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The Off-Topic Lounge APPROPRIATE FAMILY-FRIENDLY TOPICS ONLY - READ THE RULES! This forum is for posting anything (excluding topics prohibited by the forum rules) that's unrelated to email. General discussions, in other words. |
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31 Dec 2003, 04:05 PM | #1 |
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help .... pest control ?
i got some spiders and insects in the house .... i bought one product called "pest offense" (as seen on tv) awhile ago, but it did nothing, it didn't work at all ! i'm looking for a different one that'll work, but i don't know if i should trust them again. any ideas, advices ? are they really working ? anyone know ?
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31 Dec 2003, 07:29 PM | #2 |
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It made me wonder how often products advertised on TV are actually effective as they were supposed to do? Products that doesn't work but if it harm our surroundings will be bad....
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1 Jan 2004, 07:08 AM | #3 |
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The answer to which product depends on what part of the world you live.
Generally, unless the spider is a poisonous variety, we catch them and toss them outside. Ants are a big problem for us -- they come in the house when it's too cold, too hot, or too wet outside -- pretty much year-round. I deal with the invasion by spraying "RAID" by S.C. Johnson & Son. Since most of the time they are in the kitchen, I have to be very careful with it. If there are only a few of them, we just squash them or wet and wipe them up. Fortunately, we don't have cockroaches so we don't have to deal with them. But the same product for ants also works for roaches -- supposedly. Fleas -- we have pets and fleas used to be a problem in the summertime. We used to "bomb" the whole house which took the better part of two hours using four of the products and had to stay outside the whole time. If done wrong, you can blow up the house, literally. Now, we treat the pets with monthly "Advantage" pills from the veterinarian. There are other products that work just as well. Flies -- I hate them. We don't use any bug spray with them. Just a fly swatter. |
1 Jan 2004, 08:15 AM | #4 |
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well, i live in the Central USA, which is very cold right now =P and there are still spiders in the house! i don't know if they're poisonous or not. some of them are red, black, gray, and white. but all of them are small, not so big. I found this electronic pest repeller site, and they sell some of their products, which looks interesting, i don't know if i could trust them or not:
http://www.electronicpestrepeller.com/Index.htm what you guys think ? |
2 Jan 2004, 08:55 AM | #5 |
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You could save money and just use your vacuum cleaner on them, if you don't want to keep them alive. The dust in the bag will probably just smother them and you can throw them out with the bag.
With the ultrasonic pest repellers, heed the warning regarding the products causing discomfort to small rodents like hamsters, gerbils, and guinea pigs. Regarding whether or not they work, I don't know. Last edited by dragon1 : 2 Jan 2004 at 09:05 AM. |
2 Jan 2004, 10:24 PM | #6 |
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I try to use natural things whenever possible. example: we had ants all up in our honey and other sweetners. I couldn't stand it, and spraying raid didn't help - I think the previous owners "Raided" the ants till they got used to it. We got those ant traps but they wouldn't go in. So I read somewhere that they hate cinnamon. So I sprinkled cinnamon along their trails, and where they came out. It took them a few days but they didn't come back. We still have some in the upstairs bathroom sometimes but I don't mind them there. I just can't stand them in the kitchen.
Spiders and centipedes, we just let them walk up on a piece of paper or a broom and escort them outside. One thing that worked very well for us at one of our old houses is that we had the Terminex guy come out and spray the perimeter of the house in the autumn. That kept things from making their way inside the house that winter. |
3 Jan 2004, 12:27 AM | #7 |
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Lisa,
Thanks for the cinnamon tip! We've been having trouble with ants every summer, and we're pretty hesitant to using chemicals. We usually resorted to boiling water in the nests, which worked, sorta, but always failed to completely get rid of the problem... I'll give this a shot and see if it helps to keep them out of the kitchen and stuff like that. --K |
3 Jan 2004, 02:21 AM | #8 |
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We get a lot of spiders and sow bugs(small brown beetle looking thing). The spiders keep the sow bug population way down. As dragon1 mentioned, I vacuum up the spiders, cacoons, and webs two or three times a year. I also will spray Raid into the basement and garage corners and crevices.
I have found just plain old vinegar mixed half and half with water kills weeds and helps keep the ant population down. I had a big ant nest in the front yard and they were devastating the flowers so I dug down and poured used motor oil into it and covered it up. End of ant problem. I know, used oil!!?? But nothing else worked. I have seen some funny looking ants lately ... hhhmmm ... |
3 Jan 2004, 04:48 AM | #9 |
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My precious cinnamon! At least the kitchen will smell nice.
We've had ants invading the hummingbird feeder and our cats' food dishes. What I do is coat the cord that the bird feeder hangs from and the bottom outside edges of the food dishes with vegetable oil. Ants won't cross that line of oil. Over time the oil disappears so re-application is necessary. beeboy: Using motor oil is bad for the environment. You wouldn't want the oil to eventually seep out and contaminate the groundwater or other water sources such as the bay and rivers. I have a recipe for house plant and garden insect repellent (from the Environmental Review): 3 hot peppers 3 cloves garlic 1 gallon warm water (1 gallon = 3.7854 liters) Boil, then age one week. Drain through cloth and put in spray bottle for use. Tobacco, tea, or soapy water solutions can be used to control spider mites in plants. Last edited by dragon1 : 3 Jan 2004 at 04:59 AM. |
3 Jan 2004, 11:22 PM | #10 |
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Man I've tried just about all the pest control stuff I've seen on TV and such Those "Pest Off" wall plug-on type that supposedly change the house wiring EM field (they said 1 or at most 2 per house, I plugged in 6 for good measure).. many, many of those ultrasonic repellers (8-10 diff brands with varying strength and frequencies).. all the wacky inventions I see in catalogs like Sharper Image for moths, flying pests and whatnot (even a couple of those portable bug vacuums).. all the different type and brand pest sprays I could find at local Home Depot, etc (I used to just stand there comparing ingredients, duration between reapplications, spray distance for outdoor sprays, etc).. various ant/pest killer granules/solutions we'd dump on ant hills outside. And we've been getting the pest control guy to spray outside our house...
I still use those electric-grid bug swatters (not the new kind today w/ the protective shield on either side though, which isn't as effective). But I'd accidentally zapped my cousin's finger awhile back and he's held a grudge ever since |
3 Jan 2004, 11:32 PM | #11 |
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BTW I've always wondered about those EM field pest repellers, if they really work will the shifted AC wiring field affect electronic devices?? Maybe I should dig up my high school physics book
But I already have most electronic devices in my house hooked up to dedicated UPS battery backup units (except the tube TVs and laser printers)... |
21 Aug 2018, 08:12 PM | #12 |
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Pest control
Hello,
Chemical is not effective against spider so you don't try more because although it is a chemical you directly apply when you see.you can also control spider by stopping his food anywhere in your house keep clean your house. rat pest control Last edited by eddy85 : 30 Aug 2018 at 04:15 AM. |
21 Aug 2018, 08:44 PM | #13 | |
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Welcome and thank you for the tip.. We all seem to have this problem now and then!!
Quote:
http://www.electronicpestrepeller.co...ntrol_page.htm |
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23 Aug 2018, 11:02 AM | #14 |
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For ants try fine ground corn mmeal
They carry it back to the nest and when the queen eats it it swells in the stomach and pop no more ant colony Takes about a week to work For mole Spearment gum just tear pieces off stick and spread on lawn Also takes about a week for spiders try fresh bay leaves They dont like the smell All the above are kid and pet safe |
16 Sep 2018, 08:52 AM | #15 |
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I'm a big believer in professional pest control. The trick is to spend a lot of time shopping around and carefully choosing a good company with a long guarantee - and then following him around to ensure he does a thorough job.
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