Learn about everything about blister beetles and how they can spoil your life with an infestation. You must learn how to identify the insect to take some precautions. Learn about this species of beetles’ life cycle and how long they usually reproduce for a new generation.
Find out how you can get rid of blister beetles naturally before talking to experts in pest control. They are controllable insects, and you take the right action by spotting them inside your home today.
How To Identify Blister Beetles?
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Blister beetles have a cylindrical shape that makes it easy for you to identify them outside or inside your home. The head of the insect is slightly smaller than its body and has a rectangular shape. Two antennae accompany it. Their bodies are very soft, and their antenna’s shape is unique due to how thin they are.
The color of this insect can be black, brown, or gray. Sometimes you can see a combination of them. You have two lines on your upper body that tend to be darker than everything else. They have very soft front wings that differentiate them from other insects that you may recognize at home.
Damage Caused By Blister Beetles
It is a poisonous impact on livestock. It is referred to as cantharidin toxicosis, which will be the greatest danger presented by blister beetles. And infestations of alfalfa along with other hay, is able to ruin it for feeding or sale.
Growers of hay, as well as feed crops, must have all precautions to track and protect against infestations. And the beetles are likely to cluster together because they supply, increasing the odds that one or perhaps 2 hay bales will have bugs levels. Care should be used when purchasing hay, as well. Find out there if blister beetle infestation is usually an issue in the area of yours and inspect what you are buying carefully.
The Blister beetles are going to feed on almost any leaf that grows in the garden of yours. They are found on tomato, eggplant, potato, peppers along with other solanaceous vegetables too leafy greens. In the summer, they’ll show up in swarms, seemingly immediately, and also, due to the huge numbers, will do a lot of damage.
And blister beetles also harm grasshoppers, among the most destructive farm as well as garden pests. And the hatched beetle larvae make use of the legs of theirs to find the grasshopper eggs. So, blister beetles are regarded as a beneficial pest, but just within the larval stage. After they become adults, they are nothing but trouble.
Related: How to Get Rid of Grasshoppers in your home Naturally
The Life Cycle Of Blister Beetles
The life cycle in blister beetles is quite unusual because their larval form is very different from their adult form. A female blister beetle lays her eggs in the cave at a very low height in the fall or summer. This insect only reproduces once a year, although they can reproduce twice a year to have a new generation in some habitats.
The blister beetle egg hatches in approximately 10 to 16 days resulting in a larva of 5 mm maximum. The insect larvae have an insatiable hunger, so they feed on grasshopper eggs that are around them. In a short time, the blister beetle will shed its exoskeleton eight times until it reaches its adult form with highly developed wings.
When this insect reaches its adult development, it no longer eats grasshopper eggs but feeds on leaves and other plants. You should be careful with the blister beetle because this pest can kill your garden in no time. When they hibernate, the insect can take many leaves to place in the cave next to its eggs.
What Are Attracted to Control the Blister Beetles?
Birds would be a gardener’s best ally when managing blister beetle infestations. And use these strategies to attract wildlife and birds. Birds can pull out blister beetles from plants, as well as, if persuaded to infiltrate the garden, birds are able to decimate massive beetle infestations. And attract beneficial insects and birds into the garden of yours by growing colorful blooms and healthy plants while staying away from toxic chemical sprays that can hurt birds or even drive them out.
Though it is not possible to determine precisely what birds and insects are plentiful in the garden of yours and enforce the principle, you are able to decide on what to attract as well as what you should dissuade from signing up for the merry gang of yours of green-leafed friends. And the lineup of the garden of yours is totally up to you. Do not allow backyard insects to determine what you need to have in your backyard, but keep some suggestions to help cope with them in mind when selecting the crops of yours.
How To Eliminate Blister Beetles Naturally?
Some ways in which you can get rid of blister beetles from your house, specifically from your garden, are:
Diatomaceous Earth
This item is the natural repellent that you need to get rid of blister beetles in your garden. You should apply diatomaceous earth near your plants’ base, and don’t worry about insects. In no time, the beetle will lose interest in the plants that are in your garden now
Eliminate one pest after another
You have to get rid of the blister beetles’ allure that are the grasshoppers and their eggs. You can use a repellent that kills the plague, and in turn, the beetles will move away because they cannot keep their larvae. You can hire experts in pest control to help you apply these chemicals at home.
Oyster lime shells
You can use the OLS or other lime shell to repel insects from your house in no more than three days. This is a powder packed with calcite with which you can create a shield between your plants and the insects that lurk.
How to Treat and Prevent the Blister Beetle Bites
If a beetle comes out, do not crush it.
Though the blister beetles are creepy and big, you can attempt to prevent your wits.
If the blister beetle is on the bare skin of yours, wash right now. Remove some clothes the blister beetle has landed on as well as clean it.
And light brushing is not likely to cause reflexive bleeding.
Blistering often take place on fragile skin (i.e., the skin between the fingers of yours, inside the wrists of yours, on the rear of the neck of yours, etc.)
If this occurs, take proper care of it as you’d any burn or perhaps blister.
Unless it is severe, you most likely don’t need medical attention. You need to use common first aid techniques to cleanse and defend the region.
A cold compress could help resolve some burning sensation.
You typically won’t encounter blister beetles unless you’re working in the garden of yours or perhaps out in nature.
In order to stay away from contact with cantharidin, it is smart to wear long sleeves and long pants when you’re in places where blister beetles might be present.
If you face a blister beetle, stay away from touching it. If it visits you, remove it carefully.
Usually, if you touch the blister beetles, it isn’t life-threatening or perhaps even particularly bothersome.
Just be certain to wash your hands after brush beetles separate since you do not wish to be even the smallest quantity of toxin near the eyes of yours.
Getting cantharidin into the eye of yours is able to result in severe consequences. If this occurs, you need to seek medical assistance.
