3 Football Pests That Are a Real Fumble

3 Football Pests That Are a Real Fumble

When you think of football, you likely don’t think of pests. The sport primarily take place during the fall and winter when insects are trying to find their warm shelters for the chilly weather. Plus, the constant running and tackling each other to the ground are not great conditions for pests to live in. But there are still potential pest issues in this sport, specifically with the field that it is played on. A field that is well-fertilized and watered is less likely to experience pests, but no field is invincible to the hordes of pests that can invade. Which pests could cause such noticeable problems, you may ask? Let’s look at the three pests (that happen to start with the letter “M” as a fun trend) that deserve to have a flag on the play!

Mice

This is definitely one of the larger football pests we run into, size-wise. If mice are found on a football field, it is because of the surrounding environment and resources. Fields close to a canal or some kind of manmade structure may experience more mice because they can hide in the crevices during the day. Also, football fields surrounded by long grasses and thick brush have plenty of hiding spots for mice. Since mice are primarily nocturnal, they need a good hiding spot during the day to keep them from being removed. If it is a major stadium with lots of seating and winding hallways, then the mice have even more nesting locations to choose from. But football stadiums and general fields have another problem: food waste.

Mice love more than just cheese. Any kind of leftover food and snacks are majorly appealing to them, and can keep them around if the food is consistent enough. They are also big fans of trash cans and dumpsters that have traces of food left inside. Mice like to use scraps of material for their nests. This can mean newspaper, fabric, paper, grass strands, stuffing, and insulation. If you see a lot of shredded material scattered around an area, including in a house, it is a potential sign of a rodent nest. But as for a football field, the mice may shift their feeding schedule if there are a lot of night games. Nothing is scarier to a small mouse than a bunch of screaming fans and loud whistles! Even if the disease-carrying pests aren’t currently present, they can still cause plenty of problems. Mice mainly transmit their harmful bacteria and pathogens through their waste, and they urinate often to essentially mark their territory. Surfaces contaminated with mouse urine and droppings have been linked to food poisoning symptoms in people who unknowingly eat off of them, which is why proper sanitation standards are important to uphold in places like this.

Moths

Moths are definitely a more obvious pest, if only because they swarm any kind of ultraviolet light in existence. There are other species of insects mixed into the frenzy of the swarm around stadium lights, but moths make up the majority. The main reason for moths loving lights is not simply because they love the brightness, as easy of an explanation as that is. It’s because they meet their mates around the light, so they can reproduce and serve the primary purpose of their short lives. Many moths are also helpful pollinators, but they don’t have as much of an effect as butterflies and bees in that department. All species and sizes of moths use light sources as their mating grounds and compass of sorts, but why is this?

There is not a clear-cut answer as to why moths are so naturally drawn to the light. They use it as their way to get into the dating scene, yes, but we still don’t know why they like bright lights in particular. One theory is that they use the moon and stars for navigational purposes, so giant lights confuse them into thinking that this is now the famous moon. This is a relatively valid theory since moths like to keep their brightest light source above them at all times. If they find a big, bright light that is closer than the actual moon, they will continue to fly just under this light source to know where they are going. This also helps to explain their sporadic flying patterns that we see under stadium lights and porch lights. If you watch moths near a light, it looks like they are doing a jittery dance that we do not know the steps of. If they happen to fly too far out from or above the light source, the moths will quickly dart back under it to keep their compass above them. If moths want to fly to the moon, they get a little closer by flying under the towering lights of a football stadium.

Midges

This pest has actually made recent news for swarming a football field, and it was not the first time that they wreaked havoc in the sports world. Midges look and act similar to mosquitoes, despite them being flies. Midges also have long wings and bodies, and hatch from eggs laid along the water. But many midge species don’t bite us, which sets them apart from bloodthirsty female mosquitoes. There are multiple generations of midges born every year, as they are technically part of the fly family. Their long wings allow them to swarm and fly in groups at an alarming rate, which understandably makes anyone who sees a cloud of tiny pests just a bit nervous. 

On October 9, a massive group of midges swarmed Cleveland’s FirstEnergy Stadium, spawning from the nearby Lake Erie. This led to the matchup between the Browns and Chargers being interrupted by the players and fans constantly having to swat the midges away. Some employees in the stands even reported having accidentally gotten some midges in their mouths, which does not sound fun at all. This incident luckily seemed to have only impacted the warmups, as opposed to a previous midge-related incident. The 2007 MLB Division Series between Cleveland and New York was viciously interrupted during Game 2 by these flying menaces. Yankees pitcher Joba Chamberlain was so pestered by the midges that he threw a couple of wild pitches that led Cleveland to win the game, and eventually, the whole series! Midges may be tiny pests, but their ability to distract even the most focused professional athletes is likely an impressive feat to flying insects across the country.

Pointe Pest Control is Here to Intercept the Pests!

Whether you’re watching the big game at home or taking the field yourself, pests can really drag down the excitement of the sport. They can even bring in more problems, as an excess of insects means there is more food for the birds and other predators that can also flock to the stadium for anything other than the game. But there’s no time for a pest invasion during football season! Fall is typically when pests start seriously searching for a warm shelter, which can be found in the hidden corners and sections of our homes. It is much more efficient to catch an early-stage pest infestation than to treat an army of overwintering pests later on. 

But no matter what stage of infestation you may be experiencing, our team of dedicated pest control technicians are here to help! Pointe’s pest treatments are all EPA-approved, meaning they are actually effective at not only treating current pest problems, but also preventing certain future ones from happening. Contact us for more information on our services and to learn how we can ensure that the only added stress to your weekends is from the close football game on TV.

Citations

Insect management. (n.d.). Cornell Cals Sports Field Management. Retrieved October 18, 2022, from https://safesportsfields.cals.cornell.edu/pests/insect-management/

Lees, D. & Zilli, A. (2019, November 1). Why are moths attracted to light?. Science Friday. Available at https://www.sciencefriday.com/articles/why-moths-are-attracted-to-light/ (Accessed on October 18, 2022).

Steinbach, P. (2018, October 20). Exterminator shines light on stadium rodents. Athletic Business. Available at https://www.athleticbusiness.com/facilities/stadium-arena/article/15155870/exterminator-shines-light-on-stadium-rodents (Accessed on October 18, 2022).

Take me out to the ball game: Pests on the baseball/softball diamond. (2022, March 25). Pointe Pest Control. Retrieved October 18, 2022, from https://www.pointepestcontrol.net/take-me-out-to-the-ball-game-pests-on-the-baseball-softball-diamond/ 

Trotter, J. (2022, October 9). Midges invade stadium ahead of Los Angeles Chargers-Cleveland Browns clash. ESPN. Available at https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/34760953/midges-invade-stadium-ahead-los-angeles-chargers-cleveland-browns-clash (Accessed on October 18, 2022). 

Withers, T. (2022, October 9). Midges swarm Browns field, stands during game with Chargers. The Washington Post. Available at https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/nfl/midges-swarm-browns-field-before-game-with-chargers/2022/10/09/03097cc8-47eb-11ed-8153-96ee97b218d2_story.html (Accessed on October 18, 2022).