July humidity marks a change in what's active around the yard. The monsoon's first rains push insects and arachnids into new movement patterns, and ticks in Arizona respond to that shift the same way: activity climbs, vegetation fills in along desert washes and fence lines, and the outdoor hours families and pets log reach their…
The black widow spider doesn't announce itself. No visible damage, no trail, no sound. Most homeowners find them by accident: reaching into a garage shelf, moving a pot that's been sitting for a few weeks, picking something up off the ground. That's what makes them one of the few pests in Tucson that genuinely warrants…
For most of the year, Tucson is about the last place you'd worry about mosquitoes. The desert is too dry for them. Then the monsoon arrives in late June, the rain pools in every low spot and forgotten container in the yard, and within a week or two, the backyard you couldn't sit in because…
Living in Tucson means sharing your space with the Arizona bark scorpion, the most venomous scorpion in the United States and a year-round presence in Southern Arizona homes. While doing everything possible to keep scorpions out is the best line of defense, knowing what to do if a sting happens is just as…
A pile of wings on a windowsill in March could be from either one. Carpenter ants and termites swarm in Tucson around the same time of year, they both damage wood, and they both look enough alike at first glance to get mistaken for each other regularly. The catch is that the treatment for one…
