The average airspeed of the common housefly is 7.24 kilometres per hour. A housefly beats its wings about 20,000 times per minute.
The animal responsible for the most human deaths worldwide is the mosquito.
The animal with the largest brain in proportion to its size is the ant.
The average bee can travel up to 17.7 kilometres per hour.
House flies, on average, live for only two weeks.
The life expectancy of a queen bee is 6 years, a worker bee wears out its wings within 6 months, and a drone survives just 8 weeks.
Some spiders can travel up to 1. 88 kilometres per hour.
The caterpillar has more than 2,000 muscles.
The fastest insect on record that has been reliably measured is the Australian dragon fly, which has a top speed of around 57 km/h.
The fastest snail is the ordinary garden snail. This snail could race along at 0.05 kilometres per hour.
The honeybee kills more people each year world-wide, than venomous snakes.
There is in excess of 5 million different species of insects in the world. The insect population of the world is at least 1,000,000,000,000,000,000. The weight of the world’s insect population exceeds that of humankind by a factor of twelve.
A group of Caterpillars is an army of caterpillars.
A group of Rattlesnakes is a rhumba of rattlesnakes.
Yet, group of Vipers is a nest of vipers.
A snail can sleep for 3 years.
A dragonfly has a life span of 24 hours.
A cockroach can live nine days without its head before it starves to death.
The most dangerous ant in the world is the Australian Bulldog Ant, (which is up to 4 centimeters long!). Believed to be responsible for at least three deaths.
You’re more likely to get stung by a bee on a windy day that in any other weather.
Mosquitos have teeth.
Cockroaches’ favourite food is the glue on envelopes and on the back of postage stamps.
A pregnant goldfish is called a twit.
Crickets hear through their knees.
German cockroaches are not really German. The Germans refer to them as Prussian, however they are thought to have originated in Southern Asia.
Cockroaches are known assassins of bed bugs.
There are over 4000 different species of cockroaches worldwide.
A cockroach that has just shed its skeleton is white with black eyes. After eight hours, it has regained its regular colouring.
Cockroaches spend 75% of their time just resting.
In some parts of the world, roaches are profitably raised for chicken feed. (Could this be one of the secret herbs and spices ?)
The fastest recorded speed measured for the American cockroach is nearly 2 miles per hour, or nearly 75 centimetres per second! In the absolute sense, this is a much slower speed than many vertebrates are able to attain. In relation to body size, however, it is remarkably fast. If speed were increased proportionally, an American cockroach the size of a lion could run about 50 miles per hour.
Actually, some of these “facts’ should be taken with a grain of salt.
My experience tells me that almost any food is a favourite to cockroaches,and I am not entirely convinced about roaches living for days without a head.
Perhaps just another urban myth.
JD
WOW! This info is amazing…. thanks for the great trivia!
on 13 Dec 2008 at 6:41 pm3James - Rid Pest Control
Hi
Last week we had a bird lice problem.
I called a well know firm, and they sent out two people to inspect our home.
I had called to
a. Remove the birds as the constant chirping prevents our 12 month old getting off to sleep.
b, Removing the nesting material
c. Destroying the lice
d. Blocking up the entry points so no further birds can get in.
One of the two men entered the roof throygh the man hole. He was only carrying a torch
He came out carrying a some grass, feathers and twigs, that he said was the nest.
He also said that he had treated the lice with a “dust”
On coming down from the ladder, he carried the nest through my home and put it in the garbage bin. It wasnt in a bag and he managed to spread more lice throughout the entire house. resulting in us itching in almost every room.
They refused to block the entry points, claiming that it was not neccessary, and that if they did, it would possibly trap birds in the roof, and that was illegal.
They charged me $450 and left.
Is this a reasonable price to carry out some nests and put them in the garbage?
I might add they left a side gate wide open, and that had the potential to allow out our 3 year old, onto a main and busy road.
Have I been overcharged? Is it illegal to block up entry points, and have we got any come back on the firm?
It has now been around ten days,since they did the joband we still itch. Although the noise is less, we can still hear twittering in the roof.
Hoping you can give me some good advice.
Cheryl
on 13 Dec 2008 at 7:17 pm4James - Rid Pest Control
The above letter was sent as an email, not to the blog site.
It’s topical so here is my reply.
Hi Cheryl
First, off, I don’t like knocking other pest controllers, as it is not good value to do so, and in most cases, I have not had an opportunity to see the job. They may be correct,there may be no just cause to pan them (at least in some respects).
It isn’t a case of pest controllers sticking together, just difficult, if not impossible to comment specifically on your job.
The best advice I can offer for the future, is to select a firm that is smaller. Some will argue with this view, however, usually it will be an owner/operator who can not afford to offend and upset clients. The object is to keep you happy, to do the job you ask, and charge a price that is fair, and comensuate with the time taken and the material used.
That way, you will remember them and call them again, and, possibly tell family and friends. In my case, if I need a plumber or a washing machine repairer et; I call someone small and very local. It’s good if they are busy too, and you have to wait a couple of days. That can be a good sign.
Next, when making the initial call, ensure that you get a quote to do the job. In this case, the firm would need to come out and inspect. There may be a charge, but in most cases it will be free, or relatively small.
Then, tell them exactly what you expect, and get them to give you the quote in writing with the functions to be carried out and a total price. Nothing hidden, no taxes to add ons.
Spreading mites, and nesting material throughout the house would not be a best industry practice. ( I scratch just thinking about it)
More likely it should have been contained in a very large plastic garden bag and disposed of back at their business premises. That is not to say they have done anything wrong, but perhaps could have been done better.
Then, I have not seen the man hole nor the space they had to work in.
Ten days after treatment, you should reasonably expect some dramatic relief from irritation. It can take up to 20 days for all the lice to die, however within a week the interior of the house should be clear.
My advice is to call them back, tell them there is still discomfort etc; and bird noises from the roof, and dont forget to mention the gate being left open. The reminder might just save a life.
It is possible that with the nests vacated, a new batch of birds has taken up residence in the roof.
May have been best to leave all but one hole unblocked to allow any trapped birds to escape and leave someone to keep watch. When all is clear, then block up the last hole. (Only has to be rolled up mesh).
It will not be unreasonable to call them back, and it should be at no cost to you.
If you get an unsatisfactory result, your best option would be to lodge a formal complaint with Dept. of Fair Trading in NSW.
Hope this helps
JD
Actually, some of these “facts’ should be taken with a grain of salt.
My experience tells me that almost any food is a favourite to cockroaches,and I am not entirely convinced about roaches living for days without a head.
Perhaps just another urban myth.
JD
WOW! This info is amazing…. thanks for the great trivia!
Hi
Last week we had a bird lice problem.
I called a well know firm, and they sent out two people to inspect our home.
I had called to
a. Remove the birds as the constant chirping prevents our 12 month old getting off to sleep.
b, Removing the nesting material
c. Destroying the lice
d. Blocking up the entry points so no further birds can get in.
One of the two men entered the roof throygh the man hole. He was only carrying a torch
He came out carrying a some grass, feathers and twigs, that he said was the nest.
He also said that he had treated the lice with a “dust”
On coming down from the ladder, he carried the nest through my home and put it in the garbage bin. It wasnt in a bag and he managed to spread more lice throughout the entire house. resulting in us itching in almost every room.
They refused to block the entry points, claiming that it was not neccessary, and that if they did, it would possibly trap birds in the roof, and that was illegal.
They charged me $450 and left.
Is this a reasonable price to carry out some nests and put them in the garbage?
I might add they left a side gate wide open, and that had the potential to allow out our 3 year old, onto a main and busy road.
Have I been overcharged? Is it illegal to block up entry points, and have we got any come back on the firm?
It has now been around ten days,since they did the joband we still itch. Although the noise is less, we can still hear twittering in the roof.
Hoping you can give me some good advice.
Cheryl
The above letter was sent as an email, not to the blog site.
It’s topical so here is my reply.
Hi Cheryl
First, off, I don’t like knocking other pest controllers, as it is not good value to do so, and in most cases, I have not had an opportunity to see the job. They may be correct,there may be no just cause to pan them (at least in some respects).
It isn’t a case of pest controllers sticking together, just difficult, if not impossible to comment specifically on your job.
The best advice I can offer for the future, is to select a firm that is smaller. Some will argue with this view, however, usually it will be an owner/operator who can not afford to offend and upset clients. The object is to keep you happy, to do the job you ask, and charge a price that is fair, and comensuate with the time taken and the material used.
That way, you will remember them and call them again, and, possibly tell family and friends. In my case, if I need a plumber or a washing machine repairer et; I call someone small and very local. It’s good if they are busy too, and you have to wait a couple of days. That can be a good sign.
Next, when making the initial call, ensure that you get a quote to do the job. In this case, the firm would need to come out and inspect. There may be a charge, but in most cases it will be free, or relatively small.
Then, tell them exactly what you expect, and get them to give you the quote in writing with the functions to be carried out and a total price. Nothing hidden, no taxes to add ons.
Spreading mites, and nesting material throughout the house would not be a best industry practice. ( I scratch just thinking about it)
More likely it should have been contained in a very large plastic garden bag and disposed of back at their business premises. That is not to say they have done anything wrong, but perhaps could have been done better.
Then, I have not seen the man hole nor the space they had to work in.
Ten days after treatment, you should reasonably expect some dramatic relief from irritation. It can take up to 20 days for all the lice to die, however within a week the interior of the house should be clear.
My advice is to call them back, tell them there is still discomfort etc; and bird noises from the roof, and dont forget to mention the gate being left open. The reminder might just save a life.
It is possible that with the nests vacated, a new batch of birds has taken up residence in the roof.
May have been best to leave all but one hole unblocked to allow any trapped birds to escape and leave someone to keep watch. When all is clear, then block up the last hole. (Only has to be rolled up mesh).
It will not be unreasonable to call them back, and it should be at no cost to you.
If you get an unsatisfactory result, your best option would be to lodge a formal complaint with Dept. of Fair Trading in NSW.
Hope this helps
JD