Monthly Archive June 12, 2019

This year has seen a surge in tick sightings and its another pest that is indirectly to blame. With rising temperatures and land development we are seeing more rodents like rats, mice and squirrels coming into contact with humans. Because rodents are the number one source of food for ticks – more rodents more ticks. And those ticks bring diseases. Last year there were a lot of reported cases of tick-borne diseases and a lot of unreported.  Lyme disease is the most common and well-known tick-borne disease but are four others: Anaplasmosis; Babesiosis; Powassan virus; and Borrelia disease. The best way to avoid these things is to use insect repellent with 25 percent DEET, and avoid any tall grass.

https://www.delta-optimist.com/opinion/blogs/blog-tick-sightings-are-surging-1.23853440

gogreenpestcontrol.ca Ladner Tsawwassen Delta B.C., Randy Bilesky BsF CPA RPF

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/ticks-why-so-many-randy-bilesky/?published=t

“Ladybird, ladybird, fly away home” (children’s nursery rhyme). A amazing phenomenon was seen in San Diego last week, a giant rain-cloud that turned out to be a swarm of lady beetles that measured 135 km by 135 km. Such a cloud of lady bugs is called a ‘bloom’ but is normally not this large. It is thought that the swarm may have gotten swept up with the wind as this massive bloom is highly unusual. The bright red insects are known to hibernate in clusters along California’s foothills and migrate west in the springtime. This mass insect migration which contains trillions and trillions of lady beetles (ladybirds or ladybugs) were flying south over the desert in a large swarm. This huge migration normally happens in late spring due to increasing day length and warming temperatures that surpass 18 degrees C, which trigger these insects to awaken from diapause (insect hibernation).

gogreenpestcontrol.ca insectandrodentexterminators.com Delta Ladner Tsawwassen B.C., Randy Bilesky BsF CPA RPF

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/ladybug-bloom-randy-bilesky/?published=t

Its that time again when new honey bee queens kick the old queens out and there is a swarm on the run. So what do you do if a swarm ends up in your yard? It is more important then ever that honeybees be protected and unless you want to become a bee keeper, here are a few tips that will help to keep you and your insect visitors safe – re-homed and not destroyed . We get a lot of calls about bees making nests in the soffits of peoples houses when they are actually wasps and hornets – so you need to be able to identify a bee from a wasp or hornet. In Canada, we have in excess of 800 species of native bees, the most notable the honey bees and bumble bees. Honey bees and bumble bees are both thick set with no waists, hairy and have pollen basket or corbicula (plural corbiculae) on their legs. Wasps and hornets have narrow waists and smooth hairless bodies. My suggestion is that you don’t try to take care of the bees yourself, google beekeepers and get them to recover the hive and relocate it.

https://www.delta-optimist.com/opinion/blog-what-to-do-when-a-honey-bee-swarm-ends-up-in-your-yard-1.23850850

gogreenpestcontrol.ca insectandrodentexterminators.com Delta Ladner Tsawwassen B.C., Randy Bilesky BsF CPA RPF

 https://gogreenpestcontrol.ca/honey-bee-swarms/ ‎

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/honey-bee-swarms-randy-bilesky/?published=t

Here in Delta we have roughly 6 distinctly different ants all going about their business in different fashions. As different as they are in their activities – they all are basically ants, adult ants come in a variety of shapes and dimensions but each will be one of three different colony castes; queens, workers or males. Queens are fertile females that lay all the eggs in a colony, workers are wingless females that get the food and protect and maintain the nest, and the male ants are winged and they mate with the queens throughout the swarming process. So why ants want to be in our homes, the short answer is food, dirty dishes in the sink, food on counter tops, food on floors and in the garbage. Ants leave unseen biochemical trails in which contain pheromones for others to follow. Ants can enter through even the smallest cracks, seeking food and water. A colony can live a moderately lengthy lifetime. Worker ants may live several years and the queen may live as long as 20 years.

gogreenpestcontrol.ca insectandrodentexterminators.com Delta Ladner Tsawwassen B.C., Randy Bilesky BsF CPA RPF

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/ants-101-randy-bilesky/?published=t

Stinging pests come in a variety of shapes and sizes that span numerous insect species. While the main issue is a stinger – body types, colours, and legs vary usually between insects such as bees, hornets and wasps. These pests make problems for you or your family and monitoring them begins with correct proof of identity. As summer approaches, the hot weather brings everyone outside, including stinging insects. While the sting from wasps, bees, hornets, or yellow jackets may hurt, they can also cause more serious health issues like painful swelling, infections, sickness, and in rare cases even death. So you need to know where their breeding places are and remove them. Stinging insects such as bees, wasps, yellow jackets and hornets use their stings to subdue prey, primarily insects and spiders and to defend themselves and their nests.

gogreenpestcontrol.ca insectandrodentexterminators.com Delta Ladner Tsawwassen B.C., Randy Bilesky BsF CPA RPF

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/summer-stinging-pests-randy-bilesky/?published=t