Wacky Pest Wednesday: Stick Bugs
Happy Wednesday, Tri-County Pest Control fans, and welcome to our latest edition of Wacky Pest Wednesday. Today we invite you to join us as we cover a fun critter that you’ll probably see in these mid and late summer months: the stick bug!
Stick bugs, also known as stick insects, are fascinating critters that tend to hang around the exterior of your home. During the day they may appear motionless and still, trying their best to blend in with the surrounding environment. Yet at night, they become much more active and will make a happy meal out of most of the plants around your home. Despite this, stick bugs are the furthest thing from a pest, as most of the plants that they eat are weeds and should they even wander into your home they pose no threat to you or your family.
Do you know why a stick bug looks like a…well…stick? The answer is as simple as adaptation, as posing as a stick has enabled the stick bug to evade so many different predators throughout their thousands of years of existence. Not only do they look like a stick, but they act like one, too, swaying in the wind just like a stick would! If that wasn’t wacky enough, stick bugs have the capability to release an awful-smelling scent to ward off any predators should they feel threatened. To make things even wackier, stick bugs can also manually break off any of their appendages if they’re caught by a predator to give them a chance to escape, but it’s not all that bad as they can easily grow back later on.
When you think about it, stick bugs aren’t much of a pest overall, but rather a pretty neat critter to see around your home. However, not every insect out there is the same way, so should you see some other critters around your home we encourage you to give us a call—we’ll come over in no time to check it out.
Have a great Wednesday!