I got a quote the other day for ridding our place of flys, spiders, ants etc. For a 350sqm house the cost was $250. However, I am reluctant to go with it as I'm unsure of the effect on 'us and the children'....can anyone enlighten us
I got a quote the other day for ridding our place of flys, spiders, ants etc. For a 350sqm house the cost was $250. However, I am reluctant to go with it as I'm unsure of the effect on 'us and the children'....can anyone enlighten us
If you do spray, keep in mind that you're killing more than the undesirable insects. And pesticides (especially) inside the house can also affect you adversely. If you have children, please keep that in mind even more.
I've heard about repelling flies by hanging baggies full of water near doorways. One entomologist says it works because refracting light confuses the flies' with their compound eyes. I think a more attractive alternative would be hanging crystals - pretty rainbows, too.
My youngest cat helps keep down the fly population in the house - she loves those crunchy snacks! And I let a few spiders camp out in windows.
As for bug-proofing your house, I'd recommend putting door sweeps on the bottom of doors or on the threshhold. This helps keep the crawlers out. (Except for the centipede I found a month ago)
I'm with George on the Cicadas, they remind me of holidays.... and still make me smile when they start up in the early evening.
As for ants, we had loads, until I sprayed the rockery area with ant killer, not so many of them now , and they are tiny.
Flies are beginning to annoy me, the dog just watches them does not do anything about them though! Burnt a citonella candle by the open door all day yesterday and that seemed to keep the numbers down a bit.
Aww yeah, I'm a fan of the cicadas too, they start early morning here and go on all day, they remind me of holidays
We got sprayed for cockroaches and it seems to have done the job, but our garden is native bush so you have to expect a few bugs I think (no spiders though!)
You need Delbert McClintock aka The Bug Guy...
I don't see how you could really insect-proof a house that has lots of windows & doors open. And that's pretty much any house in NZ in the summer.
I just use the rolled up newspaper technique ( or a can of raid if there's a swarm) for the really annoying flies.
I'm glad no-one told our fly-screen installers that. Our doors open outwards, and we have fly-screens that slide across the inner wooden frame, bit like sliding wardrobe doors. Those and the magnetic window screens work a treat.Originally Posted by Avalon
Does anyone use insectocutors. I searched for them a while ago in trademe.nz, they seemed quite cheap. I cannot stand flys especially in the kitchen so unhygienic.....eerruuggghhh.
I know that bruning some sort of stick out side keep them at bay at night time.
Jo
Got one of them before the flyscreens, big thing, a Starkeys Warrior. I also have an el cheapo Warehouse toy.Originally Posted by jo b
Heres the news - neither of them kills flys. Wasps, moths, just about anything else that is both an insect and has wings, yes, but flys - no.
The only thing that actually kills flys usefully in my experieince is Robocan, as long as you use the black cans, not the more polite green ones
I asked my friend what it was that made the spray work for so long? Apparently when the guy sprays your house he does the skirting board areas , doors and windows. There is a mist when he has finished. It is apparently safe for human consumption, so if you were to run your finger over the window bottoms, you can lick your finger, and no harm done . The idea is that when the fly, spider or whatever walks over the sprayed area, it will clean its self later only to rub all the poison everywhere and then die.
Mmmmmm .