They're Back!

White-faced hornet

The season has started, a little early (by a couple of weeks), but they are here -Yellow jackets and White Faced hornets. Their nests are about the size of a grape fruit right now, and will be getting larger and much more populous as we head into August and September. Keep an eye out and stay safe.

Yellow jacket

White-faced hornet's nest

Potential Record Yellow Jacket and Bald Faced Hornet Season on the Horizon?

Yellow jacket

Bald faced hornet nest

Last Fall, all the existing nests died when we had our first hard freeze, but prior to that those nests had raised new queens, that mated in the nest, and then left to go dormant for the winter. Those new queens will be the ones that will start new nests this spring. Normally, a large portion of those queens (one queen = one nest) die during the course of a normal winter, but last winter was the second warmest on record, so more queens probably survived. If we have a normal spring, those queens will start their nests in early-mid May. They develop slowly and are usually not noticed until late July. At that time they reach critical mass and explode in size and population, literally overnight. They can nest in the ground or in the structure of a building (yellow jackets only) or they can build a large gray paper nest similar to the picture above (yellow jackets or bald faced hornets).
       So, keep and eye out as we progress through summer, and be aware of your surroundings, because these critters can be truly dangerous, especially if you are allergic to bee stings.

Bald faced hornet

They Seem to be Everywhere.

      Normally, at this time of the year we are getting a lot of calls for mouse problems, but this year there doesn't seem to be that many of them. HOWEVER, what seems to be literally coming out of the woodwork are flying squirrels. These are adorable little critters which seem to be in everyone's attic this year. Some are getting down into the living area of homes, where I have spent much time chasing them around before being caught and relocated.
       These little critters are about the size of a chipmunk and have a large flap of skin between their front and hind legs. When they jump off a roof or tree limb they put their legs out and become little gliders. The fur on their tail is flattened top to bottom and this is used as a rudder to steer when they are airborne, and as an air brake when they are about to land. Unlike other species of squirrels (gray and red) which are seen hopping around during the day, flying squirrels are nocturnal. The are out at night. They can be quite noisy when they leave in the evening and when they return just before daylight. Most people don't hear them leave (shortly after dark) because usually people are active then, talking, the TV is on, and supper is being prepared, but in the morning (just before it starts getting light out) is when they are heard, because the house is usually quiet at that time.
        They are omnivorous, eating just about anything. They will eat seeds, nuts, berries, fruit, mushrooms, carrion, bird eggs, etc. Occasionally, they will come into bird feeders at night, if you move very slowly they can be approached quite closely. They are preyed on by owls, snakes, raccoons, and house cats. In the trees they are very agile and hard to catch, but they are nearly helpless on the ground, but they are rarely ever on the ground.
       They mate in March and April and give birth during April and early May to 2-6 young. The young will start going out with the adults at about 6 weeks, so no exclusion work should be done until the end of June at the earliest otherwise the young will be left behind to die.
                                                                                                                                                                     Here's the link to a video of a job we did last summer. - Flying squirrel job

Flying squirrel

Flying squirrel gliding

I'm Buried in Postcards

Every year in early Fall, I send out fliers to previous mouse customers advertising the annual mouse treatment. These fliers contain a postcard that the customer can drop in the mail and when I get them back, I call and set up an appointment. It works great for me and the customer. They don't have to remember to call from year to year, because they get a reminder from me. The only "problem" is that as my business grows, the pile of postcards gets bigger and bigger every year. It's one of those "problems" that's nice to have. Right now, I have two piles. People I've called, and left a message, and people I haven't gotten around to calling yet. Once I talk to them, and set up an appointment, the card goes in the waste basket. The ones I've done so far has shown that last winter was a very good year for mice (lots of them around). I use poison bait, and the bait that is remaining this year is a lot less than usual, meaning there were a lot of mice last winter.

Yellow Jackets and Bald Faced Hornets

        We're getting close to their "season". I've already run across a couple of nests. They are about as big as a softball right now and are nearing "critical mass" where they will explode in size and population, seemingly almost overnight. I get calls from people saying they have a big "bees" nest and it wasn't there yesterday. It was there, it was just much smaller and easily overlooked.
         Bald Faced (sometimes called White A**ed) hornets typically build nests that hang from tree branches, in shrubbery, or attached to a building (typically at the peak of the roof, on flood light fixtures, or under the soffit).

         On the right, is a picture of a Bald Faced Hornet's nest. Below that is a picture of the hornet.

      Yellow jackets (picture below) will build nests in a variety of places. They will build nests similar to Bald Faced hornet nests in the same type of location (shrubs, trees, and on buildings). They will also build nests in the ground in abandoned rodent burrows, under or in wood piles and brush piles, leaf piles, and under anything laying on the ground. They also have a nasty habit of building nests in the structure of homes and subsequently chewing through ceilings and walls (usually ceilings). If you ever notice what appears to be a wet spot, about the size of a dime, on a ceiling or wall, anytime after mid-July, DO NOT poke your finger or anything else into it, because you will put it right through into the nest and you will quickly have a room full of yellow jackets.
       These two members of the wasp family (they are NOT "bees") can be extremely dangerous and cause most of the allergic "bee stings" that occur every summer. They are extremely aggressive, attack in multiple numbers, and each one can sting multiple times. They do not lose their stinger and, therefore, live to "sting another day". Yellow jackets are the "bees" you see trying to get a bite of your hamburger or a sip of your soda at summer outings and picnics.

Here are a couple of videos of these critters:

 http://youtu.be/TYmc1kLpA_M

 http://youtu.be/wZieAHmWmR4

Upside Down Powder Post Beetles?

Saturday, we went to a customer who was complaining that she had small piles of sawdust on the floor of an out building. We investigated and sure enough, we found about a dozen piles of sawdust that looked like the picture on the right. The sawdust was very fine with the consistency of talcum powder. This is characteristic of powder post beetles, but they are usually in overhead beams and we couldn't fine any holes in the wood on the ceiling, so where was it coming from? I took one of the piles and blew the sawdust away.  As you can see from the next picture, on the floor was a hole (it's right dead center in the picture), the adult beetle had laid eggs in a crevice on the surface of the floor and the larva from the hatched eggs were tunneling into the floor and pushing the sawdust out behind them. Very unusual! They were feeding on the wood and then would emerge at a future date as adult beetles and the cycle would repeat itself. We treated the floor. They have occasionally been reported emerging from newly installed hardwood floors, but this is first time I've ever done this for powder post beetles seemingly just starting into the floor. Powder post beetles and other wood destroying beetles can be as damaging as termites, it just takes them a lot longer to do the same amount of damage.