Jul 23, 2014 | Wildlife
What’s the Buzz on the Benefits of Bees?
By: Katherine King
“Busy as a bee” is an old saying. The phrase implies that you are constantly moving, being industrious, getting your work done, and focused in order to achieve a goal. Now let’s think about the insect in the phrase, the bee. Bees are very industrious little animals. They are constantly in search of places to get nectar, their food, which they can bring back to the colony in order to feed everyone else. The bees that remain inside the hive are busy working as well. They are expanding the size of the hive, caring for young, and producing the honey which is their main food source.
All of these things are wonderful to hear about, but not many people are comfortable when they see bees. They can be rather large, bright colored, loud, and have a reputation to sting. These factors may make you wary of bees and may make you think that you need to make a run for it. In actuality, bees would much rather leave you alone. They only sting as an absolute last resort. They can only sting one time in their life and then die shortly after they sting you.
Benefits of Bees:
There are some redeeming qualities and benefits of bees…their honey. Honey does not have an expiration date. If your honey hardens, you can gently heat it and it will soften back up. If you ever get a burn, you can put honey on it to protect the burn and help it heal. Honey has other medicinal properties that aren’t confirmed, but from a holistic stand-point they are great. I have personally had good results using honey to try and fight some major allergies. If that is why you are eating honey, be sure you buy local honey from your area so that you are exposed to the right pollens.
Although bees have positive benefits, we want to make sure you know that they can also be a threat if caution is not exercised. If you have bees in or around your property and would like them removed, call our Wildlife division at Northwest Exterminating for our bee removal service.
Aug 16, 2013 | Uncategorized
Bees and wasps are often confused for one another. Although they both belong to the hymenoptera order and share similar features, they are different. Below is a list of basic shared features, as well as a list of features that set them apart from one another.
Pictures courtesy of NPMA
Bees AND Wasps
- two sets of wings
- only females can sting
- overwintering pests
- narrow waist
- larvae
- can sting and inject venom
- barb like pointers on stinger used to penetrate victim
Bees
- some bees (honeybees) will die if stinger is pulled from bee, others will continue to live
- round body
- fuzzy appearance
- feed on pollen and nectar
Wasps
- do not leave their stingers behind
- small barbs
- slender and smooth body
- no fuzz
- preys on other insects and spiders
For bee and wasp removal, call our team at Northwest Exterminating!
Mar 18, 2013 | Uncategorized
Northwest’s Wildlife Services Team specializes in the exclusion, removal, and control of animal nuisances. Among our specialties are squirrels, rodents, raccoons, opossums, bees, armadillos, and chipmunks. An important wildlife service in the coming warm months is our snake removal! Our Wildlife team uses a Green product that is used to deter snakes. We also spend a great deal of time educating the customer on snakes.
Georgia is among the states with the highest biodiversity of snakes in the U.S. with 43 different species. They are located anywhere in Georgia from the mountains in the north to the barrier islands along our eastern coast. Below we have pictures and descriptions of the most common venomous snakes. If you spot one of these, call our Wildlife Services Team at 770.436.3362 to get them off your hands, or better yet, remove them very far away from your hands!
Copperhead
Copperhead
Copperheads are fairly large – anywhere from 2 to over 3 feet long! They have brown, triangular heads and elliptical pupils. You likely won’t want to get close enough to be sure, but they have two tiny dots at the center of the top of the head. More distinguishing features include yellow tails for juvenile snakes, and the brown bands that run along their body are in a distinct hourglass shape. They are found mostly in the forested areas of Georgia and South Carolina.
Cottonmouth/Water Moccasin
Cottonmouth
Water Moccasin
Just like copperheads, cottonmouths have large, triangular heads with elliptical pupils. They get the name water moccasin from their semi-aquatic nature and are likely to be found by mostly all types of freshwater habitats. These are more difficult to identify by appearance because they have a wide range of colors but tend to feature colors that will camouflage them into their habitats.
Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnake
Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnake
Eastern diamondbacks are among the largest of 32 species of rattlesnakes, ranging anywhere from 2.75 feet to 6 feet long. They have large, broad heads with two light lines on their faces. These are easily recognized by their brown diamonds, surrounded by lighter colored brown, tan or yellowish scales. They can be located anywhere from the southern part of North Carolina, but especially in South Georgia and Florida. They like to be in drier, sandy or low cut grass areas and tend to avoid wetter areas, though they are great swimmers and even travel through saltwater!
Canebrake/Timber Rattlesnake
Canebrake-timber rattlesnake
These snakes tend to range from about 3-5 feet in length and are usually gray with a pink, yellow, orange or brown stripe running along their back. They have solid black tails and black chevrons along the back and sides of their body with the point of the (V) pointing forward. They are found in most of the eastern United States, but are somewhat absent from Florida. They can be found in a wide range of areas, but are least likely to be found in highly urbanized or residential areas.
Pigmy Rattlesnake
Pigmy rattlesnake
This rattlesnake is on the smaller side, usually coming in at under 2 feet in length. This snake has 9 large scales on the top of it’s head and a tiny rattle that can rarely be heard. They have a row of mid-dorsal spots and a bar from the eye to their mouth that ranges from black to brownish. The name is deceptive as they can be gray, tan, lavender, orange, red, or even black. These are mostly located from central Georgia up throughout South Carolina. They also like to be near water sources like creeks, marshes, and swamps.
Eastern Coral Snake
Coral Snake
“Red on yellow, kills a fellow. Red on black, friend of Jack.” These snakes are sometimes up to 4 feet in length with smooth heads with a bright body pattern of black rings in which the red and yellow rings touch each other. These are sometimes confused with king snakes, but these snakes only have the red touching the black rings and are not venomous. These snakes are found all the way from Louisiana to Florida, where they are most prevalent. They are rarely spotted because they hide under ground and spend only a limited time crawling above ground. Unfortunately, because of these secretive habits, coral snakes tend to persist in suburban areas.
Melissa Brown
[email protected]
Sources:
http://georgiawildlife.com/node/497
https://uga.edu/srelherp/snakes/index.htm
http://srelherp.uga.edu/snakes/pics/agkcon210.jpg
http://srelherp.uga.edu/snakes/pics/agkpis210.jpg
http://srelherp.uga.edu/snakes/pics/agkpis4.jpg
http://srelherp.uga.edu/snakes/pics/croada210.jpg
http://srelherp.uga.edu/snakes/pics/crohor3.jpg
http://srelherp.uga.edu/snakes/pics/sismil210.jpg
http://www.petmd.com/sites/default/files/coral_snake.gif
Dec 10, 2012 | Uncategorized
Spotting a spider or roach may cause someone to jump from fright. Most people who have a typical fear of bugs may have these fears for various reasons. For instance, people who avoid bees may have a legitimate concern about being stung, especially if they’ve been stung before and found themselves to be allergic. Some bugs such as bees, wasps, poisonous spiders and mosquitoes can carry threats that many people try to protect themselves from. Northwest Exterminating provides an extensive amount of services to protect homes and businesses from such threats.
Then there are the bugs that may not carry much of a threat but we know the sight of them indicates other unpleasant conditions. Flies and roaches tend to flock to places that are unhygienic and not the cleanest. Maintaining a clean living and working environment usually helps eliminate the presence of these bugs, as well as the related fear. Our preference for a bug-free environment may be due to that in more industrialized, urbanized societies, we do not have firsthand experience with bugs because we do not live in their natural environment. Out of sight is out of mind, so spotting an unusual insect might always be a little bit surprising.
Other people have much more than an aversion, but rather a legitimate fear of insects otherwise known as entomophobia. A well-known form of entomophobia is arachnophobia, the fear of spiders. As the definition suggestions, the fear or concern has little to do with bugs themselves and more to do with somebody’s psychological disposition. Northwest Exterminating may not be able to fix your fears, but we can certainly take care of the bugs for you. Call us today to schedule an appointment!
Source
Melissa Brown
[email protected]
Nov 23, 2012 | Uncategorized
Changing temperatures means changes in the types of pest you may see around your area. One of the reasons you may soon see certain pests less is because of hibernation. Hibernation is a period of inactivity in animals during which they experience lower body temperatures, slower breathing and lower metabolic rates. Most people think that hibernation is just an animal sleeping but it’s more about the animal conserving energy during winter when food supplies are limited.
To prep for hibernation, animals spend the autumn foraging for food, which means they might be around or even inside your home searching for a treat! Animals that spend the autumn prepping for hibernation include bats, chipmunks, squirrels, raccoons, skunks, and bears. In addition, cold-blooded critters hibernate too because the cold weather causes their body temperatures to drop. These animals include bees, earthworms, frogs, toads, lizards, turtles, snails and snakes. You won’t have to worry worry about these animals foraging for food as they tend to hide away around the time autumn hits.
Make sure not to tempt these animals on to your property by maintaining a clean home and making sure the trash is not easily accessible. Northwest Exterminating can help guard your home by providing services such as Complete CrawlSpace and TAP Attic Insulation. If you are interested in this service or more, please visit us at www.callnorthwest.com!
Sources:
