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Category Archives: Animals

Stink Bugs will be knocking at your door soon – Kill them Safely

Friday, August 12, 2011

Don't live with Stink Bugs this winter

 

In the Mid-Atlantic, the mighty stink bug is only a few weeks away from moving from the fields towards your home. Now is the time to start implementing this years preventions. The number one myths about Stink Bugs is that pesticides will not kill them. This is false, and is probably spread because the newspapers are interviewing farmers, and that is true, farmers do not have food-safe pesticides that are will kill the stunkbug reliably. However, there are household pesticides that will work.

Last year, many homeowners and pest control companies were very successful at controlling incoming bugs with Cyper WP. This is a relatively safe (always read the manufacture’s Product MSDS) pesticide thatcan be used indoors and outdoors. At the end of Aug through Oct, it can be applied to outside surfaces where the stink bug travels as it searched for an entrance to your house. It creates a barrier that when the Stink Bug travels over, will kill it within 2-3 hours. It can also be applied indoors in attics, crawl-spaces, and basements. However, for best results, apply every other week to your roof eaves, tops of outside walls, around vent entrances, and anywhere that you have seen Stink Bugs crawling. It will not 100% eliminate your problem, however it will have a huge impact.

In the Spring as the Stink Bugs leave your house, you can reapply to affected areas. Cyper WP will leave a reside, so only use where it will not be seen, or will not be noticeable (roof eave). As an added benefit, Cyper WP will also help to control bees and wasps who try to nest in your eaves and crawlspaces. It will also eliminate spiders and ants in basements.  Spray in on the outside of your house, and you will notice a significant reduction of outdoor pests, including scorpions, roaches, wasps, etc.

The best price I have found is on Amazon’s web site. You can purchase here : Cyper Wp Insecticide -1 Lb. Control SprayPest Control)

And, as I wrote about before here, go buy a BugZooka Bug Catcher VacuumNOW to capture the stray bug that does make it past the Cyper WP into your house.

PLEASE, do not buy expensive books or traps, they are almost all scams.  There are only three proven ways to protect your home from invasion.  Seal all cracks and opening as best as possible, use a barrier pesticide like Cyper WP, and clean up any strays with the BugZooka.

Cyper WP will kill all the stink bugs outside before they get in your house

 

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Bugzooka – The answer to your stink bug woes

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Stink BugLike most folks in the Mid-Atlantic states, our house has been infested with Stink Bugs. They first invade the home in early Fall, looking to find a warm place to hibernate through the Winter. Whenever a warm day appears, some will awaken, and crawl through your house looking to get back outdoors. These pests first arrived from Asia several years ago, and have quickly become a major nuisance. Our home is surrounded by Soybean fields, which is where the Stink Bugs love to spend their Summers.

Because there are so many of them. catching them is a very tedious process. To make matters worse, if they are scared, or you crush them when removing, you will get stunk! You can try to use a vacuum cleaner, however this quickly causes an unpleasant odor throughout your house. We resorted to catching in tissue and releasing outside still alive. This reduced the smell, but was time consuming and still resulted in stinky fingers.

I finally found the solution, the Bugzooka! I had tried several battery powered bug catchers, however they did not have a strong enough suction to reliably catch the tenacious stink bug. The Bugzooka is manually powered by large set of bellows at the end of the unit. You simply press them in until cocked. With a push of a button, the bellows expands and creates a strong vacuum that will catch almost an bug almost 100% of the time. The great thing about the Bugzooka is that it requires NO batteries, with a simply cocking of the device, you are ready to catch more bugs. The telescoping tube will allow you to reach stink bugs on the ceiling, top of walls, etc. No more mess, and also works on all other types of crawling insects as well.

In the first three minutes of using the Bugzooka, I caught over a dozen stink bugs. After turning it over to my kids, the rest of the house was de-stink-bugged within another 20 minutes. There was little odor, probably because th bugs are not actually killed. Simply unscrew the top, and dump the stink bugs outdoors.Bugzooka Stink Bug Catcher

If you are faced with a Stink Bug infestation, don’t wait, buy a Bugzooka today. You can click on the handy link below, and Amazon will have it to your door in just a few days.

 

BugZooka Bug Catcher: Get Stink bugs fast without all the mess!

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Return of Blue Meanie – HD Video on SmugMug

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

I have been a long-time user of SmugMug Photo service, they were the best when I first started to look for an online photo gallery, and they still are. For $40 a year, you get unlimited storage AND they store all of you original photos (no reduced image quality and resolution like free sites). A great new feature is their ability to store and play-back HD quality video. My wife and I bought a Sony HD camcorder a couple years back, and it is great to now be able to load them on to the Interwebs and have them viewable from anywhere. Here is a video we made of old Blue Meanie several years ago as he went after his dinner.

To see the above content in pure HD glory, click on the full screen button on the bottom right, and then pick HD On.

Some more SmugMug highlights:

* – Integrated sharing on Facebook, Twitter, via email and a growing list of other services
* – Mobile Apps for iPad, iPhone and Android
* – No ads or promotions surrounding your photos
* – We keep original, full resolution photos, unlike other sites
* – Full-screen slideshows and HD Video playback
* – Real, knowledgeable & friendly humans to answer your emails quickly
* – Add photos from Lightroom, Aperture, iPhoto, Picasa, and other popular programs

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Eastern Box Turtle – Terrapene Carolina – Time to come out of your shell

Friday, May 28, 2010
Eastern Box Turtle - Terrapene Carolina

Eastern Box Turtle - Terrapene Carolina - Time to come out of your shell

Ever have one of those days when you just want to stay snuggled under your covers and in bed all day.  Looks like this fellow feels the same way.

As these guys wander around, please do not be tempted to bring it in as a pet.  These turtles do not like to live in captivity, and will likely not live very long.  Keep them out in the wild and enjoy them in their native environment.  If they look hurt, or their shell is cracked, again, leave them alone.  These turtles do have the ability to regenerate their shell.

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Snakes on a Plane – Or at Least in my Backyard

Saturday, November 7, 2009

We have had several friendly snake visitors to our house the past few months.  While I often dismiss them as harmless, my wife is always concerned that we have poisonous rattlers roaming the yard.  I usually try to get a picture of each one so that I can try and make a positive identification.   Here are two of the most recent vipers.

This little guy appears to be a Eastern Ribbon Snake, Thamnophis sauritus.

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I believe that this is a Black Rat Snake (Elaphe obsoleta), although my wife is convinced that it is a Timber Rattlesnake (Crotalus horridus).  What do you think?

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Meerkats are the Cutest! Pandas are boring…

Thursday, August 27, 2009

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This Meerkat was a very curious creature when we visited him at the San Diego Zoo.   They have been made famous through the wildly popular show on The Discovery Channel, Meerkat Manor.   Meerkats live in colonies, and one or more meerkats always stand sentry.  As they watch over, the others go about foraging or playing.  If a predator is spotted, the sentry meerkat  gives a warning bark, and other members of the colony will run and hide in one of the many holes they have spread across their territory.  The San Diego Zoo has a huge exhibit, if you stop by, I am sure like me you will be mesmerized by these interesting animals.

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Some people find Panda’s interesting, but I honestly find them pretty boring.  Like this one, most just lay around and sleep.  Quite the life!


Zoobooks Magazine

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