There are more than 200 squirrel species worldwide, ranging in size from the five-inch African pygmy to the behemoth Indian giant squirrel. They have four front teeth that grow continuously, at a rate of about six inches per year so electrical lines are no match for squirrel teeth, which have been blamed for hundreds of power disruptions yearly. Adult squirrels normally live alone, but they sometimes nest in groups during severe cold spells. Squirrels, like many rodents, can’t vomit. The average adult squirrel needs about a pound of food per week and some squirrels collect old rattlesnake skin, chew it up and then lick their fur, creating a kind of “rattlesnake perfume”. Squirrels communicate using complex systems of high-frequency chirps and tail movements.
With Coronavirus slowing down across Canada, I thought I’d address some of the inaccurate information that is spread on the internet. Believe it or not, 75 plus percent of information on social media is not rooted in fact. So here are some of the coronavirus myths to ignore.
1) wearing rubber gloves will prevent the spread of germs on your hands – the gloves can become contaminated, so washing your hands properly.
2) gargling or swallowing vinegar, oils, ethanol, salt water, steroids or bleach will not protect you from coronavirus – no! wash your hands, avoid touching your eyes, mouth, and nose.
3) a face mask will protect you from coronavirus -the majority of face masks simply aren’t tight enough, allowing the virus to get into the nose, mouth and eyes.
4) keeping your mouth moist and drink lots of water or saline rinses and mouthwash can help prevent infection will prevent infection – No!
5) drinking alcohol can kill the coronavirus – the amount of alcohol required will actually kill a person before killing the virus.
6) the flu is far more deadly and easier to catch – COVID-19 has a mortality rate more than twenty times higher than the flu virus.
7) house flies, mosquitoes and pets can spread the new coronavirus – although there is no evidence that they can transmit COVID-19, wash your hands often.
8) warm weather will get rid of the coronavirus – the coronavirus can be transmitted in hot climates.
9) antibiotics kill coronavirus – antibiotics kill bacteria not viruses.
10) drinking cow urine will protect you from coronavirus – No!
11) Cow urine has long been promoted as a traditional remedy for various diseases in India, but there is no medical evidence to show that cow urine has anti-viral characteristics.
12) And the winner is – if you can hold your breath for 10 seconds, you don’t have the virus What!!! No! a medical test is required to get a real diagnosis.
Muskrats are rodents, much smaller than beavers (a vegetarian) and have laterally flattened tails for propulsion and cooling themselves. Muskrats produce musk, a greasy secretion with a powerful odor produced in a glandular sac located on the lower abdomen. They have two pairs of gnawing teeth, one pair on each jaw, which grows continuously and therefore they constantly need to gnaw to keep the edge of these teeth sharp like a chisel. Their teeth project past its lips so it can gnaw and swallow underwater without choking. They have two-layer coating of fur, dense undercoat and coarse guard hairs to keep them warm. They build high dome-shaped lodge made of roots and stems of aquatic plants with a mixture of mud.
Skunks are typically wary, shy animals, but given their inclination to live in our settings, they can sometimes come into skirmish with humans. Skunks can prosper in backyards, coming out in the evenings to dig for grubs and hunt for rodents. Like raccoons, skunks are attracted to yards garbage, fallen birdseed, windfall fruit and pet food. One of the major problems with skunks, not including the SPRAY is their desire for digging up lawns looking for grubs and worms. When a skunk is startled by humans or their pets, skunks may spray their pungent aroma as a defense. The spray is very difficult to get rid of, be it on your clothes or pet.
Wasps and hornets, are equipped with a stinger for self-defense and protecting their nest. A wasp’s stinger contains a poisonous substance that’s transmitted during a sting. By burying their stinger, they inject an acidic compound called melittin, which switches on the victim’s pain receptors, and traces of acetylcholine, another chemical that stimulates pain receptors. The initial sensations can include sharp pain or burning at the sting site. The majority of people without sting allergies will show only minor symptoms during and after a wasp sting. You’re likely to develop a raised welt around the sting site. Usually, the pain and swelling recedes within several hours of being stung. The most severe allergic reactions to wasp stings are referred to as anaphylaxis.
There are other wasp species that look like the Asian giant hornet, including the bald faced hornet and cicada killers but it is the world’s largest vespid (large, diverse, cosmopolitan family of wasps) wasp. The hornet has a body length of 5 cm, a wingspan around 75 mm, and a stinger 6 mm long, which injects a large amount of potent venom. The venom contains a cytolytic peptide that damages tissue by stimulating phospholipase action, and a neurotoxin called mandaratoxin. Asian giant hornet conduct raids on colonies of honey bees, resulting in the complete destruction of the colony. They attack the colonies in large attack formations, decapitating the bees which they feed to their larvae.
The debate rages on about which is which and are they coming in from outside or visa versa, because they do look very similar in appearance. If you are reading this then you probably have an issue with those small ants, they look very much alike but roll one between your fingers and the indoor sugar ant doesn’t crush very easily, the outdoor pavement ant turns to mush rather quickly. In fact, you are probably observing a group of worker ants foraging for food to bring back to the colony. So, indoors we have sugar ants and outdoors they are pavement ants. They both will push up sand to create larger nests, so they do have that in common. The sugar ants nests will live in harmony indoors while the pavement ants outside seem to have daily battles amongst neighboring nests. The pavement ants have a habit of nesting near or below sidewalks, driveways, pavement stones, and foundations near sand, soil or decaying wood. Indoors, the sugar ant nest behind baseboards, under floating floors, in radiant floors and heating ducts. Both species produce winged mating ants that mysteriously appear for a day or two then disappear. And finally, yes we do have effective solutions for both, just don’t waste your money on any retail ant sprays or baits – as these are designed to feed the ants not eliminate them.
So, carpenter ants aren’t as bad as termites but how bad are they, well – left untreated, carpenter ants (that work non stop 24/7) can do a significant amount of damage to a home. Since carpenter ants don’t consume wood, they chew through the wood waste and produce a fine sawdust. Once the sawdust begins to buildup they push it out through small exit holes, and this is your clue that those carpenter ants are slowly destroying your walls, weakening support beams and cause a structure to warp. Carpenter ants prefer to nest in wet rotting wood but 5% of the time they will chew through clean dry wood. Carpenter ants often target exterior wooden structures such as the base of fence posts, on the supports for your deck or patio, on wood borders for flower beds, and more.
These insects are large and distinctive, they will defend their nest but are not otherwise aggressive toward people. A single, fertile queen hornet entered Canada via shipping packaging and created the colony that was discovered on Vancouver Island in 2019. They usually nest inside dead logs and forage around 700 meters from their nest. They can’t tolerate extremely hot or cold temperatures which makes it unlikely that they would spread throughout Canada. The feed on different kinds of insects (not just honey bees), and bring captured dead prey back to their hive to feed to their young. In parts of Japan, people consider these hornets beneficial because they remove pests and are used as in food and alcohol.
