You can keep ants away from your home with a concoction of borax and flour. Mix 1 cup of flour and 2 cups of borax in a quart jar. Punch holes in the jar's lid and sprinkle its contents outdoors around the foundation of your home. Bothered by ants and other tiny insects in your cupboards? Scrub the cupboards and then leave several bay leaves in each to discourage return visits. Bat -proofing your property is a good idea if you've been infested once and want to eliminate future colonies. The strong odor a colony leaves behind attracts other bats even after the first group has been evicted. If you see a bat in your house, try to knock it to the floor with a tennis racquet or broom. Once it's stunned, pick it up wearing gloves, or scoop it up with a piece of paper, and get rid of it. Never handle a bat with vour bare hands because of the risk of rabies.
If bees are nesting in a wall but you don't know exactly where, tap the wall at night and decide where the buzzing is loudest. Because the temperature inside the nest is usually about 95°F, you may also be able to feel its heat through the wall. Double check by drilling a small hole in the suspect area. If the drill bit comes out with honey or paraffin on it, you've found the nest. Some people are allergic to bee or wasp stings. If you know or suspect that you are one of them, never try to exterminate a nest yourself. Have someone else do it. If there's a hornet, wasp, bee, or other flying insect in your house andyou have no insect spray, kill it with hair spray. If your home becomes infested with fleas, vacuum rugs thoroughly before spraying and throw out the dust bag at once.
Mealworms, which are attracted to open packages of spaghetti, noodles, or macaroni, are repelled by spearmint chewing gum. You won't be bothered by the pests if you place a few sticks of wrapped gum in or near the packages. (Note: The gum must be wrapped so that it won't dry out and lose its scent.) The scent of peppermint repels mice. To discourage these rodents, place sprigs of this herb where the rodents are likely to enter the house. You can achieve the same effect by soaking pieces of cardboard in oil of peppermint and leaving them in appropriate places.
Raw bacon or peanut butter makes good bait for a mousetrap; so does a cotton ball saturated with bacon grease. So that a mouse can't get the bait without springing the trap, make sure it will have to tug to remove the bait. If you're using peanut butter, dab some on the triggering device and let it harden before setting the trap. If bacon is your bait, tie it around the triggering device. If you live in a multiunit building, any pest control measures you take individually will be ineffective in the long run simply because insects can travel from one apartment to another. To eliminate bugs completely, the entire building should be treated at one time. Since mosquito larvae thrive in water, chang¬ing the water in the birdbath every 3 days will h V reduce the mosquito population.
Because raccoons carry fleas, take immediate action if one sets up housekeeping in your attic or chimney. Chemical repellents such as oil of mus¬tard are temporarily effective, but the smell may bother you as much as it does the raccoon. Your best bet is to let the animal leave, and then cover its entrance hole with wire mesh so that it cannot return. In the spring, moving leftover firewood away from the house will help discourage insect infesta-tions. Centipedes prey on other bugs, so the presence of centipedes in your house may indicate the presence of other insects as well.
The presence of carpenter ants indicates another problem. Because they're fond of damp wood, you should check your pipes, roof, and window sills for water leaks. You can distinguish termite damage from other insect damage by examining any holes you find in wood. Termites eat only the soft part of wood, leaving the annual rings intact. You can control roaches with a mixture of Vz cup of borax and V« cup of flour. Sprinkle this powder along baseboards and door sills, or spoon it into clear jar caps positioned under sinks or under cabinets.
Remember that supermarkets and grocery stores almost always have roaches, so check bags and boxes when unpacking food at home. To keep rodents out of your house, seal every opening they could squeeze through. Some need less than a Vi-inch space. Put poison in deep cracks or holes, and stuff these with steel wool or scouring pads pushed in with a screwdriver. Close the spaces with spackling compound mixed with steel wool fragments.
If bees are nesting in a wall but you don't know exactly where, tap the wall at night and decide where the buzzing is loudest. Because the temperature inside the nest is usually about 95°F, you may also be able to feel its heat through the wall. Double check by drilling a small hole in the suspect area. If the drill bit comes out with honey or paraffin on it, you've found the nest. Some people are allergic to bee or wasp stings. If you know or suspect that you are one of them, never try to exterminate a nest yourself. Have someone else do it. If there's a hornet, wasp, bee, or other flying insect in your house andyou have no insect spray, kill it with hair spray. If your home becomes infested with fleas, vacuum rugs thoroughly before spraying and throw out the dust bag at once.
Mealworms, which are attracted to open packages of spaghetti, noodles, or macaroni, are repelled by spearmint chewing gum. You won't be bothered by the pests if you place a few sticks of wrapped gum in or near the packages. (Note: The gum must be wrapped so that it won't dry out and lose its scent.) The scent of peppermint repels mice. To discourage these rodents, place sprigs of this herb where the rodents are likely to enter the house. You can achieve the same effect by soaking pieces of cardboard in oil of peppermint and leaving them in appropriate places.
Raw bacon or peanut butter makes good bait for a mousetrap; so does a cotton ball saturated with bacon grease. So that a mouse can't get the bait without springing the trap, make sure it will have to tug to remove the bait. If you're using peanut butter, dab some on the triggering device and let it harden before setting the trap. If bacon is your bait, tie it around the triggering device. If you live in a multiunit building, any pest control measures you take individually will be ineffective in the long run simply because insects can travel from one apartment to another. To eliminate bugs completely, the entire building should be treated at one time. Since mosquito larvae thrive in water, chang¬ing the water in the birdbath every 3 days will h V reduce the mosquito population.
Because raccoons carry fleas, take immediate action if one sets up housekeeping in your attic or chimney. Chemical repellents such as oil of mus¬tard are temporarily effective, but the smell may bother you as much as it does the raccoon. Your best bet is to let the animal leave, and then cover its entrance hole with wire mesh so that it cannot return. In the spring, moving leftover firewood away from the house will help discourage insect infesta-tions. Centipedes prey on other bugs, so the presence of centipedes in your house may indicate the presence of other insects as well.
The presence of carpenter ants indicates another problem. Because they're fond of damp wood, you should check your pipes, roof, and window sills for water leaks. You can distinguish termite damage from other insect damage by examining any holes you find in wood. Termites eat only the soft part of wood, leaving the annual rings intact. You can control roaches with a mixture of Vz cup of borax and V« cup of flour. Sprinkle this powder along baseboards and door sills, or spoon it into clear jar caps positioned under sinks or under cabinets.
Remember that supermarkets and grocery stores almost always have roaches, so check bags and boxes when unpacking food at home. To keep rodents out of your house, seal every opening they could squeeze through. Some need less than a Vi-inch space. Put poison in deep cracks or holes, and stuff these with steel wool or scouring pads pushed in with a screwdriver. Close the spaces with spackling compound mixed with steel wool fragments.
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