Posts Tagged ‘insects’
Most individuals under seventy years of age in the West will not have seen bed bugs. This is mainly due to enhanced living conditions, DDT and better public education. The DDT was used in the thirties and forties and eradicated the problem in the more wealthy countries.
Bed bugs are a part of the arachnid or spider family, although bed bugs are parasites that suck blood, not all bodily fluids. They will feed on most warm-blooded animals and there is some proof that humans are not their first preference of victim.
The most common form of bed bugs are known as Cimex lectularius by their Latin name. They are quite small but very fast moving insects and they are members of the spider family, although many of them do not look like spiders at all. Rather, most of them look like little beetles, until they have satiated themselves, after which they can hardly move and are at their most vulnerable.
Bed bugs feed in a similar way to mosquitoes. They insert a tube into the skin of its victim and suck blood out. It is not much to you, about a quarter of a millilitre, but is a lot to them. It permits them to live and reproduce.
Bed bugs, unlike their relatives the ticks, are not known to convey any diseases. In fact, they are one of the few insects that do not pass on a disease.
A bedbug bite is similar to an ant bite in appearance, but it will itch like a mosquito bite. You will probably experience a slight swelling with a red dot in the centre and an itch. Not much more.
You can check for bed bugs quite easily by soaking a bar of soap in a little water for half an hour while you lie on your bed reading a book. Then get up and fetch the soap, wet-side down and fling back the bed clothes. Dab up the bed bugs, if there are any with the soft soap. This is a fast way of getting rid of a small number of bed bugs, but cannot be considered as a solution.
With regards to the annihilation of an infestation of bed bugs, it depends where you are. If you are in a hotel, the bar of soap will be proof enough of a problem and it is the hotel manager’s duty to provide a solution. If they do nothing, report the hotel to the local tourist bureau.
If you live in rented accommodation, it is your landlord’s duty to solve the predicament. If he or she is reluctant, then go to the council hall and ask advice.
If the issue is in your own house, then take the skirting boards and architraves off. Spray or paint very powerful insecticide onto the wall and refit the woodwork. If you are still worried, seal the woodwork off on all sides with mastic or silicone.
These actions will make certain that your house will be free of bed bugs.
Owen Jones, the writer of this piece writes on quite a few topics, but is currently involved with natural tick repellent. If you would like to know more or check out some great offers, please go to our website at tick Repellent For Dogs.
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I presume you already know that bedbugs have staged a revival in the West. Bedbugs were almost completely eliminated in western Europe, the United States and Canada in the 1950’s, yet have been resurfacing in ever larger numbers since around 1995. It is supposed that this is due to more frequent foreign holidays and increased immigration..
You see, bedbugs travel around by hitching a lift on our clothing and then jumping off when it gets quiet and warm enough again. The poor little creatures are really fairly shy, you know, which is why you could have a burgeoning family of them in your house long before you are bitten. And bedbugs can go for six months without feeding.
Bedbugs are small, usually brownish beetles that look a bit banded, because of the hairs on their back. They have a long pointy beak for sucking blood and can move astonishingly quickly if disturbed. Some Individuals say that they cannot be seen with the naked eye, but this only applies to those of us with very bad eyesight. A bedbug is around the size, colour and shape or an apple pip on legs.
In fact, you might never see a bedbug in your room, yet you might see remnants of its activity. If you see brown stains on your sheets, they are bedbug droppings but if you see red streaks, that is your blood. You may also see black spots, which are also droppings and hollow insect cases, which is where they have shed a skin on their way to adulthood.
Those who have knowledge of bedbugs say that you do not have to see them, you can smell them. They say that, their smell is very distinctive, but you would have to ask quite an old person to describe it for you as most people under 60 will not have had much contact with bedbugs, if any at all.
Bedbug bites affect us in different ways. Some people react quite badly to the bites whilst others might scarcely notice them at all. However, most people notice some red marks that itch. A little like mosquito bites.
I suppose that you are asking yourself how you can get rid of these little bugs by now. Well, this is the bad news – bedbugs are infamously difficult to be rid of. In fact, if you have an infestation of bedbugs, you should notify your landlord and the health authorities but if you own the property yourself, you will almost certainly have to pay to get the exterminators in as pesticides and insecticides are practically useless against them.
The best manner to deal with bedbugs is not to let them get a foothold in your premises. Most of us pick up a bedbug while on holiday, staying in a hotel at home or while using public transport or in public places like cinemas.
So, inspect your clothing, especially under the collar and in the pockets. The only surefire way of killing bedbugs is the use of heat, so if you find one on your coat, put your garments in the tumble dryer on full heat to kill the bedbug, its friends and its eggs.
Owen Jones, the writer of this piece, writes on many topics, but is currently involved with bed bugs extermination. If you are interested in this, please go over to our website now at Picture Of Bed Bugs for further information.
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Heart worm, fleas and other parasites in dogs need to be destroyed by using the relevant medication on them. Many products have come onto the market to protect dogs from heart worms, fleas and other parasites like hook worms, whip worms, round worms, lice, ticks etc.
Of the heart worms, fleas and other parasites, fleas can produce a super-sensitive reaction in the infected animal. Animals infected with fleas scratch their skin very vigorously. Often the scratching becomes so severe that the skin becomes hyper-sensitive and dermatitis is the result in the affected areas of skin.
The result is often that the animal can not lie down for long or sleep comfortably due to the constant bites by the fleas. Therefore, your dog looks as if has some severe skin issues. If the your dog is not properly attended to for these flea bites, there will often be secondary bacterial invasions in these areas and there may even be a bad smell emanating from the animal’s affected skin.
You have to observe your dog closely in order prevent a serious infestation of fleas. However, it is essential to avoid such a serious outbreak as they are extremely upsetting to your pet. Similarly, the skin of the animal needs to be checked regularly for the presence of ticks and lice. In order to do this effectively, you need to inspect the dog’s skin by separating the dog’s hairs. The easiest way to achieve this is by slowly back-combing or ruffling the animal’s hair.
Usually, if your pet is anaemic, and he is not infested with fleas, you need to check for hookworm. Symptoms of hookworm are anaemia, loose stools and a pot belly. The dog’s owner may recognize these symptoms themselves, however, to be honest, the dog needs to undergo a routine health examination at the vet’s involving faecal and hematological examinations.
There are many commercial products on the market. Some of which are useful for dealing with all these conditions by a single dose. Drugs like ivermectin are highly effective and are available in injection, oral and solution forms. The latter should be applied directly to the skin. These drugs can lead to the prevention of the above conditions too.
So, the best strategy to follow is to keep a keen eye on your dog. This could most easily be done at bath time and when you are brushing him. You can use an anti-flea and anti-tick shampoo, which will keep these nuisances under control, if used as stated on the bottle. Couple this with regular grooming with a lice comb and the use of a flea collar should keep your pet tick, lice, and flea free.
If you are having problems dog flea treatment on your dogs, please follow the ‘fleas’ link or if you just want to read more about dogs, please go here: Man’s Best Friend – the Dog Also published at Worms, Fleas And Ticks On Dogs.
Everyone with a lovely garden, patio or deck will surely enjoy sitting outside on a warm summer’s day or evening. But if there is one thing that can blight it for you, it is mosquitoes. Sometimes, it only takes one of two persistent mosquitoes to make your blood boil. Mosquitoes are a pest for sure, but they can also be a health hazard, spreading dengue fever and malaria and several other really horrible diseases. So how do you go about keeping mosquitoes out of your garden?
Maybe you cannot realistically hope to keep mosquitoes out of your garden entirely, but there are some things you can do to deter them and keep their numbers down. Stopping them breeding in your garden is the first step to take. Mosquitoes do not have a long flying span. A lot of the mosquitoes that bother you in your garden will have been born in your garden.
Mosquitoes lay their eggs in stagnant water, so make sure that there is none in your garden. They will lay eggs in water butts, dogs’ bowls, water that has collected in old tyres, bottles and tins and your rubbish bins, so make sure that no water can collect anywhere. Blocked gutters are another breeding site. if you have a water feature, put fish in it to eat the larvae.
Mosquitoes hate the smell of lemon, so you could grow citronella plants, lemon thyme, lemon grass and even a lemon tree, if the climate is right. Otherwise you could burn citronella scented candles or oil in the vicinity They not only keep the mosquitoes away, but the smell is very fresh and envigourating.
If they are still bothering you, you may have to resort to mosquito repellent. You could impregnate your clothing with permethrin, like the army does for jungle warfare or just rub a deet-based product on your skin. There are also plenty of natural mosquito repellents too, such as lemon oil, citronella and eucalyptus oil.
Garlic is said to repel mosquitoes, so you could try growing garlic nearby. It is also believed to repel ticks and has proven to discourage greenfly (aphids) from roses. What could be better, especially if you are partial to garlic too?
You could put up one or two of those lamps that attract insects to them and then destroy them with a high voltage shock. These electric bug killers are especially proficient at killing mosquitoes and house flies, which can also be a nuisance when you are sitting outside.
They are reasonably priced and will last for years. They give off a pleasing glow and some claim to be able to de-infest areas of a quarter, a half and even a full acre of terrain of all flying insects by the use of the ultraviolet light and pheromones.
By using some or all of the above methods of keeping mosquitoes out of your garden, you should be able to enjoy your drink, a chat or a snooze in complete peace and freedom from flies and mosquitoes.
Owen Jones, the author of this piece writes on a lot of topics, but is at present concerned with work on mosquito bite treatment problems. If you would like to know more or check out some great offers, please go to our website at Mosquito Bite Swellings.
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I don’t know whether you have ever used a handheld, indoor bug zapper, but I think that they are amazing. I’m talking about the handheld kind that looks like a child?s plastic, toy tennis racquet. They come in two basic kinds. I rather the rechargeable bug zapper, because batteries end up costing more than the indoor bug zapper itself, although you could always buy rechargeable batteries, but then they are expensive as well.
My wife and I like to spend time in the garden. We meet friends there, dine there and in general loaf about outdoors, as do most folks around here, when they are not working. Besides, it’s far cooler outside than indoors. A comfy chair, some snacks, a cool drink and a book or a friend and life does not get much better. In fact, it?s idyllic.
That is until about six or seven o’clock when the first wave of mosquitoes have judged that the sun’s rays have lost enough strength that they will not evaporate and they come out searching for blood. Some evenings are worse than others, of course. Usually, the mosquitoes are pretty tolerable, especially seeing as I have discovered the indoor bug zapper. (I don’t know why it is referred to as an ?indoor bug zapper?, it is just as effective outdoors as in).
It’s not that I like to slaughter things, but I find it hard to have compassion for mosquitoes. Nevertheless, I do get a certain amount of enjoyment from seeing and hearing mosquitoes and other bugs literally blow up with a flash and a spark as they come into connection with the electric and ground wires of the indoor bug zapper. These electric bug zappers can pack quite a charge, particularly if the batteries are new or the pack is completely charged.
The other day, I discovered a new use for my handheld, indoor bug zapper. I’ll tell you how it came about. I was in the garden, as normal, and my bug zapper was close at hand as the first squadron of mosquitoes was due. I had my book in one hand and the bug zapper on my lap, when my wife asked me to go to the store for her. No problem, therefore, I set off on the five minute walk.
I was half-way there when I noticed that I had the indoor bug zapper in my hand, but it was not worth taking it home and beginning the journey again. Anyhow, on my return journey, I had my small bag of groceries in one hand and the indoor bug zapper in the other, when a local tyrant of a dog came running out of a garden directly for me. This has happened often and, although he has never bitten me yet, it is rather menacing. He stood there glaring at me with teeth bared and his ‘pack’ of assorted local pals came out to encircle me and join in.
I don’t actually know what the best course of action is in this situation. I have tried holding my position, but the threat just continues and I have tried to continue walking, but he gets frighteningly nearby sometimes. This time, I suddenly lashed out with the indoor bug zapper and just hit him on the snout. Well, I’m not sure whether it hurt him, it did not appear to too much, but it gave him a very nasty shock in more ways than one, I can tell you! He leaped about four feet into the air as if he were on a pogo stick and then ran for all he was worth with all his pals following him. It was very gratifying after six months of persecution from this dog.
Anyway, I don’t take my indoor bug zapper everywhere with me, but I will in future, if any more local dogs bother me. I know it works a treat. I have seen that one since, but he keeps far away from me and doesn’t utter a sound. I think I would take my indoor bug zapper with me, if I were wandering in an unknown part of town or the park nevertheless.
Have you ever heard of an indoor bug zapper? If not, or if you are interested in getting an indoor bug zapper, please click one of the hyperlinks to our website or blog.
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Some of the most common indoor bugs we see anywhere in the world are flies, spiders, fleas and beetles. No-one likes to have a bug in the house, so most people will go to almost any extremes to eradicate these common indoor bugs. The less common indoor bugs may be woodlice, earwigs, scorpions and millipedes or centipedes, although they are no less wanted.
It does not matter where you live in the world, it is very difficult to keep these common indoor bugs outside, unless you go to the extremes of keeping all your windows and doors closed at all times, which is obviously impossible. I live in Thailand and I know that this is not an option.
So, just what can you do about it? Well, let’s sort out all the flying insects first, because of all the common indoor bugs, I find them the most obnoxious indoor bug. They are very annoying, buzzing around your head and mosquitoes and other flies can produce painful sores and besides that, all flies carry disease. I hate to see them strutting about on food, knowing that they have more than likely just come off some dog’s muck somewhere and now they are spitting on my food to taste it with their grubby feet!
My first line of defence is fine-mesh door and widow screens. They are not expensive and can be added retrospectively to any window. My window meshes slide, so they can cover only one half of a window at a any one time, but I do not think that’s a problem. You can still create cross-winds, by opening two or more windows at opposite sides of a room. I love to see the flies on the mesh struggling to get in by day and the mosquitoes doing the same by night. At night, it is wise to switch on as little light indoors as possible in order not to draw these common indoor insects.
My second line of defence is natural predators – lizards, like Geckos (Jin Jok, in Thai). Some people don’t like them in the house either. I can’t say I’m all that keen on them indoors myself, but they are hard to keep out and they do eat hundreds, if not thousands, of indoor bugs every day. I like to see them lying in wait on the outside of the mesh, ready to jump on any bug trying to wriggle its way through the wires.
My third line of defence is a handheld bug zapper. You know, the electric, handheld bug zapper that looks like a toy tennis racquet. The come in two forms: battery and rechargeable kinds. They are fantastic at catching and destroying any flying indoor bug. The bug literally explodes and vaporizes on contact with the fully-charged wires of the indoor bug zapper. If you haven’t tried using one, you really ought to. They are most satisfying. These three defences keep our house pretty much free of flying insects.
The creeping common indoor bugs are not so much of a problem really. Door screens on self-closers will keep 99% of them out and the Geckos will help too. Spiders can get in pretty easily, but then, I don’t mind them too much as long as they stay away from me, as they eat other insects too. They are on our side to be honest. However, for those who can not bear to catch them and throw them outside, the handheld indoor bug zapper works well on spiders too.
Fleas can be a problem, if you keep cats or dogs, but then if you wash or dust the animal once a month, you should be able to keep those common indoor bugs under control fairly easily. However, there are two final methods that we employ. Every week, before we go out for the day, we spray every room with fly killer and every six-months we spray any rugs or carpets with an insect killer containing permethrin, which will survive washing and vacuuming for that long without losing its ability to kill common indoor bugs on contact. If you stick with these measures, you will be able to keep your home or office quite free of the most common indoor bugs and any less common indoor bug too.
Have you ever heard of an indoor bug zapper? If you haven’t, or if you are interested in getting an indoor bug zapper, just click one of the hyperlinks to our web site or blog. This article, Common Indoor Bugs is released under a creative commons attribution licence.
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Fleas and other parasites ought to always be given the highest priority by dog owners. Flea bite allergy in dogs is all too common and causes concern to many dog owners every year, especially in the summer, although all year round if your dog lives indoors with central heating. This is because flea bites often produce allergic reactions in the area bitten by the fleas, which is very often on the back just above the tail. In these cases, the affected skin becomes red and bald due to the dog’s continuous scratching of itself.
Heavy flea infestations can cause severe dermatitis in dogs. If the flea bites cause allergic reactions or dermatitis in the dog, it really ought to be taken to the vet, because on many occasions, the dog will be experiencing severe discomfort.
The vet will provide you a salve to ease the itching and reduce the inflammation and some powder or a spray to kill the fleas. Prevention, however, is better than cure and medicated collars are available to treat and prevent an infestation of external blood-suckers like ticks and fleas.
Besides fleas, other parasites like ticks and lice plus internal parasites like hookworm, round worm, whip worms etc. can affect the well-being of your dog. For example, if hookworms infect a dog, that dog will normally suffer from anaemia. The signs of anaemia become more evident depending on the severity of infection by the hookworm.
Hookworm larvae can pass directly through the skin and cause problems inside the affected dogs. Such dogs may show cuts due to dermatitis on the paws and on the skin. Frequently, skin rashes are the result in such cases and the affected animal passes loose stools, which are tinged red with blood.
Most dogs and all puppies get round worms, which is why dogs can often be seen rubbing their bottoms along the floor. However, if round worms are present in large numbers, infected puppies show a pot belly, which is easily recognized by dog owners themselves. Piperazine salts are given orally for the treatment of this condition. However, broad-spectrum anthelmintics like pyrantel pamoate, fenbendazole etc. are also used to treat this condition.
There are many drugs on the market to treat fleas and other parasites these days, although medications including the drug ‘ivermectin’ seem to be preferred by many dog owners to clear up fleas and other parasites in dogs. This drug is available for injection or oral use but is now even available for external application too.
If you are having problems getting rid of fleas on your dog, please follow the ‘fleas’ link, however if you want to read more about dogs, please go here: Man’ Best Friend – the Dog Grab a totally unique version of this article from the Uber Article Directory
