What's bugging us? (Pun intended)

[Kimberly54]

Hi all,

Summer is upon us!  What do you all do about bugs in your house?

Don't get me wrong, I TOTALLY understand.  If I were a guest and saw bugs in the house, this might not be a good thing.  

Once upon a time, my husband and I spent the night in a small cottage--very well cleaned--and not occupied for some months.  A little family of spiders had moved in, and in the night, one crawled into my ear.  

OK, it is impossible to prevent this kind of thing 100% of the time... AND bugs inside the house are just gross and disgusting.  Right? 

Right now, in San Diego, I am battling with an army of ants, and I can not use poison... unless I am very careful.  The commercial traps don't work.  I've tried boric acid/water/sugar (very good poison, but they are back for more!), sweeping them out is pretty good, but again--hey! It's HOT outside! They just want to come in!

I dunno.  Any really good tips out there?

Best,

[Mariann4]

This is in Norwegian @Kimberly54. But I trust you know how to translate 🙂

https://www.dinside.no/bolig/stopp-mauren-for-den-gar-inn/61077965

Mariann 🙂

[Kimberly54]

I understood enough (Norwegian is not one of my languages but close to a couple--and you people are also crazy with punctuation!!!).  I really don't trust translation programs, and I think it got caught up with the advertisements?  It kicked me out.

Thank you for the link.  :-)))  My ants will be drinking fake KOOL-AID TOMORROW.  HAHAH!

Best,

(PS: Kool-aid is kind of a joke... it's a powdered/colored fake sweet drink some parents give to kids, and it was used in a mass cult-suicide here in San Diego some decades ago where the cult leader mixed cyanide into kool-aid and asked his followers to drink so that they could follow him to Heaven.  Quite the mess).  Wow! and we were talking about ants and artificial soft-drinks!  

This is an AMAZING thread. 

[Kimberly54]

**

OMIGOSH!  It let me download the photo!  This is 'THE NEXT MORNING' photo of the rattle snake!  Sorry this is out of sequence with the thread, but I just had to share!  And I do agree about 'God's creatures' and their right to life, but we really do have to set boundaries.  And some ants will also have to die if they choose poorly.  There's plenty of land around here.

Best,

[Helen427]

Oh Kim, did you really murder a tortoise shell worm???

Wow!!

Was it a male or female?

So if you fed it to the chickens does that mean you had & ate tortoise shell worm flavoured eggs for breakfast 😋 ??

That could have been a fabulous marketing campaign for your Airbnb, a menu with a twist from the ordinary...

I wonder how many of our beloved Australian friends across the ditch make mention of their tortoiseshell worms on their properties?

Maybe you could ad that on a rare occasion you have unusual visitors cooked up on your doorstep to welcome them 😃, oops that should be coiled up...hahaha

[Kimberly54]

@Helen427, seriously, do you folks call these creatures 'tortise shell worms?'

Male or female... (I did worry a bit if I'd killed a pregnant female, but the carcass will not last the day in this territory).  How do you tell?  Can't 'spread the legs,' right?  Nope, no legs...

Once upon a time, my husband brought home and fried up some dead snake.  OMIgoodness, though hubby is a great cook, this 'meat?' was disgusting.  I took it down to our lab and put it under a microscope (not making this up).  The meat looks very much like a citrus fruit--with the little encapsulated fluid parts, and then there is a centeral 'vein' that runs spirally down/through the body.  Quite interesting.  Does NOT taste like chicken, and anyone who says so is LYING.

As for the marketing campaign, I'm quite inclined to agree that it could be quite a 'screening benefit' that so many seem to have trouble with. 

$125/night, 3 nights max, beware of poisonous snakes.  Shovel is outside, boots recommended.  If you miss and get bitten, the nearest urgent care is 13 miles... probably quicker to drive than call 911, and be sure to bring the dead snake so that they can give you the proper anti-venom.

I'll think about it.

;-))))))

[Helen427]

Heck yes!!

That was a tortoiseshell worm all right!!

No snakes in New Zealand thank goodness.

We do have eels and they are snake like & live in the drains in the countryside.

I used to go in the drains with them as a child & pick them up.

We used to smoke them which is a real delicacy.

Your friendly critter looked so content & harmless all curled up there ever so innocently, poor wee creature.

[Kimberly54]

@Helen427, sweet, dear Helen... you watch too many Disney movies.  Curled up is exactly the opposite of 'harmless.'  That means, 'one more move and you are history.' 

I am so lucky to have even seen it.   And I know, I feel sort of bad, but boundaries are important and where I live, those really have to be enforced. 

OK, I'm going to have a good cry and then kill a bunch more ants... just sprinkled the cloves to hopefully make them decide that it's nicer outside.

*)

[Rebecca160]

@Kimberly54That is a very small snake and just as venomous as the big one.  Looks like a Southern Pacific Rattlesnake. http://www.californiaherps.com/noncal/baja/bajasnakes/pages/c.o.helleri.html

If there is one young one, there are likely to be more, so keep an eagle eye out for them, especially at night. When you are gardening, be sure to where thick leather gloves. I had a friend land in the hospital from a bite she got while working in her garden.  If you kill another, make sure that you do not go anywhere near the head of the snake for many hours, as they can bite and latch on and it is really bad. If you see more, you might call a herpetologist or snake wrangler for advice or removal.

As far as ants go, I am averse to using poisons. Go to an Asian store and buy Vietnamese cinnamon in bulk. Spread that across their tracks and it will halt them. Smells good too. There is an oil in it they do not like.

If you see a determined line marching through, you could also try spraying with Windex and spray all the way back to their entrance to your home. It works really well.

Good luck!

[Kimberly54]

@Rebecca160, you are absolutely right about dead snake heads.  (Wow, did I just write that sentence?) 😉   The head went into the trash, I saved the tail for my gardener--supposed to be good luck, and remind him to keep his eyes open.  The chickies got the rest and all was gone in no time.  Yummy snake.  

Spring is when we see most of the babies... a little late for that, but this one was probably a few months old.  My neighbor just killed a 3' last week, and I reminded everyone that we really need to let each other know if they have a sighting.   It was kind of surprising for me because I have 5 very active chickens and a swan-goose who are out all day, fussing about, and eating or harassing anything that moves.  This is not a 'passive' property.

As for the ants, I did the Windex/floor polish spray/and some kind of foaming bathroom cleaner in the kitchen--which was pretty darned good--but super optimistic about the cinnamon or cloves!

Best,

[Quincy]

@Kimberly54 you're fearless! 

I think I'd rather pick up a snake than having to catch @Sarah977's Darth Vader moth *Brrrrr*. 

[Sarah977]

@Quincy  You just confirmed my own observations that men tend not to be afraid of reptilian creatures, but often are total insect phobes. It's just a harmless moth, Quincy.

The first time I saw my ex boyfriend yelp and leap up from his chair when a harmless spider was crossing the floor, I laughed and asked why such a tiny thing would freak him out.

"They jump !"

" Only some types of spiders jump, they don't all  jump."

" THEYALL JUMP! "

Meantime, he had a ton of stuff crammed under his bed that he hadn't touched in years. When I pointed out that he was running a spider hotel under there, he told me that's why he never touched that stuff - if they were undisturbed, it wasn't a problem. Reverse logic, I'd say 🙂

[Quincy]

I think I definitely have a phobia  @Sarah977 :). 

About 3 days ago a massive moth flew into the kitchen while I was cooking. I tried to get it out using a broom, but it just wouldn't fly out of the window! If someone would have been watching I'm sure they'd be enjoying a wonderful show...

[Kimberly54]

@Quincy, not fearless--protective.

And still decompressing from the experience.

Best!

[Kimberly54]

Hi @Quincy, no, you don't want to pick up a rattlesnake (or any creature that has just recoiled from you--BODY LANGUAGE 101), and I totally agree with you about the moth.  

So WHAT do you put in your profile when you live (anywhere, really) that 'pests' can exist?

This is NOT a perfect world (which kinda makes it interesting!)

*)

[Helen427]

Come on in you Australian folk your comments & input is needed here as you have similar "worms" in. Australia including in the cities.

Kim, you definitely have a great story to share with your guests that they will never forget, you are a brave lady.

It reminds me when I travelled to Rhodes, Greece in my younger days & they were trying to lure me in to watch a live snake show, I was terrified as I was on my own & there was no way I was going in to a very dark premises for fear I'd not come out alive...besides I'd kept it a secret from all my friends & workmates I'd even ventured over to the other side of the world on my own for my big OE so was very much "alone" until I returned home in one piece alive!!