded that Maryland is among the states with the highest risk of Lyme Disease.   The researchers canvassed large areas of the country from 2004 to 2007.  According to the article the researchers map shows ”a clear risk of Lyme disease across much of the Northeast, from Maine to northern Virginia. Researchers also identified a distinct high-risk region in the upper Midwest, including most of Wisconsin, northern Minnesota and a sliver of northern Illinois.”

Other interesting findings include:  ”More than 90 percent of those cases were in 12 states: Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Hampshire, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Wisconsin. (emphasis added)”; and “About 1 in 5 ticks collected were infected — more than researchers expected — and that percentage was fairly constant across geographic areas, she said. Researchers had expected the infection rate to vary. (emphasis added)”   This study is an important contribution to understanding where Lyme Disease was the biggest threat to public health in 2004-2007, and is and will be a threat in the future.   The lead researcher indicates that the places that were at high risk would not change, except that places that were considered emerging threats may have increased their risk.  People who are infected by  a Lyme Disease infected tick, and aren’t treated timely, “can develop arthritis, meningitis and some other serious illnesses.”

The Best Way to Kill Stink Bugs

On October 28, 2011 I attended a conference for pest control professionals where the brown marmorated stink bug (BMSB) was the main topic of discussion.  Some highlights from the conference.  The University of Maryland says that exclusion is the best way to control stink bugs.  In other words, they suggest that homeowners simply seal their house.  Many of our customers report having tried everything to seal their homes, but their homes were still infested with stink bugs.  Sealing your house can only get you so far.  One of my customers told me that he heard a BMSB can shrink down to the size of two pieces of paper stacked on top of each other.  The BMSB can enter your home from various places, including vents, chimneys, windows, under the siding, the eaves, doors, etc.  Of course, sealing the house only gets you so far.  I have met several people who stopped using doors to their homes because they knew that if they opened that door, stink bugs would come in in droves.   What good does it do to seal a house, if they swarm into your home when you open a door to go in or out?

The University of Maryland extension recommended that homeowners simply use a vacuum on any stink bugs that enter their home.  If you choose to do this, you run the risk of ruining the vacuum for any other purpose because the vacuum will smell horrible and, if you have a large infestation, you will spend hours a day vacuuming.  Many of my customers have reported that before they called Mosquito Squad of Frederick they would spend hours a day vacuuming up stink bugs during peak periods.

Our experience confirms that it is best to keep them out.  We find that our comprehensive treatment has helped hundreds of happy customers live without stink bugs invading their homes.  To see one customer’s video testimonial click here.  To see another, click here.

University of Maryland Predicts This Year Will Be the Worst for Stink Bugs

We just found this article in the Courier-Post out of Southern New Jersey.   Not only does the article say that we should expect billions of stink bugs this spring, it actually suggests that they will start mating later this month.   Our information is similar to the articles, except that we anticipate that the stink bugs will start mating in the spring, perhaps April or May.  If the weather stays warm the rest of the winter, perhaps they will come out sooner.   You may want to get some stink bug treatments in the spring to prevent as much mating as possible. 

I found it interesting that the person they chose to quote about how bad his stink bugs are happens to live right here in Frederick. 

The article says “In his 90-year-old farmhouse south of Frederick, Md., Doug Inkley is already under siege. He’s a biologist for the National Wildlife Federation, and he loves bugs.”  Poor Mr. Inkley has actually counted the number of stink bugs that he has vacuumed up inside his home, more than 12,000 since January.   According to the article the brown marmorated stink bug, plaguing this area, are at least one bug he does not like, or love for that matter. 

Brace yourself, the experts discussed in this article, say this year should be the worst.  “Michael Raupp, an entomologist at the University of Maryland who’s been studying the bugs, predicts this year will be the worst so far.” 

Here are some tips from the article:

How to kill stink bugs

You may be tempted to crush them, but you’ll be rewarded with an odor you won’t like. Instead:

- Vacuum them. This also will help kill stink bug eggs. But dispose of the vacuum bag, maybe dousing it with some insecticide as you set it in the trash can.

- Attract them. Use a wide-mouth can. Fill with an inch of water, sweet-scented dish soap, and a little cooking oil on top. Make sure that pets cannot lick this trap. The sweet smell lures the bugs; the oil smothers their discharge; the soapy water smothers them as they sink.

- Exterminate them with commercially available insecticides. But apply the chemicals outside. If you do so when they are in your walls, you could attract carpet beetles that feed on their carcasses and potentially your woolens.  (At Mosquito Squad, we use a product that kills the stink bugs as they land on the treated area for two to three weeks, and sometimes longer.  This product is only sold to certified applicators.). 

- Repel them. They don’t like the smell of garlic – if you can handle it.

- Block them. Caulk small openings and cracks in your house or elsewhere to keep them out of structures. Repair damaged screens.

Sources: Penn State University College of Agricultural Sciences, city of Burkittsville, Md.

Fort Detrick Scientists Receive Award for Mosquito Trap

According to a January 29, 2011 article in the Frederick News Post,  two researchers in Fort Detrick (located here in Frederick, MD), developed a mosquito trap to help reduce Dengue Fever. 

Realizing that the Aedes Genus of mosquito is one of the biggest vectors of Dengue Fever, “The two combined their efforts behind the idea that female Aedes mosquitoes will lay eggs only in a container holding water.”  That is not true of all Aedes mosquitoes.  In fact, the Asian Tiger Mosquito found in many places in and around Frederick,and a potential vector (transmitter) of Dengue Fever and other diseases like West Nile Virus, are Aedes mosquitoes.  The Asian Tiger (Aedes Albopictus) are known as floodwater mosquitoes because they lay their eggs in containers, tree holes, or other places that the female mosquito knows will flood when it rains.  They often will lay their eggs, then, in places that do not contain water when they lay their eggs. 

The scientists at Fort Detrick created a pint-sized water container with a strip covered in pesticide to kill the female mosquitoes and the larvae.  According to the report it was successfully used in Key West, FL where they had a Dengue outbreak.  Dengue Fever had not been known to be transmitted in the continental United States for many years, but last year the disease was once again documented to be transmitted inside Florida’s boundaries. 

I doubt that the trap would be successful here against the Asian Tiger mosquito, whose latin name is Aedes Albopictus, as they can breed in a container the size of a bottle cap and consequently do not need a pint of water to lay eggs.  As I said before, the Aedes Albopictus does not need water to be present either when it lays eggs. 

Nonetheless, it is good to read about efforts to reduce the transmission of disease through mosquitoes.  As the article concludes, the World Health Organization recommends mosquito control to prevent the outbreak of mosquito borne disease.

Researchers Work on Developing a Malaria Proof Mosquito

With more than one million people a year dying from malaria transmitted by mosquitoes, researchers at UC Davis and the University of Arizona have been trying to create a breed of mosquito that will not transmit malaria.  Of course, not every breed of mosquito is a vector (transmitter) of malaria.  In Maryland only one species of mosquito found in Maryland is known to transmit malaria.  Since most of the malaria deaths occur in Africa, it appears that efforts would be to introduce the “malaria proof” mosquito into Africa with the hopes that it will become dominant and will breed out the mosquitoes that breed malaria. 

The efforts to dominate the  malaria vectors would not have any impact on vectors of other diseases, such as West Nile Virus,Yellow Fever and various forms of encephalitis which have occurred in Maryland.  

The good news is that the UC Davis and University of Arizona researchers have received awards for the progress in their efforts.  The bad news is that even if they are successful in making this “malaria proof” mosquito dominant, it will take at least 10 years to do it. 

To read another blog about this development click here.

Information about Stink Bug Life Cycle

People have been telling me recently that they are starting to notice stink bugs in their house in the first week of January. As one person put it, it got a little warmer and now I am seeing them in my house. They wonder why that is. Others have asked me about the stink bugs’ life cycle. I thought I would share this information for anyone who is interested. Stink bugs are generally hatched in August. In September they notice that the temperature is getting colder so they start coming to your house to overwinter. They continue being heavily concentrated around certain homes, mostly in more rural areas near soy or corn farms or wooded areas, from September to November. By mid November the temperature has dropped enough that the stink bugs are inside where they will hibernate, or as some have called it, semi-hibernate. As it gets warmer to the stink bugs, they may start to get more active indoors. Though one of my customers told me that they saw stink bugs outside their home last February after the major snow fall. In April and May, they will start going outdoors. That is when they will mate. So, when is the best time to treat for stink bugs? Some may want to treat in April thru June to kill them before they breed and lay eggs. Definitely, from August through October is the time to treat to keep as many as possible out of your house.

West Nile Virus confirmed in Maryland

Recent news reports tell us that two Maryland residents have been diagnosed with West Nile Virus this year.  Check out the report on My Fox DC here.  Some reports have said that the Asian Tiger mosquito, perhaps the most prevalent mosquito in Frederick County, MD, is not a threat to transmit West Nile Virus.  However, the University of Maryland extension has reported that the Asian Tiger mosquito is a threat to transmit West Nile Virus to humans.  In a Gardeners’ Alert the University of Maryland explains that “The Virus is distributed by birds infected by Asian Tiger mosquito bites. Although mainly a bird disease, West Nile Virus afflicts birds, horses, and humans as well. Crows are particularly susceptible to West Nile Virus. However, the Virus has been detected in other wild birds, other mosquito species, humans, and horses.” 

Another interesting tidbit from the article: 

“The West Nile virus can be transmitted by mosquito species other than the Asian Tiger. However, the all-day feeding habits of the Asian Tiger mosquito may increase the risk of spreading West Nile virus. The Maryland mosquito spraying program is not the best against the Asian Tiger mosquito. Spraying is usually done at sunset or after dark for native mosquitoes. Asian Tiger mosquitoes are virtually absent during these hours.”  Mosquito Squad’s treatments use a different product than that used by the state.  The product Mosquito Squad uses has a residual affect that will kill mosquitoes that come onto the treated area, while still being people and pet friendly.  This has resulted in much better control of the Asian Tiger mosquito in many yards around Frederick. 

To read the University of Maryland article click here.

Mosquito Breeding Sites

After a recent rain storm, I treated two properties for the first time to help them reduce the Asian Tiger mosquitoes in their yards.  While in those yards, I observed several obvious breeding sites for the Asian Tiger mosquitoes.  In one yard, they had a small kiddie pool with standing water in it.  I looked in the pool and saw what must have been hundreds of moquito larva swimming in it.  I then found buckets full of landscaping rocks with more mosquito larva swimming in them.  Those were the obvious spots.  In that yard, there were probably many other breeding sites becuase the Asian Tiger mosquito can lay eggs in very small pools of water in tree holes, bottle caps and other locations. 

The other yard had a wheelbarrow with dirt and a tarp in it.  The tarp was full of mosquito larva. 

Removing those types of breeding sites would not completely eliminate the mosquito problem in those yards, but would certainly hellp reduce some mosquitoes. 

Asian Tiger mosquito larva breeding site

Asian Tiger Mosquito Breeding Site