M. Silver's Journal: I have a new goal

Since finding out the neighbor had a termite problem, we've been planning to have a bug inspection, and probably have them spray for general-purpose indoor bugs while they're at it. It's an 85-year-old house, so we have plenty of spiders and whatnot. Generally, the spiders keep the whatnot under control so we have a balanced ecosystem and nothing gets out of hand, but lately we've had an epidemic of mud daubers (wasps), many of which have been in the house. Mud daubers are relatively nonaggressive, but between a naive dog, cat, and four-year-old, I don't find it hard to believe that one might feel a bit threatened.

So that's been a kind of vague "we should do that someday" sort of thing. But yesterday I let the dog out and, when I came back in, felt something tickling my arm. I brushed away what I figured was YA fly or other stupid outdoor bug, and what fell stunned to the floor was a gen-you-whine German cockroach.

I hate cockroaches. Well, let me rephrase that. I hate cockroaches being in my house. I'm hoping that this fellow was a refugee from next door, from where my elderly neighbor has moved into assisted living, and he was looking for someplace where all the food *hadn't* suddenly disappeared. Just in case, the cleaning lady and I spent today emptying the cupboards out, searching for signs of infestation, and cleaning up the various bits of spilled flour and whatnot that might attract them. Fortunately, nary a sign of them.

So everything's happily sealed up in plastic bags, I'm going to get some preventative stuff (I think we still have some diatomaceous-earth bait out in the garage, provided it's still sealed against moisture) and make sure they don't move in. And now getting the bug guys in here ASAP has become a much higher priority. Time to get the basement cleaned out.

Keep things Dry

[Anarcho-Goth]

I don't know if it is true, but when I lived in Arizona, I found out that living in the desert means there are lots of cockroaches around.

One of the things I learned, or at least was told, was that cockroaches don't like to eat dry food. Well, keep you dry food away anyway but the moral was to not leave any standing water anywhere.

OK, you have pets but I mean counters. After you cook or wash the dishes don't leave any puddles. Mop it up good with a sponge or something. Same with the floor.

It worked for m

Re:Keep things Dry

[M. Silver]

Yes, that's key when using diatomaceous earth especially (since you have to keep the DE dry for it to have any effect). The pet water is in the hall just outside the bathroom (since we use one of those inverted-water-jug waterers that only fits under the tub faucet), so that's relatively far from the kitchen (where the dry dog and cat foods are).

Of course (ObWeatherblogging) it's been so darn humid here lately I'm not sure it's possible to keep anything truly dry. It's always humid enough to be uncomfort