AZ Pest :: Pest Control in Arizona

Hello all. I was updating everyone and letting you know that the Corsica has been sold. So for those of you who were thinking of getting that great car, sorry someone already got it. Also please visit here more often as new changes and more posts are currently in the process of being put together to be posted. Thanks

The June Newsletter has been posted to the newsletter section of the blog. This month the newsletter features Ants and how to keep them out of your yard and how to prevent them. If you have any further questions after reading the newsletter please email me at ryan@azpest.com or call us at 520-298-7821.

Selling 1994 Chevy Corsica. Has maroon cloth interior, air conditioning, power windows and power locks. The car is white. Has some chipped paint. Fairly new tires and brakes. Has 154,500 miles, still runs great. Asking for $1,395 or best offer. Please call 520-275-5000 or email roachman@azpest.com for any questions or interest.

Seeking a full time bird control specialist. Must work well with others. Must not be afraid of heights, not allergic to bees, must have basic mechanical skills. Required to do all bird work. Training will be provided. Starting pay $12/hr, no experience required but preferred.. No criminal history, drugs, or bad driving record. Email resume to roachman@azpest.com or apply online at www.azpest.com.

The May Newsletter has been posted to the newsletter section of the blog. This month the newsletter features Scorpions and how to keep them out of your yard and what to do if you get stung. If you have any further questions after reading the newsletter please email me at ryan@azpest.com or call us at 520-298-7821.

As a Tucson a native you and most everyone else knows that when April hits it the start of bee season. Unfortunately bee season is supposed to be worse this year than the previous years. If you have received our newsletter then you know what kind of bees live in Arizona and how to avoid them. if you haven’t read or received our newsletter you can find it on our blog’s main homepage under the Newsletter column under April 2008. There was a recent article in the Tucson Citizen regarding bee season too:

”

The buzz on the street is that this will be a record year for bees.

Area bees are on the move and keeping bee removal firms busy.

“This is the worst year I’ve ever seen in my 40-year beekeeping career,” said Tom Martin, president of AAA Africanized Bee Removal Specialists in Tucson.

The university-area home of David Yetman, a self-proclaimed “experienced desert rat” and the host of the PBS television show “The Desert Speaks,” was invaded by bees this week.

It started with a handful of bees flying out of a tiny crack in the edge of his porch roof. By the next afternoon, swarming bees formed a cluster about the size of half a basketball, Yetman said.

A beekeeper came and smoked the bees, Yetman said. And the queen, which caused most of the bees to swarm around the house, was removed.

“Within 24 hours, we went from 10 bees hanging around a hole to a swarm of thousands,” he said. “It caused us to use alternate access to our house, but it did act as a burglar deterrent.”

This is just the beginning for major swarming activity, said Gloria DeGrandi-Hoffman, research leader at the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Carl Hayden Bee Research Center in Tucson.

Bees swarm when an established colony grows too large and a group of bees breaks off to start a new one, she said. This normally occurs in the spring here, but can repeat in late summer after strong monsoon rains.

Pollen and nectar from blooming citrus, mesquite and brittlebush have provided the food to allow bee populations to expand, DeGrandi-Hoffman said.

“It’s a really good year for flowering plants and that is usually what drives good years for swarming,” she said.

“The bee populations are building and the swarming is just starting. Everything is lining up for populations and colonies to get bigger.”

Colonies sense they are approaching capacity and develop virgin queens. After the first new virgin queen emerges, the old queen and several thousand worker bees leave the colony to start a new one, she said.

The swarm of displaced bees typically stays within two miles of its original site.

Swarming bees do not show nest defensive behavior and are less likely to bother people or animals, she said.

Arizona’s feral bee population is Africanized, however, and chances are good that swarming bees are of that aggressive variety, DeGrandi-Hoffman said.

Problems arise when the swarming colony, led by scout bees, selects a new home close to humans or animals, she said.

“If they find a nest site in the wall of your house or carport overhang, they will be defensive. That nest needs to be removed professionally.

“If you stay away from the actual nesting site, they are not going to go out of their way to defend it and try to sting you,” she said. “Honeybees are a lot like other sorts of things we have in the desert. Be aware of them, know not to touch them or try to get a rise out of them.”

Attacking bees have injured on average three people in Tucson each of the past three years, and have killed three people in rural areas of southeastern Arizona.

Bee removal experts try to kill the swarming bees before they move into an opening in a home, said Martin, whose business is booming responding to customer calls this swarming season.

A colony of thousands of bees can move into its new home in a matter of minutes, he said.

When a colony selects a hollow cavity in a house, bees mark it with a scent that is long lasting and will attract other colonies to the site unless it is removed, Martin said.

While swarming bees may inconvenience or even endanger humans, it is good for the species, DeGrandi-Hoffman said.

And Arizona, as opposed to other parts of the country, has not been affected by a disorder killing off huge numbers of bees, she said.

“Only very healthy colonies swarm, and the fact we see swarming bodes well for the health of the colonies.”"

Despite there being a bunch of bee that could possibly attack you there are several things you can do if attacked:

*The best advice is to avoid bees, especially in large numbers.

*If you do get chased by bees, you want to get inside an enclosed structure, like a house or car, as soon as possible.

Don’t worry about the few bees that will come inside with you. Most will be left outside.

*If you cannot reach shelter, run. You will be able to outrun bees and will lose them within a quarter-mile.

*If you are stung, remove the stingers as quickly as possible. Scraping the skin with a credit card or smooth object works well. The stingers contain a protein-based venom that can cause an immune system response in the human body.

*If you are allergic to bee stings or sustain a large number of stings, seek medical attention right away.

Swelling in the area of a sting is normal. Swelling in other areas or feeling faint from stings could mean you are having a reaction and should seek medical attention.

*Put ice on sting sites. Commercial sprays to relieve itching from stings can help.

Hopefully this spring and summer you don’t encounter any real be problems. Stay safe and smart. If you need bee removal don’t hesitate to call Arizona Pest Control, 520-298-7821.

Hello to everyone.  The April Newsletter has been posted to the newsletter section of the blog. This month the newsletter features bees and how to keep them out of your yard and what to do if you get stung. If you have any further questions after reading the newsletter please email me at ryan@azpest.com or call us at 520-298-7821.

Hello to everyone.  The March Newsletter has been posted to the newsletter section of the blog. This month the newsletter features mice and how to keep them out of your house despite how cute and furry they may be. If you have any further questions after reading the newsletter about mice or how to get rid of them please email me at ryan@azpest.com or call us at 520-298-7821.

Recently a scientist pulled about 400 head lice from a Peruvian mummy and found that the head lice matched those of one of three different classifications of lice, clad A. Interesting enough it all started in Africa. Here is the full story:

“WASHINGTON - Head lice taken from 1,000-year-old mummies in Peru support the idea that the little creatures accompanied humans on their first migration out of Africa, 100,000 years ago, researchers reported on Wednesday.

Genetic tests showed that the lice are nearly identical to strains found around the world that have been dated to when humans first began to colonize the rest of the world.

“It tells us that this genetic type got around the globe right as humans spread and migrated around the globe,” said David Reed of the University of Florida, who worked on the study. “We know that this parasite was distributed all over the globe along with us,” Reed said in a telephone interview.

Writing in the Journal of Infectious Diseases, Reed and colleagues noted that there are three known strains, or clades, of head lice — A, B and C.

Clade A is found everywhere, clade B is common in both North America and Europe, and clade C is rare. There had been a theory that clade B evolved separately in the Americas and that European explorers carried A to the Americas and brought B back to Europe with them.

Reed, who showed in 2004 that clade A dated back to early humans, said he got to test the idea by accident.

The lice were collected off the heads of two mummies found in the southern Peruvian coastal desert. “The mummies belonged to the post-Tiwanaku Chiribaya culture,” the researchers wrote. They were dated to around 1000 AD.

The two heads, removed from the bodies by looters years before, had elaborately braided hair. Researchers collected more than 400 head lice from one and 500 from the other.

“They were loaded. It was amazing,” Reed said. “It really was remarkable how lousy they were.”

He speculated that the elaborate braids would not allow for regular combing, thus making a haven for the little parasites. Reed was able to get intact DNA from the lice and sequencing showed they were all clade A.

That means the strain was distributed across the Americas hundreds of years before the first Europeans arrived.

Reed believes he can use gene sequencing of lice to track and date human migrations all over the world.

Type A lice include both head and body lice. The bloodsucking creatures can only live on humans — they die very quickly away from their hosts and cannot survive on any other animals.

They can also transmit diseases such as typhus. Reed believes some mummified lice will carry the rickettsia bacteria that transmit typhus, and gene sequencing of these bacteria can also help trace routes of human migration.

It is also possible to test the theory that typhus was a New World disease carried back to Europe by explorers, Reed said.”-MSNBC

I hope you enjoy this interesting read. Let me know anyones input and opinions.

This months newsletter has been sent out. The topic of the month is Grasshoppers. The newsletter is also posted to the blog as well. So if you aren’t on our emailing list but want to check it out, head on over to the newsletter archive section. If you would like to be added to the newsletter please email ryan@azpest.com with your name, address, and email address. Thanks, enjoy!