Quad City Times, IA
07-03-06
Questions of summer: Earwigs, slime and ducks
By Alma Gaul
Editor’s note: It’s been one of those summers. Everyday, it seems, readers have
questions about things they’re encountering in their homes and gardens. Today
we’re presenting the questions and answers we’ve been able to track down.
What’s with these disgusting earwigs?
Q: Could you give us some information on those nasty earwigs? I never saw any
outdoors until last year, when they swarmed around my flower pots for moisture.
Then, they moved into my basement and liked to surprise me by hiding in a
damp washcloth. Disgusting! I finally had to have an exterminator. Where did
they come from all of a sudden? Strange that I had not seen them in 60 some
years and now they are invading. — Anita, Wilton, Iowa
A: Anita, you are not alone in your disgust. Earwigs have been around for a long
time, but they are especially prevalent this summer. They are a hard, flattened,
reddish-brown insect that grows up to about an inch long with forceps-like
pincers in the back.
It’s those pincers that tend to freak people out. That, and their great numbers,
and the old tale that they crawl into your ears while you’re sleeping and bore into
your brain! There’s no truth to that one.
Sweep them up and throw them outside. Also try spraying the outside of your
home —around doors, windows and any openings — with a “barrier” spray
available at grocery and hardware stores.
Will slime grow in my house?
Q: I have a huge growing problem in my front mulch — slime mold! It has spread
to several large areas. Until I figured out what it was, I was poking, prodding,
hosing and otherwise completely releasing the spores into the air and right into
the front windows of my home. Can it grow in my house? How can I get rid of
this? — Jody, Davenport
A: We can see why you’re distressed, Jody. Slime molds can be common on
mulch or on low-lying vegetation, especially after rains or after watering in warm,
humid weather.
They start out bright and slimy — usually yellow or orange! — and take up an
area from several inches to more than a foot. The slimy stage eventually dries
and the organism develops into a colorful structure filled with dark, dusty spores.
Slime molds don’t cause plant disease, and happily they are a temporary
nuisance. Chemical controls aren’t necessary, and they won’t grow inside your
home, according to Iowa State University Extension.
Let them run their course. You can collect them and throw them away or simply
break them up with vigorous raking.
Who will care for an injured duck?
Q: Do you know anybody who would take a duck in my yard that can’t fly? It’s a
female mallard, and she’s in my swimming pool. Her wing just hangs there. I
called Ducks Unlimited, and they referred me to a wildlife rehabilitator who said
she thought the duck should be euthanized. I don’t want to do that. — Wilda,
Bettendorf
A: Wilda, this is a tough one.
While some areas of the country have tax-supported wildlife rescue agencies
giving residents one telephone number to call, in the Quad-Cities there is a long
list of agencies and individuals that may or may not be able to help — police
departments; conservation officers of the state departments of natural resources;
veterinarians; humane societies; and private, licensed wildlife rehabilitators.
Luckily, you answered your own question — in 10 days you found a home for
“Miss Harriet” at the rural Geneseo, Ill., home of one of your co-workers, Marlisa
Dwyer. Your friend’s domestic ducks there are showing Miss Harriet the ropes,
and she appears to be healing, even though she will never fly.
What to do with orphaned bunnies?
Q: I found a nest of bunnies in my yard, and the mother is nowhere around.
Should I try to raise them myself? — Many people, Quad-Cities
A: No, no! Cover the nest with grass and fluff and leave the babies alone. Just
because you don’t see the mother doesn’t mean she isn’t around. Mother rabbits
feed their young only once or twice a day, generally at dusk. To hang out at a
nest in daylight would simply invite predators, Vera Blevins, a wildlife rehabilitator
from Davenport, said.
“People jump to conclusions and think the animals need to be rescued,” Anne
Sullivan a rehabilitator from Rock Island, added. “They don’t need to be rescued.”
And it is absolutely not true that mother animals or birds will ignore their young if
they have a human scent. Human scent doesn’t matter, Jim Pease, wildlife
specialist for Iowa State University Extension, said.
Q: What are these things weighing down the ends of my ash tree branches? —
Various, Quad-Cities
A: These things are called ash galls. The phenomenon occurs when a mite (a
type of arachnid, the same class as ticks and spiders) feeds on the male flowers
of the ash tree, and the plant reacts by producing this tissue, Duane Gissel, Iowa
State University Scott County horticulturist, says.
This phenomenon was more prevalent than usual this spring —maybe the trees
were flowering more; maybe there were more mites. There’s nothing to be done
about them, Gissel says.
Some people are noticing the galls for the first time because their trees have just
reached the age when they are beginning to flower, he explains.
Galls turn brown and hang on through the summer, looking bad. They also hang
on through winter, and this is when even more people notice them because their
trees are otherwise bare. The galls can even remain through the following spring
when the trees are otherwise leafed out in green.
Or, you can make new nest
Q: I found a fledgling bird on my lawn. What should I do with it?
A: Young birds that have fallen out of a nest can be put back in the nest if it’s
within reach. It’s absolutely not true that mother animals or birds will ignore their
young if they have a human scent, Jim Pease, wildlife specialist for Iowa State
University Extension, said. Birds can’t even smell.
If the nest is not within reach, just leave the bird alone and the mother will care
for it on the ground the best she can. If you have a dog, keep it on a leash until
the bird can fly.
Or, for more protection, make a substitute nest. Take a margarine tub of about
the same size as the nest, line it with paper towels (tissues are too thin), poke
holes in the bottom for drainage and nail it to a tree up off the ground where the
mother can reach it, Susan Allison, a wildlife rehabilitator in Moline, said.
Nuisance animals
Q: How can I get rid of that raccoon in my garage?
A: If there is a critter in your yard or garage that you’d like to get rid of,
sometimes you can encourage it to leave on its own with loud music, lights
and/or streamers — anything that disturbs it, Vera Blevins, wildlife rehabilitator,
said.
You also can call a wildlife removal service, listed under “animal control” in the
Yellow Pages of the telephone book.
Or, you also can live-trap the animal yourself, although you first are supposed to
get permission from your Department of Natural Resources conservation officer.
Stunned birds
Q: A bird flew into my picture window and appears unable to fly now. What
should I do with it?
A: Give it time! Birds that fly into windows and fall to the ground usually recover.
“They’re stunned and sometimes it can take an hour or so for them to come
around,” Pam Arndt, executive director of the Humane Society of Scott County,
said.
Dead deer
Q: I hit a deer on the highway. Now what?
A: If you hit a deer and it dies, you should call the local law enforcement authority
— police, sheriff or highway patrol — to report the incident, said Ed Kocal,
conservation officer for the Iowa Department of Natural Resources assigned to
Scott County
.
If the deer is still alive and in obvious pain, local law enforcement personnel can
destroy the animal, representatives of area police departments, said.
If you want the deer for its meat, you are required to get permission and a tag
through the police or a conservation officer before you can remove it, Kocal said.
If unclaimed, deer hit on rural roads generally are pulled into the ditch where they
are out of sight and allowed to rot because the state does not have the resources
to collect and dispose of the thousands of deer that are killed every year, Kocal
said.
If the deer is killed in an urban setting where decomposition is offensive and a
hazard, the state highway department or the city will dispose of the animal, police
representatives said.
How about mouse traps?
Q: Rabbits are eating my plants, and squirrels seem to be tearing flowers out of
my pots just for the fun of it. What to do? — Various, Quad-Cities
A: A secure fence is one solution for rabbits. And recently two Quad-City
gardeners phoned the Times with their own solutions.
For rabbits, Sue Laimans of Bettendorf has had good luck this year with a
product called Plantskydd. “It’s been working great for us,” she says. “We put it
on once and it’s supposed to last up to six months. I’ve taken the cages and
fences off my prized perennials.”
The active ingredient in Plantskydd is blood meal with a vegetable oil binder to
get it to stick to plants. It works by emitting an odor that animals associate with
predator activity, scaring the animal away before they nibble.
Jim Pease, wildlife specialist with the Iowa State University Extension
Service, Ames, has some discouraging comments on this product, though.
He says most such repellents — human hair, predator urine and bath soap etc.
— all work for a short period of time
“if used strategically and if the animals aren’t too hungry, and then they’ll ignore it
and eat the plants anyway.”
His advice is to mix up your repellants, never using any particular one for too
long, and consider a fence or a dog.
For more on Plantskydd, visit the Web site www.plantskydd.com/PlantskyddDeer-Repellent.html.
As for squirrels, Barb Sandberg of Moline says her husband Dick began using
mouse traps last fall with some success. The traps don’t actually catch the
squirrels, they just snap shut, scaring the critters away.
“Off they go,” Barb says of the squirrels. “It’s worth a try.”
Just be careful of children and pets.