Two-Fly Rule in Beijing Bathrooms

Officials in Beijing have ruled that public restrooms in the Chinese capital can have no more than two flies in them at one time, the BBC reports.    

New rules issued Monday by the Beijing Municipal Commission of City Administration and Environment also state that no more than two pieces of trash can be left uncollected for more than a half-hour.

The rules apply to bathrooms in tourist spots such as parks, railway stations, supermarkets and malls.

Why Do Zebras Have Stripes?

Stripes help protect the zebras from biting insects

Animal researchers have theorized for years that a zebra's stripes confuse predators like lions, but new research just published shows the stripes have a surprising benefit—they actually help protect the zebras from biting insects. Since biting pests carry many diseases as well as constantly distract animals from feeding, it is possible that the reduction in pest activity could be an even more important benefit of having stripes than protection from lions.

The researchers looked at biting horse flies in their tests. These and many other insects are able to detect polarized light as it is reflected off of surfaces like animal hides. Uniform surfaces have a very uniform polarization pattern, but stripes on a surface change the polarization pattern of the reflected light. By collecting horse flies that were attracted to black, brown, white, and striped horse models, the researchers showed that the flies were least attracted to the striped models. Further tests showed the exact thickness of the zebra stripes were an optimal thickness to reduce horse fly attacks.

BATS: BEST NATURAL PEST CONTROL

i don't k now about you but bats make my shell crawl (actually all i can do is crawl) but bats especially since i live in a room with a tv and see all these vampire movies on how bats swoop down and bite your neck when it's out of its shell and suck your blood but really there is only one species of bats that eat blood because most bats eat insects in fact bats are nature's best insect pest control, able to consume huge quantities of moths, mosquitoes and other pests and many organic farmers are using bats as pest control for crops instead of using pesticides by setting up bat houses in their crop fields and then the bats live near the crops and eat moth larvae in fact some of the most costly pests for corn farmers and are also a favorite meal of the mexican free-tail bat and by using these bats for crop insect control they are eliminating the use of tons of pesticides in the corn fields of the u.s., and their droppings (guano) makes excellent fertilizer but it really makes a mess if it gets on your shell....

STINK BUGS INVADING MY HOME

so-o-o-o-oooooo... those stink bugs are back in my glass house... i didn't invite them in and i'm not sure just how they get in but after this cold weekend there they were and i 'm not much of a meat eater i'll take a good cucumber over a fat worm and remember last year they really tasted bad but i was watching the yankees last night and wanted a snack so i gave that stupid stink bug a lick and yukkkkk still tastes gross so no wonder none of the other insects like to eat them...

How to Attract Butterflies

Would you like to see BUTTERFLIES in your yard without planting a BUTTERFLY BUSH...try WATERMELON. According to Royal Pest Entomologist John Moore, if you put a chunk of watermelon on a stick, and put several sticks in a row so the watermelon is up in the air, the color attracts them and they can easily feed on the water in the melon. Butterflies feed through a small pipe, like a straw, which is coiled under their head most of the time. That straw is what an adult butterfly uses to suck up all of the nectar from plants. The straw is called a ‘proboscis’. This is the reason that all butterflies generally stick to an all-liquid diet. Put out some watermelon and watch how it attracts butterflies...make sure you have your camera ready!

Purple things hanging from Pennsylvania trees are bug-fighters

By: Lynne Adkins, KYW Newsradio 1060

Strange purple boxes are springing up in trees along roadways in southeastern Pennsylvania. They're deep purple in color and look like box kites.

But it's not a joke or part of a creative installation.

Jean Kummer, spokeswoman for the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture, says they're called "purple panel traps," and they're part of a survey to determine how widespread the infestation of emerald ash borers is in certain areas.

"They just attract them. The color and the oils that they put on attract the emerald ash borer, and that way we can determine if they're in that specific area," she explains.

The borers are killing ash trees across the commonwealth. The hardwood is used to make, among other things, baseball bats, and is important to the state's lumber industry.

Kummer says the purple panels will stay up through August, and then officials will decide where the problem is and what action is needed to stop the pests.

(I just grabbed this story...I was wondering what these boxes were)

Royal Pest's Royal Engagement Gift

In celebration of The Royal Wedding,
Royal Pest Management, USA,
sent a Royal flyswatter to the happy Royal couple.
In this engagement photo released by the Royal Family,
we offer our representation of what we suspect may be
an outtake photo that WOULD have been released
if Kate had her say in the Royal matter.

There are many signs of rats and mice living in your home: a greasy “runway” along a wall they travel, gnawings, footprints… but one of the best ways to identify if you have rodents and what kind are inside is by their droppings.

Fresh droppings of rat and mice feces are usually moist, soft, shiny and dark, but in a few days they become dry and hard. Old droppings are dull and grayish and crumble when touched.

The Roof Rat's droppings are up to 1/2 inch long, spindle shaped and curved.

Norway Rat droppings which are about the same length but blunt.

Mouse feces are about 1/8 inch long, and are pointed on both ends.

Royal Pest on 6 ACTION NEWS!

Channel 6 ACTION NEWS, Philadelphia, called us yesterday morning to ask if they could shoot video of us doing a STINK BUG treatment for a segment they were doing. That sent us into action. Deborah found two jobs scheduled for that day near the station, Eddie our Pest Professional doing the service, contacted the clients and one of them agreed, he changed his schedule to meet ACTION NEWS schedule. Ertell changed into a new Royal Pest shirt and met me at a McDonalds and within four hours all of us met at the house and got ACTION NEWS their story ... and Royal Pest Management a mention on the segment, video of Eddie spraying and Ertell walking the reporter around the house explaining what was happening and what Royal was doing, and our name (and his) on screen. Nice job!

Check it out!

Ear wax can protect you from pests

When I was in grade school, we had gym with our cool, jock guy gym teacher for three weeks and then he turned into our cool, jock guy HEALTH teacher for a week. One of his lessons I’ll never forget was on EAR WAX! He told us that while we are sleeping, bugs can crawl into our ear canals and get stuck. This causes pain and hearing problems. The lesson was that gooey, sticky ear wax, traps anything foreign that flies, crawls, or is blown into the ear canals. Dirt, tiny bits of plant material, small insects, bacteria, and so forth are immobilized by wax. It’s like having a NO PEST STRIP in your ear! The primary purpose of ear wax is to protect your ear canal and ear drum from such foreign materials ...including roaches.

So I did a little research on answerbag.com and found out roaches really do crawl into ears. Happens all the time. What else? Fly larvae, spiders, and earwigs with those scary pincers. Can they get to your brain? Not really … thanks to good ol’ gooky ear wax!

BEES AND WASPS DO MUCH GOOD BUT NEED CONTROL

BEES AND WASPS CONTROL AND PROTECTION WITH A PURPOSE

I just want to make sure that all you folk who want to know how to get rid of bees understand how important they are to our world AND OUR ECONOMY!!! According to The New Agriculturist online magazine: “To United States agriculture alone, the annual value of honey bee pollination can be counted in billions of dollars. Bees pollinate about one-sixth of the world's flowering plant species and some 400 of its agricultural plants. Poorly pollinated plants produce fewer, often misshapen, fruits and lower yields of seed with inevitable consequences upon quality, availability and price of food. One of the few farm activities that can actually increase yields, rather than simply protect existing yields from losses, is to manage bees to encourage good pollination.”

If you are allergic to bees and wasp stings, be careful and don’t stir them up. We understand your fear and to some people with severe reactions a bee sting can be dangerous. At Royal Pest Management, we have a bee and wasp control system that attracts bees away from the areas where people are getting together. They are free-flying insects and there is no way to eliminate them outside, but with a well-designed bees and wasp control system, we can keep them a safe distance away from you. Go to royalpest.com and click the NEED YA' NOW button and let us know if you are having problems with bees or wasps.

Middletown BBQ State Championship

This past Friday and Saturday in Middletown, De, the Delaware State BBQ Championship took place. Royal was one of the sponsors. Our butterfly Fran went around the event and put TATTOOS on kids of all ages. Many of them requesting ankle tattoos. She also flitted around to all the BBQ COMPETITORS handing out flyswatters and asking if they wanted tattoos...however most of the guys who were taking part in the cook off had arms full of tattoos and they declined. The did all take the flyswatters and then every time we asked to take their picture in front of their banners with Fran...they all wanted to swat her. LOTS of people came up to our booth and asked HOW TO GET RID OF TERMITES. That seems to be the pest this year. Lots of questions about STINK BUGS, too. Then we listened to THEIR stories of how they are all country folk living on farms and how they get rid of pests. It was an odd day but a lot of fun... especially putting tattoos on the kids... they loved them!

You can see the pictures at:

http://www.royalpest.com/component/rsgallery2/category/7.html

ROYAL PEST INTERVIEW ON WILM 1450 AM RADIO ON STINK BUGS

Today Royal Pest Management Entomologist John Moore was interviewed about STINK BUGS on The John Watson Show on a local Wilmington Delaware radio station WILM 1450AM. John Moore was brilliant as he answered all of John Watson's questions about where stink bugs got their name, where they came from and how to get rid of stink bugs. Most of the interview was serious stuff...after all... there are STINK BUGS EVERYWHERE... but there was one very funny moment during the show: John Watson asked if a house could just be "fogged" all over to get rid of STINK BUGS John Moore said that they hide in walls and cracks and chimneys and the fogging wouldn't reach them plus since Royal is a planet friendly pest control company, we don't like to use chemicals that won't accomplish their intended goal... and then our Mr. Pest Control Entomologist said, "I have had stink bugs in my house all summer." He failed to mention he has them in his house (and his wife puts up with it) because John Moore studies the patterns and habits of STINK BUGS and has devised methods to lead them away from homes and trap them without using chemicals. It sort of left us all speechless saying a pest control guy had them in his house and then saying people should call us to get rid of stink bugs. Just for the record... they are hard to totally get them out of your home but at Royal we do know ways to exclude them from your home. In the late summer call us and we'll show you how to get rid of stinkbugs for NEXT YEAR. Great Job to BOTH John Moore and John Watson. [FYI: The girl in the picture above is Heather Ficarra, who interns in the Royal Marketing Department. If anyone is looking to hire a GREAT YOUNG Marketing person, contact us here and we'll pass it along.... we wish we had the budget to keep her :( ]

Dreaming about... Ants

I heard a news story this morning about an actress on a talk show who revealed that she had, "DREAMS ABOUT INSECTS." I had never given this any thought so I looked it up on the web and found all kids of interpretations of dreaming and sites dedicated just to insects. On dreammoods.com they had something about every bug and this to say about ANTS:

"To see ants in your dream, signify your general dissatisfaction in your daily life. You are feeling neglected and insignificant. Petty things will annoy you throughout the following day. You need to be more cooperative as this will be the only way to achieve your desires. The dream may also be a metaphor on feeling antsy or restless.

"Ants also symbolize hard work, diligence and industry. Increase business activities are expected. On a less positive note, ants symbolize social conformity and mass action. In this regard, you may feel that your life is too structured and orderly."

I'm going to look into this more and hope I don't have any dreams about insects.

When Butterflies Attack

They showed this video on the news the other night which of course caught my attention: When Butterflies Attack. It's totally fake but pretty funny. If you haven't seen it, enjoy.

Butterflies Spotted at the Green Expo

This past Saturday I saw two of the most BEAUTIFUL Butterflies at the GREAT GREEN EXPO in Delaware. Turns out they were Deborah and Fran of the Delaware Pest Control company Royal Pest Management. Deborah and Fran fluttered around the GREEN EXPO handing out flyswatters and placing butterfly tattoos that said "Royal Pest" on lots of kids and even some Moms and Dads. Like the boy with Deborah, the little boys loved looking at the giant bugs while the little girls like these Girl Scouts with Fran, just were happy to pose with the butterfly...and sell her some cookies...(two boxes of Thin Mints.) But everyone loved their butterfly tattoos. See the rest of the pictures from the GREEN EXPO at http://www.royalpest.com/component/rsgallery2/category/2.html