• Cockroaches have been on earth for a very long time somewhere around 350 million years! There are a variety of species, they’re very adaptable and reproduce very fast.
   
• Most species prefer to live in moist, dark places.
   
• Cockroaches are omnivorous, which means that they tend to eat whatever they can find. This is one reason why they have become so successful.
   
• Cockroaches produce egg cases, or oothecae, for their young to mature in. Once the eggs inside the egg case hatch, the young cockroaches (nymphs) will break open the egg case and emerge.

Termites

• Pale-colored, soft-bodied social insects with equal-sized wings. They live primarily in underground colonies.
   
• Termite colonies consist of:
        a. Primary reproductive - Function of reproducing and laying eggs
        b. Secondary reproductive
        c. Soldiers – defend the colony / nest from invaders
        d. Workers – forage for food and feed their nutrients to the rest of the colony
   
• Colony sizes are variable and can easily reach over one million termites

Rodents
 

• Rodents, primarily rats, and mice, are a public health threat. They are known to carry diseases – most notably hantavirus.
   
• Rodents can transmit these diseases by contaminating our food supply. They can also damage structures through their gnawing or chewing. Rats can chew through wood, aluminum, cement and sheet rock. They can gnaw through plumbing pipes to gain access to water – rats must drink water on a daily basis to obtain water through their food source. Rats usual have a preference for certain foods, but are provided with numerous food sources by humans.
   
• Rats are most active shortly after sunset and before dawn. Rats and mice have vision that is adapted for nighttime. They are color blind, but can differentiate between various shades. They have hairs on their body that are attached to sensory nerves that help them to sense their environment. Hearing is well-developed enabling rodents to hear in sonic and ultrasonic ranges.

Spiders
 

• Spiders are arachnids and have two body segments, eight legs, no antennae and a pair of chelicerae, or fangs.
   
• Spiders are actually beneficial since they eat insects and other arthropods.
• All spiders have poison glands, but not all of their poisons react with our body chemistry in such a way that is detrimental to our health. A non-poisonous spider may bite people and reddening and swelling may occur.
   
• Poisonous spiders that are located in this area are the black widow and brown recluse.

Ants
 

• Ants are social insects. They live in colonies and have a caste system consisting of
        a) Queen – lays the eggs
        b) Workers – tend the young, build and repair the nest, forage for food and defend the colony from   invaders
        c) Immature
        d) Males – these are “produced” at times for mating with reproductive females
   
• Ants are related to wasps and bees. They have a pinched waist and elbowed antennae. They also may have a modified ovipositor, or stinger. The stinger is attached to a poison gland and can allow the ant to inject venom. Ants will use the stinger in defense of the colony.
   
• Ants are primarily beneficial insects – they help to recycle decaying organic matter. Ants also feed on pest insects.

Carpenter Ants
 

• Carpenter ants are fairly large ants ranging form ¼ to ¾ of an inch in length. They can be colored black, red or a mixture of the two.
   
• This ant specie nests primarily under rocks, in tree holes or in insect-damaged wood. Carpenter ants create smooth galleries in wood that has been damaged by fungi or insects.
   
• A carpenter ant colony may have several satellite nests consisting of workers, mature larvae, pupae and winged alates. New colonies are formed by nuptial flights.

Bees & Wasps

• Bees and wasps are actually beneficial social insects
   
• Bees have fuzzy / hairy bodies; wasps don’t. Bees feed on pollen and nectar from flowers. Wasps usually feed on other insects or spiders.
   
• Bees can only sting one time because they have a barbed stinger, which pulls out the stinger, poison gland and guts. Wasps are able to sting repeatedly since they do not have a barbed stinger.