When we moved in my husband sprayed our house with Spectracide on the inside and out. Our house was vacant for six plus months, it was desperately needed. Inside we have been ok up until yesterday. We were enjoying a nice bottle of wine in the backyard, our ankles and feet covered in bug spray, and we were still getting bit. Once again I covered myself in deep woods Off. I, at the present time, have twenty nine mosquito bites in varios stages from that's gonna scar to I got this six hours ago. They LOVE me. So after killing brain cells from the fumes of bug spray I go inside to use the bathroom.
As I am finishing up I see a tiny spider. Now I am not freaked by spiders normally, and this one was very tiny. But then I start to look. In the shower there are about twenty spiders forming a web. The shelf above the toilet had about ten more. All the corners of the ceilings were in various stages of web production. Mind you my husband was showering in said bathroom less than two hours ago! I think he would have mentioned this. Now, like previously stated, spiders don't freak me out that much. That many spiders freaked me out.
My poor husband had to come in and start squishing. He couldn't find the source so he emptied our stuff from the bathroom and made a bleach/ammonia bomb and turned on the fan, sealing the room off. Luckily it killed most of them. I squished a few more when I went to shower but have not seen any since.
Have I mentioned the beetles? The ones the size of baseballs that fly into our siding and I can hear them bouncing from inside the house?
And the mosquitos. I hate the little black and white striped monsters that love my blood. I was getting gas on base last week and I got bit on the face at the pump!
Yea, not the best picture but a woman at the check out asked me, "Oh dear, what happened to your face??" That makes me feel better :P
And I didn't even mention this guy yet.
Luckily he was not poisonous, but I didn't want Rylie out back for awhile after I found it since I wasn't sure. Turns out it is the harmless kind that eats slugs or whatever, but we thought for a bit that it was a baby copperhead. Glad we were wrong!
Our house juts up to a block of woods. I mean literally, a block. It goes for maybe five hundred feet and then there is a street and a Kia dealership. I hear them over the loudspeaker some mornings. The woods may be adding to it, we rarely get bit in the front, it is usually out back, but man I am tired of it. And it is only June! I want to enjoy my backyard darnit, and not bathe in bug spray to do so.
Yes, "Welcome to the South". I've heard it from about twenty different people..... still not a fan.
I am with you on this. Lately, it's been these big, brown garden spiders. I mean, like 3 in the last two days. And then there are the millipedes and other creepy crawl's. Definitely NOT my favorite. At least I've gotten a little teeny bit better at dealing with them and not having massive freak outs?!
ReplyDeletehaha... well I'm from the south, so maybe I'm used to it, but I've never experienced that many bugs. Or like I said, maybe I'm used to I just don't notice. lol. Hope it gets better!
ReplyDeleteThose blood suckers love me as well. My boyfriend and I use a bug spray that tends to work rather well and kills off anything that goes through it. We buy it from Wal-Mart it's called Ortho Home Defense it is in a white and red bottle and has a professional looking sprayer that is also red and white. If I remember correctly it is anywhere from 10 to 15 dollars for a gallon size bottle of it but in my opinion it works really well and your able to use it inside and outside of your house and I think you are able to spray it around your pet and they not get sick from it.
ReplyDeleteAs for your snake problem I have heard that mothballs work to repel them away but I am not sure on how well that it works. Speaking of snakes about a month ago I was coming home from the store and walked to unlock my front door and just so happened to look over and found a baby copperhead just chilling by my steps. I am so glad that it stayed put until I got in my house with the door shut.
A more natural approach if you're interested:
ReplyDeleteMosquitos - citronella plants. not candles. plants. plant them everywhere. you can tear the leaves and use them as repellent on your skin too. Make sure you don't have any standing or still water as it is a breeding ground for them.
Spiders - do not like citrus.
Snakes - do not like mothballs
I don't kn ow what to do about beetles - maybe keep the snakes around?
Stopping by for the first time from Military Spouse Bloggers Support Directory. Looking forward to reading your posts.
ReplyDelete-Chelsea from Diamonds, Dog Tags & Diapers | www.diamondsdogtagsdiapers.com | @motowife
Allie; Let me welcome you kids (marine) back to the south. Your marine is a fine looking lad and we here in Texas are very proud of you both. If you reside in Jacksonville, know well of the bugs and mold along that coast. My two sisters had husbands stationed there and Swansboro was their closet living to the Camp Lejeune gate. My lil sister still has her marine after 52 years marriage, fine couple too, living in central Fla.
ReplyDeleteThe reason I got on here to write is don't smash every bug, spider snake you see. You know there are good-ones. The best deterrent to the crawlers is to spray Black_flag (roach, spider ants) from wollyWorld along the wall base-boards and floor. Especially at each door all thru the house where they will happen to drive into another room during the darkest night hour. The spray will continue to kill for a few weeks or at he next mopping. This area is where the pets and children will not app to be placing their feet and hands.
The Brown-Recluse spider is your greatest harmful one to watch for. Check the web for the true description. They are very fast runners. Kids, Keep having fun and Allie, take care of the marine. Allen.
The bug in DC are killing me! Its ridiculous. We didn't have bugs like this in Nevada and now I'm just like over it!!!
ReplyDelete