Insects In Your Kitchen/House

Barriehie

Barriehie

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SatNavSaysStraightOn said:
Ants and I do not get on. They are totally banned from the house. Right now there is an electricity socket with sticky tape (physio stuff), completely sealing it off, in the bedroom, right next to where I sleep. They are in the wall, and every night without fail they were swarming or exploring the inside of that way, and many electrocuted themselves on the way out - so that there was a noticeable pile of bodies on the carpet below the socket. I tried filling the wall with coopex from the roof, where I could drill into the cornice unnoticed, and repair without leaving damage (I'm a tenant, but had permission) but that didn't get far enough down into the wall.... I have not been brave enough to remove the electric socket cover (with mains off) to dust in there, because I loath, hate and detest ants (bad experience as a kid). They are the only insect I can not cope with and I was always the kid at school handling the cockroaches and so on, on open day.
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When I first moved into my converted garage it was loaded with ants. This building had been unoccupied for decades! I caulked the windows but they were in the walls too. ☹️

Not really into buying poison and spreading it all around but one day while reading the label on a tube of Terro, $5/1 oz, I decided to try and make some. The active ingredient is borax and I buy 4 lb boxes for $5 to use with the laundry.

I mixed up a cup of warm water, 1 tsp borax, and 1 Tbsp of honey and stirred till it was all dissolved. Then I added in crushed crackers till it was a gloopy blob. Put some of that where the ants could find it and they take it back to the nest. It takes several days to work before it kills them but it will kill the queen and ant nest done.

When there's large ones in the yard there's another tact to use.
 
I got some insects, but mostly they don't irritate me too much.
The termites are very annoting though, because of the damage they do. Unfortunately, it sounds like that borax solution does not work against them.

My bigger issue is spiders. I got loads of them. Again, I don't mind them persé, but all those webs make cleaning difficult.
 
badjak said:
We got huge termite mounds....
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Yeah, you'd need like a bobcat brand 'dozer...
1000066364.jpg
 
Barriehie said:
Yeah, you'd need like a bobcat brand 'dozer...View attachment 142028
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I need petrol and a match....
But that would put the whole area on fire inclusive of my house.

Seriously, it's amazing. I tried one time to drown a small starting termite mound and after pouring in more than 100 litres of water, there was still not a drop visible on the surface. And this was just a very baby begining mound
 
I'd say petrol w/out the match. It's only going to burn on the surface and the killing will be more from the heptane in the petrol, not the fire. 🤔
 
Barriehie said:
I'd say petrol w/out the match. It's only going to burn on the surface and the killing will be more from the heptane in the petrol, not the fire. 🤔
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Have you seen the price of fuel?
I actually did that water experiment to check on how much fuel or spiritus (methylated spirit) I would need ;)

My conclusion was to builld in steel :)
 
badjak said:
Have you seen the price of fuel?
I actually did that water experiment to check on how much fuel or spiritus (methylated spirit) I would need ;)

My conclusion was to builld in steel :)
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You have a steel house? That's neat, except maybe for the heat gain with the sun shining on it!!!
 
We get termites,cockroaches, ants, spiders, flies, flying beetles, wasps and bees in the house. Oh, and the occasional scorpion. Termites are a huge problem, because the roof and all the closets, shelves, etc are made of wood.
We discovered a great way to get rid of the ants and cockroaches. Mix rocsugar crystals with rum and put it in the corners. They drink the rum, get blind drunk, start fighting, and stone each other to death with the sugar .
 
I forgot about the hornets.
I got those and they are a real pain as
1- their sting hurts
2- they build their nests everywhere, under tables, on books, behind the fridge, ...
 
badjak said:
I forgot about the hornets.
I got those and they are a real pain as
1- their sting hurts
2- they build their nests everywhere, under tables, on books, behind the fridge, ...
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Those are everywhere here too. A lot of people knock the nest down but if you leave it, at least here, the next year they won't build one next to another one. My eaves are loaded with empty old nests but no new ones this past spring. FWIW
 
Barriehie said:
Those are everywhere here too. A lot of people knock the nest down but if you leave it, at least here, the next year they won't build one next to another one. My eaves are loaded with empty old nests but no new ones this past spring. FWIW
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They build everywhere here, and the next year again. I haven't noticed them not coming back the next year.
I'll leave some, mark the spot and check next year.
They damage my books, fans, electrics etc.

I forgot mosquito's as well.
Don't like them. Full stop.
I got lots of gecko's that eat them.
I like gecko's :)
 
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