AG1156 Household Pest and Rodent Control Classification 2 Training Manual Cooperative Extension Service University of Arkansas, United States Department of Agriculture and County Governments Cooperating Household Pest and Rodent Control Edited by Dr. John D. Hopkins, Professor and Extension Urban Entomologist, University of Arkansas Cooperative Extension Service. Contributors Dr. John D. Hopkins, Professor and Extension Urban Entomologist, University of Arkansas Cooperative Extension Service. Dr. Becky McPeake, Professor and Extension Specialist-Wildlife, University of Arkansas Cooperative Extension Service. Preface This manual provides information for the Arkansas commercial pesticide applicator wishing to become certified in Household Pest and Rodent Control – Classification 2. To become a certified applicator in this category, a candidate must pass both a general standards exam and pass an examination based primarily on the material presented in this manual and (Circular 6) Arkansas Pest Control Law (Act 488 of 1975, as amended). Information covered in the general standards examination is contained in “A Guide for Private and Commercial Applicators: Applying Pesticides Correctly.” Refer to (Circular 6) Arkansas Pest Control Law (Act 488 of 1975, as amended) for specific requirements. The Arkansas State Plant Board administers the examinations. Up-to-date study materials can be obtained from the Arkansas State Plant Board, #1 Natural Resources Drive (P. O. Box 1069), Little Rock, AR 72203-1069, phone (501) 225-1598. Additional study information may be obtained from the University of Arkansas Cooperative Extension Service, the pesticide label, current publications on the subject, pesticide distributors and manufacturers. Acknowledgments Information accumulates from direct observations, scientific literature and anecdotes from others. Information from these sources blurs together quickly, and consequently, unique ideas are rare in society. Credit for sources of information on urban pest control and management must go to: Land grant university Extension and research workers, most entomologists, who pioneered this work, those who kept training and research alive during the period when the success of synthetic organic pesticides preempted nearly all but control evaluations from the 1940s to the 1960s, and those who persist today; pest control industry workers who held training sessions nationally, regionally and locally where information was disseminated among the experienced and provided to the inexperienced; Environmental Protection Agency personnel who molded modern training and influenced the need for national uniformity in training requirements; state regulatory personnel who cooperated with universities and industry and who strongly emphasized the importance of training; and the few textbook authors in the United States and England who compiled the reference data in the understandable and usable form that allows urban pest management practitioners to be professionals. Portions of this manual have been adapted from commercial applicator certification training manuals for general pest control developed by the Oklahoma Cooperative Extension Service, Division of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources, Oklahoma State University; Texas Agricultural Extension Service, the Texas A&M University System; and University of Nebraska Cooperative Extension, University of Nebraska- Lincoln. Also, special thanks go to Dr. Jim T. Criswell and Dr. Melinda Crockett, Oklahoma State University, Oklahoma Cooperative Extensive Service; Dr. Don L. Renchie (Texas Cooperative Extension) and Dr. Grady J. Glenn (Center for Urban and Structural Entomology), Texas A&M University System; Dr. Clyde L. Ogg, Extension Educator-Pesticide Education, University of Nebraska Cooperative Extension; and Dr. Eugene Wood, Department of Entomology, University of Maryland for their assistance in preparation of this training material. Special thanks goes to Florida Cooperative Extension Service for use of portions of their manual including photographic representations. Specific acknowledgments should go to biological illustrators who graphically render pest and beneficial animals where photographs fail; A. D. Cushman, Dean of USDA illustrators, S. H. Debord, A. B. Wright, Joseph Papp, C. J. Stojanovich and H. G. Scott provided many illustrations for this manual as did many anonymous illustrators whose work was stripped of identification through the decades of public use. Table of Contents Page Page Introduction . 1 Vertebrate Pests . 67 Expectations of a General Pest Bats . 67 Control Applicator . 1 Birds . 69 How Insects Affect Man . 1 House Mice . 76 Moles . 85 General Insect Pests . 3 Norway and Roof Rats . 86 Cockroaches . 3 Skunks . 95 Ants. 11 Snakes . 96 Flies . 23 Tree Squirrels . 98 Stinging and Biting Arthropods. 27 Equipment and Application Bees and Wasps . 27 Techniques . 100 Mosquitoes . 31 Equipment Sprayers. 100 Fleas. 32 Space Treating Equipment . 103 Ticks . 33 Bedbugs . 35 Using Pesticides Safely . 107 Lice . 36 Label Information . 107 Scorpions . 37 Safety Procedures . 108 Spiders . 37 Equipment Use and Maintenance . 109 Application . 110 Fabric Pests . 39 Carpet Beetles . 39 Pesticides, Groundwater, and Clothes Moths . 42 Endangered Species . 114 Pesticides and Groundwater . 114 Endangered Species . 117 Stored Product Pests . 44 Birds . 44 Rodents . 45 Selected References and Fungi and Other Microorganisms. 46 Study Material. 119 Insects . 46 Beetles . 47 Glossary. 122 Moths . 49 Mites . 52 Occasional Invaders . 57 Mites . 57 Insects . 58 Silverfish and Firebrats. 58 Centipedes and Millipedes . 59 Springtails. 59 Earwigs. 60 Crickets. 60 Booklice . 62 Ground Beetles . 62 Boxelder Bug . 63 Elm Leaf Beetle . 63 Sowbugs and Pillbugs . 64 Entomophobia . 65 Introduction For centuries man has fought insects as pests, Learning Objectives: carriers of disease and destroyers of his food. This combat will continue, for humans have never After completion of the Introduction, the eradicated a single species. Today, many of the most trainee should be able to: important species are showing increasing resistance to insecticides. Consequently, other methods of • Know what is expected of you as a control, either alone or in combination with General Pest Control Applicator. insecticides, are necessary. • Know how insects transmit human disease. Insects are often thought of as man’s most formidable competitors. Not only do they damage crops, but insects such as flies, fleas, lice and mosquitoes directly attack man and domesticated Expectations of a General animals. Others attack indirectly by transmitting Pest Control Applicator dangerous diseases to man and animals. Applicators must demonstrate a practical knowledge of a wide variety of pests, including Transmission of Human Disease their life cycles, types of formulations appropriate Although insect bites or stings occasionally for their control, and methods of application that cause severe illness or are fatal to humans and avoid contamination of food, damage and contami­ animals, their disease-laden saliva or contaminated nation of habitat and exposure of people and pets. bodies are responsible for many illnesses or deaths Since human exposure, including babies, children, over the world. pregnant women, and elderly people, is frequently a potential problem, applicators must demonstrate Mechanical or passive transmission of practical knowledge of the specific factors that may disease occurs, for example, when the housefly lead to a hazardous condition, including continuous merely transports organisms – such as dysentery exposure in the various situations encountered in bacteria on its feet, body hairs and other surfaces – this category. Because health related pest control from filth to humans. Other examples include cock­ could involve outdoor applications, applicators roaches and vinegar gnats that visit sewers and liq­ must also demonstrate practical knowledge of uid excrement and then move to human habitations. environmental conditions, particularly related to this activity. Biological transmission of disease occurs when an insect, such as the bedbug I or flea, mite or How Insects Affect Man tick, is essential for the completion of the life cycle of the disease or parasite. Certain Anopheles Insects have a long history through many mosquitoes, for example, are essential carriers and geological periods. They appeared in the world long vectors of the malaria parasite. This parasite under­ before man; yet insect fossils from coal, amber and goes a portion of its life cycle in the Anopheles limestone deposits differ little from their present- carrier and another portion in the human host. day descendants of 250 million years. As man appeared on earth and changed, his parasites and Disease is also transmitted through the pests evolved with him. host-vector relationship. Such transmission is often further complicated by more than just the direct Over 750,000 species of true insects have carrier of the disease from one host to another. already been described, and it is estimated that we Some other hosts called “reservoirs” are not affected have about 20,000 to 30,000 species of insects in by the disease but are able to perpetuate the disease Arkansas. Arkansas also has hundreds of thousands organism by providing safe harborage for the of species of mites, ticks and other close relatives disease organism. Some birds, for example, are of insects. reservoirs of mosquito-borne encephalitis 1 (sometimes called