Slipper Posted March 9, 2013 Share Posted March 9, 2013 DH lost his job in January and we are starting to feel the pinch. We still have savings but I need to cut back as much as possible. We have a pest control company to do general spraying for bugs and wasps. We have a bad problem with yellow jackets but they can't help much with that. Any suggestions? Pest control is $600 a year, only $50 a month, but I could really use that $50 elsewhere. Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melissa in Australia Posted March 9, 2013 Share Posted March 9, 2013 we don't spray at all. it is so unhealthy for your body living in an environment that is constantly sprayed. we just have good screens on the house and leave it at that. in regards to wasps. most types of wasps are parasitic and beneficial (they eat spiders) we did have some European wasps last year. we gos some type of powder ( that apparently stops their ability to shed their skin at the grub stage) and Dh told my DS then 16 that he could have three mars bars for each nest he tracked down and sprinkled the powder into (they live in colonies in hollows in the ground). Would you believe that ds searched out and found every single wasp nest in a 25 km radius. this is in THICK BUSH. I was constantly buying Mars bars! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melinda in VT Posted March 9, 2013 Share Posted March 9, 2013 Maybe this is a regional thing? I've lived in Oregon, Utah, Rhode Island, and Vermont, and we have never done pest control. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joker Posted March 9, 2013 Share Posted March 9, 2013 We have quarterly pest control so the cost is about half of what you're paying now. We're in Florida and doing it on our own just wasn't working. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slipper Posted March 9, 2013 Author Share Posted March 9, 2013 We live in the country in Alabama. We do have spider problems. Although we've never been bitten by a brown recluse or black widow, we have both in our area. I've been bitten by spiders before that caused vomiting, ER visits and swelling body parts. The wasp problem here is very bad which is why we had pest control in the first place. When we moved here, we were killing upwards of 25 wasps a day, INSIDE the house. Outside was worse. We don't have roaches, but we're in the woods. They are out there.....waiting....lol. Pest control is mostly for wasps, yellow jackets (when we find them) and to keep critters out. Horton, ours is quarterly as well, but it's also for two houses and out-buildings which might be why it's double. I realize chemicals are bad, but I see them as a necessary evil. I'm not opposed to organic/natural pest control, but I don't know how to do that either. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dandelion Posted March 9, 2013 Share Posted March 9, 2013 We've never paid for pest control. We live in the woods as well and do get spiders and other bugs inside the house. We have quite a number of wasps too. I made the mistake of hanging a hummingbird feeder too close to our back door last summer, and it became a wasp magnet. We just deal with pest problems as they happen. The main thing seems to be to keep the doors closed (which is tough with kids and a dog that want to go in and out all day long). There's tons of information on the web about DIY pest control, and natural alternatives to chemical sprays if you want to avoid those. I'm sure you could do this on your own for a lot less than you're paying now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beaners Posted March 9, 2013 Share Posted March 9, 2013 We do spray our foundation and eaves ourselves. I'm not crazy about doing it, but this place seems to need it more than anywhere else we've ever lived. We don't spray inside, but we do use borax. We have also sprayed our swingsets in the past. Again, I hate to do it, but otherwise they're practically unusable. I'd do it myself if it's something you need to have done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
texasmama Posted March 9, 2013 Share Posted March 9, 2013 I have done it in the past. I went to Lowes and bought a home spray kit and sprayed the baseboards and all outside the house and around the doors. We are not infested with bugs, so it evidently worked. :D And I haven't repeated it for a long time so it must have been some good stuff! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlueTaelon Posted March 10, 2013 Share Posted March 10, 2013 I have done it in the past. I went to Lowes and bought a home spray kit and sprayed the baseboards and all outside the house and around the doors. We are not infested with bugs, so it evidently worked. :D And I haven't repeated it for a long time so it must have been some good stuff! ditto, never occured to me to call a pest control company. I mean if you have roaches yes, call but day to day bugs nope. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Truscifi Posted March 10, 2013 Share Posted March 10, 2013 We use OrthoMax Home Defense around the baseboards twice a year and boric acid in all the nooks and crannies. It works pretty well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
texasmama Posted March 10, 2013 Share Posted March 10, 2013 Also, I shove cut up steel wool pads into the weep holes of the foundation. That prevents scorpions and can discourage other, larger bugs, too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
texasmama Posted March 10, 2013 Share Posted March 10, 2013 Whoa, I'm so glad I don't need to deal with scorpions. You haven't really lived until you have been summoned by a blood curdling scream to the side of your 8 year old, who is jumping up and down with a scorpion hanging from his foot by the stinger. Then the darn thing got away and ran under the couch. Dh and I had to pick up the couch and move it to smash the sucker. Dead. Really dead. :D Mess with my babies and you get the back of a shoe and steel wool, you do! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joker Posted March 10, 2013 Share Posted March 10, 2013 ditto, never occured to me to call a pest control company. I mean if you have roaches yes, call but day to day bugs nope. Well, we have some nasty spiders and lots of them. They're not poisonous but they've required medical treatment several times. They also seem to be drawn to myself and my youngest dd. Pest control on our own does nothing, but a local company has cut them down to almost nothing. We've tried stopping a few times and back the spiders come. I'm done trying on my own. We also end up being overrun by earwigs at the same time every year. I get tired of them falling from the ceiling and, again, the local pest control company gets the job done. We've never had roaches, though. :tongue_smilie: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
texasmama Posted March 10, 2013 Share Posted March 10, 2013 And now I can see why some people want guns. LOL Or hand grenades :D These are some evil little suckers! During a separate incident, my youngest dd was sitting on the toilet and I looked in and saw an agitated scorpion running in circles next to the toilet with his stinger up. It made me sick to my stomach. I got her out and killed it and flushed it down the toilet. My neighbor had so many that she counted them and told me that #76 stung her on the butt. She had left her jeans on the floor and then put them back on....I think I might have nightmares if this happened to me. Fortunately, there are not killer scorpions in Texas so there's that.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Annie Posted March 10, 2013 Share Posted March 10, 2013 Aaaaaannnndddddd I'm never moving to Texas! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El... Posted March 10, 2013 Share Posted March 10, 2013 We now live in AZ, so yes, I now use chemicals. I hate to do it, but the bugs here are very hostile. I spray outside the house around the foundation and every door, window and weep hole with Ortho Home Defense ever since we had a picnic with friends on the porch one summer day and found THREE black widow spiders camping on the porch. My 5 yo killed one herself ("Look Mom, a spider!" WHACK! Mom freaks out inside). Someone mentioned using the Home Defense spray on the baseboards indoors, but my bottle says not to use it inside. I dilute the liquid per the bottle directions in a 2 gallon hand-pump garden sprayer which you can get at Walmart for about 10$. The bottle of chemical costs about 18$ and takes care of us for the year. If I start seeing bugs in the house, I use Raid Bug Bombs, first floor only, and close the bedrooms off from the fog. That costs a little more, about 20$ for per occasion, and I do it up to twice a year. You can do it; just read the directions! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PrairieSong Posted March 10, 2013 Share Posted March 10, 2013 What if you have termites? We do. We had our house treated for them and now the company comes every three months to check for them. I don't like chemicals, but if we have more termite activity, what else can we do? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DianeW88 Posted March 11, 2013 Share Posted March 11, 2013 Pest control? If the bugs are outside, I leave them be. We've had wasps build nests on our porch every summer. We don't bother them, they don't bother us. And their nests are fun to take down and examine after they've abandoned them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Unicorn. Posted March 11, 2013 Share Posted March 11, 2013 We use Ortho Home Defense around the outside of the house to control creepy crawlies. We only have to spray 2-4 times a year, depending.... Red wasps will kill yellow jackets, so don't kill them! Diatomaceous earth spread on the yard can also help w/ fleas and other insects. Tide powder laundry detergent works great to control fire ants. Of course, fire ants are great at controlling grasshoppers, so I only worry about the ants if they are near the house, or near the kids play areas. hth Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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