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Ant identification class

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carpenter ant adult

Carpenter ants are easily distinguished from acrobat and other ants, if you know what to look for.

COVID-19 may have slowed things down temporarily, but IPM House classes will restart next month with advanced training on ant identification. This will be our second time to offer this course with guest trainer Dr. Robert Puckett.

Ants are one of the toughest pest groups for PMPs to identify. Because of their small size, ants generally require a microscope or a good hand lens, and a trained eye to identify. In this class participants will practice identifying a variety of ants with a hand lens and microscope.

Topics to be covered include introduction to ant biology and behavior, ant anatomy and recognition of the important Texas ant genera, ant sampling and surveillance, and fire ant biology and IPM.  Hands-on activities include use of microscopes to look at different mosquito life stages and species.

The class is part of the IPM Experience House PMP Advanced Training classes. It will be held at the Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Extension Center on Friday, July 16.  Classes at IPM House include a combination of hands-on demonstrations and classroom instruction. Lunch is provided. (CEUs: 6 hours verified training in Pest Category, have requested CEU credit for Ag and SPCS). Early online registration (up to July 16) is $60. On site registration is $80. No refunds after the July 15.

We ask that all participants bring their own face mask. If you do not have one, we will provide one for you. Social distancing will be practiced during the class and hand sanitizer provided.

As a special bonus, Mike Bosco with Safehaven Pest Control will demonstrate proper technique for disinfection, and talk about disinfection as an add-on to your business.  To register, and for more information, go to https://agriliferegister.tamu.edu/productListingDetails/3150

Social distancing and IPM House

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Who would have believed, even one week ago, that coronavirus would dominate our lives so quickly and severely?  This sort of thing is something that happens to other countries, not ours.  Yet here we are.

The reality of coronavirus hit home last week when we realized we couldn’t follow through with our plans to offer a long-planned mosquito control class as part of our IPM Experience House class curricula.  Texas A&M AgriLife and our local campus have moved to emergency mode, effectively shutting most training classes down for the foreseeable future.

In addition to IPM House classes, upcoming school IPM coordinator training courses are similarly affected.  We are still cautiously considering whether we may be able to offer classes in May and June.

It took me a while to grasp the significance of the coronavirus shutdown strategy; but for what it’s worth, here are a few facts and links that turned me around this week.

  • Understanding that the COVID-19 is not just another seasonal flu.  It’s a disease with 4 to 7X higher mortality rate than the flu and longer persistence in the environment than the flu (up to 3 days on stainless steel and plastic).  Maybe worst of all, people (especially children) who catch it can be contagious without even realizing they are sick.
  • We don’t hear a lot about the plight of those who catch this virus and recover (not as gripping in headlines), but this is not a virus to take lightly. Early reports suggest the possibility of chronic lung impairment in some recovering COVID-19 patients.
  • Yeah, it sounded bad in China, but look at Italy.  In Italy, where health care systems are more similar to our own but where quarantine actions were slow to be adopted, a crisis situation developed with lightning speed in emergency rooms of afflicted areas.  And if you think Italy’s health care is inferior to our own, consider one statistic.  In hospital beds per 1,000 people, Italy leads the US 3.2 to 2.8.  Anyone thinking that our doctors and hospitals could do better in the face of overwhelming numbers of cases as in Italy would be wrong.
  • Thankfully, there is a strategy behind the “stay at home” message we are hearing so much about. It’s called flattening the curve, and it’s based on the impact that self isolation and social distancing can have on the speed of spread of COVID-19.  While it may seem inevitable that some of us will get the virus, by reducing our exposure to others we can slow the rate of virus spread.  And if we do this, we might be able to spare our health care system the tsunami of cases seen in Italy.
  • Our country rightly invests billions of dollars each year in science and health care.  It’s time to listen to those smart folks who have dedicated their lives and their intellects to understanding health and illness and the spread of disease.  They don’t know everything, of course, but they know a lot more than us non-health professionals know.

So for all these reasons, I am working this week in an empty building with plenty of social distance around me. We use hand sanitizer, wash our hands regularly and stay away from large gatherings including, unfortunately, classes where we might otherwise be training some of you.

Let us pray for our communities and our nation, and look forward to celebrating a return to face to face interactions in a matter of weeks.  Be assured that our IPM training classes will resume as soon as possible.

Finishing 2019 Strong at IPM House

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We are please to offer three courses for pest management professionals this November and December at IPM Experience House. All IPM House classes provide a mix of lecture, demonstration and hands-on practice.

The PMP Toolbox

Successful pest control requires being familiar with the tools of the trade.  Tools of the Trade: Equipment and Materials for Pest Control, is a new class to be offered on November 8. This class will provide an overview of essential pest control tools, how they work, how to use them, and how to maintain them.  We will also cover exclusion materials and techniques for pest proofing. All topics will be covered from the perspective of Integrated pest management (IPM) and new technologies will be discussed.  This will be an excellent class for both new and seasoned technicians.  Guest trainers include Randall Kennedy, with Dallas Fort Worth Wildlife Control, and Greg Orr with B&G Equipment Company.

This is a one-day class that runs from 8:30 am to 4:30 pm. Certificates will be given for 7 hours of verifiable classroom training for apprentices. Up to 3 Structural CEU credits will be awarded. Lunch is provided. Cost is $60 preregistration. Click here to register today, class size is limited.

Rats!

We are proud to offer Rodent Academy for the third year in a row with Dr. Bobby Corrigan.  Rodent Academy is in demand across the U.S. and this is your only Texas opportunity to take it. The course is intended for pest management professionals, municipalities, universities, public schools, and food safety personnel involved in the rodent control programs.

This year’s course will be held December 17-19.  In addition to Dr. Corrigan, we will have distinguished presenters Dr. Claudia Riegel, from the City of New Orleans, Travis Gates with ABC Home and Commercial Services in Dallas, Scott Smith with Bell Laboratories, as well as the IPM House faculty, Dr. Mike Merchant and Janet Hurley.  If your company does rodent control or exclusion, or would like to expand into this lucrative area, you’ll want to sit in on this fascinating three days of lecture and hands-on activities.

Note that Rodent Academy will be held in a new location this year. While still at the Texas A&M AgriLife Dallas campus, we have moved into the classroom located in the new Water Education building on the north end of the main parking lot.  Check the map on the registration page for directions. Cost for the three-day class is $300, lunches and snacks included.

ACE Prep

If you’ve been a pest control professional for five years or more and would like to be recognized by your peers and your customers for your hard work and professionalism, consider the Associate Certified Entomology program. This program is available to qualified professionals who can pass a certification exam.  The ACE Prep class is an intensive one-and-a-half day class designed to help prepare you to take the ACE exam.

The ACE Prep class is really for three kinds of people. It’s for young professionals starting out who would like a succinct overview of the science of entomology and pest control.  It’s for the ACE candidate who has studied hard on their own and just wants a final “cram” and confidence booster before the exam.  And it’s for anyone interested in preparing for the ACE exam, but who isn’t sure how best to study.  If you fall in this last category the ACE Prep class is just the thing to orient you to what to study, and get you pumped up to hit the books.

This year’s ACE Prep class will be held in the Healthy Living Building Classroom (formerly the Education Building) on December 12-13.  Lunch is provided. Cost for the two-day class is $100.  Mark your calendar now; registration is coming soon.

 

Save the dates for ants, equipment, safety and bed bugs

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The IPM Experience House has three new advanced training courses on the calendar.  These are not just any classes.  Board Certified Entomologists and experienced professionals share their insights and knowledge in the most personalized training you can find anywhere in the state of Texas.  You will definitely want to add these classes to your calendar.

Ants! Ants! Ants! Register Now!

On July 30 we are offering advanced training in ant identification for pest management professionals.  Topics to be covered include an introduction to ant biology, taxonomy and morphology, how to monitor ants, and general principles of fire ant and other ant control.

We will make extensive use of microscopes to learn to recognize the key aspects of ant structure and develop the ability to identify ants to the genus level with a microscope. Students will collect ants from the field and identify their catch.

Details. Cost $60 in advance and $80 after July 26. Lunch is provided.  Depending on availability, registration will remain open until the day of the class; however, class size limited to 15.  No refunds after July 26.  Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Extension Center, Building E Classroom.  8 am to 3:30 pm.  Instructors: Drs. Mike Merchant and Robert Puckett.  (CEUs: 6.5 hours verified training in Pest Category, 1 CEU Pest, 1 CEU IPM).  Register now at Conference Services Website

Getting the Bugs Out – Register now!

On September 25, long-time bed bug specialist for ABC Home and Commercial Services, Alan Brown, will be providing his insights into best practices for bed bug control. In  addition to classroom training on the finer points of the “modern bed bug,” the class will get hands on experience with inspecting, treating and developing practical and effective follow-up plans for your customers. Register now at Conference Services Website 

Details. SAVE THE DATE. More details coming soon.