Pest History

How Do Ant Colonies Work?

close up of ants crawling on dirt

Whether you’re dealing with an ant infestation in your home or on your lawn—or you’re simply observing ants on the hunt for food—you might have wondered at some point: how do ant colonies work? Like humans, ants are social creatures; they live and work together in large, family-like communities called colonies, and each individual ant…

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Insect Trivia: Origins of the Phrase “Bit by the Love Bug”

insect trivia

At Vulcan Termite & Pest Control, we love insects! That might sound odd coming from a business that gets rid of bugs, but we find them fascinating and love learning new things about them. That’s why our pest control methods include respect for the environment and a certified entomologist.  One thing we love to do…

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5 Surprising Facts About Lightning Bugs

lightning bugs

If you’re from the South, you probably have vivid memories of running around barefoot in the dewy grass on warm summer nights––catching glimmering, shining, lightning bugs. Also known as fireflies, lightning bugs can light up the night with their neon glow. But what actually makes them “glow?”  Read on to learn more about lightning bugs,…

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How to Get Kudzu Bugs Under Control When They’re Out of Control

They’re back. We’re not referencing the iconic scene from Poltergeist, though the problem could be just as frightening. The kudzu bugs are everywhere in Alabama again this year. The pests are hitching rides on vehicles, clothing and anything else they can land on. If you live in the Heart of Dixie you’ve probably started to…

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Mosquitoes Part 1

  Many people think that the mosquito-borne disease malaria is cordoned-off in Africa. Ain’t necessarily so. We get this from Public Broadcasting: “For the men leading the Panama Canal project in 1904, challenges of building the canal were exacerbated by the infectious diseases that ran rampant in the hot, wet Panamanian climate. By 1906, more…

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The White House and its Bug Problems

Recently, there’s been a lot in the news about The White House and the bugging of phone conversations. We’re not going to get into that here. In this case, we’re going to look at the people’s house from a real bug angle. For instance, back in 1998, subterranean termites were found in The West Wing.…

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Fun Facts for Kids About Bugs

Kids, especially young boys, seem to have a thing about bugs. Maybe it’s because they’re so into dinosaurs. After all, insects — the non-biting kinds — look so otherworldly. Sure, there’s the errant child who enjoys burning ants with a magnifying glass, but most young ones love what we used to call “creepy crawlies.” Wanna…

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How did Bed Bugs Get to the New World

That’s another thing the Europeans thrust on the Natives of this fair land. Before the explorers came to North America, there were no such things as bed bugs biting the people who lived here before we dropped in. Thank the early colonists. When you go back and read the history of our invasions, there were…

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