All posts in “spider”

Spider webs

Spider webs and spiders

Spider webs are the worst, you’re walking through the woods and boom – spider web. You’re in  crawlspace and boom spider web. You’re in your garage and you are looking for a tool and you encounter a spider web – freaks you out. Yep, been there. Black Widow webs are crinkly and most often in a complete mess in direction. Sometimes you will find a egg sac and sometimes even the mama upside down just hanging out waiting to bite you. (They don’t do that).

Wear gloves ALWAYS when you are doing yard-work or working in garage.

When you’re hiking in the wood carry a stick ahead of you, by the way this also serves as a bear stick – I’m kidding.

Keep your garage area tidy, less chance for spiders to pop up.

Keep doors and windows closed and door trim in place.

Spider webs    Spider webs

What do you look at while hiking?

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Some of the coolest and most intriguing stuff out in nature is awfully small and I noticed this small little spider while hiking in New Mexico. I don’t kill everything I see when it comes to bugs, only if they get into your home do I take it personally.

My point is this, while in nature or the great outdoors everything has its place. So take a moment and get into nature and call us 480-831-9328 if you find the creepy crawlies in your home.

Brown Widow spider activity in the Valley

 

Brown Widow Spider

Brown Widow Spider

 

 

 

 

 

 

Brown Widow Spider and this was a picture from my own neighborhood, thanks Monica. Sometimes difficult to tell, but you can see some strange markings including that little hourglass. The colorings are different than that of Black Widow spiders, the color of the hourglass can be yellow or even orange and they may also have spots on their top sides. The one thing to note is that the egg sacks are spiky while those of the Black Widow are basically just round shaped.

Always take care working around you home, wear gloves and if bitten call Poison Control 1-800-222-1222

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spider markings

Brown Widow Spider

Brown Widow

 

Dr Bug a man a mission, spreading facts bugs/reptiles.

Dr Bug wants to thank Ms. Kelli and Mr. Mike and all the young adults for a great session at the Chandler Environmental Education Center. They came from the Extended Family Disability Services, LLC in Chandler, AZ and supplied me some pictures of our time together. I wanted to share these pictures, I had such a great time. Not everyone enjoyed the snakes but hopefully they learned something about the bugs and reptiles.

I made some new friends today and I hope we can get together again for some Bug Zoo type activities.

Everyone is welcome to stop by the office, we have all kinds of critters and from time to time we change things around. Typically snakes, bearded dragon and a spider but we change it up.

ProBest Pest Management 425 W. Guadalupe Road #110, Gilbert, Arizona 85233 480-831-9328

Dr Bug

Dr Bug

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Bug Zoo and guest

 

 

So today at the Bug Zoo at Chandler Environmental Education Center I had a rather well informed bug guy (parent). Not usual for me to have another expert on hand but I met Rubin and he has way more spiders and stuff than I do. Plus he and his child were wearing Tarantula t-shirts that were way cool.

 

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Plus the fact that he took out the tarantula and played with it, something I have never done nor will do. See the fangs on this spider.

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He also has stuff I don’t have so maybe we will be getting some new bugs for our zoo. He has some baby Domino Cockroaches and a WhipScorpion so stay tuned for more exciting news on the zoo update.

Oh and by the way –  The Phoenix Zoo announced today that they’ve acquired animals from the recently closed Las Vegas Zoo: two Patagonian cavies, two red-rumped agoutis and two Chinese alligators. The Zoo is one of multiple facilities offering assistance to provide for the animals from the Las Vegas Zoo.  Website is http://www.phoenixzoo.org/

Spider skeleton & other facts

skeleton

skeleton

The skeleton of a spider is located on the outside of the body.

The sense of smell of an ant is just about as good as a dog’s is.

It would take about 1,200,000 mosquitoes to fully drain the average human body of blood. Not something I would like to test, just saying.

One single bite by a Bullet ant (4+) is so painful that is compared to bullet; hence its name is bullet ant. It can make your time very bad, causing trembling, burning, perspiration, throbbing and sometimes paralysis that last about 24 hours. It lives in rain-forests from Nicaragua to Amazon basin. There is a guy who lets insects bite or sting for a pain index – Justin O. Schmidt 0-4 with 4 being you might want to be dead.

A baby cockroach can run side by side with its parents.

Insect bodies have three parts, the thorax, abdomen and head.

Beetles are the most bio-diverse group of creatures known, with more than 380,000 species described to date, making up 40 percent of all insect species on the books. That’s a lot of beetles to catalog.

Only male crickets chirp.

Most insects hatch from eggs. (Don’t collect praying Mantis egg cases in winter and store them in your bedroom over the winter) they will hatch.

If I saw this at my house, I may have to move – how about you?

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Spiders are not on my good list, big or small. I have always been terrified of these pests, especially one as large as this one. Big enough to carry a child away, OK I’m exaggerating a bit, right? Things to do to keep these monsters out of your home:

  1. Tight, really tight doors and screens.
  2. Home-seal your home.
  3. Install garage door seals.
  4. Use monitoring glue boards to see what is getting into the garage.
  5. Don’t bring in boxes from attic or outside without checking them.
  6. Always use gloves when moving anything from outside.

 

 

 

Which is worse – bite of spider or sting of a scorpion?

 

I know you really want a straight up answer but nothing is ever so simple. It depends on the spider and scorpion: basic facts

  • Both are venomous, they inject venom.
  • Just like a bee sting – you could be allergic and die from just one bite or sting.
  • Emperor scorpions – the ones they sell in pet stores, if they stung you it would be like a bee sting – again unless you’re allergic.
  • Tarantula – even though they can be huge and scary, probably wouldn’t kill you. (Just for the record, if one got that close to me – that in itself could kill me).
  • As I said lets do a little comparison – Black Widow spider versus Bark Scorpion. On average, four people in the U.S. die every year from spider bites and none of those deaths are caused by black widow spiders.Symptoms include  five days of pain, muscle cramping, night sweats,  incoherence and unusual delirium. There was a case in Colorado in 2011 where someone was possibly bitten by a black widow 19 times and died, but the coronor ruled it natural causes.

Is a synthetic spider venom better for all of us?

Is a synthetic spider venom better for all of us?

Researchers have devised a synthetic antidote to a Loxosceles (Brown Recluse species) bite. It promises fewer side effects than existing treatments and reduces the suffering of the animals required to produce it. Synthetic spider venom makes a kinder, safer antidote by Andy Coghlan gives new insight into current research.

I’m constantly amazed at the research being done and the advances in science and applaud the work done by researchers across the world.

A team led by Carlos Chávez-Olórtegui of the Federal University of Mias Gerais in Brazil has developed an alternative. On a side note this is great news as the Brazilian Wandering Spider is from Brazil and is considered one of the deadliest spiders in the world. Arizona Brown or Brown Recluse Spider home seal article by ProBest Pest Management.

RECL-- USEDRAWING

 

(Photo Courtesy of Univar?)

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