Cparfc438 thank you!

Reading all these comments makes me realize we are not alone in battling the never-ending invasion of pests. we'd like to list our house for sale but I think there is about one week a year we could consider, where there would be no cluster flies, Asian beetles, spiders, mice, chipmunks, ants, skunks and rats. We've had all of these at one time or another... but live always with cluster flies and Asian beetles.

If you find your home in the southwest corner of Virginia and you do not have stinkbugs, you must be blessed! They are everywhere around here.

My mom swears by this. Ants hate the smell of dryer sheets. Put one wherever they are coming inside, and they will go away.

After moving to Florida (from Michigan) I was told we have three seasons of pests:

Snow Bird Season

Tourist Season

Love Bug Season

The Love Bugs are nasty flying insects, not harmful, but their body acid will eat the paint off your car if you don't wash 'em off ASAP. So far we haven't seen any Love Bugs, but the Snow Birds are beginning to go 'home' to their 'northern homes', and the Tourists hit with Spring Break and baseball's Spring Training season.

My neighbors told me to use dry "grits" on the ants (the kind of grits you cook and eat). Sprinkle some dry grits around their mounds and they take it in, and when they eat the grits this will swell up in them and kill 'em in their nests.

For the wasps we use a can of that wasp spray that allows you to spray 'em from 12 (or more) feet away. Knocks 'em right down. I found a nest hanging and sprayed this stuff right up the bottom hole where they were coming in and out. Saturated that thing and when it fell no live wasps came out.

My neighbor said to me "If you see a big black snake leave him alone. He's a 'good guy' cause he eats the pigmy rattle snakes." I thought he was just 'pull'n-my-leg'. Nope! It's true. The 'big black snake' is a King Snake and east almost any other kind of snakes.

So ya live and learn.

just recently there was a posting going around facebook about using borax, cotton balls etc. google that.. apparently it's amazing and works.. i would just be careful if you have small children, or pets that could ingest this.

Sprinkling ground cloves on the unwanted ants sends them packing - and when they've gone you just wipe the surface with a damp cloth. You don't even need to worry about it being toxic to children and pets. Forgive me for repeating myself (I posted the same somewhere else on this thread) - but it's worth sharing again because it works.

Silverfish are regulars. I live on a slab foundation, it's tough to get rid of all the critters!

Eydie...my complete sympathies. (and I thought the large "water bugs" or American Cockroaches in our Philadelphia apartment were bad). In 50 years of living in the northeast, we have experienced infestations of ants (small red, large black, carpenter), silverfish, earwigs, fleas (had dog & two cats), chiggers, German roaches, and mice.

We constantly put Borax on the outside of the house, dries up bugs from the inside out

This post reminds me of one other thing I like about living in the Pacific Northwest as opposed to East TX where I grew up-No bugs except for the occasional sugar ant invasion(whoopee)! Love & miss TX just not the ticks, the fleas, the waterbugs, the regular roaches, silverfish, ants, flies, mosquitoes, wasps, spiders, spiders and more spiders & then scorpions of course and snakes by the lakes & whatever other kind of bug Noah let loose in TX from the ark...

Cave crickets!! These things are terrifying! Long legs and crazy eyes. They can jump three feet - even up stairs. Best of all, because they have lousy eye sight they almost always jump AT you. Found one crawling in my hair a few years back and still have not recovered. Only two lines of defense: a yearly contract with an exterminator and a Swiffer - if you get them from straight above the never see you coming. The long handle keeps you at a safe distance. One last warning: make sure you pound the crap out of them. I've left them for my husband to clean up AND THEY WERE GONE WHEN WE WENT BACK FOR THEM.

I have had:

*5 birds - my own

*3 bunnies - the irresponsible neighbor's

*2 cats - stray

*1 goldfish - school class's! (it died within a week)

I live in the country so we get our fair share of mice. No matter how many you trap, they seem to still get in. I have 2 cats that catch some as well so that helps to keep the numbers down. We have ants that I swear have a nest somewhere in the wall, but hubby doesn't blieve me. Maybe when the house falls down because they've destroyed the wood he'll know I was right. We get cluster flies every spring... talk about gross when you have to go outside and have to walk through masses of them. Fruit flies every canning season, but I do try to keep out traps for them. I seem to keep finding those big spiders around the house, but as long as one doesn't crawl in my mouth while I sleep it's all good because I know they eat other insects. Oh and lets not forget about the red squirrel that decided to move into the indoor pool room. We're not sure if she's living in the attic of it or if it's just the outside soffits. Our humane trap that we bought does not seem to be attracting her. I know she's there, I can't see her, but I will get her. We already have enough pets thank you, don't need one that will destroy the insulation.

DE!! DIATOMACEOUS EARTH!! Kills any insect that crawls over it. The sharp edges cut open their exoskeleton and they dry out, but the diatoms are so tiny, it feels like talc to us. Just don't breath it. When I was remodeling, I painted it into all the corners and cracks: into openings around pipes, behind and under appliances, under the shelf-liner below the kitchen sink. In two years, the only insect I have had indoors is a single ladybug that came in on some forsythia and rhody prunnings I brought in to force for early spring blossoms.

For ants, try CINNAMON. I have seen a line of cinnamon deter ants nearly instantly.

Rodents don't like BALSOM, PEPPERMINT, LAVENDER, or CLOVES, so I painted essential oils of those in openings, too, And I like to toss a packet of FRESH CAB into basement cubbies when the weather starts cooling off to tell the mice and squirrels to find another winter home. It works. Again, not poisonous -- they just don't like the smell. To me, it makes those musty, closed-up basement spaces smell like Christmas.

So, no insect pests, and no crawling rodents, but we had bats. I like bats. They eat insects. They were welcome residents in the roof soffits of this old house for probably a hundred years. But recently, we had two problems.

1. Bat bugs. Although they prefer to feed on bats, bat bugs are close cousins to bed bugs, and when there aren't enough bats, they go for other mammals - like people. There had never been a problem with bat bugs until last summer -- perhaps there aren't enough bats anymore because the bat population is being killed off by the smutty-nose epidemic that is wiping out bats all over North America.

2. Guano. The bats started coming into the attic through a turbine vent, and left a pile of guano under the vent. In the summer heat, it stinks.

Worse, the guano can host pathogens that cause lung disease, so we hired a certified pro to deal with the bats. They waited till the babies were grown, then put up bat houses near the soffits in places the bats could find them with their sonar, then covered the hole under the vent with screen, as well as any other places they thought bats might be using, to keep them from returning. And they removed the guano. There's a one year guarantee, and we plan to buy annual guarantee renewal. Just too many potential entryways in this old house to think it's once and done.

I hope I'm using the right tense there -- HAD a problem, not have. We'll see what happens this summer. And I hope the bats like the new bat houses. I hope we do still HAVE bats on the property - just no guano in the attic and no frustrated bat bugs biting us!

@littlemonkeys3, we tried the humane/live traps for red squirrels that lived in our roof (open ceiling - no attic) with no avail. They are pretty smart and avoided them at length despite the goodies used for bait. Then they had babies and the scurrying around drove us nuts. Had to resort to drastic measures. A couple of blocks of Norwegian rat poisoning thrown into the hole they had torn in the roof venting did the trick. Not proud of that remedy but sometimes modern chemistry is the only option.

Two plus years ago, we trapped 3 little red squirrels at once in a single "humane" trap. They had frozen to death by morning, so I don't know that it was any more humane than a killing trap. We put a metal sweep to the bottom of the door to this space and nailed up a couple bags of CAB FRESH. Haven't had any more.

We have grey and black squirrels, in addition to the red ones. Chipmunks, moles, and groundhogs. Deer, bears.and an occasional fox. Bees, wasps, butterflies, and lots of birds. I suppose they could all be considered "pests" -- but most of the time, I enjoy them, and try to coexist.

Last house had silverfish. No matter what, annually, they returned. Glad to be rid of them when we moved. Unfortunately, now we have stink bugs- which are hideous and frightening to look at! Luckily, there aren't many of them. Still, I don't feel every creature has a right to live- not when its in my house- so looking for ways to get the number down to none!

ruthmand the humane trap is more for the fact that if it is actually in the attic and not the soffit and it dies than the smell is going to be horrible. It's drywall than cedar planks over that.
We decide we will put chicken wire over it's access for now. That way we'll be able to tell if it's trying to get in.... or out! Thing about red squirrels is they usually have more than one nest and carry babies back and forth to different nests.

I guess I should have also posted about the rabbit that lives in our garage and around our hay bales. We have tonnes of rabbits around here. They are cute and all but dig holes everywhere and get into the garden.

I live in Minnesota. We get centipedes (those nasty, creepy, thousand leg bugs). Oh, and they are fast. Pretty much things nightmares are made of. The cold winter seems to help decrease the number of them we find in the house. Any other time of year we use chemical bug spray around the outside of the house, but that does not completely prevent them from coming in. Any ideas to get rid of these critters would be much appreciated!

hoffmanc -- Try dusting places you suspect they like with either boric acid or diatomaceous earth - two simple and non-toxic possibilities.
For more on centipede control, try your local extension office, or read this article from Penn State extension: House Centipedes

Littlemonkeys3, the poison makes them seek water so they vacate the "premises" which is why we had to resort to that prior to repairing the roof venting. It was a desperate act...

Funny, I remember two things...when I lived in Indonesia, they had these things they called flying termites...not sure what their actual classification was...
You would never usually see them....but....after one of the short, hard rains we would have, they would all come up in swarms in the garden and some would fly into the house.
In Singapore, it was the birds. My home was built as most homes there are, with a big open gap between the top of the walls and the roof. This makes excellent sense for ventilation. However, I lived next to a nature preserve and birds frequently flew into my house. Usually I just opened all the doors and windows and let them find their own way out.
The bats were another matter. I never saw evidence of them living at my house, but they made occasional nighttime visits. I finally just got to where I said screw it and let them sort it out, instead of trying to help them out.

I have found that the least toxic and best long-term solution for spiders is a combination of sticky traps and a vacuum. I vacuum any spider I see (they don't survive the tumble so you don't have to worry about them finding their way back out). They get stuck in the traps when they wander around at night. Both methods disrupt their life-cycle so, over a period of time, you can be pretty much free of them.

What is your solution to get rid of ants inside and outside??

@pgeis Know what I've been thinking about for DAYS now? BAT BUGS. :P

Emily, I hope that's only because of my post, and not because you have them!!

Fruit flies aka Drain Flies. My daughter called the county extension when she could not get rid of her supposed fruit flies in her kitchen area. Extension office said they are Drain Flies and the problem is the eggs that are laid in the drains, then mature and hatch in the pipes. Extension office said boil a large pot of water and then pour down the drain and garbage disposal with some bleach added in after removing from heat such that you pour so much water down that it fills up drains and garbage disposal area. Start this at the first sign of flies in kitchen. Daughter said the hot water kills the eggs and solves the problem until the next laying round. She said you might have to do this in bathroom drains and laundry drains too, but it works. Just boil water and pour at first sign of flies that are not fruit flies. EOsaid you can add bleach but she always felt the boiling water worked just fine. Solved her problem.

We have a cabin in the country. No problems with any pests other than ants. We used those little cartridges by Raid and they stopped. Now we have problems with mice...everywhere. Even in the washing machine. Can't use poison because we have 2 inquisitive Labradors. After cleaning everything, under beds, in closets, we used those little ultrasonic things that you plug in an electrical outlet. There's one in every room. No more mice! I highly recommend.

I just resorted to buying terrible ant spray. We tried the baits and it did nothing. At a previous house all I used to do was put cayenne pepper around the entry way and they would stop. Here they are like super ants or something. Anyway, the raid spray did actually work, when I saw them, but I must have distrubed a nest because 2 days later my husband was pouring water in his coffee maker and there were ants and the eggs in there! Can you believe that? So we still haven't completely gotten rid of them. I haven't seen very much of them in the past week though after I started spraying.

I have been fighting the clothes moth. I have 2 kinds. The webbing moth and the case-making moth. No idea how they got in. They appeared so tiny and harmless so I didn't bother the 3 or 4 I saw for about a year. Dumb move. Supposedly they love wool, but mine survive by eating cotton or synthetics. They love pet hair. I hang traps to attract the males. The females I vacuum up with my Dyson each night (they rest on the ceiling after midnight and hide again during the day). I've hung bags of lavender. I kill the females by hand--so satisfying. I have washed 3 huge closets of clothes, 40 blankets/sheets and 100's of collectible textiles/lace. I freeze items that cannot be laundered or dry cleaned. Washed stuff needs to be dried 30 minutes at 120 degrees to kill any eggs. Can't use insecticides; too harmful for cats. I vacuum everything. All the time.

Unlike the huge red ant statues that you have pictured, my husband and I have mostly had to deal with regular carpenter ants. They're all really small and do little damage, but they're everywhere. We've tried everything from setting traps to poison, but nothing seems to be working. It's probably time that we hired a professional pest control service. Hopefully we'll get everything figured out soon! Thanks for starting the discussion, Emily! http://www.bwpestcontrol.com/

We had the tiny ant problem. They were everywhere! Apparently this mild weather we had this year in the west didn't destroy them like most years and they have been overwhelming. We finally called the exterminator, he put out the right bait, problem solved! Worth every penny!

Springtails. Tried everything, I think.........they just won't go. So, so frustrating!

Sonia Frazzitta: Those are clothes moth casings or cocoons and it appears you have quite an infestation.

A friend of mine swears by dried laurel leaves for moths-she doesn't ever seem to have a problem...

We have millipedes here in se michigan- we are in an apartment on the second floor so it's not too bad- but they did decide to take up residence in my plants- I tried everything from insecticidal soap to de to pyrethrins- nothing worked! It was like they were swimming in it, laughing at me. They gross me out so bad- I would literally have a mini panic attack when I would find them (again) in my plants... I would be in an adrenaline driven panic to kill them LOL! Finally I purchased some ortho bug-b-gone and put that in the plants- first I diluted it per the directions- they survived! The second time, I put the concentrate in full strength and (FINALLY!) killed the creepy arthropods! They were so starved for food they were actually eating the roots of my huge poinsettia. The plants were fine as long as I didn't get any on the leaves (poinsettia, snake plant, english ivy, philodendron)... Finally, no more bugs and I know that the bug-b-gone will be my goto for millipedes. I'm getting creeped out just remembering it! Eech! LOL

Here in south central Florida, we seem to have every type of critter. We have the exterminator out every 3 months. We learned quickly to identify fire ant nests, though my dog has never come across an ants nest she didn't want to sit on, she seems to think they are pillows.

those pesky fungus gnats! Compliment of some Rosemary bought from a garden-center. And the only cure I could find is a systemic pesticide that is banned in most other countries due to neurotoxicity in children after use. Not to mention what it does to bees. But it's still sold everywhere here in the good ol' USA. HRMFF!!!

Millipedes! They get everywhere.

A chipmunk got into our house a few weeks ago. We believe it was only inside for one day, and it came into the garage and then into the house when the man door was opened. We caught it in a mouse trap!

kpappal -- Congratulations on your quick action! I discovered I had one only after it created a nest in a prized wool and down sofa causing so much damage the upholstery service I called said it wasn't worth fixing. Aargh!

I didn't go through this emtire post so I hope I am not repeating anything. Mice killed with D-Con will sometimes be consumed by other animal-birds,etc, which will in turn be killed because of the poison in the mice. I had a horrific time with pantry moths until I found traps for them at HD/Lowes. The trap uses a scent to attract the moths which are then stuck to the 'sticky' inside of the trap. It's cheap and it works great.

Carpenter bees! OMG I hate those things.

No bug should have more than 1 wing or 1 leg.

The household pest are the serious threat as they not only damage our house property but also cause health disease and an unhygienic environment. Please take care of yourself!

There are some plants that can help you repel pets. Plants that serve as natural pest repellents HERE.

Japanese beetles! I've tried everything except Sevin, which I refuse. Impossible to have a garden on my deck!

Does anyone know how to avoid or get rid of Asian lady beetles, besides vacuuming them?

Voles!!!!!

They look like cute, cute mice but burrow just under the dirt and destroy all your bulbs.

This has been the year of infestations for us! :(

Had a nice swarm of what the pest guy said was "pavement ants", but they had matured enough in their hive that I had 30 of them in the house one day that had wings and were swarming! That scared the crap out of us until we found out they were not termites. Amdro outside, and Terro inside and they appear to be gone.

Also dealing with an issue of Springtails this year. Seeing 5-10 around the master bath tub, and then them crawling on window sills, etc. Never any more than 10-20 in the house. But when the websites talk about how they like to eat "mold" it always scares me.

Following the plan set up here: http://bugspray.com/article/springtail.html -- granules and spray outside, dust inside in crevices where I can get to. Will see if there is a drop off.

Nice to know I am not alone!