In Maine, there are many common house bugs that can seek shelter and food inside your home. What are the common house bugs in Maine and what can you do to prevent them?
By reading this article, you will discover what the most common house bugs in Maine are. You will also discover which bugs you should get rid of quickly and which are safe to let live alongside you. Towards the end of the article, we have also included tips on how to prevent unwanted bugs from entering houses and apartments.
Common House Bugs in Maine
Like all states in the US, Maine has a wide variety of bugs that range from useful to nuisance to potentially dangerous or destructive.
1. Ants
Ants may be tiny but they can become a major nuisance since they live in large colonies. Ants are found in all parts of Maine. While different species will have different colorings and come in different sizes, all ants have three body parts: head, thorax, and abdomen.
Common ants in Kentucky include the carpenter ant, the European fire ant, and the pavement ant. Most ants in Maine are nuisance ants, but some, like the carpenter ant, damage wooden structures. All ants can also carry diseases into your home.
2. Bed Bugs
Bed bugs are tiny insects that feed on the blood of warm-blooded animals, especially humans. Adult bed bugs are 5-7 mm long. Most bed bug species are active feeding at night and waking up feeling itchy may be a sign of bed bugs in your bedding. While their bites can leave you itching, they are not dangerous and do not transmit diseases.
There are many ways bed bugs get into your home. Often, they stick to your clothing or enter your luggage while traveling. When inside your home, they will seek a suitable place to feed and multiply. Despite the name bedbug, their habitat is not limited to mattresses. They can also live in any soft furnishings, wall cavities, and floor spaces.
3. Beetles
There are several beetle species that are common in Maine, including flour beetles, multicolored Asian lady beetles, larder beetles, grain beetles, carpet beetles, and powderpost beetles. Despite the name, the lesser mealworm is also a type of beetle found in Maine. All these bugs with oval-shaped bodies and wings are harmless to people but not your property.
For example, the powderpost beetle larvae can cause similar damage to wooden structures as termites when they create tunnels inside the wood. The larvae of carpet beetles will feed on foods in your kitchen but also on your clothes and linens and a larder beetle can work its way through drywall and wood to get to a food source.
4. Clothes Moths
As the name suggests, clothes moths feed on fabrics, such as your clothes. However, it is not the adult moth that will damage your clothes but its larvae. The female moth will lay eggs on materials such as wool, fur, and feathers, which the larvae will feed on as it grows.
A clothes moth is not a danger to people or animals. However, the larvae may leave your clothes full of holes as they use their mouthparts to chew on the fabric. When the larvae have matured, it stops feeding and finds somewhere to pupate. Another common moth is the Indian meal moth, but instead of clothes, eat feeds on your food.
5. Earwigs
Earwigs can be found in all corners of Maine. In fact, they can live in almost any climate, except the Arctic. Often you could be living with earwigs for a long time before you notice anything since they are nocturnal animals that hide during the day.
They often live in perennial flowers, feeding on pollen and dead insects so an earwig could enter your home with cut flowers. Having earwigs in your home is not necessarily a bad thing since they eat other insects that feed on plants and can protect your indoor plants. They are also harmless to humans even if their pincers look fierce.
6. Flies
There are different types of flies that may enter your home including cluster flies, fruit flies, and vinegar flies, which are members of the fruit fly family. While fruit and vinegar flies are more likely to enter your home attracted to a food source, cluster flies will come indoors to find shelter when the weather cools down in the autumn.
Flies are not dangerous pests, more of a nuisance when you hear cluster flies buzzing around or see a swarm of fruit flies around your fruit bowl. If you have cluster flies inside your home, you don’t need to worry about them breeding. However, fruit flies will breed quickly, which is why when you have seen one, you suddenly see dozens.
7. Pseudoscorpions
The pseudoscorpions look like scorpions but are smaller and do not have tails. Unlike the real scorpions, they are also completely harmless. Having pseudoscorpions around can be useful since they will help to keep your house free of other small creatures.
In Maine, there are dozens of species of pseudoscorpions, which each have their unique characteristics. While a pseudoscorpion has venom in its pincers, it cannot hurt a human. Instead, it uses venom to kill its prey, which includes ants, mites, small flies, booklice, and moth larvae.
8. Larger Pests
Rats, mice, squirrels, skunks, snakes, woodpeckers, pigeons, and raccoons clearly are not bugs but they are common pests in Maine. Some of these can be dangerous to both people and property. Some are venomous, others carry diseases or damage your property.
While it is possible to handle and dispose of rodents and many other of these pests yourself, you may prefer to contact your local pest control to ensure it is done properly. If you are getting rid of them yourself, wear protective clothing to protect yourself from the diseases dead animals can transmit.
9. Stinging Insects
There are different types of stinging insects that you can find in your home. Some of them, such as bees, will not sting you unless they feel threatened. Even some types of wasps, such as mud daubers or paper wasps are not aggressive and will usually not sting you without feeling threatened.
However, there are other wasps that are aggressive and can sting you multiple times. These include hornets and yellow jackets. While in some people, bee or wasp stings will only cause mild discomfort, in others, they can cause a life-threatening allergic reaction.
10. Ticks
Ticks, which are arachnids, are a concern in Maine because they spread diseases such as Lyme disease and babesiosis. Because of the high-risk diseases ticks can spread, you should always take precautions when spending time outdoors and check yourself, your kids, and your pets before entering the house.
Ticks are a seasonal issue in Maine. You will usually encounter them from April until October but this can vary depending on how soon the weather warms up in the spring and cools down in the autumn.
11. Occasional Invaders in Maine
The term occasional invaders is used to describe pets that may enter your home periodically. These are usually nuisance pests and are not harmful to you or your property. Bugs in this category include the boxelder bug, springtails, fungus gnats, clover mites, Western conifer seed bug, and millipede.
Getting Rid of Pests
How you deal with pests depends on the type of pest. Some are safe and easy to get rid of using shop-bought or homemade traps. However, in some cases, such as a wasp nest, it could be best to contact a professional. Before capturing a raccoon, check the policy of the state of Maine on what it says about trapping or killing raccoons.
In addition to traps, you can use pesticides on bugs. Ensure you always follow the label directions when using them. Some people may not like to have a reliance on pesticides because of the chemicals in them and prefer to make their own bug sprays. May DIY bug sprays can be used to either kill or prevent bugs.
Preventing Pests in Maine
While it may not be possible to stop all pests, you can reduce the chances of them entering your home. Throw away any uneaten food as quickly as possible and keep your bins covered. Before the bug season, schedule an inspection of your home and deal with cracks and crevices they can use to enter or live in.
You can also make bug-repelling sprays using natural oils such as lavender, citrus, or mint. Electric rodent repellents can help keep rats and mice away. Don’t leave water or drink outside during the night as they can attract all sorts of pests.
Conclusion
There are many common house bugs in Maine that may seek to enter your home either temporarily for shelter during colder months or more permanently. Some of these pests will be harmless, while others can be destructive or dangerous. Always assess how to deal with the pests carefully and consult a professional if necessary.