Every day, billions of people wake up and go to work. Whether it’s working on a construction site, working in an office, or patrolling the streets, there are millions of occupations out there. Have you ever thought of certain pests that also work day in and day out without ever getting a paycheck? Instead, these little pests produce some of the products that we use each day.
Our job at Clark Exterminating is to keep bugs away from your home. However, there are a few bugs that we’d like to keep around for their work ethic and the products they produce. Check out our list of four hard-working insects.
1. Honeybees – You’ve heard the saying “busy as a bee,” right? There’s a lot of truth to it. A single hive of bees can be made up of anywhere from 35,000 to 50,000 bees. And that one hive will pollinate flowers and produce honey for humans to enjoy and to feed themselves. Honeybees have a lifespan of up to five years in the wild, but they sure do a lot of work in those five short years. According to honey.com, honeybees must tap 2 million flowers to make one pound of honey. Woah!
2. Silkworms – Though you might not have a silk robe that you slip into every night, you should appreciate any item of silk you do own. The silkworm works ridiculously hard to produce strands of silk. Silkworms are actually the larvae of a moth. Once a silkworm egg becomes a larva, it eats 50,000 times its weight in mulberry leaves in the span of about 6 weeks. The actual silk comes from the cocoon of silkworms. Over about 8 days, cocoons are spun and are made up of one single thread of raw silk, which can be 1,000 to 3,000 feet long. Two thousand to 5,000 cocoons are required to make one pound of silk. That’s a lot of silkworms!
3. Ants – Don’t underestimate a pest based on its size. Ants are tiny, but a bunch of them can take on quite the project if they work together. Ants can lift up to 20 times their body weight. They can build an anthill in the span of just days. Some of the ants within a colony are actually called “soldier ants” and spend their lives defending the colony, gathering and killing food.
4. Spiders – Let’s face it, no one really wants to come face-to-face with a spider. Your first instinct might be to squish it. But wait! Spiders also fall into our list of hardworking insects because they are one of the most beneficial bugs in the world. Have you ever seen a spider web that isn’t intricate? Those webs help catch other insects that the spider feeds on, keeping them out of our way. Spiders also go out of their way to find and ambush prey that might damage crops, such as aphids, grasshoppers, and caterpillars.
Next time you are rolling up a newspaper to swat at a bug, take a moment to see if it’s one that we might want to stick around and keep on working. On the other hand, if you’re finding more and more pesky, unnecessary bugs inside your house, give our team at Clark Exterminating a call. We’re the best in the business and we would love to help solve your bug problem. Give us a call today!
Little Rock: 501-228-0322
North Little Rock: 501-758-0322
Conway: 501-329-0396
Benton: 501-776-1388
Bryant: 501-847-1388
Jacksonville/Cabot: 501-843-1322
Hot Springs: 501-623-2335
