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Across the Fence:  HELP! I'm being invaded!  |
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Love-in-a-Mist
True Blue Farmgirl
367 Posts
Shannon
Independence
Oregon
USA
367 Posts |
 Posted - Apr 22 2007 : 08:42:39 AM
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I woke up this morning and started making lamb bottles, like every other morning, lately. As I opened the dish washer to get a clean measuring cup, hundreds of little ants with their eggs scurried around. They were trying to build a nest inside the door of our dish washer. I wanted to scream and cry, but instead I grabbed a bottle of counter cleaner and started spraying. Than I ran to the bathroom for toilet paper to get all the eggs off. When I got back I sprayed everything that was still moving. I did 2 loads of dishes yesterday and 1 I even started right before bed. They are coming up behind the cupboards so I can't get to them. EEEwwwwww
Then after doing chores outside I came in and started picking up some folded laundry I had left in the living room. As I reached down to grab a sock something moved, I drew my hand back and a spider with the body the size of a quarter(not counting legs)was there standing it's ground. Now these spiders are too big to just get with toilet paper. I jumped up and ran for the vaccum, before it could get away. When I got back he was in the same spot, I put the vaccum hose next to him and he attacked it right before it sucked him up. Ohhhhh I HATE SPIDERS!! I have never lived in a house with sooo many huge spiders. I'm not sure if it's because we are in the middle of a grass field or what? At least once a week I have an encounter. Last week I reached up in the cupboard and pulled out my good mixing bowl, there in the bottom was one. I think they are ganging up on me. My husband just tells me it's part of living in the country. Does anyone else have to deal with this? Country or not I'm to the point of fogging the whole house. 
http://love-in-a-mist-shannon.blogspot.com/ |
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westernhorse51
True Blue Farmgirl
1681 Posts
michele
farmingdale
n.j.
USA
1681 Posts |
Posted - Apr 22 2007 : 11:02:50 AM
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I have ants also. I think because it was so wet & now they are everywhere. They should go soon. I also hate spiders, thats my one & only thing about planting and /or gardening that I hate. Put some baking soda and /or borax around the perimiter, behind stove or where ever you think they atre coming in.
she selects wool and flax and works with eager hands Prov.31:13 |
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DaisyFarm
True Blue Farmgirl
1646 Posts
Diane
Victoria
BC
Canada
1646 Posts |
Posted - Apr 22 2007 : 11:31:17 AM
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I think these sugar ants are one of the fringe benefits of living near the coast! It seems to be a heralding sign of spring around here. I don't fool around with them. I bought some ant killer from the hardware store and when I see them, I put one or two tiny drops where they are coming in. They drink it, take it back to the nest and it wipes out the entire colony. Don't disturb them when they are drinking it. I tried all kinds of deterents...cayene, peppermint oil, lavender, etc. etc. Nothing worked...they just found another way in.
Oh and spiders...geez, some of them look like they could eat small birds!! I only see the occasional one around here and they get hoover-ed! Need to keep a shovel inside the front door to kill some of those beasts!
Diane
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MagnoliaWhisper
True Blue Farmgirl
2817 Posts
Heather
Haysville
Kansas
USA
2817 Posts |
Posted - Apr 22 2007 : 4:42:57 PM
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| Two words, Sticky boards. I put them under anything they will fit! I like the extra sticky ones. Especially the ones from exterminators. (heavy duty!). They will get anything, I've gotten every thing from weavels and roaches, spiders and ants, to mice, snakes, rats, and once even a opposum! (we had a cabin that was kind of shanty/shacky! lol Just a fishing cabin you know, and the oppossum came up through the floor!). However, the oppossum did get away, but left a bunch of his fur behind. Which reminds me, I had them under my dresser once, and my dog had puppies, one day we heard wimpering, two of the puppies had got stuck on one, was very hard to cut their furr off of it, as they had gotten so stuck! lol Poor dears. I didn't think they were small enough to fit under there! |
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bboopster
True Blue Farmgirl
1140 Posts
Betty Jo
West Bend
Wisconsin
USA
1140 Posts |
Posted - Apr 22 2007 : 6:11:57 PM
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Hello,
We too have ants in the kitchen. They look at the poison and walk the other way. They seem much smarter then our old city ants who loved the poison. The soil around our house is all sand and un landscaped so we have lots of ants and other bugs. Great for the peony bushes but bad for house. I also have those yucky brown spiders that make those heavy tunnel type webs. Then they sit inside and peer out at you. UGH.....!!!! I killed one last week with my stocking foot. I had nothing else and I wanted him dead NOW! I like bugs outside but in my house is another story. But bugs means summer is on it's way. Time to plant and enjoy the country life. 
3 Blue Star Mother and Proud of it!
Pray for our troops to come home safe and soon.
Enjoying the road to the simple life :>) |
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junkjunkie
True Blue Farmgirl
1306 Posts
Judy
Lawrenceville
NJ
USA
1306 Posts |
Posted - Apr 22 2007 : 6:36:26 PM
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I get spiders in my house. I don't mind the little ones, but once in a while I get Wolf spiders. They're big and they move real fast! Real creepy! I know this sounds silly, but I don't like to kill them. I capture them in a glass and cover the top, then put them outside.
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Alee
True Blue Farmgirl
22941 Posts
Alee
Worland
Wy
USA
22941 Posts |
Posted - Apr 22 2007 : 7:53:13 PM
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We have been having a huge ant invasion also. These aren't any dinky little sugar ants either. These are HUGE black ants that are about a third of an inch long at least. They are even hard to kill. I have stepped on some and had to squish multiple times.
Usually I hate to kill bugs but these ants are too much! We have those round ant traps everywhere in our house and have put borax at every place where we can see them coming in. The problem is that they are coming in through the walls.
I have found 2 huge nests outside and I am going to dump borax all over them as soon as it dries up a bit outside.
I don't mind the spiders so much since they are eating some of the ants. Also we got an infected sack of potatoes- infected with fruit flies! I opened my potato cupboard the other day and out swarmed about 18 dozen flies- no exaggeration. I was completely grossed out. Luckily it seems like there wasn't anything else for them to eat/hatch in so they have mostly died now.
Icky icky bugs!
Alee
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Buttercup
True Blue Farmgirl
1433 Posts
Talitha
Vermont
USA
1433 Posts |
Posted - Apr 23 2007 : 01:49:16 AM
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Oh My!!!
I remember in the States I had a linen closet in the laundry room where I kept all my extra clean linens. Well company was comming and I reached in to pull out the extra pillows and a mass of fire ants covered everything!! I rushed for the spray, and found a huge nest of fire ants in my linen!!! Over here we have roaches and spiders and I think little milipeds..but the lizards are my friends, they eat em all and so I am thrilled when I see them around! They are my organic pesticides!!  Roaches and wasps are the worst for me! Stay safe from the ickies!!!
Hugz!
Talitha
"If we could maintain the wonder of childhood and at the same time grasp the wisdom of age, what wonder,what wisdom,what life would be ours" |
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Sarah Blue
True Blue Farmgirl
172 Posts
Sierra Mountains
California
USA
172 Posts |
Posted - Apr 23 2007 : 08:30:48 AM
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Borax works great for me with ants, except I always seem to run out of it! When they invade my kitchen, I squish them/wipe them up with half a cut lemon. This seems to be pretty effective. (We live in an old house and from time to time we get wolf spiders and all kinds of creatures inside mysteriously. We've had a bat, a snake, frogs, millipedes, and a tarantula! Most of the time you can catch these guys with an inverted cup or bowl and then slide a piece of paper or cardboard underneath. I believe in "catch and release" :) Except for ants, flies and wasps - sorry guys 
"i believe in god, only i spell it nature." - frank lloyd wright
http://www.myspace.com/svgrrrl |
Edited by - Sarah Blue on Apr 23 2007 08:34:06 AM |
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Love-in-a-Mist
True Blue Farmgirl
367 Posts
Shannon
Independence
Oregon
USA
367 Posts |
Posted - Apr 23 2007 : 1:22:05 PM
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Alee, last year I had the fruit fly problem. I couldn't figure out where they were coming from. Finally I found the forgotten bag of potatos YUCK!
Sorry girls, I can deal with alot of things in my house, but not the big wolf spiders. They have to DIE! But don't fret, they do have a friend in my husband. He lets them all live. Once he was going to the bathroom at 4:00 in the morning and saw a mouse run across the floor. As it got closer he realized it wasn't a mouse, but a HUGE spider. He said that one creeped him out, but he still let him it live. UGH! I looked later, but couldn't find it.
Thanks for the advice, I'm going to get the borax and sticky boards.
http://love-in-a-mist-shannon.blogspot.com/ |
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junkjunkie
True Blue Farmgirl
1306 Posts
Judy
Lawrenceville
NJ
USA
1306 Posts |
Posted - Apr 23 2007 : 1:24:09 PM
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| I have no mercy on silverfish! Can't stand them! |
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CreativeJuices24seven
Farmgirl at Heart
2 Posts
Pam
Little Falls
MN
USA
2 Posts |
Posted - Apr 23 2007 : 1:38:19 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by Love-in-a-Mist
I woke up this morning and started making lamb bottles, like every other morning, lately. As I opened the dish washer to get a clean measuring cup, hundreds of little ants with their eggs scurried around. They were trying to build a nest inside the door of our dish washer. I wanted to scream and cry, but instead I grabbed a bottle of counter cleaner and started spraying. Than I ran to the bathroom for toilet paper to get all the eggs off. When I got back I sprayed everything that was still moving. I did 2 loads of dishes yesterday and 1 I even started right before bed. They are coming up behind the cupboards so I can't get to them. EEEwwwwww
Then after doing chores outside I came in and started picking up some folded laundry I had left in the living room. As I reached down to grab a sock something moved, I drew my hand back and a spider with the body the size of a quarter(not counting legs)was there standing it's ground. Now these spiders are too big to just get with toilet paper. I jumped up and ran for the vaccum, before it could get away. When I got back he was in the same spot, I put the vaccum hose next to him and he attacked it right before it sucked him up. Ohhhhh I HATE SPIDERS!! I have never lived in a house with sooo many huge spiders. I'm not sure if it's because we are in the middle of a grass field or what? At least once a week I have an encounter. Last week I reached up in the cupboard and pulled out my good mixing bowl, there in the bottom was one. I think they are ganging up on me. My husband just tells me it's part of living in the country. Does anyone else have to deal with this? Country or not I'm to the point of fogging the whole house.
http://love-in-a-mist-shannon.blogspot.com/
True Blue Farm Girl |
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CreativeJuices24seven
Farmgirl at Heart
2 Posts
Pam
Little Falls
MN
USA
2 Posts |
Posted - Apr 23 2007 : 1:47:55 PM
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OOPS!! Let's see if I get it right this time!
Get ready to zap those little buggers! Borax kills ants. By yourself a box of 20 Mule Team Borax, its alot cheaper than buying the ant poison with the same stuff in it and you can use it for a lot of things around the house! Mix a couple of spoonfuls of sugar and of the borax together and put some of it on a piece cardboard down under your cabinets where the little beasties are parading. They feast on the sugar and the borax does its dirty deed! They will even take it back to the colony and kill alot of their buddies!
True Blue Farm Girl |
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Alee
True Blue Farmgirl
22941 Posts
Alee
Worland
Wy
USA
22941 Posts |
Posted - Apr 23 2007 : 3:18:19 PM
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Pam-
We did that as well, but used the enclosed traps in the house since I had a niece crawling around and we did not want her deciding to "drink" honeyed borax :)
The ant problem has gotten a lot better. I rarely see them in side now, where as before we were killing upwards of 100 a day.
Shannon-
My dad taught us all to leave the wolf spiders alone. The ones we had in Wyoming were not poisonous to humans- but they sure to get big! We had one move into our cabin. We saw him catch all sorts of things. I wouldn't mind plopping one down close to my ant's nests- natural ant killer :)
Alee
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Across the Fence: HELP! I'm being invaded! |
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HELP! I'm being invaded!
