So, what's that big ugly thing I just killed?  Someone said it was a vinegaroon, vinegarette,,,,,whatever.  It's really ugly. 

Most likely it is a wind spider.  Really large, travel fast for their size, look like a scorpion without pincers or a tail.  Big ugly red mandables.  Yep, that's it! 

They're a non venom critter in the arachniad family.  First line of defense is intimidation.  If scared, they will run toward you waving their clubbed front legs at you or their attacker.  If they bite you, it may raise a welt.  Again no venom, just bacteria from the ground.

Box Elder Bugs are Hatching

We're getting lots of calls about invasions of 'tiny ants' to 'gnats' to 'what's this'.  As the weather warms, the box elder eggs begin to hatch.  They are extremely small and very invasive. 

There's good and bad news! 

The good news is that they're not a vector for any known disease.

Now for the bad news.  This is going to last for a couple of weeks.  We can kill most of them, but if you have a hundred billion and we eliminate 99% you'll still have a million!

We're asked, 'why me' and the answer is simple.  In the Mojave desert, their favorite nesting place is the dried leaves under Oleanders.  Dried grass or weeds are their next favorite.  So, if you have let your lawn dry out, allowed dry grass to overtake your desert landscape, allowed your yard to go to weeds, or have a neighbor who has, you have the perfect enviorment for this insect. 

Yes, we can treat and limit the population that enters your home/building.  Give us a call.

Spiders

A couple of days ago, one of my customers told me that their neighbor's technician had found 2 brown recluse spiders in one of their offices.

WOW!

With great anticipation, I rushed over to see these spiders because,  if there is ever a brown recluse spider in Southern Nevada, I'm sure the Department of Agriculture would like to see it and I certainly would.  Never been a brown recluse identified by an expert in Las Vegas!

You see, the territory that the brown recluse lives and survives in is around Oklahoma, Kansas, Mississippi, Alabama, Missouri - you get the idea.....  The Mojave Desert is too hot and here's the key element - too dry. 

I get lots of reports of brown spiders.  Yes we do have brown spiders in the Mojave Desert - quite a variety of them.  Pretty much what you would generally term as 'garden variety spiders'.  Nothing to get too excited about!

The spider that should be of the most concern in Las Vegas would be the black widow.  It is not agressive.  When disturbed, it will try to hide or get away.  They only bite when they feel threatened or trapped.  

Sonething else, while we're on the subject of spiders.  I often hear 'I was bitten in bed last night'.   My question is always, "you woke up in the night with a bite bothering you?".  Typical answer is 'yes, I woke up with a bite on my neck (arm, leg, etc) and it bit me in bed'. 

 Actually, probably not. It can take many hours for a spider bite to manifest.  The person most likely was bitten when outside during the day or evening.  The effect didn't show up until later.  Extremely rare to be bitten in bed and even more rare to be bitten in bed in a upstairs bedroom!  Most often when quized the victum will remember being somewhere the evening before or even the day before.  I recall a bite on my shin that took 2 days to manifest. (took 2 weeks to go away too!)

Yuck! You've discovered cockroaches in your kitchen, bedroom, everywhere. But they've been around for some 320 million years, so what's new?  What's new is that recent studies show that the filthy pests can cause the chronic breathing disorder of asthma, especially among youths in America's inner-city neighborhoods. 

Many of us can remember being tucked in by our parents at night with the saying 'good night and don't let the bed bugs bite'.  Most of us never knew what a bed bug was or have ever been bitten. 

Now that the weather is turning warm and we're seeing more bees we're receiving many inquiries about 'KILLER BEES'.  WHAT A MISNOMER!!  The correct name is 'AFRICANIZED BEES'.  Their species originated in Africa where they colonized near the ground or in vacated animal burrows.  Over a vast period of time they evolved into a very protective species because everything that likes honey (which is almost everything living) raided their home, their food stores (honey) and/or killed their queen.