This new handbook provides a full but concise guide to the key pest species that commonly infest historic houses, and solutions for dealing with them. It enables readers to spot signs of pest infestation, identify the pests responsible, suggest strategies for the removal of the pest and treatment options for infested items and structures, and give clear guidance on long-term strategies to prevent pests from returning. Includes a handy identification section with large, close-up photographs and strategies for prevention and treatment.
A witty and informative guide to nature in the home presented with vintage style. Today we live in snug, well-furnished houses surrounded by the trappings of a civilised life. But we are not alone – we suffer a constant stream of unwanted visitors. Our houses, our food, our belongings, our very existence are under constant attack from a host of invaders eager to take advantage of our shelter, our food stores and our tasty soft furnishings. From bats in the belfry to beetles in the cellar, moths in the wardrobe and mosquitoes in the bedroom, humans cannot escape the attentions of the animal kingdom. Nature may be red in tooth and claw, but when it's our blood the bedbugs are after, when it's our cereal bowl that's littered with mouse droppings, and when it's our favourite chair that collapses due to woodworm in the legs, it really brings it home the fact that we and our homes are part of nature too. This book represents a 21st century version of the classic Medieval bestiary. It poses questions such as where these animals came from, can we live with them, can we get rid of them, and should we? Written in Richard Jones's engaging style and with a funky-retro design, House Guests, House Pests will be a book to treasure.
From tenements to alleyways to latrines, twentieth-century American cities created spaces where pests flourished and people struggled for healthy living conditions. In Pests in the City, Dawn Day Biehler argues that the urban ecologies that supported pests were shaped not only by the physical features of cities but also by social inequalities, housing policies, and ideas about domestic space. Community activists and social reformers strived to control pests in cities such as Washington, DC, Chicago, Baltimore, New York, and Milwaukee, but such efforts fell short when authorities blamed families and neighborhood culture for infestations rather than attacking racial segregation or urban disinvestment. Pest-control campaigns tended to target public or private spaces, but pests and pesticides moved readily across the porous boundaries between homes and neighborhoods. This story of flies, bedbugs, cockroaches, and rats reveals that such creatures thrived on lax code enforcement and the marginalization of the poor, immigrants, and people of color. As Biehler shows, urban pests have remained a persistent problem at the intersection of public health, politics, and environmental justice, even amid promises of modernity and sustainability in American cities. Watch the trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GG9PFxLY7K4&feature=c4-overview&list=UUge4MONgLFncQ1w1C_BnHcw
This sequel to the authors' Ask the Bugman (2002) contains more valuable information on how to identify assorted insects and arthropods and the best ways to keep them out of your house, all presented with the wry humor that fans of Fagerlund's nationally distributed newspaper column have come to treasure. Fagerlund and Strange are proponents of Integrated Pest Management rather than the technique they label "Spray and Pray" used by most exterminating businesses. Anyone concerned about the health effects of pesticides will want to follow the useful advice in The Bugman on Bugs, including specific information on what kinds of substances and techniques work best for particular pests. p>In addition to illustrated chapters on roaches, ants, flies, spiders, centipedes and scorpions, fleas, lice, bed bugs, mice, termites, and other kinds of pests, the authors discuss human reactions to these creatures, turning their attention both to phobias and to the place of insects in our religious and spiritual lives. Amazing pest control tales are sprinkled throughout the book (have you thought about greasing your linens with hog lard to make yourself disgusting even to fleas?), as well as peculiar facts and even a recipe for sautéed termites.
Common Household Pests: A Homeowner's Guide to Detection and Control is a companion book to the very successful Termites and Borers: A Homeowner's Guide to Detection and Control (also written by Phillip Hadlington and Christine Marsden). It follows the same practical, plain-English approach that has made its companion so popular. This book explores non-chemical as well as chemical means of control; includes many practical 'what to do' sections; promotes strategies of prevention as a first measure to achieve control; answers common householder questions about domestic pests; and it helps people to identify harmless and useful insects and spiders, as well as the disease-spreading and dangerous ones.
Inspired by the still-revolutionary theories of Rachel Carson's "Silent Spring," McWilliams argues for a more harmonious and rational approach to people's relationship with insects, one that does not harm the environment and, consequently, ourselves along the way.
An updated edition of the most complete resource on backyard insects available This second edition of Garden Insects of North America solidifies its place as the most comprehensive guide to the common insects, mites, and other “bugs” found in the backyards and gardens of the United States and Canada. Featuring 3,300 full-color photos and concise, detailed text, this fully revised book covers the hundreds of species of insects and mites associated with fruits and vegetables, shade trees and shrubs, flowers and ornamental plants, and turfgrass—from aphids and bumble bees to leafhoppers and mealybugs to woollybears and yellowjacket wasps—and much more. This new edition also provides a greatly expanded treatment of common pollinators and flower visitors, the natural enemies of garden pests, and the earthworms, insects, and other arthropods that help with decomposing plant matter in the garden. Designed to help you easily identify what you find in the garden, the book is organized by where insects are most likely to be seen—on leaves, shoots, flowers, roots, or soil. Photos are included throughout the book, next to detailed descriptions of the insects and their associated plants. An indispensable guide to the natural microcosm in our backyards, Garden Insects of North America continues to be the definitive resource for amateur gardeners, insect lovers, and professional entomologists. Revised and expanded edition covers most of the insects, mites, and other “bugs” one may find in yards or gardens in the United States and Canada—all in one handy volume Features more than 3,300 full-color photos, more than twice the illustrations of the first edition Concise, informative text organized to help you easily identify insects and the plant injuries that they may cause
A natural history of the wilderness in our homes, from the microbes in our showers to the crickets in our basements Even when the floors are sparkling clean and the house seems silent, our domestic domain is wild beyond imagination. In Never Home Alone, biologist Rob Dunn introduces us to the nearly 200,000 species living with us in our own homes, from the Egyptian meal moths in our cupboards and camel crickets in our basements to the lactobacillus lounging on our kitchen counters. You are not alone. Yet, as we obsess over sterilizing our homes and separating our spaces from nature, we are unwittingly cultivating an entirely new playground for evolution. These changes are reshaping the organisms that live with us -- prompting some to become more dangerous, while undermining those species that benefit our bodies or help us keep more threatening organisms at bay. No one who reads this engrossing, revelatory book will look at their homes in the same way again.
