English: Adult male brown recluse spider dorsal view. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
The Brown Recluse spider is also known as a Violin spider because of the violin markings found on it’s back. Because of its extremely venomous and deadly bite, the Brown Recluse is one of worst spider pests. These bites are extremely dangerous. There have been reports of lost appendages and even death because of these painful bites. Spider control efforts must be taken to keep these spiders out of your basements, attics, and garages.
While the Brown recluse is dangerous, it’s a rather shy spider that will only bite when it feels threatened. Bites occur when a hand is placed unknowingly on a spider while moving boxes for instance; or when a spider is inadvertently trapped against a person’s body while getting dressed or crawling in bed.
The Brown Recluse spider is tan in color. Adult spiders are about the size of a U.S. Quarter. The spider has a violin marking on its back, long legs, and is covered with short hairs. They are common in the lower Midwest and the Southeast U.S. They are nighttime hunters that do not use webs to catch insects.
5 Pest Control Links For Your Friday
Cluster Flies are a Real Pest to Deal With
Have you ever been enjoying the outdoors, when suddenly you’ve been swarmed by a hoard of tiny flies? More often than not, those are cluster flies and they can be more than a simple annoyance for some homeowners. More…
Buying Property? Approach With Eyes Wide Open
If you are in the market to buy a home, make sure pests haven’t moved in first. Here’s what you need to know. More…
Introducing the Rugose Spiraling Whitefly
Spiraling whiteflies are a landscaping nightmare. The pesky flies chew their way though trees and plants, leaving them yellow and wilted. For a free download about this relatively new pest, click here.
With the warmer summer months almost upon us, mosquitoes will be out in full force. While they can be annoying, they can also be dangerous. Take back your backyard with these mosquito tips. More…
So what exactly are millipedes? Are they dangerous? Are they even considered pests? How do you get rid of them? Here’s what you need to know. More…
5 Fun Facts About Ants
Think you know all there is to know about ants? Think again! Here’s a comical view, with some amazing ant facts. Who knew ants are feminists? More…
How German Cockroaches Easily Infest Homes – And Effective Techniques To Stop Them
German cockroaches are considered one of the most challenging pest infestations to eliminate – even with professional treatment. Learn how to implement a successful prevention strategy, here.
CAUTION: Stinging and Venomous Caterpillars
The four major stinging caterpillars occurring in Florida are the puss caterpillar, saddleback caterpillar, Io moth caterpillar and hag caterpillar. These caterpillars have tiny hairs or spines that release a toxin. Contact may require hospitalization. More…
Carpenter Ants: Preventing Them Before They Become a Problem
Our pest of the week, the Carpenter ant can be quite the destructive pest. There are a few steps you can take before they become a serious problem. More…
Pest Of The Week: The Carpenter Ant
The Carpenter ant (Camponotus vicinus) makes it’s nest inside wood; dead trees or stumps, wood piles, rotten home structures, and old cracking furniture to be exact. It because of this, many home owners confuse the Carpenter ant for the termite.
Carpenter ants have black bodies, with a dark red thorax. Their abdomen is covered with a fine hair that forms a ring around the ant. They measure in length somewhere between ¼ of an inch to ½ of an inch. Note, Carpenter ants do not eat wood. They do eat food debris, like crumbs and sweets. It’s this food that foraging ants are looking for when they enter your home.
If you see sawdust piles around your home or property, you may have Carpenter ants. If this is the case, seek the services of a licensed ant control professional.
Western Carpenter Ant, Camponotus modoc (Photo credit: ArranET)
Pest Of The Week: The Western Carpenter Ant
One of the most common types of Carpenter ants is the Western Carpenter ant; which are located west of the Mississippi River. They are easy to differentiate, because of the gold hairs on their abdomens that circle the ant like a ring. Like other Carpenter ants, the Western Carpenter ant has a dull black body with reddish legs. They can bite, but do not sting.
Western Carpenter ants eat the honeydew from plants, as well as other insects, and even people food. They like the same food as we do… Meat, sweets, and anything greasy. One misconception about the Western Carpenter ant is that they eat wood. The truth is, these ants only build their nests in rotting, dead wood; they do not actually eat the wood they remove during nest-building activities. Instead, they deposit it in piles just outside the entrances to the colony. The wood is used solely as a nesting site. Western Carpenter ants nests require professional pest control to eliminate.
Friday Links Round-Up of Pest Control Articles
Report: Microscopic Scorpions Crawl On You While You Sleep
Learn the horrifying truth about these near microscopic scorpions, here.
Would You Eat Bugs?
Mmmmm! Ant lollipops and chocolate covered grasshoppers. More…
Don’t Let Carpenter Ants Munch Away On Your Biggest Investment
Carpenter ants, like our pest of the week the Western Carpenter ant, can compromise the integrity of your home. These ant pests are often times confused with termites because they destroy wood. More…
Fire Ant Stings
Here’s some information on fire ant stings, including common reactions, treatment, and a disturbing picture. More…
The Truth About Ticks
For a few unpleasant facts about ticks, and some steps to take about preventing them, click here.
Termite and Ant Swarmers in Springfield Joplin and Branson Missouri
Here’s an excellent article on how to tell the difference between swarming termites and swarming ants. More…
Gallinippers – Monster Mosquitoes That Pack A Mean Bite!
“ I’ve just been stabbed! No wait…it was just a mosquito bite.” More great info on the Gallinipper. More…
Garden/Black Ants
Everything you need to know about black ants, including: habitat, breeding, behavior, and control. More…
Bulwark Paintball Summit 2013
Bulwark Pest Control had a fun time taking a break from exterminating bugs, and instead exterminated each other in competitive matches of paintball.
Interview with Clark Pest Control’s Coach Robert Sperling
Many pest control operators wear multiple hats. This happens to be the case for Clark Pest Control’s Robert Sperling, who also serves as a high school football coach. Read his compelling interview here.
Watch Out For Brown Recluse Spiders When Unpacking Winter Clothes
Brown recluse spiders are notorious for hiding out in stored boots, coats, and sweaters packed away in your basement or attic. While these spiders are not aggressive, they can be very dangerous if accidentally encountered. More…
Bulwark Pest Control Receives Prestigious Angie’s List Award
Bulwark Exterminating recently received the prestigious Angie’s List Super Service award for eight of their branches. They award is only given to the top five percent of companies reviewed on Angie’s List. Impressive! More…
Why Termite Inspections Are an Essential Part of Real Estate Transactions
No one wants to end up with buyer’s remorse, especially when a home is at stake. Before you finalize your closing paperwork, it’s important that the building you are buying is inspected for termites. Current or past termite infestation can affect property value, future expenses, and even safety. More…
Opossum Removal in Baton Rouge
For some information of why opossums are considered pests, how you identify them, and what to do if they get inside your home, click here.
Armyworms are the caterpillar life stage of a moth. Also called Fall Armyworms, these pests have been discovered in most regions of the United States, and have increased in severity; over the past few years. These species of caterpillars are approximately 1.5 to 2 inches in length, dull yellow to gray, with stripes running down the length of their body.
The Armyworm’s name is derived from its feeding habits. Quite simply, this pest will eat everything in an area, and once the food supply is exhausted; the entire “army” moves to the next available food source. If left to multiply, Armyworms can cause widespread damage to agricultural grass crops, such as small grains and corn, and because of this; are regarded as a serious agricultural pest control problem.
Populations of armyworms are typically kept in check by natural means, though population booms can occur, generally after a drought. The best way to avoid lawn pests is to keep grass healthy Grass that is dense and deep-rooted will shrug off a bit of nibbling.
On December 21, this Friday, the Mayan calendar indicates the end of an earth period and the beginning of another. Many around the world have taken this to mean that the world will actually end altogether on Friday, and apparently its suppose to be some big nuclear explosion. Like, maybe all the countries around the world leave their nuclear weapons too close to the fireplace, and Friday happens to the be the day that it all goes wrong.
Atomic explosion over Nagasaki
I’m gonna try and hit a nice steakhouse before Friday morning, and I definitely encourage all of you to find time to got out with a bang (pun intended). Treat yourself to a nice dinner. Go buy that one expensive gift you’ve always been wanting. Or, better yet, just go buy the most expensive car you can afford.
While I, and maybe a few of you, will be checking a few things off our bucket lists, I’ll tell you who doesn’t have a care in the world right now – cockroaches.
That’s right. Those little critters spit in the direction of all nuclear missiles. They laugh in the face of radiation fallout. The meteor on path to earth is their disco ball, and the music is blazing.
Some believe that if there is anyone, or anything, that is capable of surviving a nuclear meltdown, its cockroaches. In fact, in a piece called The Cockroach Papers: A Compendium of History and Lore, journalist Richard Schweid indicates that roaches survived the atomic explosions of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. In the years to follow this would lead to the notion that cockroaches may eventually inherit the earth should all of humanity and wildlife become extinct due to nuclear war.
Even modern media perpetuates this thought. In Disney Pixar’s movie WALL-E, the main robot character, WALL-E, is befriended by a cockroach in a post-apocalyptic world. The two are seen numerous times with one another on earth, where there are only garbage and ruins in sight. All other human life has sought refuge in space craft orbiting the earth.
So just how exactly would a cockroach survive a nuclear holocaust? They need some of the same resources us humans do. Food. Water. Shelter. First Aid. Navigation. Cable Television.
Cockroaches will eat anything. Literally. Usually they are confined to less than crumbs to feed from. If the inhabitants of the world perished, let’s just say there would be an abundance of…food…laying around.
Water? Even if acid rain started falling from the sky I’m sure they’d drink it. Anything to add some flavor, right?
Everybody needs a place to live. Those little guys would have entire cities to themselves. If I were a roach I’d go straight to the upscale neighborhoods and get one of the bigger homes for myself. Finders keepers!
It’s our observation that roaches don’t really care for one another. They’d definitely have to look out for their own hides because medical attention will pretty much be non-existent. Every roach for themselves.
Hopefully any nuclear explosions on earth won’t disrupt the GPS satellites that orbit the earth. I’m not sure if there would be enough Garmins for every roach to have their own, so they might have to share.
And since there’s not going to be very many humans on earth, things might get a little boring. They can set up as many flat screens as they want and never have to pay one bill for their subscriptions. That’s the life!
And comments are still flowing in at about 1 per second! How long can this last?
To the song’s credit the percentage of likes has increased as former stats from first post 11% Likes to 89% Dislike. We have also considered that fact that most billboard hits per genre of music are probably not liked by a huge percentage of the overall population. There are those that will never listen to a rap song to even give it a vote. So, despite our cynicism, she has a target audience that can carry her song. We don’t know exactly how many times Friday has been downloaded, but she is currently at 72 on iTunes chart, down from her position at #20. So have a Good Friday!… Got to go. Got to get some cereal… I now need to decide which seat I can sit iiiiiiinnnnnn!
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If you have already heard this tune before, then I must apologize in advance. You know what I’m about to inflict upon you.
If you have not heard this song before, then it is your responsibility to humanity to partake in the horrific and graphic reality that I am about to describe that the rest of us are having to endure like yokes upon our backs.
First, the horror.
On February 10, 2011, Ark Music Factory posted a YouTube video that would help redefine the viral industry forever. No other music video has drawn as much attention and ire as Rebecca Black’s “Friday” single. From the lyrics to the video itself to the tone of her singing is, as a good friend of mine put it on Twitter, “like nails down a chalkboard and knives into my eyes.”
The song lashes out at you with lyrics such as “Yesterday was Thursday. Today is Friday…Tomorrow is Saturday and Sunday comes afterwards.” That is followed up by the brilliance of “Fun, fun, fun, fun!” Oh, the humanity!
It has been mentioned and scoffed at by almost every radio station across the country. Sports commentators are evening weighing in.
She is still a trending topic on Twitter and has been at least since sometime last week. That has to be some sort of Twitter record.
At the time of me typing this sentence, of the 47,706,751 million YouTube hits on her official video, there are 706,886 “dislikes” and 83,491 “likes”. Comments are literally being posted at more than one per second. The pace is astonishing.
So what’s all the rage about? …the song making the waves by Rebecca Black, Friday…
Again, I apologize to you, the viewer, but discussing this issue must be a group effort.
*10 Minute Update: Since I recorded those figures 10 minutes ago, the “dislikes” have climbed to 708,585 (1,699 difference) and “likes”, heaven forbid, are now at 83,689 (198 difference).
Now, the harsh reality…
Although iTunes does not disclose their sales numbers of songs, she is currently ranked on iTunes.com at #23 in the Top 100 of downloaded songs. On PopVortex.com’s release of their iTunes Top 100, she currently ranks #19, two slots ahead of Pink and well ahead of Usher, Katy Perry and the original YouTube sensation himself, Justin Bieber.
Forbes and Billboard differ in their estimation of just how many times “Friday” has been downloaded, but most estimate that it has been downloaded well over 2 million times. As iTunes scratches a check at $.70 on the dollar, Ark Music Factory has presumably cashed in over $1 million.
With 47 million views on YouTube, Ark Music is also cashing in on paid advertisements. As a pest control company on our scorpion video, we average about $.71 per thousand views. For us, this is enough to pay for fountain drinks at the gas station down the road. If we calculate that her video even earns $.50 per thousand views, Arm Music is still banking over $23,000. That will be enough to buy Rebecca a car when she turns 16 three years from now.
It is hard to know how many royalties she is earning, since Ark Music Factory produced and released the video. Since she is the one putting herself up on a pedestal for every American, minus 83,000 of them, to take shots at, we certainly hope she is getting the vast majority of those checks. Annoying voice or not, she is taking this all the way to the bank. Horrific lyrics or not, we are the ones filling up her bedazzled pockets.
Ark Music Factory is the engine that is driving these young teens to completely defame their own character and reputation at such an early age. We’re sure their cut of the pie is quite large, sadly. Is the Ark Music Factory business model the American version of sweat shops? Pesty indeed.
We pride ourselves on doing quality pest control, but there are some pests you just can’t get rid of.
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