Click To Call > (800) 966-7673
Thursday, May 21, 2015
What spring pests are bugging everyone this time of year? Mark Sheperdigian, Rose Entomologist says it's ants, spiders and flies.
Transcript:
WJR:
Yes love and bugs it all goes together as far as I'm concerned and even Madagascar cockroaches let's get right to it here Mark Sheperdigian Rose Pest Solutions entomologist, vice president of technical services, and Mark as I understand it actually Russ Ives, our good friend Russ, a president of Rose Pest Solutions has sent you out again on a mission of delivering Madagascar cockroaches, though not just any, but the hissing cockroach, known as a Madagascar cockroach and it's a big deal to give these to schools isn't it?
MARK:
Ah, thank you Paul W it's good to be here and it certainly is a big deal. We support science education and there is nothing like a three-inch insect in a 5-inch hand to get people excited about science.
WJR:
Yeah, it does get everyone excited and it's really it is a very good program the Rose Pests Solutions Madagascar giveaway program, an annual project that provides teachers with live insects and a plastic habitat and the fact sheet with care instructions and I can only imagine that the kids love this.
MARK:
Oh, they absolutely do it's almost universal and they're just ideal animal to include here. They're easy to keep they if they if they got out they don't get started because this is no place for a Madagascar hissing cockroach to live.
WJR:
No, we don't have the right climate if you will so that's the only place generally speaking that I want to see a Madagascar hissing cockroach is under those conditions. The fact of the matter is, unfortunately, it is that time of year again, the bugs are starting to come alive inside and out, what are some of the biggest problems you're seeing for this spring Mark?
MARK:
Well, it's a typical spring as things warm up everything starts to climb out of bed and get active again right now most people are dealing with the ants that they deal with every spring—ants the little creatures who run the world, you know?
WJR:
Where they in and you're going to pick a creature to run the world why not one that can do all the things that an ant can do on the other hand, I don't want ants in my house either and there are a million sport, as Carl Sagan used to say may he rest in peace, billions and billions of ant traps you can buy over the counter, but that's not always going to be effective.
MARK:
No, it isn’t and the first thing you got to be able to do is kind of short the ants out of what are we dealing with here. The two kinds of ants that most of the people in our area are looking at or either the big black ants which are the carpenter ants or little brown ants that are trailing all over and most of those are pavement ants or some of the other soil-nesting ants. Once you figure out what they are then you got to figure out what to do with them. Carpenter ants can be fickle when it comes to ant traps and those kinds of things we say traps but most of those are bait. A couple of tips the baits that work the best out there are gel baits or liquid baits. Those really seem to do more of to be more effective against ants both the carpenter ant and the others.
WJR:
What I've learned Mark Sheperdigian at your teaching and the Rose Pest Solutions institute that I've attended, kind of, by being with you hanging out with you over the years, is that people think killing the ants where they see them is the key the key really isn't because that ant is out scurrying around to find food for everybody else. You need to get them to take food back to where all the rest of the ants are to try to get rid of them and with Michigan being home to about two hundred and seventy-four different species of insects, bugs and ants, we're going to run across some in our in our homes and we're talking bugs Rose Pest Solutions etymologist and vice president of technical services Mark Sheperdigian and we've taken care of ants Mark, what about spiders, every house has spiders.
MARK:
Oh they do spiders are pretty common they're all over the place they're all different and they're way too many people who are petrified of spiders but they shouldn't be there it's just a normal part of its just a normal part of life now there's two kinds of spiders you'll see out there they're your kinds that build the web and trap they're insects and the kinds that run around and look for something to look for something a catch. It's usually the ones that build webs and leave the cobwebs all over the people objected the most.
WJR:
Say that again the cobwebs are what they object to the most?
MARK:
Yeah.
WJR:
Not me I hate spiders.
MARK:
You—you don’t mind the cobwebs?
WJR:
I cobwebs you just get them rid of them you just wipe them out and you take care of them but boy spiders scare me I know they don't scare you and there's a good reason for spiders and there are 10,000 different varieties but I'm not a spider fan and I you know I'm sorry.
MARK:
Well, no that's okay you're actually in a very big club there. There's a lot of people who don't like them for lots of reasons and actually arachnophobia, the irrational, fear of spiders that is--
WJR:
You underlined irrational, yes?
MARK:
I did because there's no reason to be afraid of spiders but there are, I know entomologists who are arachnophobic and they don't explain it they don’t apologize for it they say you know I've handled all kinds of bugs in this world but uh spiders they just give me the creeps.
WJR:
Oh well, I'm happy to hear that we're not alone then we're in good company even entomologists. And finally flies they're just annoying but they're here common nuisance for spring and summer house flies to cluster flies to fruit flies what do you say?
MARK:
Wow well with flies and different kinds of flies come for different reasons, best way to keep flies out of the houses is to keep the doors closed or keep the screens intact and make sure the garbage gets out on time it doesn't take long for the those green bottle fly the blowflies of a shiny green flies they build up in the in the garage yeah see a whole host of fly larvae which are usually called by the M word for all across the garage floor it's been too long to keep the garbage cans clean is probably the best bet there.
WJR:
All righty and another best bet is getting in touch with you, Mark at either Rose Pest Solutions dot com or call 800 966 Rose, we appreciate your help we'll be talking to you all season long I promise you.
MARK:
Thank you, Paul W.
WJR:
Thank you, Shep, Mark Sheperdigian Rose Pest Solutions entomologist and vice president of technical services because we try to aim at the very things that are bugging you.
Subscribe To News Feed.
Click Here >
