Blood Feeders

 

Mosquitoes

  • Adults 1/8 - 3/8" long
  • Body and legs covered with scales
  • Mostly gray to dark, some marked with white, silver, green or iridescent blue scale
  • Head with long beak
  • Antennae 15-segmented, feathery in male, hairy in female
  • Two pairs of wings, long and narrow, scales along veins and wing margin
  • Habitat: Outdoors: Ponds, lakes, leaves of plants, and tree holes, etc.
  • Activity: Eggs deposited on water, in rafts on water, moist soils near water
  • Immature mosquitoes (egg, larva, pupa) cannot breathe underwater
  • Prefer stagnant water when depositing eggs
  • Diet: Feed at dawn and dusk for a few hours on blood of animals or humans
  • Locate food source using their antennae to detect carbon dioxide
  • Control by eliminating high producing areas via habitation modification by reducing mosquito resting areas and prevent stagnant water
  • Use of proper labeled pesticide application
  • When using pesticides treat under and at the roots of bushes and shrubs whre moisture is usually collected
  • Treat under low laying trees around the perimeter of the home to build a protective barrier and lessen activity in the yard

Bed Bugs

  • Adults about 4 to 5mm long (size of an apple seed)
  • Broadly oval and flattened body that is wingless
  • Color brown to reddish brown (after feeding)
  • Antenna 4-segmented, 3rd segment longer than 2nd and 4th segment
  • Nymphs are white just after molting and then light tan in color before feeding
  • They go through 5 stages of 'instar' which is a development phase of an insect before they can become an adult
  • Diet: Their preferred hosts are humans and they tend to feed on any bare skin that is exposed while sleeping
  • They have been known to survive up to a year without a meal
  • Habitat: Females lay 1-5 eggs per day
  • Eggs can be found in cracks or white surfaces and secured with a transparent cement for an average total of 200-500 eggs per year
  • Bed bugs are hitchhikers that can easily be transported on humans, furniture or belongings, or on someone who has been living or visiting a bed bug infested situation
  • Can be found in box springs, bedding, dressers, picture frames, and almost anywhere else
  • Control: Thoroughly INSPECT. Look for fecal matter, blood stains and eggs
  • Vacuuming carpet, bedding, drapery, and furniture helps loosen any eggs in hard to reach places
  • High heat or dry cleaning to clothes, bedding, and drapery, play a key role in the treatment process
  • Treat areas such as framework of couches and beds, under baseboards, the tac-strip area under carpets and voids including outlet boxes
  • DO NOT treat any areas of the bed or couch, where humans are likely to contact
  • Aerosols and liquids are best but dusts are better for certain hard to reach places where bed bugs hide or lay eggs such as electrical outlets
  • Customers have to follow the bed bug preparation checklist for the treatment to be thoroughly effective

 

Ticks

  • Unengorged adult female about 3/16" long, male slightly smaller, 1/8" long
  • Body oval, dorsoventrally flattened (top to bottom)
  • Brown with whitish to grayish markings often with silvre hue on dorsal shield
  • Both larvae (6 legs) and nymph (8 legs) with red markings near eyes and lack white on the dorsal shield
  • Unengorged 1st instar larvae about 1/64", yellow, becoming gray to black when engorged
  • Unengorged 2nd instar nymph about 1/32" long, pale yellowish brown becoming slate gray when engorged
  • Ticks feed on blood of animals and humans
  • They don't usually survive well indoors. If found indoors, it probably was carried in on a pet and dropped off when fully engorged to see a suitable place for egg laying
  • Engorged female drops off the host and seeks shelter to lay her eggs. Over 14-32 days she lays egg masses of 4,000 to 6,500 yellowish-brown eggs, then dies.
  • Carried indoors attached to a host, pets or human
  • Can be found outdoors in grassy low vegetation, wildlife animals and trees
  • Control by inspecting thoroughly
  • Keep gras cut to 3" or less; trim back vegetation
  • Apply properly labeled pesticide on a perimeter treatment; pay attention to roots of bushes and shrubs; low lying trees

Fleas

  • Adults about 2.5mm long
  • Body flattened (side to side); wingless
  • Brownish black to black, but reddish black when full of blood
  • Compound eyes well developed
  • Femur of hind leg with 10-13 bristles on inner side
  • Short antennae
  • Mature larvae about 1/8 - 1/4" long
  • Larvae is whitish, slender, eyeless and legless
  • Females lay 4-8 eggs after each blood meal; laying some 400-500 during their lifetime
  • Eggs are deposited on or between hairs or in the nest or bedding material
  • Eggs are oval, whitish, and about 1/64" long; usually hatch in 1-12 days
  • Hitch hikers that jump about 6" vertically
  • Can be found where animals sleep, including along their usual avenue of travel, becasue this is where eggs and adult fecal blood accumulate; especially in areas with high moisture content which is needed for survival
  • Fleas commonly prefer to feed on hairy animals such as dogs, cats, rabbits, squirrels, rats, mice and other domesticated or wild animals.
  • To control fleas inside, thoroughly INSPECT highly concentrated areas with activity
  • Treat cracks and crevices and under large furniture, directly mist over carpeted areas and under pet bedding; allow to dry before vacuuming
  • If the pet(s) have fleas at the time of treatment, the pet owner must arrange for the pet to be treated at the same time.
  • To control fleas outside, prevent wildlife animals from entering the structure
  • Trim vegetation and get rid of water source
  • Use appropriately labeled pesticide and light-stable IGR
  • Treat areas where pets are likely to rest; usually shady areas with some moisture (ex. Shade next to the structure nad at the foundation, porch, under bushes or low laying trees)