Ehrlich Pest Control's Top Five Creepy Pests this Halloween Season

Five nightmare-inducing pests

READING, Pa., Oct. 24, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- With Halloween rapidly approaching, people are gearing up to present their scariest costumes and scenes. Few things can cause a person's heart to skip a beat like a slithering, crawling pest. As part of this year's spooky season, Ehrlich Pest Control compiled a list of its top five nightmare-inducing pests.

Thomas Dobrinska, a board-certified entomologist for Ehrlich Pest Control, provided his five creepiest pests for this Halloween season.

Top five pests to watch out for this Halloween season:

1. Triatomine "kissing" bug: This nocturnal pest feeds on the blood of almost anything with a pulse. Birds, reptiles and people are all on the menu. Once a host is bitten, the kissing bug defecates near the bite, causing the victim to scratch and get the feces into the wound. This process could transmit Chagas disease. Often Chagas disease has mild symptoms at first, but in later years, can create serious health trouble such as heart disease.  Although found mostly in Central and South America, this bug has been seen as far north as Ohio and Pennsylvania.
   
   
2. Scorpionfly: Imagine a scorpion with wings. This particular insect looks like something created for a science fiction horror movie. Fortunately for people, this is one insect that is playing dress-up and means no harm. Scorpionflies are helpful to the environment by feasting on decaying plant material. This pest is not considered a structural pest.
   
   
3. House centipede: With up to 15 pairs of barbed legs to hold prey, most people do not enjoy finding a house centipede slithering across the floor. This pest is yellowish-brown with three dark stripes along the top of the body, and unlike many other common centipedes, house centipedes are not flattened top to bottom and can move frantically quick. This pest does have poison glands, but biting humans is rare and usually results in localized pain that subsides over time.
   
   
4. Wheel bug: Not the scariest name, but the way this bug consumes its prey is horror movie-worthy. The wheel bug likes to capture and feed on other bugs, bees, flies and caterpillars. Prey is captured with a quick stab of the assassin bug's long mouthparts. After being immobilized by a paralyzing toxin, the prey's body fluids are drawn through the bug's straw-like mouthparts. The bite is immediately and intensely painful for people. This is the largest of the 150 or more species of assassin insects known from North America. Its name comes from a cog-like crest protruding from the top of the body's thorax, or middle section.
   
   
5. Puss caterpillar: This furry creature may resemble "Cousin Itt," but is not nearly as nice. The puss caterpillar boasts a soft, furry exterior but underneath the fluff there are poisonous barbs that induce significant pain. The stings vary from person to person, but the pain is generally described as an intense burning sensation. Occasionally, the reaction is more severe, causing swelling, nausea and difficulty breathing.

For more information, visit Ehrlich at jcehrlich.com.

ABOUT EHRLICH PEST CONTROL
For nearly a century, customers have trusted Ehrlich Pest Control to protect their families, homes and businesses from pests and the health threats and damages they can cause.

Since its founding in Reading, PA in 1928, Ehrlich has expanded to serve across the United States, with more than 50 offices serving nearly 20 states and the District of Columbia. With its team of highly trained, local experts, Ehrlich provides proactive pest control solutions through monitoring, prevention, and maintenance. Those solutions include general pest control, rodent, termite, bed bug, mosquito, wildlife management, and TAP (thermal, acoustical, pest control) insulation services, and more. Ehrlich is part of Rentokil, the world's largest pest control company. Rentokil and its companies, including Florida Pest Control, Western Exterminator and Presto-X Pest Control, provide commercial and residential pest control to customers in the United States and Canada.

For more information, visit Ehrlich at jcehrlich.com and connect on LinkedIn or Facebook.

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SOURCE Ehrlich Pest Control