Seattle summer means more wasps are about

Summer is still going strong here in the Greater Seattle area, and after another mild winter, this means we'll be seeing large populations of rodents, spiders, and wasps among other nuisance pests.

One of the more notable jobs we handled this week was a call for a wasp nest near a playground at a condo association (COA) in Bothell. Take a look at the size and location of this nest!

 

Wasps build their nests on bushes or trees, on fences, in attics and crawlspaces, in the ground and even in wall voids. Here in this case we see a large nest established very close to the playground area of a condo association. We see so many of these, in fact, that we've made a short video showing examples of wasp nests.

For further reading, UC Davis has a very good site on bees and wasps. 

What is this winged ant I'm seeing???

The carpenter ant "reproductives" are out! What's a "reproductive"? We are starting to see carpenter ant swarms (i.e. the reproductive queens and males) in and around homes and businesses. Carpenter ants produce large numbers of queens and males during the late summer that emerge from nests the following spring (also happen during late winter) for their nuptial flights. After mating, queens search for suitable sites to begin new nests. Once they land, their wings break off and each queen attempts to construct a new nest. These are some great pictures sent to us today from a family in Sammamish, WA. If you see these around your home, give Cascade Pest a call at 425-641-6264.

Crazy Ants in Seattle? Crazy ants in Northwest? Bellevue?

Crazy ants are tiny, but come in huge quantities--one mane vacuumed five gallons of them out of his air-conditioner that had quit working! 5-Gallons of tiny ants! They don't bite or sting but do smell musty and they are known for their huge numbers and their attraction to electrical and electronic devices. They have been know to shut down laptop computers, televisions and many other devices. This would be an important pest in the greater Seattle area with all our software and aerospace companies--besides all of us being so electronic dependent. But so far crazy ants are mostly remaining in the Texas area and other Gulf States. What we have to watch for--pest wise, here in in King and Snohomish counties would be crazy ants hitch-hiking on people's belongings when they move from a crazy ant infested area. Also, shipments of manufactured or other goods from areas like Texas could also transport crazy ants. Those of us considering pest control here in the Seattle--Eastside--Bellevue--Everett areas need not be too concerned about the widespread and "crazy" nuisance of crazy ants spreading from vacant lands or even necessarily from house to house because they need a warmer climate than what we have to offer. However, our indoor climates are controlled and crazy ants can survive and maybe even thrive within our homes and businesses. Speculating from a lifetime of pest biology and control, if they do get a foothold indoors it most likely could be in larger apartment and condominium buildings. But for the time being we have lucked out! If you encounter ant problems contact Cascade Pest Control today. Crazy Ants Covering Grounds Crazy Ants Shorting Out Electronics Don Leland

Termites Essential to Humanity

The very voracity of termite's hunger both threatens our homes and saves the planet.  Obviously, we need to control those that attack our homes, but we need them in the wild.
Researchers have fount that termites throughout the planet are essential to the life cycle of soil.  The lack of them would shut down much of our agriculture overnight.
So, we need to keep a balance by controlling those right around our homes yet protect those in agricultural, grasslands and wildlands.  read here for more information

Image of termites