Record summer heat brings out the bugs

CDC Public Health Image Library

(LiveScience) If you're feeling extra mosquito-bit this summer, you're not alone. According to the National Pest Management Association (NPMA), record hot summer temperatures are bringing out the bugs.

Ants, fleas, ticks, earwigs and black widow are among the pests that are making a strong showing this year, according to the NPMA.

"Insects are cold-blooded, which means that their body temperatures are regulated by the temperature of their environment," NPMA public affairs officer Missy Henriksen said in a statement. "In cold weather, insects' internal temperatures drop, causing them to slow down. But in warm weather, they become more active. Larvae grow at a faster rate, reproduction cycles speed up, and they move faster."

Hot has been the watchword this year, with the first half of 2012 measuring up as the warmest on record for the United States. June 2011 to June 2012 was also the warmest 12-month period since record-keeping began in 1895, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

Drought across the country's midsection can also exacerbate pest problems, Henriksen said. When insects and arachnids can't find moisture outside, they often head indoors. Areas where rain is more frequent are likely to see increased mosquito breeding, she added.

About 64 percent of the continental United States was experiencing drought as of July 19. The unusually hot summer has also contributed to incidents of heat stroke, low water supply in some areas and blows to agriculture.

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• Nature's 10 Biggest Pests
• No Creepy Crawlies Here: Gallery of the Cutest Bugs
• Dry and Dying: Images of Drought

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[MegaProcrastination]

There are no more earwigs when it's 100F than there are when it's 85-90F and earwigs don't hang out where it's really dry. They're also fairly easy to control with a spray bottle of water with some ordinary dish soap mixed into it (I use a quart bottle with about a tablespoon of soap) by overturning rocks, moving trash cans and the like and spraying any that you see then replace the object. If you spray thick, even the ones that went into hiding when the object was moved will be exposed to enough soapy water to kill them. It's way effective and perfectly safe.

Ants definitely love dryer weather. I've so many colonies of those little black ants this year it's beyond ridiculous. They aren't as susceptible to the soap as the earwigs are and it's really difficult to spray into their nests but a little boron mixed into something they'll carry back to their den will do a fairly quick job on them, as in the whole colony will be wiped out within a couple of weeks.

Aside from mosquitoes which wouldn't have a negative impact if they were obliterated from the planet, I like having a myriad of insects in my yard, they're part of a healthy eco-system, but sometimes I have to put the brakes on.