Pest Facts

Cockroaches have been around since the time of dinosaurs! A cockroach can live almost a month without food. A cockroach can live about two weeks without water. Some female cockroaches only mate once and stay pregnant for life! A cockroach can live for up to one week without its head! Cockroaches can hold their breath for up to 40 minutes! Cockroaches can run up to 3 miles an hour.

There are more than 12,000 species of ants all over the world. An ant can lift 20 times its own body weight. If a second grader was as strong as an ant, she would be able to pick up a car! Some queen ants can live for many years and have millions of babies! Ants don’t have ears. Ants "hear" by feeling vibrations in the ground through their feet. When ants fight, it is usually to the death!

When Bed bugs feed, they inject the skin with their saliva (this keeps the blood from clotting) and an anesthetic (this keeps the host from feeling the bite and moving).

Fleas can live for about 100 days. Fleas do not fly. They jump from one place to another. A pair of fleas can produce 400-500 offspring in their lifetime. A flea can jump up to 8 inches high. That is 150 times its own height. If you could do this, you'd be able to leap over even tall skyscrapers!

There are more than 120,000 species of flies worldwide. Most flies live an average of 21 days and take on various shapes throughout their short lives. Baby flies are called larvae but they are also known as maggots. Medical doctors use a special species of maggots to help patients with flesh wounds, especially burn victims. Maggots eat away the damaged flesh, which helps the wound heal.

Ticks Ticks are more closely related to spiders and scorpions than insects. Ticks get onto pets and people by jumping. There are two main types of ticks: hard and soft. Hard ticks are found in the woods. Soft ticks have tough, leathery skin. They can be found in caves, cabins and on birds.

The bite of a female Black Widow spider can be poisonous but not deadly to humans. The male Black Widow spider does not bite. A Black Widow spider bite is pale in the middle with a red ring around it and is followed by severe cramping, weakness, sweating, headache, anxiety, itching, nausea, vomiting, difficult breathing and increased blood pressure.

An adult rat can squeeze into your home through a hole as small as the size of a quarter. Rats can live for up to 18 months, but most die before they are one year old. Rats have strong teeth that allow them to chew through glass, cinderblock, wire, aluminum and lead. Smell, taste, touch and sound help direct them to their food sources. Rats are also responsible for spreading Bubonic Plague, also known as the "Black Death". Although fleas are primarily responsible for infecting humans, they were originally infected with the plague by feeding on the blood of rats. Rats are scavengers. They have an excellent sense of taste and a good memory. A rat can identify certain substances, including rat poisons, after just a tiny taste of it.

There are about 20,000 different species of bees in the world. Bees live in colonies and there are three types of bees in each colony. There is the queen bee, the worker bee and the drone. The worker bee and the queen bee are both female, but only the queen bee can reproduce. All drones are male. Worker bees clean the hive, collecting pollen and nectar to feed the colony and they take care of the offspring. The drone’s only job is to mate with the queen. The queen’s only job is to lay eggs.

Female mice can give birth when they are two months old and are able to have babies 6 to 10 times per year. Mice have to build their homes near sources of food because they like to eat 15 to 20 times per day. Mice can live in a lab for up to two years, but usually only live for about 5 months in the wild, mostly because of predators, such as cats, snakes and foxes. Mice are good jumpers, climbers and swimmers. House mice, like other rodents, do not vomit.

Wasps There are 4,000 kinds of wasps in the United States. Typically, Wasps are most active during the day and usually return to their nests at dusk. Most wasps live less than one year and some only live for a few months. Queens sometimes live for several years. Common home remedies for stings include coating the sting site with a meat tenderizer/water solution rinse, baking soda paste or even rubbing the site with an aluminum based deodorant!

Termites have been around since the time of the dinosaurs! Termite colonies eat non-stop, 24 hours a day, seven days a week! Termites have wings that they shed once they have found a good place to build a nest. Termites cause up to $2 billion in damage per year! All Termites are social insects and raise their young as a group. The total weight of all of the termites in the world is more than the weight of all the humans in the world.

Beetles Adult beetles have two sets of wings. Female beetles usually lay dozens or hundreds of eggs. Most beetles only live for a year. Beetles cannot see very well, so they communicate using pheromones , sounds or vibrations. Some beetles are not considered pests. "Ladybugs" are beetles and are considered to be good luck in many cultures. "Fireflies" and "Lightning bugs" are also beetles. They glow in the dark to communicate.

The dust mite is nearly impossible to see without magnification. A typical mattress can contain tens of thousands of dust mites. Nearly 100,000 mites can live in a single square yard of carpet!