Running through the sprinklers, playing fetch, water fights. These are the hallmarks of family backyard fun during the summer. Your backyard may be your kids’ and pets’ favorite place to be this season, but is it safe? Infestations of dangerous backyard pests may ruin your summer fun if you let them. BrockStar Pest Services can help keep your children and pets safe in the Austin, Dripping Springs, Round Rock, Buda/Kyle areas with preventative pest services. Read on to learn more about what you should know about dangerous backyard pests.
The warm, humid weather brings out kissing bugs, mosquitos, ticks, and fire ants, all of which love these conditions. These pests can cause disease and serious health risks. According to the CDC, illness from mosquitos and ticks alone has more than tripled since 2004.
Dangerous Backyard Pest #1: Kissing Bugs
The kissing bug’s name sounds positively friendly; however, this insect’s bite can be deadly for those with compromised or undeveloped immune systems, such as human babies, puppies, and kittens. Several varieties thrive in Texas, and their appearance is quite varied. The one feature they have in common is their pointed snout, which looks like a cone.
They earned the name “kissing bug” because the blood-sucking insects prefer to bite humans and mammals, such as dogs, around the mouth. Although their bites are painless, kissing bugs can be dangerous. A research team from Texas A&M University estimates that 55% of kissing bugs are infected with the Trypanosoma cruzi parasite, which if they are also infected with it, causes mammals to develop Chagas disease. The insects don’t carry the parasite in their saliva; instead, they carry it in their digestive systems. That means you can get infected from simply being around the bugs’ feces. Dogs can get infected by eating them. In its initial phase, the parasite can cause fever, tiredness, body aches, rash, diarrhea, or vomiting. As the effects move into the chronic stage, people can experience heart problems or other long-term symptoms.
Dangerous Backyard Pest #2: Mosquitos
Texas is home to 85 different varieties of mosquitos. They’re plentiful in the Lone Star state, and according to the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension, “Mosquitos affect the health of people and animals more than any other insect pest worldwide.” Female mosquitos may carry and transmit diseases such as malaria, yellow fever, and dengue. They can also carry the Zika virus, which was a large concern in 2016-17 due to the birth defects the virus can cause.
Mosquitos can also cause serious health concerns for pets. They are particularly vulnerable to heartworm disease, which is present anywhere mosquitos are found. When female mosquitos bite, they can infect a dog with the larvae of heartworm. The heartworms survive by feeding on your dog’s blood, and, eventually, they settle in the pet’s blood vessels. When they reach maturity, they migrate to your pet’s heart, where they can weaken the lining of the heart, increase blood pressure, and cause the heart to enlarge which leads to cardiac dysfunction — and, in the worst cases, even death.
Dangerous Backyard Pest #3: Fire Ants
Fire ant stings can be painful. If you’ve felt one, you know they can cause sharp pain, intense itching, and hive-like bumps at the bite site. For most people, these are short-lived symptoms that are nothing more than a nuisance. However, children and pets can develop more severe reactions. They may experience all-over hives and face swelling, and some children and pets may progress into anaphylaxis, which causes difficulty breathing and swallowing, and low blood pressure from collapsing blood vessels. Although this only occurs in one to two percent of kids and a small number of pets, the severity of the reaction is enough to cause concern.
Dangerous Backyard Pest #4: Ticks
Several varieties of ticks live in Texas, including tropical horse ticks, cattle ticks, southern cattle ticks, winter ticks, and spinose ear ticks. When these blood-suckers latch on, they aren’t just drinking your blood. They may also be passing on harmful bacteria that can cause Lyme disease in children and pets.
According to the CDC, Lyme disease is a growing infectious disease and is the leading insect-borne illness in the U.S. Bacterial infections from spirochete Borrelia burgdorferi cause Lyme disease, which can affect all parts of the body and have varied symptoms based on who is infected with it. The disease can cause everything from headache and muscle aches to neurological systems such as the paralysis of the facial muscles, heart problems, and extremity numbness.
Ticks can also infect dogs and cats with Lyme disease. When infected, pets may suffer from fever, joint swelling, and lameness. The mercurial disease may cause signs to appear, die down, then flare up again years after the initial infection.
How BrockStar Pest Services Can Help
BrockStar has been keeping it local since 2012, so we’ve been there and seen that. We can create a comprehensive pest control plan to rid your home and yard of dangerous backyard pests now and prevent future infestations. Call to schedule service, 512-800-0437.
