Desperate Housewives of ILX

im also a lawn maniac, greenest on the block and done organically. i dont mess with the chemicals.

My new apt seems plagued with little dull brown-grey house moths. I'm understandably concerned for my woolen goods. WHAT ATTRACTS/DESTROYS MOTHS?

We also have a palmetto bug living in the kitchen and coming out at night, so I have to get on a campaign of washing floor, screening window, and putting boric acid powder and sticky traps everywhere. My bedroom door leads off the kit and I don't want any unannounced visits.

pro-tip: Fruit Flys, pour some apple cider vinegar into a plastic/paper cup, cover with plastic wrap and poke toothpick size holes in it...next morning wonder at the amazement of your fruit fly trap.

― Bert Macklin, F.B.I. (thebingo), Thursday, June 9, 2011 8:23 AM (10 minutes ago) Bookmark

I've done this and it totally works! It was like magic. Disgusting magic.

laurel, try some lavender oil or cedar....

this morning my wife woke me to tell me that my sons room had all these strange insects around his window. they look like triangular shaped flies...weird things. and they hopped.

Diatomaceous earth works wonders on insects too.

I had a moth infestation once that I eventually tracked down to a package of bird seed in the back of a cabinet.

I once learned that boric acid kills roaches, so I bought some Borax like 10 years ago and I still have it. Same with my giant box of diatomaceous earth. (that is one of my favorite useful household item names of all time, i mean, seriously)

UGH UGH UGH have just been behind the refrigerator with all the bleaches. For the first time in six months. MOUSE TURDS.

Excuse me while I go and pick up some glue traps. Yes, they are cruel but srsly NO SPHINCTER, NO ENTRY.

I have a giant squeeze bottle of boric acid, but I haven't washed the kitchen floor yet and some recycling has piled up in inconvenient places, so I have to do a clean sweep and then put powders and poisons down.

suzy, peppermint oil on cotton balls...put behind fridge.

Also loving the idea of glue traps for the water bugs -- they get in by accident so it's not an infestation, really, just the isolated crawlies. Have bottle of eucalyptus oil left over from war on roaches at other place, might do the cotton ball trick w that too. (Thanks!)

Brad, I've been wondering if the moths are COMING FROM somewhere but I just moved in and I cleaned out all my spaces first! Could be hidden somewhere in the kitchen cupboards, I guess -- roommate not exactly circumspect with his cabinets.

Noted, Chris, although my rage at discovering Turd Mountain demands a blood sacrifice to the Hygiene Goddess.

we tried the peppermint oil trick and it didn't work - suzy, can i suggest electro-shock traps as an alternative to glue traps? it's marginally more humane and easy to clean up.

those moths really love grains. make sure everything grain-related in the kitchen is sealed/in tupperware. we had pretty good success putting out fly paper and making sure everything was sealed up when the moths came in bk.

alternatively get a cat. yeah glue traps are cruel...although this is coming from someone who shoots his chipmunk infestation with a pellet gun. dont listen to me.

My tip-off was moths flying out whenever I opened a particular kitchen cabinet ... it took a while to figure out the source. In addition to ditching the bird seed, I ended up trashing a lot of previously-opened containers of pasta, crackers, flour, etc. that had been compromised by moth larvae (ew).

xp Yes, sealed containers are a must.

I don't have any food there at all yet but presumably the roomie does. Will look through all his stuff this weekend if I get motivated.

Moths also love munching stained bits on woolens or laying eggs so the larvae can take advantage of that bit of spaghetti sauce dropped on your sweater three months ago. My seasonal storage tip:

Buy a big box of two-litre Ziploc bags.
Buy some cedar oil and cotton balls.
Have your woolens bulk dry-cleaned and check the place is not just shoving your stuff in the fluid with others' things.
Each clean wool sweater or silk item goes into a Ziploc bag.
A couple of drops of cedar oil go on each cotton ball.
One cotton ball per bag.
Seal the bag with as little air in the bag as possible.
Stop worrying.

Yeah I have like $200 worth of dry cleaning to get done. I like your idea, though, and I have TONS of out-of-the-way storage space to put that out-of-season stuff in.

I normally use those plastic zip-up bags that come on pillows or linens/bedding, so they seal reasonably well, but ziplocs with repellent oil would be even better. I know "they" say that your clothes need to breathe but fuck that.

I always kill mice with the cartoon -style trap - its kind of sad but nto as sad as turds and filth in my pantries

I use glue traps because they've taken as little as 15 minutes to work, but if they are in a kitchen for more than about a week, they don't work because they get a veneer of oil on top if you fry onions etc. even once in that week. The last mouse I caught managed to get trapped in an upright shopping bag with handles. As I have a balcony overlooking a grass verge, mousey walked the plank. I am not a fan of animal cruelty but where vermin are concerned, PETA can suck my left one.

I am ridiculously grateful that my current flat seems to be moth-free, because my previous flat contained a boyfriend who shrugged whenever the moths he brought home from camping trips made a meal of something irreplaceably vintage that I'd owned for years. I still GRRRRRRRR when I think of some of the items eaten.

When I moved in here it was pretty much a shell and I've been pretty lucky in being able to find and plug most potential mouse entry points. Plan white toothpaste can fill any hole wider than a McDonald's straw aperture as if it were caulk or plaster filler.

Breathing room, to me, means there is scope for moth action; since I went on the Ziploc plan I haven't experienced losses. Bulk cleaning is cheaper - the cleaner won't be pressing your stuff, for starters - so have a chat to the person in charge and see if you can't do a deal on the sweaters at least.

the mice ate a hole behind me stove but I fear pluggin g it because its right near the 220volt outlet - I swear one ran into my toaster once too

the solution is clearly a pellet gun. i prefer...
http://www.airarmsports.com/images/cat1200.jpg

i snipe those chipmunks from my screen porch...lots of fun.

and before you all get "thats so cruel"...they are burrowing into my foundation of my house. I've trapped, smoke bombed, and everything else....this is the only way.

some ground hog s do sublet beneath my front sunroom - I havent the heart to poison them but I do harass them by throwing things like grassclippings down their hole

There's TONS of wildlife where I grew up: raccoons, gophers, woodchucks, beavers, waterfowl, herons, snapping turtles - even the occasional deer. My mom had woodchucks under our 'summer house' (a one-room cottage in her back yard that's 100+ years old, was the guest cottage for the former farmhouse two doors up) and was OK with them, but they were poisoned by the neighbours. She also didn't want to kill the squirrels who occasionally broke into the attic because they were 'industrious'. There have been mice, but the three dogs never, ever seem to notice them or do anything.

the groundhogs never seem to do much damage - just make holes - eating teh grass is encouraged by me anyways. "G oahead" I say . Then they just make a chuck chuck sound and run away

I'm convinced the solution to furry vermin is to go to a farm and ask them for a barncat kitten. You're not guaranteed a good mouser, but your chances are better than if you got a sheltered house ornament from the Human Society; if you specifically want a mouser, you're gonna have to be specific in your search.

Of course then you have to be okay with having a cat, which...ymmv.

Not OK with having a cat. Apparently the whippet I watch twice a week for my friend is a catcher of mice, but he's pushing 15 (we thought 13 but my friend did some math) and so far has caught SFA.

i had to put down some squirrels too who were nesting in my attic. i feel bad, but id rather not pay for an exterminator.

what do squirrels hate?

by the way - I gto my ne w eureka dust buster - on -steroids and the sucker worked great. Sucked up the floors reel nice and very lightweight.

i'm good at cleaning the bathroom and the kitchen because after so many years of my mom saying how necessary it is for staying healthy and bug-free, it actually sunk year a few years ago. also good at cleaning the cat litter because srsly you gotta clean the cat litter.

the problem that won't go away is how good i am at piling up books and how i'm even better at piling up clothes! and then it takes me forever to find things! or i don't find them at all! i feel like a terrible housewife even tho i have no husband. i did make myself dinner tonight but i haven't done the dishes yet. i have too much work and stuff to do!

i think i need a shelving unit for my clothes?

Okay I think I found the moth hellmouth. A ruthless cabinet cleaning is in order, because in addn to wherever the moths are spawning, I'm pretty sure that's sugar I found spilled all over.

ewwwwww

o no

Tomorrow! Tomorrow! I'll do it / tomorrow....

robyn i hear you. you are not a bad housewive, you just don't have enough time! i am holding off on contacting the cleaning service in hopes of mustering up the energy to do a thorough bathroom and kitchen cleaning, but i don't think it's gonna happen.

verily moths eat the sugar grans and are happy - rob their bliss

i just swept and cleaned up a little bit. the apartment looks pretty good. besides the painting, i think the windows need to be cleaned, and the cupboards. i have a red kitchen so the only color that we could really paint the cupboards would be off white or gray. i think gray might be nice if it is just the right hue. would kill for wooden cupboards.

cleaned the fans today.

i hate cleaning u pfor an open house - every little nook seems FLITHLILY!

me? but I don't want to be cleaned

but I am filthy, yes