BAD BUGS IN SPRING ON RISE WITH FULL FORCE
The photo here is a shot of a collection I have of bugs collected around a home. The Cicada killer is viewed here in this picture. Cicada Killers are a large univoltine wasp endemic and widespread in the Kansas City area. The Female Cicada Killer nest in soil and provision its cells with paralyzed cicadas.
Pest control in Kansas City will be on the rise this year due to the increase in pest activity in and around the Kansas City Metro area.
We are starting to get an increase in calls to our office concerning Ants, which include Carpenter Ants, Odorous House Ants, and Pavement Ants. Now there are other ants out there that affect the home in Kansas City. The three ants listed above are the ones we will get calls for the most. A brief description of the Carpenter ant is below.
Carpenter Ants: These are the big (large) black ants you see roaming around on the outside and inside your home. You don’t see the normal trailing with these ants you do with some of the other ants. These ants like sweets and like to shred the wood in your home, creating Frass (sawdust-like material). This is how they get their name. They leave frass around in piles, and it looks like someone has sawed a piece of wood. Carpenter ants in Kansas City can cause damage as termites do. Although Carpenter ants do not eat wood as termites do, they shred the wood creating gallies with a smooth appearance.
Treating for Carpenter Ants
Treating around the trees in your yard and treating outside the house and inside can cut down on the populations that affect your structure. If you have done a treatment to your home and the Carpenter ants, do not go away. Then you should call our office to schedule an appointment to address the problem at 816-407-7378. Carpenter ants can also be a sign of excess moisture in and around your home; check for leaks, clogged gutters, and piled-up debris around your home.
Brown Recluse Spiders: This is the spider we get most calls from, and people have the most stories about. Most of the calls coming into our office are from people who say they have spiders and know it is a brown recluse spider. Most of the time, it is NOT a brown recluse but some other species of spider. Although the brown recluse spider is the most common, I see it in people’s homes in Kansas and Missouri. It is generally not the one that is causing the problems. Due to the nature of being a recluse, you don’t always know you have this spider in your home. The Wolf spider, house spider, and cellar spider are the most common spider we treat when we are called out to a place that complains about spiders.
The brown recluse spider is a venomous spider endemic to Kansas and Missouri. It is 6-20 mm long, has 6 eyes with a brown body, sometimes deep yellow, and usually marks on the cephalothorax’s dorsal side. The brown recluse spiders’ pattern suggests nicknames like fiddleback spider, brown fiddler, or violin spider.
