Ten of the Most Annoying Insects

 

Ten of the Most Annoying Insects

1. Horseflies

Horseflies are outdoor nuisances that tend to linger around lakes, pools, ponds and barns. These flies are very large, sometimes managing to be over an inch long, and are either all black, or light brown with green eyes. They are notorious for their very painful bites and feed on blood for survival. While horseflies typically feed on livestock, they often bite people as well and in a single meal they can drain up to 1 cc of blood, making them both annoying and problematic.

2. Wasps

Always the uninvited visitor at picnics and barbeques, wasps are incredibly annoying scavengers. Paper wasps are partial to sugar, seeking it out in sweet drinks, fruit, and nectar in flowers. Unlike honeybees, wasps can sting multiple times because they don’t lose their stingers, as well as bite with their powerful mandibles. When the heat of the summer hits, wasps can become extremely aggressive, attacking with little provocation and, since their aggression releases pheromones, the entire colony might descend on you.

3. Mosquitos

They’re as relentless as they are dangerous. With an estimated 3,200 different species of mosquitoes, these nasty invertebrates are vectors of disease, some of which are extremely detrimental, and even potentially deadly to humans. Mosquito transmitted diseases account for several million deaths worldwide each year, making it one of the deadliest creatures on Earth. Mosquitos are attracted to body odors, warmth, movement and, especially, the exhalation of carbon dioxide, making them experts at finding us. They buzz around you head, bite you, and leave behind painful, itchy bites. Arguably, mosquitos are internationally considered the most annoying pests ever.

4. Fleas

Fleas are external parasites that are extremely tiny and feast on the blood of their victims. They tend to feast on the blood of our beloved furry friends such as cats and dogs, potentially causing a myriad of medical complications including: flea allergy dermatitis (FAD), anemia, tapeworms, etc. However, fleas don’t just affect pets, in fact, are notorious spreaders of disease and destruction for humans throughout history. Depending on the person or existence of diseases withing the insects, the severity of flea bites can vary. In general, the bites are very itchy and cause skin irritation in the surrounding areas leading to sores or rashes. Between the itchiness, their large populations of jumping little creatures, and health risks, fleas are certainly more than just annoying.

5. Spiders

Although not technically insects, as they are a member of the arachnid family, spiders are pests that are notorious for being both terrifying and exceedingly upsetting. Due to their creepy and macabre appearance, they are often considered to be scary as opposed to annoying, but there is one aspect that can make a spider infestation in or around your home a major headache. Whether you’re plagued with cellar spiders, house spiders, hobo spiders, wolf spiders, etc. your home has the potential to be overrun with webs. When this is the case, unless professional intervention is helping root out the spiders at their source, you could be stuck in a never-ending cycle of dusting away webs only to find them all rebuilt in only a day or two.

6. Moths

There are roughly 160,000 different species of moths and, in the United States alone, nearly 11,000 different species of moths have been identified. When the sun goes down, these flying insects tend to flock to light sources, darting around in a messy mosh-pit of moths. These collections of light-obsessed insects can disrupt your enjoyment outdoors, invade your homes at night, and frustratingly fly into you in a confused flurry. If these behaviors aren’t annoying enough, moths can destroy your wardrobe. Moth larvae have a tendency to chew holes in clothing. While not all species of moths do this, the ones that do can cause extensive and expensive damage.

7. Bed Bugs

Aside from being gross and creepy, bed bugs can make you feel like you’re going insane. Often times you can’t see them, but you’ll wake up in the morning covered in red bite marks. They can also strike any home. They’re masters of concealment and traveling undetected, making them impossible to avoid and super hard to control. Nowadays, one fifth of Americans either knows someone who has dealt with bedbugs or has had a bedbug invasion in their own home – making it the most prevalent spreading infestation in the United States today.

8. Gnats

These miniscule insects are bothersome little buzzers. They most often annoy people when you’re trying to enjoy the outdoors. They typically travel in a giant shifting swarm known as a ‘ghost of gnats,’ and are known for sometimes congregating around people’s heads, effectively being the most annoying they possibly could be.

9. House Flies

“Shoo fly! Don’t bother me!” When flies get into your home, they’re beyond annoying. They may not be able to sting or cause home destruction, but we certainly don’t want them around. They get into your food, relentlessly tap against closed windows, and zoom around your head with a loud buzz. Unfortunately, house fly infestations are not something exterminators can typically treat. This is due to the fact that fly infestations are caused by a stimulant, and often the stimulant has to do with sanitation. While that may sound almost insulting to the clean homeowner, there are often cases of concealed sanitation issues that you may not even be aware of. Once whatever is attracting the flies is removed and cleaned up, the flies will go away, so it is important to seek out the source that is baiting them in.

10. Ants

When they’re outside, ants are fairly negligible creatures, but when they’ve invaded your home, they quickly become an unbearable nuisance. These little insects come in the hundreds and love to raid your kitchen, munching on anything they can get ahold of. They can sneak into your home from the smallest cracks and, depending on the type of ant, they can even cause damage to your home. Due to their numbers and small size, they can be frustratingly difficult to handle without professional intervention.