But if anything's going to drive me out of here, it's the abundance of insects and spiders freeloading their way through life in our home.
First it was the horrifying silverfish discovery. I didn't sleep for days the first time I came across one. Almost repacked the boxes and moved us out of here that very night. These things are little space aliens from hell, with their freaky bodies and their amazing ability to scurry out of sight as soon as the light turns on.
Then it was the fall spiders. Spiders big enough that they gave my calm-down-it's-just-a-silly-spider husband the willies. Big fat black spiders that pop when you squish them, insanely fast brown spiders that dart across the room when discovered, and enough long-legged skinny spiders to fill up a vacuum (hey, you laugh, but it works).
And now our newest freeloaders - ants.
The silverfish and spiders, to their credit, do their best to stay out of the way. The silverfish only come out at night and the spiders hide out of sight, just waiting to jump out and give me a heart attack when I pick up a shirt or a blanket off the floor.
But not the ants. No, the ants are all, in your FACE, yo! In your FACE! We're gonna get in your cupboards next, yo! That's right! We're gonna get in aaaaall your food!
Cocky little bastards.
So the vacuum has taken up residence in the kitchen (it works, I tell you), and I've placed some ant traps in various corners of the kitchen and dining room. Funny how all my natural ideals go out the window as soon as my kitchen gets taken over by ants. I tried though, I really did! Wandered all over the disgustingly massive mall looking for a place to buy diatomaceous earth. Finally found a place and picked some up today. It'll be pulling double duty getting rid of both the remaining ants and the silverfish.
Now if only the silverfish ate ants. It might have been the freaky little space demons' only chance to redeem themselves.
I'd suggest putting boric acid or something (safe) in your vacuum. Otherwise, they're just in there still trying to crawl back out.
ReplyDeleteI friggin' HATE ants, but mostly don't mind spiders unless I feel like my DD is going to find them. (We own 15 tarantulas.)
But Silver Fish... for some reason these never bothered me much, at least in comparison to ROACHES. When I was a kid my dad had them. I think NOW, though, if I had an infestation they would still drive me bonkers. I don't know why they seem less heinous than roaches.
I had just read that earlier today and planned to vacuum up some DE. Thanks! I got rid of an ant invasion last summer by ruthlessly vacuuming for two days straight, and they stayed gone for the rest of the summer (thank goodness).
ReplyDeleteTarantulas are pretty neat. I don't mind spiders in general when they're either behind glass or outside. It's when they're hanging out on my wall or running across the living room that I can't stand them! I used to raise hermit crabs and my husband is still amused that I loved those little guys but can't stand to have a spider in the house.
I've become surprisingly used to the silverfish, but I know they eat books and starches so I figure the less of them around, the better! Roaches though...*shudder*.
I have such a phobia of bugs! I read this hippie post a while back where this guy 'had a conversation' with the ants or something...it seemed to work for him but I couldn't take it...I called the pest control people who would use the minimum amount of the least caustic chemicals possible (nothing in the house at all besides boric acid powder in the basement).
ReplyDeleteTalked with the ants!! I'm clearly not hippie enough; time to find a new title. ;-) Boric acid was my second choice, but I went with food grade diatomaceous earth because I've got a couple babies crawling around here.
ReplyDeleteVinegar helps with ants as well. It kills the scent of the trail so that the other ants can't follow it into the house. You still have to kill the ants in the house, but it helps keep the numbers down.
ReplyDeleteUgh. I saw my first summer spider today. I totally vacuum them up too.
ReplyDeleteI remember my house in college had these HUGE carpenter ants that would.not.die. Like..you'd smoosh them, and they'd bounce back and keep walking. I called them rubbermaid ants. I had a nervous breakdown in the kitchen one morning when I walked in and they were everywhere.
Yeah, we had a colony of carpenter ants in our wall...I use the natural stuff like cinnamon or tea tree oil or whatever for the tiny ants, but carpenter ants don't mess around and I live in a big, old, wooden house. I had a baby crawling around too, but since they only used boric acid stuff inside the wall I felt more okay about it. Clearly I am losing some hippie cred here too. ;-)
ReplyDeleteYou may use the mixture of boric acid and sugar, instead of using only boric acid. Only boric acid will kill the worker just immediately touching it. If you use 1:10 of boric acid and sugar then the worker ant will carry it to their hive without dying just after touching. Then all ants will eat and die all together. It will help you getting rid of carpenter ant.
Deleteoh my!!! I would freak out. I don't like any kind of insects at all,period lol
ReplyDeleteI hope they all disappear soon!!
For some reason I think silver fish are sort of cute (maybe it's the name, heh). I think they are a signal of something bad though. We had ants in a basement suite in Coquitlam once and I staved them off with paprika I believe? Spiders make me go insane though. I'm pretty terrified of them.
ReplyDeleteI dislike surprise pets/mini tenants =/
Spiders sound like hobo spiders...nasty creatures. They're about the only spider I actually kill rather than gently remove to the outdoors!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the tip, Angie! I thought vinegar might do something so I sprayed a vinegar/tea tree oil combo along the baseboard where they were coming in, and the little buggers just marched straight through it. They walked right over my chalk line, too; so much for the suggestions that ants won't cross a chalk line. I swear they laughed at me as they walked across it.
ReplyDeleteOh goodness, Nicole. Love the nickname you gave those ants; hate the mental image of unstoppable ants.
Cute, Monika?? You're welcome to ours! Thanks for the paprika tip; I'll lay some down along with the DE near the baseboard.
Hobo spiders? I thought they were just harmless brown house spiders or something! Ack, my nerves. Can't take much more of these intruders!
Where can you buy DE?
ReplyDeleteI have been looking for something safe to get rid of silverfish...yuk
It was hard to find. I managed to find mine at a raw food pet store (of all the places!). I Googled where to buy it in my city. If you're in the US, you can buy it off Amazon. Health food stores are rumoured to sell it as well, but I didn't find it at any of the HFS I checked out.
ReplyDeleteYuck. I sympathize with you. We have some really gross creepy crawly's in our house too.
ReplyDeleteI heard on CBC radio that silverfish are pretty much in every house in the lower mainland. They LOVE the damp. Also they don't bite people or infest food, so I've decided to just ignore ours after a lengthy battle involving DE and vacuuming.
ReplyDeleteCupboard moths, on the other hand, make me run screaming. Larvae! In my food! yuk yuk yuk.
Ewww! Goog luck with getting rid of these yucky critters!!
ReplyDeleteI feel like I have things crawling on me now. Eeewww.
ReplyDelete