Dealing With Desert Pests

There are several types of insects that make up our desert gardens. Here are a few:

Harvester Ants: During the day these ants search the desert for vegetation and plant seeds, and carry it along back to their nest. These ants live in an anthill, a large pile of excavated gravel or dirt. They discard the waste from their food, such as seed coverings, around their entrance. The normal growth size of these ants is about half-inch in length. They are capable of delivering a bite or a sting which can be very painful.

Horse Lubber Grasshoppers: These grasshoppers are commonly seen in late summer. They take little effort to hide, unlike their grasshopper cousins. Their normal growth size is 3 inches or more. The two, strong, back legs of such grasshoppers have a row of long, sharp spines that can give severe scratches.

Blister Beetles: This beetle is named after its ability to exude a liquid from its joints that causes severe blisters on the skin. It is mostly colorful and innocent looking, but the cleverest among all insects. A typical blister beetle can have an elongated and pliable body. The normal growth size ranges from half-inch to 1½ inches in length. It consists of 'Cantharidin', which is a toxic chemical compound and can poison domestic animals.

Walking Sticks: They are one of the most fascinating insects found in the desert. There are many species of walking sticks. They are slow-moving and strange-looking insects that feed on plants. They are well-known for their camouflage ability and become almost invisible to predators. They are also known as witch's horse, devil's horse, devil's darning needle, and specter. Their sex ratio is very unbalanced, only one in 1,000 walking sticks is a male. Their size can vary from half-inch to 13 inches. Their color is usually brown, green, and gray. They remain motionless, especially during the day.

Black Widow Spider: It is considered to be the most venomous spider in North America. Its venom is 15X more poisonous than that of a Prairie rattlesnake. Only the female is harmful to humans. The female, at times, kill and eat the male after mating. They live in rocks, plants, debris or ledges. Their normal growth size is 1 inch to 1½ inches. Their life span can be up to three years.

Scorpions: They are eight-legged invertebrates with an extended body and an erectile tail that ends with the 'telson' (the sting). There are approximately 1,300 known species of scorpions in the world. The normal length of scorpions is between 2 to 3 inches. The longest scorpion in the world is the African Scorpion that can grow up to eight inches. There is a greater diversity (about 60 species) of scorpions in California and Arizona. They hide in logs, cracks, rocks, and burrows. Many scorpions in AZ and CA glow under a black light. It's hard to get rid of scorpions, bug spray doesn't really penetrate their hard shell. Grab a black light, put on some hiking boots and collect them from their nests at sundown.