Content adapted with permission from the Indiana Department of Natural Resources, a partner in the Natural Heritage of Indiana project. More information from DNR's Division of Entomology and Plant Pathology can be found here.
Some entomological pests:
Curious about what Indiana's "most unwanted" pests are? Want a more complete pest list? Recent news on exotic and invasive species can be found at the Cooperative Agriculture Pest Survey (Purdue).
Have Pests? Some tips from IDEM (IDNR) about what to do:
More information from IDEM about pests can be found here.
Exclusion :
* Keep pests out by sealing cracks and crevices.
* Look for little spaces under the doors, windows, and walls, where roaches can sneak into your house or apartment.
* Roaches can fit through spaces as small as a dime, so make sure the spaces are filled with caulking putty and the gaps under the doors are closed off with weather strips.
Sanitation :
* Keep our homes and buildings clean on a regular basis.
* Clean out areas where the roaches could be living. Crumbs should be cleaned up immediately, or roaches can follow them and infest the entire house.
* Wipe up spilled water and keep the faucets turned off. Roaches are good swimmers, and even one drop of water can satisfy a thirsty roach.
Monitoring :
* Be aware of whether or not pests are present.
* Roaches like to hide in dark places like in corners and under heavy things like refrigerators.
* Food bits can fall into these places and give the roaches both a place to live and food to eat. Food must also be stored where roaches cannot get to it.
Treatment :
* Select a treatment method for the particular pest that is least hazardous and most effective.
* The first three steps should be enough to make your bug count start dropping, but if more help is needed a roach trap would be a good purchase. These traps catch roaches and get rid of them.
* Baits can also be used in cracks and crevices to get rid of the bugs. However, only adults should use chemicals at home.
Evaluation :
* Evaluate how well treatment worked and keep records of sanitation and/or chemical intervention. More»
Check out current and archived official pest reports, NAPPO Phytosanitary Alert System.
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Check out the Indiana State Museum's exhibit "Footprints"  What was the area like 10,000 to 11,000 years ago? Where did the big animals go? And what can we learn from our impact on the past that will make us better stewards of our environmental future?
With Footprints: Balancing Nature's Diversity, presented by Central Indiana Land Trust, the Indiana State Museum will trace our state's natural history from the Ice Age to today and beyond, considering how humans and environmental changes have affected ecological diversity and the world we live in. Drawing from the museum's collections, the exhibit answers questions about Indiana's past, shows the animals' overwhelming size and number, and suggests what it might have been like to walk among them.
Explore the online exhibit »
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Our Hoosier State Beneath Us: Newspaper articles about a variety of topics related to Indiana's Natural Heritage  This series of 155 brief illustrated articles is part of a set of about 250 such articles produced by the Indiana Geological Survey between 1974 and 1984. The articles were distributed to and printed by newspapers all over Indiana. The topics range from coal to paleontology to people to geology. There is even a keyword search tool and a full table of contents. Browse Articles »
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