- Author: Saoimanu Sope
Living with pests, or “unwanted guests” as some put it, can take a physical, mental and economic toll. For people living in multi-family unit housing, like an apartment complex where everyone lives under one roof, a single infestation of insects or rodents can expose all residents.
Using integrated pest management, or IPM, residents and property managers can detect infestations early and control severe ones and protect people. IPM programs can also save money. IPM saved a 75-unit complex in Contra Costa County $11,121 annually. Similarly, in Santa Clara County, a 59-unit complex saved $1,321 on pest control annually after implementing a proactive IPM program.
This summer, regional directors, property managers, residential service coordinators, maintenance managers and groundskeepers of Mercy Housing – a nonprofit organization that provides affordable, low-income housing – gathered in Long Beach to learn about in-home IPM. The session was led by Siavash Taravati, University of California Cooperative Extension area IPM advisor for Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino Counties, and
Josh Shoemaker, an entomologist and private consultant.
Taravati and Shoemaker collaborated with StopPests in Housing, a national program out of Cornell University's Northeastern IPM Center, which seeks to improve pest control in affordable housing and teach management practices for cockroaches, bed bugs and rodents within and around the home.
During their presentation, Taravati introduced participants to the IPM principles and emphasized the importance of monitoring pests.
“IPM is all about making informed decisions which requires knowing the latest status of an infestation,” explained Taravati. “That's where monitoring comes into play. It can help us to identify the exact species we are dealing with as well as telling us if an infestation is growing or shrinking.”
“Monitoring is foundational,” agreed Shoemaker. “If a program does not include monitoring, it's not an IPM program.”
According to Shoemaker, the benefit of partnering with UC IPM is their sharp focus on general IPM, which includes monitoring. “It's real IPM, that prioritizes the well-being of the public,” said Shoemaker, who's eager to continue working with Cooperative Extension and Taravati to ensure that children are growing up in safe environments.
Pest control treatments commonly take place following a serious infestation or several complaints, but IPM promotes constant monitoring to prevent heavy infestations from ever happening. It's a proactive approach rather than a reactive or emergency-response. For many attendees, the training revealed a need to engage with pest management operators more closely.
Training prompts changes that improve safety for residents
Pest management operators commonly use pesticide sprays to control pests. Besides inconveniencing residents, forcing them to do extensive preparations and evacuate their unit until it's safe to return, sprays increase exposure risk to pesticides since the aerosols can linger and land on surfaces.
Instead, Taravati and Shoemaker recommend using gel baits, which are much safer to apply and can target a specific area of a home, including crevices, instead of along all the walls.
“Now that I'm more informed, I'll be speaking to my contractor to discuss how we can switch their approach from a bug spray to a gel,” said Leonardo Pinuelas, a maintenance manager for Mercy Housing.
Pinuelas is not the only one wanting to modify their program, however. According to feedback from staff members at the Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles who experienced the same training earlier this year, they prompted their team to amend their pest extermination to include dusting, or applying insecticidal dusts, against roaches, and to review and update their existing IPM plan and practices where appropriate.
Cindy Wise, area director of operations for Mercy Housing, said that in her 35 years, this was one of the few trainings that engaged her staff so actively. “I couldn't help but text my regional vice president to say that our managers were actively participating and asking questions. That doesn't happen often, not even in our own meetings,” said Wise.
Many of the attendees, with their new understanding of how cockroaches move through a structure, shared that they are eager to return to work to meet with residents and support them.
“If you've got roaches in one unit, you've got them in the entire building,” Wise said.
Shoemaker recalls the words of Judy Black, senior technical entomologist for Orkin, and Dini Miller, entomologist at Virginia Tech, who urge the importance of inspections and documentation as IPM best practices.
Although reporting pests in the home can make one feel embarrassed, Wise said she is more interested in making residents feel empowered to not only report signs of infestation to the staff, but to their neighbors.
Training residents is certainly beneficial, but as experts such as Black and Miller have pointed out, housing managers must do their part, instead of scapegoating tenants for their cleaning habits.
StopPests provides free IPM training and technical assistance to Housing and Urban Development assisted properties. If you are interested in the training provided by Taravati and Shoemaker, in collaboration with StopPests, visit StopPests.org for more information.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
It was a great day to get acquainted with insects and arachnids and learn how to raise them.
And the nearly 300 visitors did just that at the recent UC Davis Bohart Museum of Entomology open house, "Arthropod Husbandry: Raising Insects for Research and Fun." The guests held the critters, photographed them, and asked questions of the scientists.
At first they didn't see the praying mantids reared by entomologist and UC Davis alumnus Lohit Garikipati. They were there, all right, but camouflaged amid the leaves and branches.
The five species of mantids Garikipati displayed included a tropical shield praying mantis, Choeradodis stalii, also known as a hooded mantis or leaf mantis, and a spiny flower praying mantis, Pseudocreobotra wahlbergii.
UC Davis entomology student Andrew Goffinet, a former UC Davis Bio Boot Camper, discussed rearing butterflies and moths. He showed the visitors a display of Gulf Fritillaries, caterpillars and a chrysalis.
Entomology alumnus Nicole Tam, showed her beetle-mimicking roaches and talked about rearing insects in the Geoffrey Attardo lab. Doctoral student and Bohart associate Ziad Khouri explained how to rear tarantulas and millipedes. Entomology student Ben Maples kept the crowd interested with the "hissers"--Madagascar hissing cockroaches.
Jeff Smith, who curates the Lepidoptera section, and naturalist Greg Kareofelas, opened the drawers of butterflies and moths. Entomology student Ian Clark staffed the family crafts activity, assisting youngsters in making decorated finger puppets from Seker-donated silkworm cocoons.
Entomologist Ann Kao, a 2019 UC Davis graduate and newly employed by the California Department of Food and Agriculture, crafted and displayed her insect jewelry.
Tabatha Yang, educational and outreach coordinator, coordinated the open house. The Bohart crew also included Bohart associates Emma Cluff, James Heydon, Brennen Dyer and Xiaofan Yang.
Special guests included 40 students from the Samuel Jackson Middle School and the James Rutter Middle School, Elk Grove Unified School District, in a program offering special educational opportunities and mentoring. The youths wore t-shirts lettered with "The Power of Us" on the front, and "Resilient, Authentic, Passionate" on the back.
The Bohart Museum, directed by Lynn Kimsey, UC Davis professor of entomology, houses a global collection of nearly eight million specimens. It is also the home of the seventh largest insect collection in North America, and the California Insect Survey, a storehouse of the insect biodiversity. Noted entomologist Richard M. Bohart (1913-2007) founded the museum.
In addition to the specimens, the Bohart Museum maintains a live "petting zoo," featuring Madagascar hissing cockroaches, walking sticks or stick insects and tarantulas. The museum's gift shop, open year around, is stocked with T-shirts, sweatshirts, books, jewelry, posters, insect-collecting equipment and insect-themed candy.
More information on the Bohart Museum is available on the website at http://bohart.ucdavis.edu or by contacting (530) 752-0493 or bmuseum@ucdavis.edu.
![A tropical praying mantis, Choeradodis stalii: camouflaged. Lohit Garikipati displayed five of his female praying mantids. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey) A tropical praying mantis, Choeradodis stalii: camouflaged. Lohit Garikipati displayed five of his female praying mantids. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)](/blogs/blogcore/blogfiles/64531.jpg)
![Middle school students from the Elk Grove Unified School District talk to praying mantis expert Lohit Garikipati, a UC Davis alumnus who rears mantids. In back is Bohart associate Emma Cluff. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey) Middle school students from the Elk Grove Unified School District talk to praying mantis expert Lohit Garikipati, a UC Davis alumnus who rears mantids. In back is Bohart associate Emma Cluff. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)](/blogs/blogcore/blogfiles/64532.jpg)
![Doctoral student and Bohart associate Ziad Khouri talks to visitors about tarantulas and millipedes. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey) Doctoral student and Bohart associate Ziad Khouri talks to visitors about tarantulas and millipedes. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)](/blogs/blogcore/blogfiles/64533.jpg)
![Bohart associate Greg Kareofelas explains the moth and butterfly collection to a group of Elk Grove middle students. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey) Bohart associate Greg Kareofelas explains the moth and butterfly collection to a group of Elk Grove middle students. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)](/blogs/blogcore/blogfiles/64534.jpg)
![Entomology alumnus Nicole Tam talks about her beetle-mimicking roaches. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey) Entomology alumnus Nicole Tam talks about her beetle-mimicking roaches. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)](/blogs/blogcore/blogfiles/64535.jpg)
![Entomology student Ian Clark staffs the family crafts activity, which involved decorating silkworm cocoons for finger puppets. In back are silkworm moth expert İsmail Şeker and UC Davis entomology student Andrew Goffinet. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey) Entomology student Ian Clark staffs the family crafts activity, which involved decorating silkworm cocoons for finger puppets. In back are silkworm moth expert İsmail Şeker and UC Davis entomology student Andrew Goffinet. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)](/blogs/blogcore/blogfiles/64536.jpg)
![Entomology student Ben Maples shows a Madagascar hissing cockroach. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Gavey) Entomology student Ben Maples shows a Madagascar hissing cockroach. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Gavey)](/blogs/blogcore/blogfiles/64537.jpg)
![A Bohart Museum of Entomolgoy visitor gets acquainted with an Australian walking stick. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey) A Bohart Museum of Entomolgoy visitor gets acquainted with an Australian walking stick. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)](/blogs/blogcore/blogfiles/64538.jpg)
![Entomologist Jeff Smith, who curates the Lepitoptera section, awaits visitors. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey) Entomologist Jeff Smith, who curates the Lepitoptera section, awaits visitors. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)](/blogs/blogcore/blogfiles/64541.jpg)
![Entomologist Ann Kao, a 2019 UC Davis graduate who now works at the California Department of Food and Agriculture, crafts insect jewelry. At right is one of the t-shirts from the gift shop. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey) Entomologist Ann Kao, a 2019 UC Davis graduate who now works at the California Department of Food and Agriculture, crafts insect jewelry. At right is one of the t-shirts from the gift shop. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)](/blogs/blogcore/blogfiles/64542.jpg)