Not too long ago, there was only one answer when a pest population was presented, and that answer was chemicals, the deadlier the better. The chemical approach will hopefully soon be a thing of the past, however, as more and more we are becoming aware of the detrimental effects of toxins on our environment and on ourselves. In fact, toxic spray for pests tends to do almost everything else more harm in the long run than the pests it is supposed to take care of.

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Ants are a fairly common household pest, and there are several different families and species of ants commonly found in homes across the country. Carpenter ants, sugar ants, and fire ants are all annoying to one degree or another in certain parts of the country. In this article, we will discuss the biology of sugar ants, but first I think it’s a good idea to convince you of why this knowledge is important.

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Understanding the life cycles, eating habits, and habitat preferences of different species that we call pests is an important foundation in integrated pest control. The days of using toxic chemical sprays to control pests are almost gone; this method is harmful to almost all living organisms, negatively affected the environments in which it was used (including soil and water quality) and more often than not did not solve the pest control problem it was supposed to address in the first place.

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One of the weirdest pets out there in the United States today is the garden snail. Snails are a bit of a confusing category because in fact the name refers to an entire line of animals, in fact the second most successful invertebrate after insects. The snail we usually think of when we are talking about garden pests is the helix aspera or garden snail (surprise). The weird thing about this species is that it is the same type of snail that people eat as escargot, and it is also used in different types of skin creams. Diverse applications, for a pest that you are likely going to just throw away!

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Understanding a pest is the key to integrated pest control, a process which seeks to eliminate a pest problem by using the least toxic, effective approach possible. Today talk of understanding can be misleading, as the word has seem to taken on a meaning that suggests sitting down with the average household pest and coming to an agreement where both pest and human can live in harmony. This isn’t what we mean when we are referring to integrated pest management.

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You might have a bit of a snide reaction when someone tells you that it is important to understand the pests commonly found in homes across the country. We want to make it clear that by “understanding” we don’t mean sitting down and trying to appreciate the way the rats that have infested your house scurry from corner to corner, terrifying your children, harassing your pets, eating your food, creating a health hazard, and pooping everywhere. What we mean is the understanding that is fundamental to integrated pest management; that is, possessing a knowledge of common pests that makes it much easier to deal with them.

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Moths are yet another insect that we refer to under a broad category, although there are several dozen different types. Moths are considered pests in many different situations, depending on the species. They may damage trees in the caterpillar or adult stage, or become pests inside at either stage. In this article we are going to take a look at the two most common indoor moth pests, the clothes moth and the Indian meal moth.

Before we begin discussing moth behavior and biology, it’s worthwhile to understand why we are talking about it in the first place. For many years, any unwanted pest was treated to the maximum dosage of the most lethal substance in the broadest possible application. This was as a poor choice, as it adversely affected most other living organisms and the environment in general. The chemical warfare also didn’t do much good when it came to eradicating the pests either; insects particularly are very adaptable and can become immune to pesticides very quickly.

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Parents of kids in school know that almost every year there is bound to be some kind of outbreak of lice among children in their kids’ peer group. Lice are an incredibly adaptable and common pest, and their favorite breeding ground is the human body.

In this article, we are going to take a look at the biology of lice in order to understand them better. It’s important to note that understanding common pests is foundational to the idea of integrated pest control. It doesn’t mean that you learn to live with the pest; what it does mean is that an understanding of how a pest lives, breeds, and eats, you, in conjunction with a pest control company, can figure out the best way in which to bring your pest population under control.

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The process of integrated pest control has as its foundation a requirement to know more about the pest in question. The old days of pest management focused on identifying a problem visually and then destroying it, usually through the use of toxic chemicals. This approach was not only detrimental to the life cycle of most beings within range of the treatment, it also tended to be ineffective.

You might be one of those people who hears alarm bells as soon as you hear a phrase like understand the pest”. Let’s be very clear here: integrated pest management still deals with lethal - and sometimes painful - ways of ridding your home and garden of pest problems. We are not talking about learning to live with a pest infestation, although in some cases that might be an option (specifically with spiders). Understanding common pests means that you have an idea about where they are likely to congregate, what their reproductive cycle is, and what types of food they are likely to be attracted to. Knowing all of this means that solutions used to bring the numbers of pests down will be much more effective. In this article, we are going to talk about the biology of gophers.

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Every summer, you are bound to run into the same problem, as dozens or even hundreds of house flies invade your home, filling your days and nights with their annoying buzz and presenting very unappealing visuals.

In this article, we are going to discuss the biology of the house fly, but first it is important to understand why we bother and why you should read it. The answer is in the integrated pest control approach. It sounds like some fancy left wing term, but in fact IPC is by far the most effective way of handling pests in addition to being the least dangerous to humans and to other beings, not to mention the environment.

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