HOME REMEDY NEEDED FOR INSECT AND RODENT PROBLEMS!

HELP!!! I am moving into a house with a field in back of it. We are starting to have problems with spiders and other insects. I 'm afraid that mice or rats may follow. We've tried extermination but the insects returned. Does anyone have any home remedies for keeping out insects and rodents??? ANY suggestions would be appreciated!!!!

Re: HOME REMEDY NEEDED FOR INSECT AND RODENT PROBL

Go to your local feed and seed shop - I don't recall exactly what they called it. But that's where we found just what we needed.

Re: Horse Apples

In East Texas Horse Apples are believed to drive away roaches.

The only house I saw with horse apples in it, also had roaches.

Questionable home remedy.

Another from Texas is boric acid power in the corners.

Again: ?

Re: Horse Apples

Dear Danie Miller, Boric acid powder will kill the ants, put it in window/door corners. they eat it & take it back to their nest & they die of dehydration Crushed fresh egg shells do the same job I don't know why. Catnip (from any pet store) is deadly to roaches and spiders (something to do with their breathing apparatus.)Use Mosquito nets over your beds,& fill in any water puddles the mosquitoes might breed in. Get a cat for mice! I'm sure you will get lots of info from the other readers, I can't wait! Canadian Bob.

Re: HOME REMEDY NEEDED FOR INSECT AND RODENT PROBL

For ants, until I could get something stronger the next morning, I peeled a few cucumbers. Use only the peels and place where ants are getting in or seem to be congregating. That worked for my ant problem.

Pennies on the kitchen table?

We had problems with mice, We got a cat & no more mice...

We keep our sugar boal in a dish of water....the ants have to swim to get to the sugar...

Someone told me that if you put a few pennies on the kitchen counter the ants won't come near.....Problem is I can't find any pennies down here! ( Anybody want to bring us a few down )

And to think I used to toss them away!

My Dominican mother in law keeps a bag of water pinned to the wall......Gee I don't know about that one?

Boric Acid

If we got stuck on an a base in Thailand, Boric acid was ringed around the rack quite liberally and nothing walking or crawling ever ventured in

Tom

Re: HOME REMEDY NEEDED FOR INSECT AND RODENT PROBL

There's also a rather 'natural' way: Check the ants for type,
if not 'biting', invite them in! They keep your house clean
from residues that would ohterwise attract other insects.
Ants have the rare 'feature' of not carrying parasites (normally), and poses no threat whatsoever. (Still talking about
non-biting variants) Spiders can carry parasites, but seldom
any that attacks people. They do, however ,keep the house free
from flies, mosquitos etc... If you don't want the spiders,
bring in a colony of 'lagartos' (Don't know the name in english,
it's a miniture lizard, about an inch long, and actually quite
cute!)
Previous suggestions of a cat (or rather two-three) are perfect!
Only alternative (if cats are impossible because of allergies etc), are snakes. There are a lot of non-poisonous to low-poisonous snakes around. Check if they will breed on your
grounds, if so, go for it! (Will also provide delicious meat
for garden parties. Cats don't breed fast enough for that.
Some people would also object to eating cat-meat.)

All-in-all: I don't know of any man-made chemical that is
as efficient as 'biological warfare' when it comes to
unwanted guests in a permanent habitat. What Tom said
about boric acid is true enough, but you'd have to repeat the
treatment over and over again, exhausting either your funds
or the local supply...

Good luck! /Gunnar (Jarabacoa)

Re: Pennies on the kitchen table?

hola "Gringo",
the trick with the water I can tell you. A lot of dominicans hang a plastic filled with water, somewhere in the room. Its agains flies. They say that depense to the water they look that big like monsters (like they see themself in a mirror), so they think, that the flies disappeared.
For me its same result like the guy with the Horse Apples said.....
cu/charly

Re: Pennies on the kitchen table?

I'll be in POP last week of September and have a large collection of pennies I'm willing to give you; just send me an email with your address.