Illinois insects

Think you saw a giant mosquito? Don’t panic—it’s probably a harmless crane fly. They look scary, but they can’t even bite!

How do you keep spring and summer's most hated and despised bugs away from you this year? You could go with sprays, zappers, or those blue-light gadgets that suck them in--or, you could plant some really pretty flowers around the areas where mosquitos and you share the same space and get rid of them, or keep them from hanging around to begin with.

Wasps start emerging here in Illinois as temperatures warm up after winter, with workers or drones appearing around mid-April to early May. If you've lived here any length of time, you know all about wasps and what they're capable of...but did you know that things are actually better for everyone if you don't terminate them on sight?

When late fall and winter roll around, the nastiest of Illinois' creepy-crawly bugs disappear for a few months--but now that the weather is getting warmer, a whole bunch of them are waking up and wanting to get in or out of your house.

If you see what appears to be black pepper strewn all over your yard this winter, it's probably snow fleas, but there's no need to freak out!

Some things migrate toward the south and warmer weather, other things dig in and hunker down for a long winter's nap, but what happens to Illinois' bees, wasps, and yellow jackets when the weather turns frigid?

German yellowjackets are a big problem in Illinois each fall. Learn how to avoid confrontations with these aggressive pests and how to get rid of them in your yard.

If you've always thought that these little black and red bugs only come out late in the fall season, you might be surprised to see so many of them right now in July. Here's why box elder bugs are so prevalent in Illinois right now.

Sure, it's cute and fuzzy, but...this particular caterpillar has some defense mechanisms that can be really annoying and painful for any human being who decides to pick it up. Oh, and that's not the only Illinois caterpillar you should be avoiding this summer.

These creepy little things are in Illinois, spreading rapidly, and carrying a nasty bacteria than can make you become allergic to meat and dairy products...or worse.