I did a side-by-side test of the effectiveness of the Rescue Disposable Fly Trap and a Chinese knock-off. The difference is almost shocking: the Chinese fly traps captured just a tiny fraction of what the Rescue traps did. This video shows the results after one week. I have both versions of these traps placed all around the property, and the results are the same: the Chinese traps capture few flies, while the Rescue traps end up being packed solid with flies. It could be 100 to one, or more, in the catch effectiveness. There is no question that the Rescue fly trap’s attractant is far superior to that provided by the Chinese company.

Plus, the Rescue traps have the attractant built into the unit, so you just add water, and the plastic holding the attractant dissolves. You have to cut open the Chinese trap’s attractant and pour it in, and you invariably get it on your hands.

What matters most is how well the trap works, and the Rescue has the Chinese knock-off beat by a factor that is probably 100 times.

Steve Deaver, of Foothill-Sierra Pest Control, used the Arbor Systems tree injection system to inject Pointer insecticide into a number of elm trees suffering from a massive attack of elm leaf beetles. He started the injections at about 6:30 am. This video was taken about two hours later. You can see the elm leaf beetle larvae raining down. The kill was fast. If left unchecked, elm leaf beetles can kill fully mature elm trees. Steve rules!

Job done in San Andreas, 31 July 2019.

While checking for mosquitoes in Jolly’s Pond, in Columbia, I saw several large aggregations of Sierran tree frog polliwogs. I’d not seen this before.

There were no mosquitoes, but thousands of frog larvae.

25 April 2019

Here is a video of an earthworm crawling up a stucco wall. I have seen this a few times, and finally caught it on video. Rainy evening, 28 March 2019.

Steve Deaver took this video of a severe carpenter ant infestation at a  home in MiWuk Village. 31 May 2018.

This roof rat was eating a decorative pumpkin. In the second section, we see im carrying off a Contrac rodent bait place pack, and that was the last time we saw him. Video recorded early March 2018, Columbia California.

This inchworm was collected by Jon Shattuck, Sonora California, 20 February 2018.

Common eumenid wasps are beneficial, as they hunt oakworms, saving our oak trees from defoliation. But people still do not like them in their homes. Here is a video showing the wasps, unable to re-enter the wall voids, after we caulked the entry points. Each of these wasps is carrying an oakworm. The white caulk will dry clear. Columbia California, 23 May 2017.

These videos, by Rob Hecocks, show boxelder bugs mating. 17 March 2017, Murphys California.

The rapidly rising water levels at New Melones is flooding southern fire ant nests.

Notice that Maggie Beck is pulling out a small submerged filaree that has a ball of southern fire ants attached: the ants were under water!

Video and photos taken 12 March 2017 by Maggie Beck, near Tuttletown.