Do It Yourself - Pest Control a Piece of Stuff by pluta (jane curtis) Reclaim your home from non-rentpaying pests without having to buy super toxic sprays (if theyíre killing an insect that can withstand a nuclear explosion, what are they doing to you?) spidergirl No, a spray won't help! (submitted by pluta.) Cockroaches Even though cockies are supposed to be one of the cleanest insects around, their poo certainly isnít. The way the big flying ones land on your face in bed isnít cute either. Hereís a few easy tricks to move ëem onto your lucky neighbours! fill a bowl with half borax, half brown sugar. Mix together well and sprinkle in cupboards, under the sink and all their usual hangouts. wipe down yr benches and cupboards with a mixture of half metholated spirits, half water and 5-10 drops of eucalyptus oil. make a cocky trap by putting some bananas pieces at the bottom of a jar then smearing petroleum jelly/vaseline around the inside top. Carefully empty into the very back part of your garden and wash and re-use the jar. Ants Mix a tablespoon of borax to two tablespoons of cocoa or brown sugar or honey. Place in upturned jar lids round their haunts, making sure the lids are out of the way of children, pets, food and fuzzy-brained flatmates with the munchies. Place slices of lemon in the paths of ants. If they canít go round them this will make them go away. Obviously not useful if theyíre wandering up your wall. Flies Heat a poker (or for those without a fireplace cos the humidityís quite nice thanks, put your hotplate on very low) and place a piece of camphor on top and let the fumes waft for a wee while. This will deter lots of insects. Don't forget to open the windows! Mix half a teaspoon of black pepper, a teaspoon of brown sugar and a teaspoon of cream and place it on a saucer in your kitchen. Theyíll be dropping like..... Silverfish Sprinkle coarse salt in the cracks of drawers and corners. Donít leave salt for too long before removing, especially in humid weather (there is some scientific explanation for this ). Spiders Spiders are good. DON'T kill spiders! Spiders and their beautiful webs are actually helping to keep away flies, mozzies and other little beasties. (for further affirmation on how cool spiders are, read "Charlotte's Web") Mice and Rats For some reason people seem to have more ethical dilemas over getting rid of these introduced species that have no natural predators. Hereís your chance to do your bit for biodiversity! Traps are obviously the cleanest (= non-toxic) way to kill them. The not-so-clean bit is removing their bodies from the traps. It is perfectly alright to call for moral support from your housemates while disposing of the bodies. Try and time it well with your garbage collection. If traps arenít working, or hey, you just keep forgetting to set them, or youíre really scared of setting them cos rat traps can break your fingers if youíre not careful, or if your mice/rat population is getting bigger and nastier and ten rat traps in your kitchen is scaring away visitors, I say bring out the poison. Check with your local council for free poison - theirs is apparently stronger than supermarket poison cos otherwise you wouldnít need to keep buying it would you? (must've got the idea from the people who make light bulbs). Place pellets of poison in jar lids or saucers and put in popular rat places round your home, making sure that they are WAY, WAY away from kids and pets. Rat poison is supposed to work by making the rats thirsty, so that they go outside to die. Be prepared for other possibilities. Like underneath your fridge, in your cupboard, in your wall. Let your nose lead the way and investigate fast! Wrap the bodies in newspaper and dispose of immediately. Postscript Most of these methods have been tested in my house, previously home to a rat population in double figures, some mice to keep them company, as well your run of the mill Queenland summer cockroach and ant migration. The rest come from a nifty book called "Hard Times Handbook" by Keith and Irene Smith. Without wanting to sound like a fucked up Weight Watchers ad, AFTER using these cheap n'green friendly recipes, it's just me, my flatmates, the dog and the occasional roach and ant dropping in to say hi. We're all getting on famously. Created on Thu, 8 Jan 1998 and last modified on Sun, 18 Jan 1998.

LOUDonline - http://www.loud.net.au - Fri, 10 Apr 1998