Moving with pets

In the spirit of sharing and getting myself pumped up for improving my blogging habits now that I don't have to blog for a grade..... I have taken many photos this month and now I have to figure out how to space them out so I don't overwhelm everybody.

For this segment of photos, I thought I would share some of the antics of my crazy felines while I was packing to get them, me, and my stuff ready to go to my new home!!!

I'm not sure if Woudin is guarding the boxes or making sure that I know when it's time to go he is supposed to go with me.

Woudin LOVES anything (this includes their carrier, laundry basket, empty boxes, etc.) that he can curl himself up in order to sleep or hide.

Believe it or not, Tzani is somewhere in this picture.

Can you find her?

I'll give you a hint...... look for her eyes. Do you see them?

She is lying to the left of the box and to the right of the plastic wrap. Did you find her?

Isn't she cute?

So here is my old closet where I stored an amazing amount of "stuff."

Not only does Woudin like places to hide in; he also loves to be as high as he can be. I'm guessing here he's thinking, "She found me now what's she going to do?"

Aren't they cute? Of course, I'm not biased or anything. Nope I'm not! :)

My apologies

I just wanted to apologize for my long hiatus from my blog.

As many of you know I had been fighting some weird illness which required me to donate lots of blood for the doctor to say that I'm allergic to something but no allergy test was performed.

In addition, I had been working on a MS bypass directly to a Ph.D. which was finally approved by the Entomology department and then the graduate school.



To keep things interesting, May, also, involved a move out into the country, my car motor dying (leaving me stranded outside of Ellsworth) right as I was getting ready to move, and yet another death in my family (I will miss your smiling face, Uncle Gary).



Whew!!!

I'm hoping things calm down so I can get back to blogging. I finally published the three parter from April and I hope you all enjoy it.

Lady Bugs Part III: Eradication

So now that you know how to identify MALB and something about the basic biology you need to know about Integrated Pest Management (IPM). There are 4 main methods of eradication, I have placed them in order of my preference on how I would go about removing them from my home.

1. Exclusion (has 4 parts which are in order of my preference)

A. Seal and Screen: in this method your goal is to make your house less of a target by replacing leaky windows, sealing cracks and holes with caulking, and replacing screens with holes with newer less "holy" screen mesh or repairing the mesh

B. Watering: this method attempts to make your home a inhospitable host for the MALB by using water around and on your house during their peak activity hours (11 am - 4 pm) and when the temperature is above 60 degrees F

C. Botanicals (these are untested methods so if you try them out keep track of their use and report back to "us" {mainly me}): this method attempts to reduce the number of MALB that make their way into your home by placing camphor crystals or tablets in knee-high areas outside your home, use a diffuser inside the home to disperse camphor essential oil around the inside of a room, burn vanilla candles, and/or place bay leaves in window sills

D. Exterior Pesticides: this method used pesticides to kill the MALB that are around the outside of the house; remember that restricted use pesticides must be applied by a professional, the areas that should be covered are the roof line, base of walls, and the windows and doors; the recommendation is to use pyrethroids such as deltamethrin, cypermethrin, or cyfluthrin

2. Trapping: use a vacuum, pheromone trap, sticky trap, modified black light trap, and/or manufactured black-light trap to trap the MALB which then removes them from your home, you may then want to introduce them to your diversion (see below) and determine if they will stay there

3. Diversion: in this method you are trying to create or modify an existing structure with the hope that the MALB will decide that this structure is a more suitable habitat than your home; some recommended tips include a structure which is taller than your house (MALB are attracted to the tallest structure on the horizon), paint the structure a lighter color than your home (such as white), make sure that the structure has lots of tiny spaces for the MALB to use, and keep the structure in a warm and dry location (NOTE: in Asia, MALB overwinter in cliff sides and roof faces)

4. Camouflage: in this method you are attempting to make your house appear to be an inhospitable structure for the MALB ; do this by painting your house a dark color, remove dead insects from your home (you may want to put them next to your diversion structure in order to attract the MALB to it), and remove the tallest object from your home

References Used:
http://ipm.osu.edu/lady/treat.htm

Lady Bugs Part II: Life Cycle and basic Biology

Lady Bugs (Family Coccinellidae, Order Coleoptera) are generally beneficial field and garden arthropods (insects). Both adults and larvae are predators and they live in the same areas. They range from generalist (eating a variety of insects) to specialist (eating a specific type of insects such as mites or scales) predators. Adults may also eat honeydew, pollen, and/or nectar in addition to eating garden insects.

MALB, Multicolored Asian Lady Beetle, Harmonia axyridis (Pallus)

MALB was imported into the U.S. in 1916 to control insect pests. They are effective at controlling harmful pests such as scales and aphids. However, a population was not found until 1988 in New Orleans and throughout other parts of Louisiana. They will exhibit "reflex bleeding" which is a defensive reaction where yellow fluid with an offensive odor is released from leg joints. This behavior is typically performed when MALB is agitated or squished and allows them to escape possible predation. WARNING: this fluid may stain walls and fabrics.

Moves into sheltered locations such as homes in order to survive winter temperatures which makes it a nuisance pest. It is, also, pushing native Coccinellidae species out of their native ranges.

Life Cycle:
1. Adults overwinter in shelter

2. Adults lay eggs in early spring on host plants
3. Eggs hatch within 3-5 days

4. Larvae feed and molt for 20 days

5. Pupa is formed and lasts for 3-10 days

6. Adults emerge and continue feeding on insects

References Used:
Cranshaw, W. 2004. Garden Insects of North America: the Ultimate guide to Backyard Bugs. Princeton university Press, Princeton, New Jersey, USA. (Pages 544)

Pedigo, L.P., and Rice, M. E. 2006. Entomology and Pest Management, 5th Edition. Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, New Jersey, USA. (Pages 117, 439)

Please note that again I used links to show credit for images and to give you locations to find more interesting pictures and information.

Ladybugs Part I: identification

So last week (now several months ago) one of my friends in Nebraska called and left a message saying that he had an insect problem and asked that I call when I get a chance. I returned his call and left a message letting him know that if he needs and id then he needs to send me a photograph or a dead carapace but if he had a question he could call me back and ask. After some phone-tag Shane and I finally connect. He told me that he has a problem with what he thinks are Multicolored Asian Lady Beetles (MALB, Harmonia axyridis) in his basement but that they are moving upstairs to the upper levels and he wanted to know how to get rid of them.

As any extension agent or fellow entomologist SHOULD tell you, the first thing you need to do is make sure that you have properly identified the pest. In order to do this, you need to have a key that aids you in identifying the insect pest. For identification, the first thing is to be able to recognize a beetle (order Coleoptera) from other insect orders.

NOTE: if you click on the links you will go to the page where I obtained the photo and you can find additional information and products on these pages.

Different insect orders

How to ID Beetle body parts

Note- you may need to go to the site in order to read the captions and see which parts are where in order to use the below Lady bird beetle "key"; "wing cases" are the elytra which is the hard wing that protects the membranous flight wings which are located underneath the elytra (key coleoptera characteristic)

The second part of identification is how to determine a MALB from other lady bugs (Family Coccinellidae), here I provide adult descriptions only:

Seven Spotted Lady Beetle, Coccinella septempuncta (Linnaeus)
Convex and oval shaped; tan, red, or black with contrasting yellow, white, black or red spots

Pinkspotted Lady Beetle, C-mac, Coleomegilla maculata (DeGeer)
Pink with black spots

Twice Stabbed Lady Beetle, Chilocous stigmata (Say)
Round elytral spots near the middle of each wing cover

Chilocorus bivulners (Mulsant)
Large elytral spots placed next to the pronotum- sorry I couldn't find a photo for this lady "bug"

Convergent Lady Beetle, Hippodamia convergens (Guerin-Menville)
Shiny black thorax with light yellow markings; two, long, narrow white marks converging on the pronotum

Two Spotted Lady Beetle, Adalia bipunctata (Linnaeus)
Each elytra has a single, round black spot; M shape on the pronotum; and the pronotum has a yellow border

Multicolored Asian Lady Beetle, MALB, Harmonia axyridis (Pallus)
Several spots which fuse on the white pronotum into an M shape

References:
Pedigo, L.P., and Rice, M.E. 2006. Entomology and Pest Management, 5th Edition. Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, New Jersey, U.S.A. (Pages 116-117, 319, 439)

Salsbury, G.P., and White, S.C.2000. Insects in Kansas. US Department of Agriculture. (Pages 208-210)

For the Ladies (its all about letting the girliness out to play)!!!

Hello all:

As you already know I have been fighting a nasty illness and it's taking a toll on my productivity. So while I rest and recuperate, I have a few music videos for you and me ;).



Whenever I hear this song I always think of the "craziness" that women will put up with and I'm sad that they don't feel that they deserve better.





So, when I talk about the "beach house" this is EXACTLY what I'm talking about!!!!




I love this song and the video is quite stunning. This song reminds me of my friends probably because whenever I need them they are there for me. Anne, I can never tell you enough how grateful and honored I am that you are my friend and that you share your family and your love with me. It's been an interesting 10 years and I'm excited to see what the next 10 years will bring.



This is one of the few songs where the music actually captured my attention before the words. I'm still not sure how I feel about the song but I love the melody and beat. This version of the video is interesting as well.



Lady Antebellum- Need you Now video Link NOTE- the link will take you away from my page but if you click the back arrow it will bring you back here!

When I hear this song, lots of different things go through my mind. Of course, my friends because I know that even if its 1am if I really need you all I need to do is call. Fortunately, Nikki is in another time zone so if it's 1am here it's earlier there :)

NOTE- I am feeling much better today but I'm still trying to take it easy so that I can gradually move back into the full swing of things. I'm hoping that this means I will get caught up on my blogs.

Happy viewing Ladies :)

Tour the Insect Zoo with a 2 year old

December, does anyone remember what happened that long ago. Well for me the months are just running together with lots of fun family activities and not so fun graduate student activities.



Well, the day before I headed off to Indianapolis to give not one but two talks, I got to spend a few hours with my "favorite" two-year old and his mom, Anne. Anne and I had been wanting to get to the insect zoo but had not been able to fit it in and we went to look at my dragonfly poster and I gave them a tour of the zoo.



The following pictures are of our adventure but are in no particular order:

Anne & Matthew who didn't really want to smile.

I think he is thinking: "Aunt Angela what are these cool things in the water, tell me all about them?" or "If nobody is looking will they know that I put my hands in the water?" It might be a combination of them both!!

See how nice I fit at this table, Mom I think we should have a table this size just for me!!!!

Matthew is looking at the butterfly pictures while I tell him what the butterfly is by family name. Sometimes, I wonder if all the information I give him is useful to him and then he rewards me by saying "butterfly" and it's nice and clear and its NOT a moth. :)

Look Aunt Angela these tables are just my size. I think my face is horrified because he asked em to sit with him at the table, I told him I was too big but I was fine on the floor.

Mmm, what is Aunt Angela doing?

What the heck is that thing on Aunt Angela's hand? Matthew seems a bit concerned about the dragonfly hand puppet but as most of you may have guessed, I loved the hand puppet and now I want one of my very own!!!

I had a great time with Matthew and Anne; I hope to do it again when the flowers bloom in the gardens outside the zoo that way we can look at insects "in the wild" as well!

I hope that all of you make it to the zoo, it's a great way to spend some time with the kids & as you can see, there is stuff for the adults at well.