Posts Tagged ‘sting’

What are centipedes? Spiders or insects?

This Arizona Centipede is actually an arthropod (arthropods are organisms that have segmented bodies, a jointed skeleton and paired jointed limbs. They include such creatures as spiders, centipedes and insects) that has an elongated body with one pair of legs per segment. So really neither spider or insect but a creature all it’s own. They range in size from less than an inch to several inches. The smaller, brown and tan, common desert centipede does bite, it can be painful but not deadly to humans.

The centipede is one of the oldest animals on Earth having evolved into the form it is today, millions of years ago. The centipede has been found in fossils dating over 400 million years old.

Remember, venom = active, poison = passive. Call 1-800-222-1222 Poison Control for additional information.

What is Anaphylactic shock?

Anaphylaxis is a severe, whole-body allergic reaction to a chemical that has become an allergen. After being exposed to a substance such as bee sting venom, the person’s immune system becomes sensitized to it. It is estimated that more than 400 people die each year in the U.S. from bee stings.  This reaction can lead to difficulty breathing and shock ultimately leading to death.

•  A single bee sting, for example, may not cause an allergic reaction the first time.
•  Another bee sting may produce a sudden, severe allergic reaction known as anaphylaxis or anaphylactic shock.

Experts say that between 1% to 15% of the US population is at risk of having an anaphylactic reaction if exposed to at least one allergen – they add that these figures vary according to various definitions of a reaction. Approximately 1% of those with anaphylaxis may consequently die.

Only a very limited portion of the population (one or two out of 1000) is allergic or hypersensitive to bee or wasp stings. The average person can safely tolerate 10 stings per pound of body weight. This means that although 500 stings could kill a child, the average adult could withstand more than 1100 stings.

If you are unsure – call 911 immediately or Poison Control 1-888-222-1222 for more information.

Did you know that Africanized Honeybees swarm up to 10x’s as often as the European Honeybees. So is there anything that can be done to protect and possible discourage honeybees from taking up residence in your building. Once you kill the bees the honey, beeswax and honeycomb often times remain and can cost untold amounts of money. So sometimes you can be proactive and help yourself tremendously.

The Cone Style Trap is a large “flower pot” style container that is made from wood pulp. The general idea here is to place these units in an area known to get swarms, the bees will scout out the swarm box and take up residence thus preventing  the swarm going to a structure. ** Nothing can make the bees go to this box, they must find it. There is no guarantee that the bees will not choose your structure. Depending on the footprint of your building and property, it would be wise to add a number of these strategically located to ensure that the bees find one.

I always suggest that you contact a Pest Management Professionals for Africanized Honeybees, once aggravated its hard to go back and start over!

I suggest you wear your shoes!

It’s dark outside and you need to run to the garage, so you ask yourself “Should I put on my shoes?” – The answer is an unequivocal – YES. Bark Scorpions pack a sting that could send you to the hospital and this whopper – Desert Hairy Scorpion will sting you but generally is not as bad as the Bark Scorpion.

Harvester Ants…

Harvester Ants -  OK I’ve never been stung by this ant but they say this is the ant to avoid. People compare the sting of the Red Imported Fire Ant and still rank the Harvester as the nastiest little stinger of the pair. This ant is quite noticeable due to the large area of vegetation that is cleared away. They gather seeds and will eat other insects. There was a nest of this ant up north that whenever I visited I would bring sunflower seeds and one year the nest was gone. Probably moved on or got destroyed.