Learn more about common problems and issues homeowners face with a nuisance wildlife issue. Some are simply nuisances and annoy people by gathering in large numbers, while others are considered problematic because they instill fear.
Many insects carry diseases and contaminate stores of human food. Others consume and tunnel in wood causing costly structural damage. Biting and stinging insects, as the title would imply, are pests because they inflict painful bites or stings. While this category is far-reaching, the most common species of biting and stinging pests include harvester and imported fire ants, mosquitoes, brown recluse and common house spiders, bed bugs, and fleas.
In addition to biting and stinging, many of these insects spread deadly diseases. Ants have six legs, segmented bodies, antennae, and are reddish-black to black in color. Mosquitoes are tiny and delicate looking.
They have two wings and long, slender proboscis, or mouthparts used for penetrating skin and feeding on blood. Spiders have eight legs, uniquely arranged eyes, identifying patterns on their backs, and range in color from black and brown to tan and yellow.
Bed bugs are tiny, flat, and appear reddish. Finally, fleas are microscopic, reddish-brown, and have piercing-sucking mouthparts. Harvester ants, imported fire ants, and brown recluse spiders typically need moisture and relatively warm climates to survive and are prominent in the southern United States. Species of ants build tunnel systems underground in yards and parks, as well as in rotten logs, the walls of buildings, and under sidewalks. Mosquitoes must live around sources of standing water.
