Halloween costumes for PMPs

Sorry, too late for this year, but this
maggot mask is available
on EBay for next year's office party.

Someone today sent a picture of a coworker who dressed up as a sticky card for Halloween. Granted, her sticky card was more of the greenhouse variety, and the bugs she wore were plant-oriented (thrips, whiteflies, fungus gnats and the like); but the creative costume got me thinking about what sorts of scary costumes a pest management professional might come up with.  I'm sure that many of you are more creative in this area, but here are a few thoughts on what might make appropriately scary dress for the evening's party or for greeting young trick-or-treaters:

• A sticky card covered with German or American cockroaches.  Cockroaches, of course, are appropriately yucky for Halloween; but in case the kids aren't sufficiently grossed out, you could pass out brochures about the dangers of insect allergens. Who knows, you might even drum up business at the same time?
• A swarm of Africanized (killer) bees. Everyone loves bees, until you put in the word "killer".  And in case one bee isn't scary enough, get the whole office involved and go as a swarm.
• A mosquito. By all accounts, the most dangerous insect in the world with more than half a million deaths each year due to malaria alone, not to mention West Nile virus.
• A spider.  Turns out that the general public aren't the only ones afraid of spiders.  According to a recent article by entomologist Rick Vetter, more than a few entomologists are arachnophobic. I wonder how many PMPs or their staff fall into this category?  And if you don't have time for a costume party tonight, consider renting the classic Spielberg produced movie, Arachnophobia, in between answering the doorbell.
• What could be more insomnia inducing  than a bed bug? Turns out, recent research shows that more and more people are reported as suffering from suicide, depression, anxiety, PTSD, and more, as a result of bed bug problems. Not funny, I know, but certainly scary.
• Not a costume, but a Halloween decoration that no PMP's home should be without.  I suspect that the Birds Away Attack Spider was first designed as a Halloween decoration, but it has since been appropriated for the pest control industry as a woodpecker deterrent. Activated by sound (like someone knocking at the door), this spider drops from its hiding place making a whirring sound. Besides frightening children and adults, it comes in handy for the rest of the year as a control tool for woodpeckers.  Featured in the 2006 Dave Barry Annual Gift Guide, this baby's been around a while.  So it must work good.

If you have a great idea for a PMP costume, or pictures of your pest-control related costume from this year, I'd like to know.  Submit a comment on this post and share your warped ideas with the rest of us.