This year has brought with it a particularly high yield of rain for the Dallas-Fort Worth area, just over 15 inches in the first three months alone; that’s almost half of last year’s total rainfall. And while this is excellent news for lawns and gardens, it’s also an advantage for a host of pests looking to proliferate as temperatures warm up. Though many of these will be nuisance pests (small ants, pill bugs, house spiders), some will be detrimental to our homes (termites and carpenter ants), and worse still, some can be dangerous to our health (poisonous spiders and certain mosquitoes). But beyond the known dangers lies a seemingly innocuous pest that can, under certain conditions, prove exceptionally perilous; the garden slug. Now, a slug left to its own devices is nothing to be concerned about, but due to the dietary habits of slugs, if one were to be ingested by a person, it has the potential to bring about significant health repercussions, as this unfortunate story of a teenage rugby player in Australia tells (reported by Fox News). Though the likelihood of you or your children ingesting an infected slug is quite rare, it is an important reminder to be cautious around pests and wildlife as they can carry diseases and worms that, though not harmful to the host, can be exceptionally dangerous, and potentially fatal, to people. Rats and mice are especially known for carrying diseases that are hazardous to humans, such as the hantaviris, and as the above example shows, the dangers caused by one pest can spread far beyond the initial host. So as the rainy season continues and temperatures climb, remember to exercise caution when dealing with pests of all shapes and sizes, as threats can sometimes come in unexpected forms.
Author Bio: Alissa Breach has been gaining knowledge and experience around pest control concerns over the last 9 years while working for Mid-Cities Pest Control. She has a creative writing BFA from UW-Madison and is always pursuing new and interesting writing projects.
