Disadvantages: When there is a rustling sound off in the distance, one cannot tell oneself that “oh, that must be the dog.” Also, when it comes to stray mammals, it’s very nice to share the bed with Mandy, and since I’m not here as much, when I’ve stayed over she’s always ended up with me.
Advantage: Less trash on the floor from shredded recyclables. No worries about spraying for roaches, and no need to place the mouse traps in the corner.
“Indy, why does the attic move?”
I’m alarmed at the size of the “mouse droppings.” I’m getting more traps today, including the, um . . . the big kind.
This is the second consecutive night I’ve slept stayed over in my skirt and bra. When I get back from breakfast, I’m going to make myself change into my “real clothes.” Then I’ll get dressed. And get busy. But I don’t want to change in this house until the wildlife goes to sleep. Call me a coward, but I’m going to IHOP to wait for the sun.
I’m not sure what would happen if a mouse saw me naked, but I’d rather wait for the blessings of those badass ultraviolet rays.
I slept with all the lights on, but got up at 4:00 or whatever, and started spraying into the crevices of the kitchen that featured little antennae coming out of them. The roaches all reacted to the poison by coming over to the corner where I was reading, drunk on the poison, and staggering around. I chased some of them with the insecticide. Tonight, if I stay over again, there will be a line of “roach motels” blocking that route. At least two roaches went for my briefcase, and one took refuge inside.
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You’ve got a missing strikeout tag closer somewhere…
Hey look! Everything I type is in strikeout. Makes this place look like Ace’s blogmoron club. Whee!how fun.
Ps, there’s your extra tag closer. Of course this post won’t make any sense
whoops. didn’t work. Delete these comments at your pleasure.
Speaking from bitter and continued experience: NONE of the sprays, “roach motels”, or anything else non-intrusive is going to do any good.
Go to the nearest hardware store and look for “foggers”. There are two types, explosive and non. The non-explosive ones are a waste of time. The ones you want have labels that say “ZOMG TURN OFF ALL THE PILOT LIGHTS AND MAKE SURE THERE ARE NO IGNITION SOURCES BEFORE USING!!!!11ELEVENTY!!”
Important: look at the labels, figure how many you need for that size of house and rooms, and buy that set. Then stop by the ATM, get some cash, and go to two more hardware stores, buying another full set at each and paying cash to avoid the paper trail. Consumer-grade insecticides are always too weak to do any good. This is partly out of genuine safety concerns, mainly from people who will give them to their kids if they’re out of soda, but also to protect the livelihoods of the professional exterminators. Three times the label “maximum dose” is generally enough to actually kill a few of the little creepers.
Close all the openings to the outside. Make sure there is nothing in the house that’s alive and should stay that way; check carefully for pilot lights and anything that might turn on and off by itself and make sure it’s permanently OFF. Set the foggers on something you don’t mind staining, set them off, and retire. No, the gas cloud won’t hurt you if you don’t linger. Go to the library, or a museum, or a park, or somewhere you can idle; if you have your laptop with you, a Starbucks-like place is golden. Stay away for at least four hours, six if you can manage it.
When you go back, pick up the dead foggers and wrap them in newspaper in sets no larger than the label-recommended dose before putting the sets in separate trash bins. Open all the windows and doors to the outside. If you have any fans, set them to circulate fresh air through the house. Ventilate until the scent is far enough gone not to be annoying before closing up.
You say the house is full of clutter. Even that treatment won’t reach the underside of a lot of things, such as damp dirty clothes, but it’ll knock them back to the point where rattle-can insecticides and traps will do a little bit of good. Ideally you would go back once a week, stir the clutter to expose the hiding places, and repeat for a month or six weeks.
Regards,
Ric
(BTW you’re on my blogroll. May I humbly request reciprocity?)
LMA,
I think Ric deserves his link. My roach experience is somewhat different since it’s more a maintenance issue than an infestation. We live in Texas where they have the big American Cockroaches (not the wimpy German kind) that live outdoors on decaying organic matter (like rotting leaves) but do occasionally come inside and can’t fit in a roach motel at full size. Warm weather is prime time for these critters (the season is almost over, thank God). Our landlord sends Ecolab once or twice a year to spray indoors and out to keep them at bay. A month or so ago, I came across one of these land lobsters crawling into the drawer where I keep my toothpaste, floss, etc. I can’t convey the repulsiveness of the huge antennae sticking out of the drawer. Ugh.
We also had a go-round with mice (although looking back, I’m not so sure they were actually mice) when we lived in DC. Everybody we talked to in DC had had mouse problems. We experimented with peppermint oil (ha! ha!) and the Rat Zapper, but only started to see really good results after our building maintenance people put down huge amounts of poison under the dishwasher, under the radiators, etc. We had little crawly kids at the time, so that really bothered me, but it was so much worse to be watching TV and see a sudden greyish blur shoot across the living room. After that, we were periodically turning up mummified mice (or “mice”) in places like under a wardrobe, behind the fridge, under a desk, etc. We dealt with seven of them (one was a catch-and-release–at the time we believed innocently that he was the only one).
I love talking to pest guys and have learned a lot from them. The guys I’ve talked to say that buildings are just built wrong with regard to pest management. Builders leave big gaping holes in walls that turn into mouse highways. My husband has gone all over our current rental house with that expanding foam stuff, filling up gaps around pipes under sinks, etc. However, for mouse management, I think they recommend some sort of metal product for filling gaps.
not the wimpy German kind
Obviously, you’ve never had a German infestation. In addition to wearing coal scuttle helmets and goose-stepping across the kitchen, they also sing Über Alles in the middle of the night.
Oh, and they’re hard to get rid of chemically. Your best bet is to starve them out.