K9 Household Pests

Household Pests

What are Household Pests?

• Insects or animals that can cause destruction to property and affect human health
• Examples: spread disease by stinging or biting, spread disease-causing bacteria through the house

Termites

Characteristics

• Social insects living in colonies
• Each colony contains specialized castes: reproductives, workers, and soldiers
• Reproductive castes: King and Queen
  • Function: mating and laying eggs
  • Life span of Queen: ~30 years

Castes

• Workers:
  • Function: doing most of the work in the colony
  • Tasks: building mud tubes and tunnels, foraging for food, constructing and maintaining nests, caring for eggs and young
  • Characteristics: sterile, wingless, and blind
  • Life span: 1-5 years
• Soldiers:
  • Function: defending the colony from intruders
  • Characteristics: sterile, wingless, and blind
  • Life span: 1-2 years

Specializations

• Protozoa in the digestive tract allow termites to digest cellulose
• Worker caste gives protozoa to nymphs through regurgitation
• Exchange of protozoa among termites is done through proctodeal nutrition

Food Preferences

• Wood with high moisture content (e.g., sapwood) with high sugar and starch content
• Targeted foods: almost all wood, except for some types of wood (e.g., hardwood, cengal, meranti, rosewood), books, fiberboard, and fabrics containing cotton and plant fibers

Swarming Termites

• Winged adults come out of the nest in a mass to find a mate and start a new colony
• Process called "swarming"

Classification of Termites

• Classified into: tree dwelling, damp wood, dry wood, and subterranean termites
• In conservation of buildings and monuments, and in museums, dry wood and subterranean termites are of principal significance

Subterranean and Dry Wood Termites

• Subterranean termites:
  • Live in the ground or in mud tubes
  • Need moisture from the soil to survive
  • Daytime swarmers
  • Soldier caste has mandibles without "teeth" and a narrower prothorax than the head
  • Colonies develop faster, reaching maturity in around 2 years
• Dry wood termites:
  • Live in the wood, especially in attic framing
  • Live in the air and don't need much humidity
  • Nighttime swarmers
  • Soldier caste has mandibles with "teeth" and a prothorax as wide as the head
  • Colonies develop much slower, taking up to 5 years to reach maturity

Damages Caused by Termites

• Subterranean termites:
  • Galleries are smooth and follow the wood grain
  • Require high humidity
  • Leave traces of soil and sand on the gallery as a tunnel base or food cellulose material
• Dry wood termites:
  • Infestation is visible from the outside
  • Galleries do not form a tunnel and can cross the wood grain
  • Require only 3% humidity to survive
  • Presence can be detected by sawdust on the underside of the wood they infest

Life Cycle

• Incomplete metamorphosis
• Eggs: protected by workers and queen, gestation ~30 days
• Nymphs: soft, white, and immature termites in their larval stage
• Molt several times as they mature into one of the three termite castes, depending on the needs of the colony and determined by pheromones released by the queen

Preventions for Termites

• Remove all wood, including roots, when developing an area for housing
• Treat soil, house, and furniture wood with insecticide
• Conduct annual inspections
• Fumigation using sulfuryl-fluoride (Vikane) or methyl-bromide gas is the most effective way to control termites

Cockroaches

Characteristics

• Most prevalent in homes
• Contaminate food with pathogens indirectly
• Difficult to control
• Nocturnal, sensitive to light, most active after 3 hours after dark
• Spend 75% of their time hiding

Habitats

• Damp and dark places, such as:
  • Under the sink
  • Drains
  • Sewers
  • Electrical boxes
  • Under the refrigerator

Life Cycle

• Oviparous, with eggs growing outside of the mother's body
• Female carries the ootheca at the end of the abdomen for a few days before depositing it in an appropriate area
• Nymphs undergo several molts, with the time differing between species and biotic factors

Types of Cockroaches

• Periplaneta americana (House/American Cockroach):
  • Reddish-brown in color
  • Recognized by a single line on the posterior side of the pronotum
  • Adults are 35-40 mm in size
  • Long life span
  • Females can produce around 50 oothecae, each containing 15 eggs
• Blatella germanica (German Cockroach):
  • Prevalent in restaurants and hotels
  • Adults are only 2 cm in size
  • Has 2 longitudinal stripes on the pronotum
  • Females carry the ootheca at the end of the abdomen until it is ready to hatch
  • Females can produce 4-8 oothecae, each containing 40 eggs

Control of Cockroaches

• Sanitation: sweeping the floor and covering the trash can/bind the trash with plastic before going to bed
• Insecticides: sprays or powders can control cockroach populations, with bait being an alternative option
• Areas to be controlled: cockroach habitats

Ants

Characteristics

• Belong to the Hymenoptera order
• Commonly infest homes in Malaysia: House ants and Site ants
• Controlled not only as a nuisance but also because they cause a poisonous bite
• Holometabolous and omnivorous type of metamorphosis

Ant Colony

• Ant society with 3 castes: Queen, Male, and workers
• Queen: sheds her wings after mating with the male, can live for several years and will be replaced by a daughter queen
• Male: function is only to mate with a new queen, after which it will die
• Workers: sterile females who build, repair, and defend the nest

Differences between Ants and Termites

• Ants:
  • Elbowed antennae
  • Very narrow waist (constricted)
  • Front wings larger than hind wings
  • No sperm
  • Diet: moisture and sweets
• Termites:
  • Straight and bead-like antennae
  • Broad waist
  • Equal-sized front and hind wings
  • Sperm present
  • Diet: wood

This quiz covers common household pests that can cause destruction to property and affect human health. Learn about termites, cockroaches, ants, and more!