Bugs

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Ugh. Double Ugh.

I have a screened-in back porch/patio, and my two dogs reside on the porch and go into the yard through a dog door. However, last week one of them decided that going through the dog door took too long and went through one of the screens instead.

And as I am fairly inept when it comes to tools/home repair, and Glenn is really busy with work, and David is really busy, too, well, the screen has still not been repaired. In the meantime, it's July, in Florida. And that means: BUGS!!! Mosquitoes and mosquitoe hawks and beetles and flies and bees and wasps and stinging things and moths and spiders - they're all swarming and they're coming in onto the porch through the torn screen. And since my darling dogs have figured out how to open the sliding glass doors into my bedroom, Glenn's bedroom, the living room, and the dining room, all of the bugs have decided to move inside.

I have killed two small black widow spiders today - one of which was spinning a web on my footboard *shudder* The other was in the kitchen *double shudder*. Now, mind you, in general I like bugs - they have their place in the food chain and are all part of the cycle of life and so forth.

BUT

Goddamnit - not in my house!!! There are dead moths on the floors in every room - my rat has mosquitoe bites - I have mosquitoe bites - there are dead flies on the floors, too - and I keep walking into new cobwebs (they literaly spring-up over night). I am thinking about moving to the Arctic - or to Antartica - some place where there's no bugs!

Just needed to get this off my chest - I am kind of queasy about the thought of getting into bed, now.

― I'm Passing Open Windows (Ms Laura), Sunday, 6 July 2003 05:43 (twenty-two years ago)

Get a lizard?

― Leee (Leee), Sunday, 6 July 2003 06:08 (twenty-two years ago)

mslaura i feel for you! i have woken to the sound of a big cockroach scampering about on my pillow ( some years ago now ) and it freaked me out in a big way. i dont mind bugs either, but no, i dont want to share my personal space with a zillion of them.
get that screen mended fast! invest in a mosquito net and light some nice 'anti-bug' candles in the evenings.

― donna (donna), Sunday, 6 July 2003 06:09 (twenty-two years ago)

you need a bug zapper. they were a fixture in the back-yard of every australian home in the 80s. yes they're unsightly and noisy, but they lay waste to bugs like nothing else.

― Chris Radford (Chris Radford), Sunday, 6 July 2003 06:20 (twenty-two years ago)

yikes, mslaura! i feel your pain. earlier this year i discovered a wasp in my bed, at about the moment it stung me. i then discovered i am allergic to the fuckers and my arm swelled up. it was unpleasant. my flat last year was infested with sizeable slugs.

― di smith (lucylurex), Sunday, 6 July 2003 06:51 (twenty-two years ago)

Bugs are ok outside, but when they come in, I consider them fair game. I tried leaving their little bug corpses outside my door to deter their compatriots, but it doesn't really work.

― luna (luna.c), Sunday, 6 July 2003 07:40 (twenty-two years ago)

bleeaarrghh . . .there are spiders and webs all over my place to. and every now and then one of those huge waterbug roaches will come wandering in.

arrrghh!

Laura, make one of your boys fix the screen. Damn, you got two of them!

― That Girl (thatgirl), Sunday, 6 July 2003 08:03 (twenty-two years ago)

No chance of learning to love them, I suppose? No, me neither. My ex-wife was genuinely terrified of spiders (worst phobia of any kind I've personal knowledge of) and used some spray or liquid to keep them away. I don't know that it works on other bugs, but it did keep them away completely, so if the black widows are the main concern, there is a cheapish solution there.

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Sunday, 6 July 2003 10:50 (twenty-two years ago)

Cats eat more bugs than you'd think, though mostly outside, so if you have any they've done all the work they're likely to bother w/by now

― Andrew Thames (Andrew Thames), Sunday, 6 July 2003 12:43 (twenty-two years ago)

The bug situation:

I woke this morning to find the water-logged corpses of five moths in my bedside water glass. I am working under the assumption that no, I did not drink half of the glass this morning before opening my eyes. However, I did find another small black widow spider working on a web in a corner area of one of my closets - I think I shall spend the rest of my life in the nude, as I don't want to put on any clothes from the contaminated closet, now.

(Er, for those of you who don't know, I have a slightly ineffective immune system at the moment - normally I'd not flinch at the thought of black widows and would calmly remove them, but right now a bite would probably prove fatal, so that's why I'm bitching.)

Anyway, the screen will be going-up in about an hour, when Glenn returns from his voyage to the local builder's supply warehouse-type place - I have agreed to act as his assistant in the operation. I'm guessing I'll be frustrated with his directions in about four minutes, give or take three or so.

I have thought about getting an exterminator in here, but that process (er, extermination) pretty much goes against all that I believe in about the sanctity of nature and not disrupting the food chain (and, really, I like the toads and frogs and birds who [in theory] are dining well on the local bug populations). But that doesn't explain why it is that I didn't buy one of those bug-zapper thingy-ma-bobbers.

Anyway, I have also started thinking about a nice mosquitoe net for drapping over my bed - maybe it'll lead to some interesting "exotic and/or erotic traveler" dreams. It'll be a good conversational opener, too, and my friends will be able to use me as an anecdote.

Thank you, all of you, for your commiseration and suggestions and horror stories - all have been well received and appreciated.

― I'm Passing Open Windows (Ms Laura), Sunday, 6 July 2003 16:16 (twenty-two years ago)

Move to Colorado; there are hardly any bugs here.

― Mandee, Sunday, 6 July 2003 16:21 (twenty-two years ago)

*grin* Okay, Mandee. Can I crash on your floor with all of my critters and my books and my kitchen utensils?

― I'm Passing Open Windows (Ms Laura), Sunday, 6 July 2003 16:51 (twenty-two years ago)

bug zappers kill beneficial bugs mostly. rub sheets on bounce on your skin and wear a sheet hanging from your belt, this will keep mosquitoes away.

― keith (keithmcl), Sunday, 6 July 2003 17:08 (twenty-two years ago)

*laughing* But will it also work with the other bugs that have moved in, Keith?

― I'm Passing Open Windows (Ms Laura), Sunday, 6 July 2003 17:25 (twenty-two years ago)

I have sympathy for your Laura. I hate bugs too, but don't fear/loathe them as much as spiders. And what are the only types of creatures, the only other form of life I encounter in my apt ? Spiders.

Wait:

My ex-wife was genuinely terrified of spiders (worst phobia of any kind I've personal knowledge of) and used some spray or liquid to keep them away. I don't know that it works on other bugs, but it did keep them away completely, so if the black widows are the main concern, there is a cheapish solution there.

...please please, could you tell me more about this, like where to find it? My phobia ia also pretty severe. It is only because I have been living by myself for a few years now that I have adapted enough to be able to kill them without anyone else's help. Even up to a year and a half ago, if i ever saw one in my old apt, i would run across the hall and get my friend to offer me emotional support, even though she was never a fan of them either.

It's just an irrational fear..

― Vic (Vic), Sunday, 6 July 2003 17:36 (twenty-two years ago)

I have sympathy for your Laura -> haha, for you Laura.

Back to my old typo-ing!!

― Vic (Vic), Sunday, 6 July 2003 18:13 (twenty-two years ago)

I don't know where she got that stuff. Ironmongers or something, I would assume. She only bought it the once, towards the end of our time together. Actually, it might have been out of one of those catalogues of foolish things one gets through the door. I'm afraid we aren't on talking terms nowadays, so I can't ask her. Google for 'spider repellent' or something?

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Sunday, 6 July 2003 19:25 (twenty-two years ago)

Another update:

The screen has been mended/repaired/replaced, with a bit of assistance from me and a bit more assistance from the dogs (one of whom ran off with the tubing/hose stuff that fits into the crack and the other who went through the screen when it was about 3/4 finished.

So I should now be safe and sound, once all of the buggers that are still in the house and/or on the porch move on to better living conditions or croak.

― I'm Passing Open Windows (Ms Laura), Sunday, 6 July 2003 22:06 (twenty-two years ago)

five years pass...

I am transporting some plastic sterelite bins into storage. These bins have been in my garage, which is pretty much infested with spiders and other kinds of nasty bugs. I don't want to bring these things to the storage facility, and don't want to open these bins in the near future and find them filled with baby spiders or roaches or something. The contents run the gamut from winter clothes to comic books.

My question is, is there any substance I can spray on the lip of these bins to keep these things out? Any home remedies? black market stuff? Anything? I'm desperate.

― If Assholes Could Fly This Place Would Be An Airport, Tuesday, 23 June 2009 04:54 (sixteen years ago)

Raid works pretty well (there is ant/roach-specific kid that is meant to form a barrier that bugs won't cross). It's probably terrible for the environment and any living thing if you care, but I kept one can of it through college as there were bugs every where. One spray at the beginning of each academic year along my windowsill kept my dorm pretty safe for about half the year. If they're in your garage you don't have to worry about groundwater and shit, but just don't let your dogs lick it or anything.

― throwbookatface (skygreenleopard), Wednesday, 24 June 2009 01:27 (sixteen years ago)

two years pass...

holy shit look at these huge fucking bugs!!!

http://www.npr.org/blogs/krulwich/2012/02/24/147367644/six-legged-giant-finds-secret-hideaway-hides-for-80-years?sc=fb&cc=fp

― goole, Thursday, 1 March 2012 19:01 (thirteen years ago)

i think the pyramid they live on sounds even weirder tbh!

― lex pretend, Thursday, 1 March 2012 19:36 (thirteen years ago)

Bugs/eggs on a banana - like small brown grains of rice - any idea what they are likely to be?

― djh, Sunday, 4 March 2012 22:03 (thirteen years ago)

http://www3.snapfish.co.uk/snapfishuk/slideshow/AlbumID=6509471006/PictureID=344082903006/a=53273614_53273614/otsc=SHR/otsi=SPIClink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfishuk/

― djh, Sunday, 4 March 2012 22:20 (thirteen years ago)

http://www3.snapfish.co.uk/snapfishuk/slideshow/AlbumID=6509471006/PictureID=344082903006/a=53273614_53273614/otsc=SHR/otsi=SPIClink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfishuk/

― djh, Sunday, 4 March 2012 22:21 (thirteen years ago)

four years pass...

http://i1313.photobucket.com/albums/t550/cochlear_nerve/DSC01034_zpschy7tw1n.jpg

― djh, Tuesday, 24 January 2017 16:40 (eight years ago)

Any ideas? On a windowsill.

― djh, Tuesday, 24 January 2017 16:41 (eight years ago)

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