Pest Control

What kind of insect would take advantage of someone whose house is being fumigated? A lowlife worm, says Janice Dawson, whose Carson home was looted while it was shrouded in a tent erected by an extermination company. Los Angeles County Sheriff's detectives are investigating the burglary, which occurred when intruders peeled back the tarp covering the house and pried open a rear door. Several rooms were ransacked, and photographic gear, video game equipment, jewelry and other items were taken.

It started when an El Monte woman called to report an unusual pest: tiny mosquitoes that she said were biting her in the middle of the day. The complaint last week raised red flags for technicians at the San Gabriel Valley Mosquito & Vector Control District, who know that common mosquitoes typically attack during morning and evening hours. When a worker arrived at Dodson Street, one of the insects landed on his partner, so he trapped it in a plastic jar. "He took a close look at it, and he realized we might have a problem," said Kelly Middleton, a district spokeswoman.

When Donna Conder learned she had termites in her 28-year-old house in Orange, she was worried. Allergies and health problems made the 38-year-old nurse want to avoid traditional fumigation, where a tent is placed over the house and toxic gas pumped in. So she was happy to try a new method--Isothermics' Thermal Pest Eradication--that kills termites with hot air.

Another season, another press release from a pest-control association warning us that bedbugs are baaack in the United States! (We can’t think what they have to stand to gain by reminding us of this.)  Bedbugs are more common than they used to be: Read this L.A. Times article about bedbugs   from 2007, for example. That article quotes a fellow from the National Pest Management Assn., the same organization that just saw fit to alert the press today. And here’s another article we ran on the topic, last year—about bedbug-sniffing dogs , of all things.

John K. Czechowski says he is really bugged about the extermination of termites that started this week at the city-owned Emerald Cove senior citizens' housing complex. Claiming there are dangers in the process, the 74-year-old Czechowski has vowed to sit tight in his book-filled apartment until officials assure him that the city will pay all damages to his belongings that the process might cause and assure him that fumigation is safe. "I'm not going to move," he said Friday.

It seemed like a good idea at the time. It was 1935, and grayback beetles were ravaging northeast Australia's vast sugar cane fields. So an enterprising entomologist named Reg Mungomery imported a crate of 101 tropical toads called Bufo marinus from Honolulu. Mungomery said that the toads would eat the bugs. He forgot one thing: Beetles fly; toads don't. Today, while insecticides control the beetles, nothing stops the toads.

They're not as menacing as Burmese pythons proliferating in the Everglades, but giant African snails are targets of the government too. The invasive mollusks are considered a major plant pest and a potential public health threat because they can spread diseases, including meningitis. Now federal and state authorities are seeking to prevent the large, slimy, shell-toting snails from reestablishing themselves in Florida. Once established, agricultural officials said, the mollusks "can create a giant swath of destruction."

Few golfers have pushed the fashion envelope beyond plaid pants. Until now. At the two Griffith Park golf courses, jungle wear has become de rigueur , with many morning duffers donning mosquito-net hoods before teeing off. The latest accessory has little to do with looks--obviously--and everything to do with golf. And gnats. Which don't seem to mix. "Could you imagine trying to make a nice shot with 20 flies going up your nose?"

About 2,300 companies are registered and 22,000 individuals are licensed to perform pest control in California, according to the Structural Pest Control Board in Sacramento. The board, which keeps records of consumer complaints against pest-control companies, receives about 1,200 complaints a year, most related to "undercalling" (missing an infestation). In 1997 and 1998, 46 licenses were revoked, mainly for undercalling and pesticide misapplication.

Many thanks for publishing Mary Fisher's fine article about my book, "Bugbusters: Getting Rid of Household Pests Without Dangerous Chemicals," on Oct. 4. It was a significant contribution to home safety. May I clarify one point? I would be very careful when putting boric acid in a cupboard. It should never be in contact with food or dishes and utensils. The safest way is to drill holes about six or eight inches apart in the kick plate of your kitchen or bathroom cabinets and blow the powder into that dead space.

If you're even slightly concerned about the privacy of your personal information, Jim Stickley is your worst nightmare. The chief technology officer of TraceSecurity, a risk management firm based in Louisiana, breaks into banks and steals their customers' most confidential information such as Social Security numbers and the details of their banking transactions. He could take your cash too, but says you probably have less money in your account than he could get by starting new credit in your name.

They're not as menacing as Burmese pythons proliferating in the Everglades, but giant African snails are targets of the government too. The invasive mollusks are considered a major plant pest and a potential public health threat because they can spread diseases, including meningitis. Now federal and state authorities are seeking to prevent the large, slimy, shell-toting snails from reestablishing themselves in Florida. Once established, agricultural officials said, the mollusks "can create a giant swath of destruction."

Bangkok's pigeons are little winged street toughs, nurtured on dust, dirt and noise. So, the local government, out of the goodness of its heart (or maybe after a look in its pocket), has decided they need a little "holiday" in the country. We're sending them to the forest, officials said recently, to live a life of luxury, clean air and food aplenty. "It's friendlier in the forest," said Teerachon Manomaiphibul, deputy governor of Bangkok, and pigeon relocator in chief.

More evidence emerged Tuesday to suggest that the voracious Asian carp is threatening to reach the Great Lakes, as the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers reported for the first time finding DNA samples of the carp beyond the locks in the Chicago area. The news came hours after the U.S. Supreme Court refused to intervene and issue an emergency order closing off all the locks that connect Illinois' rivers with Lake Michigan. "We have one sample positive in the Calumet Harbor above the breakwater, so that is in Lake Michigan," Maj. Gen. John Peabody said in a conference call with reporters.

With the U.S. Supreme Court poised to act on a lawsuit seeking to prevent Asian carp from infiltrating Lake Michigan, defendants said Tuesday that hysteria over questionable DNA research is whipping Upper Midwest states into a frenzy that could devastate Illinois' shipping industry. Michigan took the lawsuit to the Supreme Court last month, asking for an injunction to force Illinois to close two Chicago-area navigational locks to prevent the carp's spread into the Great Lakes. Wisconsin, Minnesota, Ohio and New York have joined the suit.

The fight to keep invasive Asian carp out of the Great Lakes reached the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday, as Michigan's attorney general filed a lawsuit seeking closure of two shipping locks near Chicago. Claiming Illinois officials have been lax, Michigan Atty. Gen. Mike Cox asked justices for immediate action to seal off the most direct route for fish entering Lake Michigan, in hopes of protecting the region's $7-billion fishing industry. "We don't want to have to look back years later . . . and say, 'What was the matter with us?

Question: I'm a new home gardener trying to maintain a pest-free environment to the extent possible for my plants and shrubs. Besides chemical applications, what recommendations can you make to help me achieve this objective? J.B., ORANGE Answer: The notion of pest control through pest eradication has largely been replaced in recent years by a multi-pronged ecological approach called integrated pest management (IPM).

Sharon Whatley likes to know what her family is eating. And it's not always easy to find out. "There is no way to tell what is sprayed on vegetables and fruit before they get to the supermarket, and I wanted to have control over that," said the Tustin resident. She started a garden in her back yard six years ago to ensure that her family ate only naturally grown, chemical-free produce. Then the bugs invaded her pure environment.

Lake Tahoe is under siege by clams the size of your thumbnail. The population of the coffee-colored Asian clams has soared in the southeast portion of the lake, threatening to hog food sources and excrete nutrients that foster algae growth, according to an annual Lake Tahoe report by UC Davis researchers. Scientists worry that calcium in the clams' shells could make the lake more hospitable to invasion by quagga or zebra mussels, which cluster onto boats and anything else that rests in the water.

California's Department of Food and Agriculture plans to continue efforts to eliminate an invasive moth that it says poses a risk to fruit and ornamental plants, despite protests from scientists and environmentalists who say the measures are unnecessary. Moth detection has led to quarantines in 3,500 square miles in 15 counties, including Los Angeles, causing millions of dollars in lost revenue, said Michael Jarvis, deputy secretary for public affairs at the California Department of Food and Agriculture.