Real Bats Eat Bugs

Vampire bats latch on to people and suck their blood. Fact or fiction? Definitely not true. Unlike our friend above, Count Dracula, vampire bats do not latch on and suck blood, nor do they turn animals –

or people – into vampires. Nor, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, do most bats have rabies. Bats are, in fact quite timid and usually ignore humans.

There are 900-1,000 species of bats classified in about 200 genera and 17 families. They range in size from a wingspread of over 5 ft. to less than 2 in. Bats are the only mammals that can fly. The wing is actually a double membrane of skin stretched between the elongated bones of four fingers and extending along the body from the forelimbs to the hind limbs and from there to the tail.

What’s Behind Two Fleas?

A canine flea collar commercial currently running on television asks the question: What’s behind two fleas? Answer: The next generation. A female flea can lay hundreds of eggs on your pet, ensuring that its work will be carried on by generations to come.

One Flea 400 Bites

A single flea can bite your cat or dog more than 400 times. During the day, the flea can consume more than its body weight of your pet’s blood. While flea bites may be just a nuisance to some pets, they can be dangerous to others. They cause allergies and a pet’s constant scratching to rid itself of fleas can cause permanent hair loss and other skin problems. A pet can get a tapeworm if it eats a flea that has one. Fleas feasting on your pet’s blood can cause anemia and, in rare cases, death.

About 1/16^th of an inch, fleas are dark, reddish-brown, wingless insects. Their bodies are flattened side to side, which allows them easy movement through your pet’s coat. Their bodies are hard, polished and covered with many hairs and short spines directed backward. Their long legs give them the ability to jump seven or eight inches into the air.

Itsy Bitsy Spider Creepy and Crawly on the Kitchen Wally

De Spin/The Spider

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The itsy bitsy spider went up the water spout
Down came the rain and washed the spider out
Out came the sun and dried up all the rain
And the itsy bitsy spider climbed up the spout again

The Tale of Little Miss Muffet

As if spiders didn’t frighten us enough as children when we heard how one chased Little Miss Muffet away as she tried to eat her curds and whey, our fear was heightened in 2001 with the grade B monster movie Arachnid in which a giant killer spider menaces the survivors of a plane crash. Fortunately for the survivors, the spider loses when it falls onto a stalagmite.

Spiders are arthropods called arachnids. There are some 34,000 species belonging to about 105 families, although some specialists in the study of arachnids estimate that only 20 percent of spider species have been described, which means that there may be as many as 170,000 spider species.

Not Even Mighty Mouse Can Save the Day If Your Home Is Home to Mice and Rats

Everyone over a certain age will remember Mighty Mouse. Beginning on television in 1955, and continuing for almost 12 years, Mr. Trouble never hung around when he heard this mighty sound. “Here I come to save the day! That means that Mighty Mouse is on the way.”

When rats and mice enter homes, farm buildings and warehouses, they’re not there to turn a “wrong to right.” They’re seeking food and shelter. They eat or contaminate large quantities of food and damage buildings, stored clothing and documents. They also serve as carriers of disease, including Rat-bite fever, Weil’s Disease, pox, plague, trichinosis, typhoid and a host of others.