Contrabulous Flabtraption: I can't wait until my pets die. So tired of pets

That's sad, do you have human children too?

MaudlinMutantMollusk: Humean_Nature: Crusader: The mosquitoes are already out en masse in Texas. Had several swarms attack us last night during our run.

Yup. I lit two mosquito repellant candles while I was on the porch for 10 minutes last night, walked in covered in bites.

But the candles didn't have a single bite, did they?

/who says they don't repel mosquitoes?


Last year I tried one of those coiled plastic bands which you wear around your wrist and are supposed to be infused with mosquito repellent... They're cheap, but don't waste your money. The mosquitoes were literally biting me next to the band and in between the coils. Totally useless.

SpikeStrip: joke's on you, i don't go outside.

This, I have major pollen and weed allergies.

/But I'm also allergic to my 3 cats. Oh well.

Im in the brush alot here in S.Tx.
One trick is to
sprinkle some sulfur powder on your boots and bottom of your jeans. You dont need alot just a light sprinkling will do. this will keep ticks and chiggers climbing up onto you. No you wont stink unless you over do it. I keep a oversized salt shaker type container in the truck, cheap and effective..

I've read that putting on some Absorbine Jr. helps keep away gnats when working outside. Dunno if it has an equal effect on other critters like mosquitoes though.

Crusader: The mosquitoes are already out en masse in Texas. Had several swarms attack us last night during our run.

Didn't realize mosquitoes were that fast in Texas.

Duranon aerosol spray will keep ticks off your clothing for up to 6 weeks, supposedly. Not sure if it's safe to spray on your skin.

BigLuca: borg: Just spray some DDT around it's harmless to humans but kills bugs dead.

I would love to. Where can I buy some for residential use?

/seriously

find a local crop duster and get a quart of Parathion and follow directions works great!!

toraque: SpikeStrip: joke's on you, i don't go outside.

ArcadianRefugee: Look on the bright side: the spider population ought to be absolutely huge.

DAMN YOU

*cries and hides in spider proof closet*

It's already started where I live; a few nights ago my cat 'pointed' to a huge black spider that I couldn't identify, crawling around on my bookcase, so it had to die. Last night I found another one in the basement and I'm thinking a batch of them must have hatched recently. There's also several smaller grey ones around but as long as they stay up by the ceiling or in window corners, they get to live. As soon as they wander around where I can see them moving, they die.

That's the arrangement and they'd better honor it... because I hate mosquitoes more than spiders. Plus Shelob was doing wasp control in our basement last summer which was handy.

DysphoricMania: Evil Canadian: Our poor little dog has already found the fleas that seem to have proliferated in our yard. She found them in MARCH. IN CANADA.

The downside of having hair that drags on the ground when one urinates.

/Any good ideas for flea control in the yard?

Spectracide® (Triazicide) seemed to work pretty well, if you don't mind killing nearly everything in the yard (bugs/worms/fish if near a lake). You'll want to keep the pets/small children off the lawn for a day or two after using it. Works good on things living underground too. The year I stopped spraying the lawn, I had one hell of a japanese beetle issue, and moles moved back into the yard (feeding on the worms/grubs I had not killed off I expect).

I really need to get back to spraying this year.

Damn. DC was built on a swamp, so we can get some pretty bad mosquitoes here... but I don't think I'd want that kind of scorched earth policy for them in my backyard. I'm an avid gardener, so I need earthworms in my soil to keep my gardens healthy, and I don't think I'd want to annihilate a bunch of potential pollinators too.

KidneyStone: I've been seeing them since mid-March here in Georgia. And like you I found one in my head yesterday. Sigh

Usually in Montana 7000 feet would still be under a ton of snow this time of year...it's gonna be a warm summer.

Evil Canadian: Our poor little dog has already found the fleas that seem to have proliferated in our yard. She found them in MARCH. IN CANADA.

The downside of having hair that drags on the ground when one urinates.

/Any good ideas for flea control in the yard?

Eliminate all standing water and dust your lawn with Sevin. (Brand name for Carbaryl).

Unfortunately, Sevin not only kills pests, it also kills honeybees, which gives all of us the sad. That's why I don't recommend using it every year, on everything, for every pest problem known to man.

However, if you eliminate the standing water so you aren't breeding more mosquitoes, and you dust your lawn real good according the product directions, and you only use Sevin in years where a too-mild winter means the fleas and ticks are going to be extra-hellish, then you're keeping the damage down to a dull roar.

If you live near anyone who keeps bees, please disregard this advice and do not use Sevin. If you have flowering trees or bushes or anything that would attract lots of honeybees into your yard that's actively blooming---like your yard is full of clover or dandelions--please do not use Sevin.

A "green" way to discourage bugs is to plant lots of citronella and marigolds. Bugs hate 'em. And, as always with mosquitoes, eliminate standing water. Put out bird feeders---birds eat bugs. Seed eaters and bug eaters tend to be different birds, but yards that tend to have a lot of birds, tend to have a lot of birds.

When you go someplace like a golf course or a touristy park or something where you sit on the turf and there's not a bug to be found---you don't really think about it, but there's no ants climbing on you, no mosquitoes eating you, no fleas, no itchiness, no nothing? Just plain old springy, turfy goodness? That's because they've dusted the turf with Sevin dust or crystals.

Works like magic---but the downside's a biatch. (Well, if concern for honeybees is one of your "issues.")

Mentalpatient87: I found one lodged in under the head of my dick last year. He took a damn plug of flesh with him with his little farking rebar pincers ...

I think that may count as bestiality under Utah's newly revised prostitution laws....

This summer ? It's more like this spring . I was in the country a few weeks back and got ate up by ticks .

Calmamity: Joke's on you. I live in Seattle. We don't have a bug problem in the summer

because it only cracks 90 for about two weeks

During which point everyone in Seattle is trudging through the streets, dripping with sweat, and complaining about how it's like a bajillion degrees outside. I had many lols last time I was up there (from Los Angeles area).

BigLuca: borg: Just spray some DDT around it's harmless to humans but kills bugs dead.

I would love to. Where can I buy some for residential use?

/seriously

Get Sevin. Seriously. It's the legal product, and you can dust your lawn with it according to product directions. Eliminate all standing water from your property so that mosquitoes do not have a place to breed and you should be good to go.

Sevin doesn't persist in the environment to the extent that DDT does. Unfortunately, it does kill honeybees, which is why I recommend people use it with care---but if you're desperate enough that you would be willing to resort to DDT, then you probably have enough of a problem to go ahead and use some Sevin.

Also, plant citronella and marigolds. They both repel bugs and if you just make a habit of growing them here and there around your property, you will generally reduce your bug problems.

Hassan Ben Sobr: Hard frosts in Michigan have killed the mosquitoes. And 95% of the grape crop.

This. Another one tonight.

Jackal_N: Contrabulous Flabtraption: I can't wait until my pets die. So tired of pets

That's sad, do you have human children too?

Pets are not human.

Pets are not children.

Children are not pets.

ladyfortuna: a few nights ago my cat 'pointed' to a huge black spider that I couldn't identify, crawling around on my bookcase, so it had to die. Last night I found another one in the basement and I'm thinking a batch of them must have hatched recently. There's also several smaller grey ones around but as long as they stay up by the ceiling or in window corners, they get to live. As soon as they wander around where I can see them moving, they die.

That's the arrangement and they'd better honor it... because I hate mosquitoes more than spiders. Plus Shelob was doing wasp control in our basement last summer which was handy.

The mosquitoes had started to be a problem, then we had 6" of snow in March and two days of sub freezing temps, and the bugs kinda went away.

Unfortunately those temps damaged my almond trees that were in bloom.

I have a feeling we will break triple digit records again this summer.

When we were kids, before DDT was outlawed, we would would run behind the "skiter sprayers" in the fog. I keep waiting to die from some form of cancer from it some day or grow an extra dick.

bim1154: When we were kids, before DDT was outlawed, we would would run behind the "skiter sprayers" in the fog. I keep waiting to die from some form of cancer from it some day or grow an extra dick.

How YOU doin?

/oblig

Reading everyone's insect story is making me itch.

I have been trying to make a deal with ants this year already, they came out of hibernation mid-February. If they stay out of the house and off the decks I will not feed them any more cornmeal w/dry cat food (cornmeal is supposed to expand in their gut) or boric acid in sugar water (aka roach powder) -- both work especially well if the workers have time to take it to their queen before it kills them. Last couple of days I've had fewer scouts to kill. Of course every pet dish is sitting in a saucer of water, and everyone is forbidden to drop a single crumb.

I'm going to try the sulphur powder, has to be better for us than soaking in Deet.

/Itch

Prepare to be parasitized...

;)

We had the most epic flea infestation two years ago. It very nearly broke me emotionally (first-word problems). The key element in fixing the problem was a long and dilligent process of dusting our home with diatomaceous earth. After having the exterminators over three times, and dousing the place in Indorex (which worked to a degree, but probably gave us cancer), and still having fleas come back over and over again, we tried the DE as our last resort and it killed those jerks dead. It also works on the lawn, and apparently people feed it to livestock to kill parasites.

Oh no, life thrives with temperate climes. What a nightmare.

Good thing I will liberally apply bug killer on my lawn.

MaudlinMutantMollusk: CrackpipeCardozo: wiredroach: I went for a hike on the Montana chunk of the Continental Divide on Sunday and picked up a few ticks at the top at 7323'. Ticks in late April at that elevation is a new one for me. Bonus: found another one in my hair this morning...he must have been lurking on the couch and hopped back on last night. Creeped me out to find him while sipping my morning coffee, to say the least.

/CSB

Went fishing on Sunday, pulled three off of me Sunday night. Found another last night right before going to bed. I never get freaked out when I'm expecting them and pull them off; it's the unexpected tick crawling up my ballsack that freaks me out.

I'll bet every man that reads that shudders

/I sure did

Not quite as bad as when you find one already latched on to the captain...

ticks are going viral this summer

I should add, too, that it was our INDOOR cat who got fleas. Still a mystery as to how -- apparently Ireland is rotten with fleas, and we could have brought eggs in from the outdoors...

I'm not sure I buy the mild winter / lots of bugs theory. It was 60 below here a few times and we had 175 inches of snow - and now the mosquitoes are out in full force. It seems no matter what kind of winter we have, there's plenty of bugs. At least we're totally tick free... it's a small consolation prize for living in grizzly bear country.

Julie Cochrane: bim1154: When we were kids, before DDT was outlawed, we would would run behind the "skiter sprayers" in the fog. I keep waiting to die from some form of cancer from it some day or grow an extra dick.

How YOU doin?

/oblig

Damn... in all the years of being on fark, I've never been flattered by a farkett. I am truly humbled.

bim1154: Julie Cochrane: bim1154: When we were kids, before DDT was outlawed, we would would run behind the "skiter sprayers" in the fog. I keep waiting to die from some form of cancer from it some day or grow an extra dick.

How YOU doin?

/oblig

Damn... in all the years of being on fark, I've never been flattered by a farkett. I am truly humbled.

I know, isn't it great?

Bask, friend.

;)

Went hiking this weekend in the Catskills with 2 dogs. One is on chemo, so frontline was not recommended (interactions and all). Sprayed him with a few sprays, went out for 2 hours, stopped twice for tick checks.
Wound up pulling over 30 ticks off him (most before they really got going). And a handful off the other dog that HAD frontline. And a couple off me.

I'm just waiting for one of us to get the ol' bullseye. Good times.

//never going outside again.

In Florida we have screen rooms.

Calmamity: Joke's on you. I live in Seattle. We don't have a bug problem in the summer

because it only cracks 90 for about two weeks

Came here to say this. Plus many our trails are through forest, so no long grass, so no ticks. I don't always love the grey in winter but this climate has a lot going for it.

Gig103: Anyone know if Frontline works on humans?

No. It doesn't. You don't work the same way as a dog, don't assume things that work for them work for you.

For that matter, for the last couple years it doesn't really work on pets either. My wife is a vet, and it's somewhat well known/accepted in the vet circles that they must have changed their formula because a few years ago frontline just almost abruptly stopped being effective - didn't appear to be a resistence buildup, it was too widespread and near-abrupt.

ensign_noname: In Florida we have screen rooms.
[images04.olx.com image 300x225]

Not for long.

With the water rising,

FLA is farked.

Underwater tomb, really.

Sorta fitting, no?

Heh.

;)

bim1154: When we were kids, before DDT was outlawed, we would would run behind the "skiter sprayers" in the fog. I keep waiting to die from some form of cancer from it some day or grow an extra dick.

It might have been cyanide or nicotine spray. Nicotine especially is a wicked insecticide.

StrangeQ: MaudlinMutantMollusk: CrackpipeCardozo: wiredroach: I went for a hike on the Montana chunk of the Continental Divide on Sunday and picked up a few ticks at the top at 7323'. Ticks in late April at that elevation is a new one for me. Bonus: found another one in my hair this morning...he must have been lurking on the couch and hopped back on last night. Creeped me out to find him while sipping my morning coffee, to say the least.

/CSB

Went fishing on Sunday, pulled three off of me Sunday night. Found another last night right before going to bed. I never get freaked out when I'm expecting them and pull them off; it's the unexpected tick crawling up my ballsack that freaks me out.

I'll bet every man that reads that shudders

/I sure did

Not quite as bad as when you find one already latched on to the captain...

I was eating dinner at a Kyoto Bowl (it's like borderline fast food/japanese food)
with my parents when i got a sharp pain in my general genital area. I didn't even make it to the bathroom before I had a hand down there only to pull a reddish brown tick from my nutsack. i had a dog stay with some friends who lived just below the foothils and evidently our dog had picked some up there and decided to share.

/terrible story bro

Jackal_N: Crusader: The mosquitoes are already out en masse in Texas. Had several swarms attack us last night during our run.

Didn't realize mosquitoes were that fast in Texas.

They are big also, really big. Saturday playing golf, we had to ask a bunch if we could play through.

Which is better than when your playing on Padre Isle's and have to ask the rattlesnakes to play through.

/later is true. We played the front nine and saw 4 snakes. By the time we were on the back nine if anybody in the group hit into the high rough or out of bounds ,they just took a drop. None of us would go very far off the fairway.

Jaidspur: I should add, too, that it was our INDOOR cat who got fleas. Still a mystery as to how -- apparently Ireland is rotten with fleas, and we could have brought eggs in from the outdoors...

I had an opossum living under my house, and even though I caught him and released him elsewhere, the fleas stayed. Finally I gave my landlord an ultimatum: them or me.

Evil Canadian: Our poor little dog has already found the fleas that seem to have proliferated in our yard. She found them in MARCH. IN CANADA.

The downside of having hair that drags on the ground when one urinates.

/Any good ideas for flea control in the yard?

I've heard borax (20 mule team is a popular brand) and/or diatomaceous earth sprinkled and raked in all over the yard. Good luck!