Unwanted visitors

[Noella]

Welcome to Spring!

The time where little birdies are born and things are blooming. The smell's great! (If you don't have allergies.)

I'm not sure where to put this post but I'm concerned for Allie's wellbeing. I've discovered two unwanted visitors. I found ants and have been battling them with boric acid, peanut butter, and now cinnamon. I've found maybe one or two in her tank. (I don't think she sees them because they're these little black ants.

Is there some way to keep these pests away from her? Her tank's not anywhere near the kitchen. I was thinking of sprinkling cinnamon around the outside of the tank to keep them away.

Now we've discovered another critter that's been trying to get into the house. (Allie doesn't really run around and her crickets are being fed on a cornmeal basis and water. I'm worried that the ants might infest them.) Apart from the ants, the critter that's trying to get into the house is a giant water rat. (It's been an ongoing fight and found a problem with my Mom's bedroom floor. We need to repair half the floor because of wood rot. Joists are okay. So that's good. I've been up at 5:30 this morning, unable to sleep well because I heard Mom pounding the floor with a rubber mallet. (I really thought she was having a nightmare and something was attacking her.)

I usually put moth balls in the crawlspace to keep out the rats and mice.

Will these affect my beardie and the crickets? Apart from the smell, I can't really put the whole box in there. The smell wafts through the floor boards and into the house. (I don't want to hurt my animals either. I know the bird's okay and the gerbil's okay. It's just Allie and the crickets I'm worried for.

I also have a sonic pest repeller that I'm planning on using. (The only thing is: I can't have it on when I have the electric fence unless I can hook it up to one of those outlet strips to run both the fence and the repeller.

 

[Noella]

One down, maybe some more to go?

 

[stumpy]

I am finding little beetles trying to get in her tank. Then one got in and as i was trying to grap it. She ran up an eat it

 

[Noella]

I've got these small beetles coming into the house whenever we've got the window open. I saw some in the window and on the floor. I've been trying to combat all types of bugs. I even went ahead and sprayed pesticide all around the outside of my house to keep them from going in. (It's got to be working because the beetles are dead and there's no spiders around my windowsills nor around my stairs. I'm in the process of doing some Spring-Summer cleaning.

I think I've got a nest of rats living in the crawlspace because a large rat was found dead in the yard and a day or two later, a baby rat was found dead, too. I'm hoping that the natural wildlife-snakes that aren't dangerous come in and begin making a meal of them. And last night, I set a snap trap and caught one. It's dead.

I hate killing any animal-rodent or otherwise. But since it's found it's way into my house, I've got to protect my house, family, animals, and the electronics in it.

 

[stumpy]

I feel u. I have to shot squrls by the house and there such cute little things but damnit they eat the wires in the cars and phone lines and the rats eat the wires inside the hot tub. We have had to get so many wires fixed that I'm pretty much a pro at re wiring cars lol

 

[Noella]

Durn buggers got to the dog bones! Ate the whole case of them! Poor dogs don't have treats! I hope they don't get into their dog food!

I think there's a family of them living under the house. I just rebaited the trap and it's ready to go. I've got one hole covered with a sonic repeller and the other open with the giant trap.

 

[Pat B]

Get some more traps girl! I hope you kill them all....I don't know what I would do if I had rats/mice in or around my house. Really creeps me out! Good luck and keep your Allie safe!!

 

[Noella]

Thanks, Pat! It explains why I've been having some severe asthma and allergies. It also explains why Sadie, one of my dogs, has asthma too!

We've been fighting these rats for two days in a row. I'm getting offers from pest control companies that want to eliminate and clean the crawlspace.

 

[PatsyB]

A few years ago the people next door to me were doing a lot of construction and one night I woke up to water splashing and thought it was one of the cats getting into something. I went in the bathroom where the noise was coming from and lifted the toilet seat and there was a big rat in my toilet!!!!! Luckily the seat was down so it couldn't get out and surprisingly it didn't catch the attention of the cats until I screamed!

 

[Pat B]

It does sound like a profesional will have to come in to get rid of those nasty creatures....good luck!

 

[Noella]

We're going to get a professional to remove them because the crawlspace is a place under the house and I'm not able to go under the house because of the asthma and no less being unable to breathe without gasping. I go outside and I'm gasping. So I've got to stay indoors and if I'm out, I've got to be careful. I do know that there's a great smell out there that smells good and it's making me gasp! And another rat came up through the hole and didn't get caught.
-
Allie says good afternoon too!

 

[Pat B]

You are doing the right thing!!

 

[mish13]

YIKES !!! KILL THEM ! I hate mice , they are nasty disease carriers . Im from Chicago and lived in the city most of my life . I never saw any rats or mice until i moved to the burbs several yrs ago. One night i was watching tv , it was late like 1 in the morning and i saw a mouse run behind the entertainment center, Omg , I jumped on the couch and was yelling for my son to get up !! I think i scared the hell outta my dogs . hahaha I didnt sleep for months . I was afraid they would attack me in my sleep. They got into my dog food too. I now keep it in a rubbermaid container with a tight lid. Good luck, i hope you get rid of them soon.

 

[Noella]

Thanks Pat!

I bought the poor dogs new bones and put them into a tupperware container and they're sitting in my closet. They haven't reached the dog food yet and we were looking at the rubbermaid containers tonight. (Poor Allie didn't go to bed until after 10 PM. She didn't seem to mind basking that extra hour or so. Usually her bedtime's 9:00-9:30 and she'll sleep til 10:30. If I wake up early, she'll still be asleep at 9.)

And for the disgusting Rats, they were given Poison Le Liver Pate two nights ago. I hope they eat them all and die outside where they belong. Tonight, the dogs in the next house, which has a large field, were barking like crazy. There were noises of running and shuffling in the field. The rats were in the next field, looking for water. (I certainly hope tonight, they'll eat their fill of the Poison Le Liver Pate and die.) These rats are scaring the heck out of my Mom, our dogs, and the bird.

Next month, I'm going to buy a box of moth balls to keep them out of my crawl space.

I also planted four tomato plants out front. I found two fake snakes. I put one in the garden and the other one heading into one of their holes. LOL!

 

[Pat B]

oh dear....sounds like you have it under control!!

 

[gilliesexotics]

Hi, I would suggest liquid peppermint to get rid of ants. Dab some on a paper towel/cotton ball and place it where you think they are coming in and around where you dont want them. They will go away

Mice: Just the other day i had to rewire a few rooms to a separate breaker box. When doing this i found a few wires chewed clear to the copper on both sides. That is a fire waiting to happen. Extra steps will be taken this year to keep them out

 

[Noella]

oh dear....sounds like you have it under control!!

Yep! Last night, I heard a dog barking his little face off and I went to investigate. When I turned off my flashlight and just listened, I heard ruffling and noise. I think they all vacated to get water. The dogs were so noisy that no one got any sleep.

Today, I was a busy bee. I burned some leaves for my new tomato plants and Knock Out roses, and plan on burning more leaves. And I closed off the crawlspace today. Mowed the lawn, cleaned more leaves, looked for more scrap metal, and cleaned here and there.

 

[Noella]

Hi, I would suggest liquid peppermint to get rid of ants. Dab some on a paper towel/cotton ball and place it where you think they are coming in and around where you dont want them. They will go away

Just the other day i had to rewire a few rooms to a separate breaker box. When doing this i found a few wires chewed clear to the copper on both sides. That is a fire waiting to happen. Extra steps will be taken this year to keep them out

I'll look for some next month. (I'll be getting mothballs to place under my house next month too. Right now, I've put some cinnamon in my pantry. It seems to repell them. They're just coming in from somewhere else in the floor.

 

[Mungi's Buddha]

Hi, I would suggest liquid peppermint to get rid of ants. Dab some on a paper towel/cotton ball and place it where you think they are coming in and around where you dont want them. They will go away

Spot on suggestion, GilliesExotics! That truly does work. My Grandma showed me that trick when I was kid back in Southern Louisiana It's one of those great old tyme remedies that proves you don't always have to run and grab the posion bottle to get the job done!

Thanks for bringing back a great memory of great times with my Grandma too!

 

[Noella]

Great to see you on, Brett! I've been trying to figure out what to do about those black ants. I've tried cinnamon, peanut butter and boric acid mixture to kill their hive and queen. (It didn't work well this spring.) But I did have some fire ants out there. I used club soda on their mound and about three days later, they were gone. I even found another ant hive and used boric acid on them.