Feral Hogs in Katy Texas

You may have noticed a seriously damaged lawn, golf course, or community common area and wondered what caused so much damage – Roto-Tiller run amuck??? More likely the culprit is Sus Scrota: Feral Hogs, termed bulldozers on hooves. They are omnivores who eat tender grass roots, grubworms and earthworms in moist environments such as landscapes in areas that abut Bush Park, the Westpark Dam and similar “wild” areas. They were there long before the landscapes: Spanish explorer Hernando Desoto probably dropped off a few; plenty have escaped or been released from farms since and they’re doing just fine, thank you.

One sow can be responsible for 2 litters of as many as 12 piglets a year, beginning when she is 10 months old. It is estimated there are 1.5 million feral hogs in Texas, and they damage $52 million worth of agricultural, residential and hunting environments. The 58 trapped along Bush Park in 2008 was hardly a drop in the bucket.

So, what to do if porky and his pals show up in your yard? Nothing and don’t encourage your dog to do anything, either. No amount of shooing and/or barking is going to disrupt the feeding frenzy and it’s a really bad idea to tangle with a 250-pound animal with tusks and an attitude!

Give the dog a treat, scout around for some bleach or other serious bactericide to spray the “leavings” when this joy of life not in the big city ends; might call the landscaper to arrange a little reclamation work but don’t bother to call animal control or any other government entity: no State or County employee will be dispatched post haste to remove the animals from private property. Suppose you could shoot them if there’s some serious fire-power around, but that’s darned un-neighborly and probably illegal.

Feral hogs are dangerous animals. They are huge disease and tick vectors: an invading pack may destroy the lawn and rub bark off the pine trees to access the pitch, a natural tick repellent. In addition to tick-borne diseases, they can carry Brucellosis, rabies and E-coli bacteria; hence the aforementioned bactericide spray.

You can contact the Agricultural Extension Service (AgriLife Center) in your county who can arrange the capture of hogs on public property.

Then there is hunting in permitted areas: have at ‘em; no license, no limits. Will need a big bullet to penetrate the shoulder area and don’t forget to include the cute little piglets.

White Pock Rot

As you stored your holiday decorations in the attic you may have seen damage to the rafters similar to that in the picture. The wood looks as though it has acne or has been worked over with a meat tenderizer, which was the case for a customer who lives in Mason Creek Park subdivision. He thought he was seeing damage from carpenter ants or termites. Fortunately, it was benign Pock Rot attributable to bacteria that infects live pine trees.

After the wood is cut and seasoned or kilned the bacteria, mycelia, which produces the white color in the pockets die, halting further damage. Not an actual “rot,” this condition is prevalent in the studs used in construction of older homes in Katy suburbs. It would be unacceptable by the current standards set by the Residential Construction Code. It definitely causes the wood to be brittle. This infected lumber has been in houses for some time and no catastrophic event caused by the condition has been reported. Few inspectors performing Wood Destroying Insect Reports identify Pock Rot as a problem, since the damage is done and there is no corrective action. There is no advantage to filling in the pockets with wood putty.

With wood destroying beetles, ants, bees, or termites there will be some wood filings collecting below the infested wood. If this is seen call us for an inspection.

Fire Ants on the Move

News flash - the Texas Department of Agriculture has added 28 counties in West Texas to their official list of areas of Fire Ant infestation and, consequently, to the list of Fire Ant Quarantine areas. By my count, that makes 190 of the State’s 252 counties where commerce is affected.

Movement of hay and nursery/floral commodities from the quarantine area into a non-quarantine area will be disrupted as businesses attempt to jump through the Agriculture Department’s inspection hoop to distribute their products.

Those of us within the quarantine area are free to swap our ant-laden commodities at will, but you may feel compelled to do your part to lessen the agony from this stinging nuisance insect by treating your property for Fire Ants now.

Better yet, help organize your community or neighborhood to have a Fire Ant Eradication Week where all residents are to do something to rid their surroundings of this dreaded ant. Please contact JNJ Pest Control and Grounds Care for ways to accomplish either approach.