What Just Bit Me? How to Identify Common Bug Bites

What mosquitoes look like in Central TN - The Bug Man

Having bug bites is never a good feeling, especially when you never catch the critter that did it to you. Lots of anxiety can stem from not knowing what kind of biting pest is living in your home. It is also easy to wake up from a night of sleep with bug bites and misidentify them, leading to a longer process of pest removal. If you are trying to find out which kind of pest in Central TN is biting you, keep reading for top insight from The Bug Man.

Pests that Bite to Draw Blood

Some pests that draw blood might not look as frightening as other bugs, but are able to pass on dangerous diseases through their bites. This makes it crucial to be able to identify the bug bites on your skin. Some pests that draw blood in Central TN are:

  1. Mosquitoes: After a mosquito bites you, a raised, white welt will form right away. The bite will then spread out into a larger, red, itchy lump. Most mosquitoes in our area do not carry diseases, but in tropical and some subtropical regions, mosquitoes can carry malaria and Zika virus, along with many other serious diseases.
  2. Ticks: Tick bites can look nearly indistinguishable from a mosquito bite, or like much smaller, darker prick marks. If you notice a tick bite shortly after they find you, you will still see it digging into your skin. Ticks can spread Lyme disease, so if you find a tick on your skin, remove it right away to decrease your chances of contracting it.
  3. Fleas: While they prefer to pester our pets, fleas bite humans, too. You might not even be able to notice a tick bite upon impact, but it will be itchy afterward. Ticks do not spread diseases to humans, but their bites can become infected if excessively scratched.
  4. Bed bugs: Bed bug bites appear overnight. If you wake up with zigzag patterns of tiny red bumps on exposed skin, you are in the middle of a bed bug infestation. Although their bites don’t pass on diseases, they can sometimes transfer diseases to humans that they carry on their bodies through their travels.

Other Bug Bites in Central TN

There are plenty of other pests that bite in our area, but the four mentioned earlier are the most likely offenders. Some bugs in Central TN either seldom bite or their bites yield negligible results. Cockroaches, centipedes, and ants fall into this category. These insects rarely bite, and the effects of their bites don’t often extend beyond an annoyance.

Some spiders in the region can dish out painful bites, but again, they are rarely provoked enough to bite. These spiders include wolf spiders, brown recluses, and black widows. The black widow has the most dangerous bite of the three—if you sustain a black widow bite, seek medical attention right away.

How to Stay Safe from Bug Bites

If you are looking to stay safe from bug bites this summer, ask your local pest control company about what they can do to help. Our pest experts at The Bug Man can perform a holistic inspection of your property to locate any biting pests and promptly remove them. We will also follow up as needed with pest prevention advice and return treatments to ensure that any infestations never return. Contact us today for a free quote!

What Pests Eat When They Are In Your House: A Food Chain Factoid

What Pests Eat When They Are In Your House

Have you ever stopped to wonder what bugs eat? You know you see ants in your kitchen from time to time, but what are they after? And what in the world do spiders think they can find inside your house? What’s so delicious about hanging out in the corners of your rooms?

 

Here’s a quick food chain factoid for what pests eat when they are in your house!

 

 

Crickets: Fabrics, especially those full of perspiration

Cockroaches: Sweets, cheeses, meats, grease, and starches. Vegetables and fruits. Household items like leather, beer, glue, dried skin, books, paper, human dander, and a lot more

Brown Recluse Spiders: Other bugs, like cockroaches and crickets

Black Widow Spiders: Their mates! (Actually, that’s a myth. They don’t eat their mates). But they do eat other insects.

Carpenter Bees: Wood! Nope. They actually don’t eat wood. They just bore into wood to lay their eggs. They eat pollen.

Ants: Sweets, eggs, oils, and fats

Bed Bugs: You. They feast on you for a blood meal. They will also dine on animals.

 

Fruit Flies: Decaying fruits and vegetables

House Flies: Liquids. They can also turn solids into liquids and then eat the liquid form of that food.

Silverfish: Paper, glue, clothing, flour, and oats

House Centipedes: Flies, spiders, and plant tissue

Fleas: Cats, dogs and humans

Rodents: Grains, fruits, seeds, chocolate, random items in your trashcan

Termites: Cellulose: A polysaccharide consisting of long unbranched chains of linked glucose units: the main constituent of plant cell walls and used in making paper, rayon, and film

After reading this diverse list of what pests eat, it makes a lot of sense that they’d look for food inside your home. To keep pests out, call The Bug Man. You can reach us by phone at 615.217.7284 or find us online at Facebook.com/TheBugManTN orTwitter.com/TheBugManTN.

Finding Freedom from Frustrating Fleas

Freedom from Frustrating Fleas

Find freedom from frustrating fleas with these few flea facts! When it comes to pests, fleas are beasts! Small, but mighty, those minuscule monsters can really create chaos in your home.

A Few Flea Facts

  • Like a butterfly or moth, fleas go through a complete life cycle (egg, larva, pupa, adult)
  • Only adult fleas bite
  • Some fleas can stay in the pupa stage for up to six months; other fleas can hatch in a few days if the conditions are right
  • The vibration caused by humans and animals walking or vacuuming can cause adult fleas to instantly hatch

Finding Freedom from Fleas

If you suspect that you have fleas, identify the source of the problem. This especially applies to pets. If your pet dog or cat has fleas, take steps to treat the fleas on them. Then, vacuum, vacuum, vacuum. Pay particular attention to vacuum the spots where your pet commonly hangs out. i.e. A sunny spot next to the window, under the dining room table, next to the laundry basket. Dispose of the vacuum bag properly to ensure that the fleas don’t infest your vacuum cleaner.

Call a professional pest management company. Hey, that’s us! We can help you identify the source of the flea problem and work with you to eliminate those pests from your home.

If you have a flea treatment done in your home, here are a few important things to remember:

  • Make arrangements to be gone for 2-4 hours so the flea treatment has enough time to dry. Both your family and your pets need to be gone during the treatment.
  • Clean your floor. Pick up everything, even under the bed and in your closets. This includes pet dishes. After everything is picked up, vacuum-like you have never vacuumed before.
  • It’s time to move the furniture…so that you can vacuum underneath it. Who knows what treasures you may find! Or what stash of coins may fall out.
  • Fold over the blankets on your bed and/or couch so they are well away from the floor.
  • Tie window curtains or drapes to make it easier for the technician to treat your floor
  • Save the fish! Cover your fish tanks and turn off the air supply to the tank during the treatment.

Once the flea treatment has dried and you are back in your home, continue on in your quest to be a professional vacuumer. Because of the vibrations of you and your vacuum, the remaining pupa will hatch into adults. You want the eggs to hatch so that the product in your newly-treated carpet kills them. Once you have become the vacuum master, find others (*coughyourkidsoryourfriendscough*) who you can train to follow you in your Jedi vacuum ways. If you’re feeling frisky, perhaps you can train them to do chores too.