Does anyone here do their own pest control?

[DrPizza]

I change my own oil, antifreeze, transmission fluid and other fluids in 3 cars that I have. Bugs don’t like petroleum products. I have been pouring my used oil products around the outside of my foundation for many years. No more ants, crickets, cockroaches, or anything. It takes me about 2 years of used oil products to cover the diameter of my house. Obviously depends on how heavy you pour it.

Once you spill used oil in your car trying to take it to a recycle shop, you’ll appreciate this idea. The used oil can also be used as grass/weed killer around fence posts and other places you don’t want grass or weeds.

Is it Eco friendly? Well, the oil came from the ground and you are just returning it back to the ground.

The oil came from the ground FAR below the water table. You've put it above the water table, where it will make its way down & become a pollutant. Then, when you try to sell your house and someone discovers this problem, they're going to make you dig down with a backhoe around the perimeter of your house and have it hauled to a hazardous waste facility. Good luck!

 

[Via]

I thought that was a dry attempt a humor.

I hope it was.

 

[Rubycon]

I change my own oil, antifreeze, transmission fluid and other fluids in 3 cars that I have. Bugs don’t like petroleum products. I have been pouring my used oil products around the outside of my foundation for many years. No more ants, crickets, cockroaches, or anything. It takes me about 2 years of used oil products to cover the diameter of my house. Obviously depends on how heavy you pour it.

Once you spill used oil in your car trying to take it to a recycle shop, you’ll appreciate this idea. The used oil can also be used as grass/weed killer around fence posts and other places you don’t want grass or weeds.

Is it Eco friendly? Well, the oil came from the ground and you are just returning it back to the ground.

Pretty sure that's illegal.

 

[Red Squirrel]

What kind of pest, bugs? Yeah just DIY. Get a pump sprayer and Cyonara. The stuff can be found on ebay. Have not found anywhere else to get it, but there are some Ebay stores that have it. You mix about 1 oz with 1gal of water and spray around the foundation, can even use it indoors (avoid stuff that you don't want to get wet, obviously). It's fairly safe. It's considered "food safe" so you could actually use it on a counter if you wanted. I would not though.

It leaves a residu which kills bugs when they walk on it.

When I bought my house the basement looked like the spider dungeon of Mordor. I bought that stuff and a sprayer and spray it once or twice a year, and I hardly get any spiders or other bugs. Not a single bug all winter, so anything that did make it in my basement before winter, is now dead.

Also, seal up your basement windows and other potential entry points.

 

[alkemyst]

wow lot's of messed up advice in this post....

 

[Muse]

Pretty sure that's illegal.

I'd think it would also make your house smell really bad, at least from the outside, ugh!

Actually, pesticides in general smell foul and I avoid using them whenever possible and as much as possible. I even hate to walk down that aisle of a hardware store. I try to find alternative means of control.

At one time I discovered that there were cockroaches in my kitchen (oh no!). I did some research and determined that boric acid can control them in some circumstances. Some more research revealed that the critters were based in a battery/AC powered radio/cassette player I had on the fridge. That unit used 4 D batteries, however I was running it on AC. I believe the roaches liked it because it generated some heat inside. I opened it and sprinkled boric acid inside and resealed it. I subsequently opened it and found some roach skeletons inside. I've never seen another roach in the house.

 

[LurkerPrime]

I use the bayer pest control concentrate (blue bottle, get at home depot or lowes) in my sprayer.

I spray around the foundation every 6-12 months. I don't see any insects/spiders in my house after I spray. Usually the first thing to make it in when it starts to wear off are the big ass roaches. Thats when I know I need to spray again. Works great and that bottle will last a few years. Best part is you know the bugs suffer. That spray actually paralyzes the insect on contact, so eventhough they aren't moving (and look dead), they are still alive, and actually starve to death. The insecticide also breaks down into harmless components via sunlight and is lighter than water, so there is little ecological impact from runoff.

You can also mix and spray your yard to kill all the fireants. However thats only effective for a month or 2. Trying to control the fireants in your yard is a costly/losing battle. As long as they aren't in my house, I dont care, and the fireants will make short work of any termites that even think of setting up shop in my yard.

 

[Muse]

I use the bayer pest control concentrate (blue bottle, get at home depot or lowes) in my sprayer.

I spray around the foundation every 6-12 months. I don't see any insects/spiders in my house after I spray. Usually the first thing to make it in when it starts to wear off are the big ass roaches. Thats when I know I need to spray again.

Once the roaches are in, how does spraying around the foundation control them? Getting roaches in the house is one of my major pest worries. I thought that eliminating them is difficult. Is that not true? The other things I worry about are bedbugs. My mother had those and it wasn't simple getting rid of them.

 

[LurkerPrime]

Once the roaches are in, how does spraying around the foundation control them? Getting roaches in the house is one of my major pest worries. I thought that eliminating them is difficult. Is that not true? The other things I worry about are bedbugs. My mother had those and it wasn't simple getting rid of them.

The big ones don't actually live in your house. They come in looking for water. Its the smaller ones that you have to be very worried about. If you see a single one of those, you need to spray everywhere and bomb your house immediately.

 

[Red Squirrel]

With the spraying it's still possible for some to get in, they don't die instantly, though a lot of them die fast enough that they don't make it in. It's not like they climb the wall and immediately try to get in, they might hang around outside a bit before going in.

 

[dud]

I'm getting fed up with the lousy service of the one I use, and I'm thinking I might cancel and do it myself.

Is it enough to buy one of those pest control cans and spray along the foundation? Or do you need to do more?

I have a "Do-it-Yourself" pest control store in my town. I had an infestation of small ants in the BY so I went down their with some prisoners and it was determined that I have "Caribbean Crazy ants". The cure is called "Transport". The price was a little steep ($80 for 24 packets) but the stuff works like a champ. The pesticide knocked off the ants in 2 days and it works against a whole spectrum of pests as well. The 24 packets may last me for 5 years or more.

The stuff is so safe to humans that you can treat a mattress for bed bugs ...

 

[rstove02]

1) Buy yourself a good quality pump sprayer from your local hardware store.
2) Order Talstar P online from a reputable place. (You can find it locally at DIY places locally but usually runs $50-70 a pint, online you can get it as low as $10 a pint if you buy 0.5-1 gallon at a time). Every even month I spray outside perimeter of the house. Every odd month I spray inside around the baseboard of the walls. This stuff will last you a while since it mixes 1 fl oz per gallon.
3) Use baits for anything else that you can not spray directly. In my case I use Terro ant baits for sugar/ghost ants to kill colonies.

 

[D1gger]

I've done my own for ants and mice, with complete success. I just ten minutes ago got a call from one of my tenants in a small commercial building and she told me they had a raccoon living in the attic.

That I won't be dealing with myself, and I have called in a pest control guy.

 

[Muse]

The big ones don't actually live in your house. They come in looking for water. Its the smaller ones that you have to be very worried about. If you see a single one of those, you need to spray everywhere and bomb your house immediately.

Pray tell, what do you mean when you say "bomb your house?"

 

[Muse]

I've done my own for ants and mice, with complete success. I just ten minutes ago got a call from one of my tenants in a small commercial building and she told me they had a raccoon living in the attic.

That I won't be dealing with myself, and I have called in a pest control guy.

FYI you can probably get rid of your raccoon population using some ammonia. They dislike the fumes intensely. Place an open container with some ammonia in it and a rag sticking out that will wick the ammonia into the surrounding air. They will vacate the premises. I have used this successfully. It should work for lots of varmints including possums.

Here's a little trick is used to get critters out of my crawl space permanently. I knew there was a population down there. There had been access from the outside, obviously. I closed all access except for one portal. I spread sand across the one remaining portal and made sure there were no foot prints for about 3 days, enough time where I knew that no nocturnal creature in there had traversed the portal. I then closed off that one remaining access and was sure I had no creatures under the house. I didn't want to have something die in there.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Pray tell, what do you mean when you say "bomb your house?"

Probably a bug bomb. It basically releases a gas/chemical in the air that will get in all the crevices. I've never used one myself, even when I was dealing with this, but they can be effective if used properly. Not even sure where you'd get one though. I would also only use them in areas that can be secluded from living space. Probably don't want to be breathing that stuff in.

 

[Red Squirrel]

FYI you can probably get rid of your raccoon population using some ammonia. They dislike the fumes intensely. Place an open container with some ammonia in it and a rag sticking out that will wick the ammonia into the surrounding air. They will vacate the premises. I have used this successfully. It should work for lots of varmints including possums.

Here's a little trick is used to get critters out of my crawl space permanently. I knew there was a population down there. There had been access from the outside, obviously. I closed all access except for one portal. I spread sand across the one remaining portal and made sure there were no foot prints for about 3 days, enough time where I knew that no nocturnal creature in there had traversed the portal. I then closed off that one remaining access and was sure I had no creatures under the house. I didn't want to have something die in there.

I need to try that, I had mice in my attic, and probably will get more in the summer till I figure out where they got in. Though, where would one legally find pure ammonia? Or can I just use Windex?

 

[Muse]

I need to try that, I had mice in my attic, and probably will get more in the summer till I figure out where they got in. Though, where would one legally find pure ammonia? Or can I just use Windex?

I don't use pure ammonia, just the stuff they sell in the stores for cleaning. It comes in plastic bottles similar to household bleach (on the label it always says to never mix it with bleach, it would give off deadly chlorine gas, IIRC). I have a 1/2 gallon bottle. The odor this stuff gives off is extremely intense.

 

[LurkerPrime]

Pray tell, what do you mean when you say "bomb your house?"

One of those bug bomb or fumigator cans
http://www.amazon.com/Spectracide-67...1035032&sr=8-3

I've only used them in my garage and my storage shed, mostly to kill all the spiders. I would only use the fumigators in my living areas as a last resort.

 

[Rubycon]

Pray tell, what do you mean when you say "bomb your house?"

If things go horribly wrong it's pretty close!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=mnKlRK5WQbA#t=22s

On a serious note people have blown up their houses using them. The fumes can be explosive. If you have a gas water heater with a pilot you must turn it off before using insect foggers!

 

[Modelworks]

Ants are really interesting critters. All you need to control them is to block the scent trails or prevent them from being able to lay a scent trail. A fun experiment with ants, put an ant on a sheet of paper and let it walk around it for a minute or so , then take a bar of soap and using one of the corners draw a circle around the ant, watch as it walks to the soap line, turns around and walks to the next soap line, and will do this over and over till it finds a new path.

Strong smelling items like liquid from garlic, onions, peppers, keep out ants because they can't lay a scent trail for the workers to follow.

 

[Modelworks]

Once the roaches are in, how does spraying around the foundation control them? Getting roaches in the house is one of my major pest worries. I thought that eliminating them is difficult. Is that not true? The other things I worry about are bedbugs. My mother had those and it wasn't simple getting rid of them.

To get rid of roaches the best product I have found is bait that uses Fipronil . Fipronil is one of those things that doesn't kill roaches instantly. They eat it , go back to the nest then die and the other roaches eat them spreading the poison. Has worked for me on some of the worst infestations you can imagine. Bought a rental that had roaches covering the doors, literally hundreds on one closet door. 2 weeks with this stuff in the place and not even one roach remained.

 

[Wyndru]

Most of the effective chemicals are illegal to purchase/use as a consumer in my state

We pay a lot of money for terminix, and they suck, bad.

 

[ichy]

I change my own oil, antifreeze, transmission fluid and other fluids in 3 cars that I have. Bugs don’t like petroleum products. I have been pouring my used oil products around the outside of my foundation for many years.

You're a piece of shit, I hope your house loses all of its value because you turned it into a hazmat site.

 

[Raizinman]

You're a piece of shit, I hope your house loses all of its value because you turned it into a hazmat site.

Yes, much better to handle and spread man made cancer causing chemicals, most that are so strong that only a licensed pest exterminator can purchase and use. Does that not tell you something? Try reading the chemical containers of the pesticides. Must use gloves, must use a respirator mask.

Do you need those when pumping gasoline or changing your oil? Nope. It appears that your brain has already decayed with poison. Yes, keep using the chemicals and then wonder why you got cancer.