Wood-Ridge’s Small But Mighty Essence

Trash Can Lurkers, Geometry Whizzes, and Fierce Feminist Fiends

Wood-Ridge is an escape for a wide range of Garden State pests. Many invade homes and buildings in search of food, warmth, and shelter. 

Houseflies aren’t known as major disease spreaders (especially compared to mosquitoes and ticks), but they can carry pathogens, picking them up from garbage heaps and transferring them to surfaces. Like so many other pests, houseflies are exceptional breeders, and a small infestation can quickly take off. They breed in discarded bones, old food, fruit peels, organic matter, and animal waste. This is why an uncovered trash can invites invasions, turning your Rubbermaid into a housefly maternity ward. 

Carpenter bees are known for their geometric genius; they excavate wood via perfect circles to make their nests. While this doesn’t damage the wood initially, it can cause weakness over time, especially when the holes extend deep into the Wood-Ridge structure. Woodpeckers: sharp-beaked birds known for their rapping and tapping who compound the damage by tunneling into the nests to eat the bees’ larvae. 

Fire ants (aka red ants) aren’t as docile as their black counterparts; they get aggressive when disturbed or threatened and attack people and animals through a one-two punch. They bite and sting, grabbing the skin with their mandibles and then injecting venom through the stinger on the tip of their abdomen. Like wasps, they keep their stinger, allowing them to attack until they tire, and they tend to sting in a circular pattern, leaving painful welts on the recipient. 

Clover mites have strength in numbers; a species that is all female, they commonly engage in a women’s march into homes when the seasons change. They prefer to winter in south-facing wall voids, walls near windows, or areas with warm foundations. They aren’t a threat to humans, as they don’t spread disease or bite, but large infestations can overwhelm homeowners and stain surfaces with a reddish-orange hue.