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5/19/2012 0 Comments

Venomous Spiders Exposed

Utah has three dangerous spiders, The Hobo, Black Widow and Yellow Sac Spider. The following bio is provided by www.hobospider.org by Darwin K. Vest from Eagle Rock Research.The following covers the identification, habitat and the bites of these spiders.

The Hobo Spider Identification: Light to medium brown color, thorax with 2 dark stripes and 1 inner light stripe, abdomen with light stripe down the mid line that is interrupted by light markings.

Habitat: Enters homes in late July to late October. Prefer floor or ground level habitats. Not good climbers, so they are rarely found high on walls or ceilings. They are commonly found in bathtubs, sinks and toilets.

Bites: Like a mosquito bite, but eventually turns into a slow-healing blister-like lesion which can be easily infected if not properly treated.

The Yellow Sac Spider Identification: Pale yellow to green in color, legs and abdominal mid line is slightly darker.

Habitat: Located indoors year round, but mostly in early autumn when food is limited to cooler temperatures. Indoors, they build a silken sac in upper corners of ceilings and rest during the day.

Bites: Typically results in slight burning sensation, some swelling may occur but is usually gone in 24-48 hours.

The Black Widow Identification:Black color all over the body, but most easily recognized by red hour-glass like shape on abdomen underside.

Habitat: Indoors year-round, also outdoors. They are usually found in seldom disturbed areas of the garage, or crawl-space. Build web that is typically 12 inches in diameter. Outside, they commonly live in protected areas like rock piles.

Bites: The female is the threat of this species. The bite is not always felt but can be identified by slight swelling with 2 tiny red dots. Pain is immediate, but subsides after 24-48 hours. Bites are rarely fatal when treated. Symptoms include increased body temperature, high blood pressure, sweating and nausea.

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5/6/2012 0 Comments

The Northern Pocket Gophers

Utah has two species of Pocket Gophers, the Northern Pocket Gopher and the Botta (southern and central Utah) Gopher. Gophers have a poor vision which is compensated by other senses such as hearing, smell, and touch.

Gopher damage can be identified mostly by the soil mounds they leave behind as evidence of the tunneling system under your yard. The mounds are shaped like a semi-circle and the entrance is sealed with a soil plug. The tunnels below the surface range from 4-18 inches deep and they are interconnected. The damage caused by a single Pocket Gopher can be enormous. A single gopher will create 300 mounds in their lifetime, moving 4 tons of soil from location to location.

Gophers are active year round. In the winter months they tunnel through the snow. They eat only plant materials such as grass & Alfalfa. Dandelion roots are especially their favorite snack.

The Utah State University's Plant Pest Diagnostic lab gives some excellent tips that home owners can do to protect their yard from gophers:

Remove all Alfalfa and Dandelion roots from your yard. Taking away the food supply will minimize the amount of gopher population.
Place a mesh (1/4-1/2 inch) fence buried 18 inches below the surface around your gardens to protect your flowers.
Rotating crops with a grain crop on the perimeter of the home. The roots from the grain crops will not produce suffecient food supplies for gophers to survive year round.
Flooding the gopher mounds will drown them underneath the surface.
Strychnine Alkaloid bait application from a qualified licensed techninican. (We use this product!!)

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Venomous Spiders Exposed

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