Indoor pests

[Viin]

You people need to move. And get a cat.

[Yegolev]

Carpenter bees are easy. Theres a hose connection at the bottom of your hot water heater. All bees are in the hive at night and will not leave no mater what. (they use the sun to navigate). At night connect hose to hot water heater connection  (Its good to drain this every now and again anyway, flushes the crud that gathers at the bottom of the tank) and stick it in hive entrance as best you can. Turn on the hot water and those that don't drown will cook from the heat and steam. Works fine every time--fail safe.

That is a YouTube video waiting to happen.  Hose spouting 135-degree water over my head?  Soaking my house's delicate insides with water?  Negative.  How about I just squirt some Raid up in that bitch?  The thing we want is some sort of long-term solution.  Killing the bees is easy enough, I just don't want to have to make a job out of it.

[Polysorbate80]

We have hobo spiders around here, and find them in the house periodically.  I was tearing out the old shower in the basement bathroom yesterday for renovation, and was terrified I'd find a huge horde of them lurking back in the wall, waiting to leap out and attack me.

I didn't find any, just a fair number of webs; I imagine the hammering and cursing frightened them off.  But they'll be back.  I know they're there, waiting....

[OcellotJenkins]

Carpenter bees are easy. Theres a hose connection at the bottom of your hot water heater. All bees are in the hive at night and will not leave no mater what. (they use the sun to navigate). At night connect hose to hot water heater connection  (Its good to drain this every now and again anyway, flushes the crud that gathers at the bottom of the tank) and stick it in hive entrance as best you can. Turn on the hot water and those that don't drown will cook from the heat and steam. Works fine every time--fail safe.

That is a YouTube video waiting to happen.  Hose spouting 135-degree water over my head?  Soaking my house's delicate insides with water?  Negative.  How about I just squirt some Raid up in that bitch?  The thing we want is some sort of long-term solution.  Killing the bees is easy enough, I just don't want to have to make a job out of it.

If you squirt poison in the holes and caulk them up, they will get the message.  I've seen them chew their way out to get around the caulk but over the course of a couple of weeks they should get fed up and move on.

[Yegolev]

Basically I just have to be more stubborn than the bees?  I hope you know what you are talking about.  My time is valuable; I was hoping I could import some hotrod creature from Australia that ate only carpenter bees.  I will try your method, though.

[Lantyssa]

Most bugs don't bother me as long as they don't use me for a landing platform.  Cockroaches give me the creeps though.  I exterminate them with prejudice or run and make my roommate handle the little menace.

Oddly, he flies into a rage at the sight of a spider while I love having them around.  If we both spot one it becomes a race for him to smash it and me to shield it long enough to get it outside.  It's great fun to watch him hide when a June bug gets inside, too.  "Aaaaahhh!  Where did it go!?  Where is it!?  Get it out!"

Neither of us has a thing on another friend.  He is terrified of spiders.  I've watched him break a foot scrambling out of his chair when he saw this itty-bitty one appear on his desk.  Clearing the couch jumping backwards from an awkward position was impressive though.

[CmdrSlack]

The last apartment I lived in had been previously rented by some family that stacked itself up inside the place like cordwood. They were also (apparently) incredibly filthy people. There were enough roaches in the kitchen to give anyone the heebie jeebies. Fortunately, I am someone who lived in Alabama for six or seven years, so I have become quite adept at roach slaying. Two cans of Raid, a ballcap, a bandanna over my face and some serious cursing later, I had about 200 dead roaches on the floor in my kitchen.  This is after the place had been bombed. I was spraying the stuff up into the molding at teh ceiling -- the dead and dying roaches were falling like rain. It was awful.  But hey, in about two months, we very rarely saw a bug.  Ever.

A couple of weeks ago, I was out at this tollway extension site where I do some environmental compliance/erosion control monitoring for a consulting firm. (Hey, it pays well and is a decent side gig.) At any rate, with the lastest cicadia emergence, I've been battling those fuckers for months.  They hit their peak about two weeks ago -- I kept track of how many I killed in four hours....I hit fifty-five. Most of those landed on me, but a fair share came within my swatting range. Swat 'em to the ground, then stomp the shit out of them is my preferred method. I normally don't care about these suckers, but when they land on you/fly into your face/crawl down the back of your shirt, well, then it's on.

Thankfully, they have now died out for the most part, so it's just their sound that annoys me, not the constant onslaught of cicadas.

[Samwise]

We have hobo spiders around here, and find them in the house periodically.

Hey, I think those are the fuckers that like to hide in my pants.  Apparently I should be more concerned about those bites.   

[Sky]

A couple of weeks ago, I was out at this tollway extension site where I do some environmental compliance/erosion control monitoring for a consulting firm. (Hey, it pays well and is a decent side gig.)

That does sound like a nice side gig. Did they train you or did you have some previous training/experience?

I'm still looking for a house I can afford and also live with, so I'm starting to think side jobs might be necessary for a while 

[Yegolev]

I'm still looking for a house I can afford and also live with, so I'm starting to think side jobs might be necessary for a while 

Getting married?  Yes, sidejobs.  Welcome to your new life as a walking wallet.

[CmdrSlack]

A couple of weeks ago, I was out at this tollway extension site where I do some environmental compliance/erosion control monitoring for a consulting firm. (Hey, it pays well and is a decent side gig.)

That does sound like a nice side gig. Did they train you or did you have some previous training/experience?

I'm still looking for a house I can afford and also live with, so I'm starting to think side jobs might be necessary for a while 

I had to take a quiz.  Literally.  It was some whole online course, but the firm had printed all of the materials, so it was just "read stuff in binder, take open book quiz, become certified."  The only suck thing is that I run the risk of being utterly crushed by massive machines and the gigantic uber multi-ton beams they're moving.  Well, that and the goddamn cicadas

[voodoolily]

Is this like annual thread?  Seriously, we had cockroaches immune to RAID.  They could also fly.  And they made sounds.  Also, sometimes they spit.

Did I meantion they were 3-4" long?

Those are actually not cockroaches, they are palmetto bugs. Very common in the SE US.

Also, after googling a bit, I realized the things we have are house centipedes and not silverfish. Icky lil things, but they just eat mildew so I WIN.

[Johny Cee]

Is this like annual thread?  Seriously, we had cockroaches immune to RAID.  They could also fly.  And they made sounds.  Also, sometimes they spit.

Did I meantion they were 3-4" long?

Those are actually not cockroaches, they are palmetto bugs. Very common in the SE US.

Also, after googling a bit, I realized the things we have are house centipedes and not silverfish. Icky lil things, but they just eat mildew so I WIN.

House centipedes eat bugs.  Thank god someone else has the little bastards.  Didn't need a bout of buyers remorse....

I may have to adopt one of our stray cats and give it the job of centipede hunting....

[CmdrSlack]

Those are actually not cockroaches, they are palmetto bugs. Very common in the SE US.

I don't care what you call 'em, they're bigass flying roaches. You cannot put lipstick on a pig...or a roach.

[Sky]

The only suck thing is that I run the risk of being utterly crushed by massive machines and the gigantic uber multi-ton beams they're moving.

Eh, I worked road construction before. One summer I worked in their garage as a gopher, part of my job was test-driving machinery to make sure it was fixed. It was cool to come into work and be told that I'd be moving piles of stone with some giant machine for half the day. That was the lamest job on paper that translated to full on awe....splendidifidy. To get back on topic...one week my task was Bee Killer. Go to the hardware store with a purchase order and load up on Killing Supplies and spend the week rooting out the beeelions of wasp nests around the yard.

Getting married?  Yes, sidejobs.  Welcome to your new life as a walking wallet.

Gosh darn you straight to heck! Actually, she's great about keeping our money split, she's definitely not the 'average woman' (whatever that is). But she likes to travel, which has killed my ability to save well. Certainly not me buying a new guitar, a pc, planning on a new amp. Nope. ;)

[NiX]

I figured in light of the talk of bugs I'd share my experience with a random bite that I got one night. So, I woke up one morning with a nice bite on my knee that hurt like a bitch. I let it go for a day or two and the bump got pretty big so I decided it was time to pop the sucker and clean it out. I'm sitting there enjoying the sight of the usual pile of puss that comes out of bites and then BAM! Something that looks like a seed just POPS out of the bump. For some odd reason I laughed hysterically at the site of it popping out of the top of my knee. Never bothered to find out what bug might cause that kind of result, but it was nasty/funny all at the same time.

[Yegolev]

Actually, she's great about keeping our money split, she's definitely not the 'average woman' (whatever that is). But she likes to travel, which has killed my ability to save well. Certainly not me buying a new guitar, a pc, planning on a new amp. Nope. ;)

That's just because you're not legally hers yet.  My wife is the coolest woman ever, but some things are just truisms.  One day she will suggest you try doing something solely so that it will increase your income, and before you know it you're holding a handbag in Pottery Barn and wondering why you don't have any more free time.

[Simond]

Not many bug issues in house (two cats), but the funniest insect story was from when I was a kid and my little brother got scared half-t-death by what he swears to this day was a foot-and-a-half long stag beetle sitting in the middle of the path when we were walking home from school one day.

(He was only six or seven at the time, and the bug was about 4" or 5" long :))

[Sky]

before you know it you're holding a handbag in Pottery Barn and wondering why you don't have any more free time.

She hates shopping. I have to make her go clothes shopping and I often pick out the outfits for her. I also have to force her to try things on because she'll talk herself out of buying them at the rack. And then I make her model them at the dressing room.

[voodoolily]

Does she have narrow hips/boyish figure? If so, she can use my trick for not having to try on pants (guys prolly know the trick): hold the waist of the pants straight and wrap it around your neck. If it fits the diameter of the neck, the pants fit. Works every time. Trying on blouses means just putting them on over my t-shirt or tank top right there in the aisle.

[Sky]

Does she have narrow hips/boyish figure?

No. She's quite shapely. She just hates shopping, period.

I actually mentioned this thread to her yesterday because she was wearing a nice pair of capris. I complimented her, and asked her if they were new, I was pretty sure they were. She said yes...and I suddenly remembered trying to convince her to buy them, she wouldn't even try them on. She went back a couple days later and bought them. I lolled.

[Ezdaar]

I think I live in one of the oldest parts of the Phoenix area, and in a top floor apartment so the worst things I see inside are moths and perhaps a carpenter bee outside. I was out walking the dogs in my sandals(I wear shoes possibly twice a year) once and l looked down and saw a scorpion sitting on the curb next to where I just put my foot down. Other than that no scorpion sightings yet.

When I lived in Sydney I used to see huntsmen inside when it rained. I also once saw a redback on the porch once. This all pales in comparison however to a friend who had a colony(yes colony) of funnelweb spiders in her backyard. I don't think there are any crawly things that frighten me more than funnelwebs.