Friday, July 13, 2012

Learning to Live With Bugs

Not the kind big government has in place. Those critters that seek food whether human, animal, fabric, wood, sand or whatever.

Even George says he doesn't recall this many bugs when he lived in Florida 12 years ago. Whatever the case, they've about driven us to the edge.

We've mowed our lawn and trimmed bushes; removed all old, wet or rotting wood; spread insecticide throughout our lawn, shed, beneath and inside our home and still, they find us.

The latest victim is Kitty Kitty who had two rounds of fleas. Frontline helped but every surface in the house and outside had to be treated too. We're holding our breath that they are gone for now.

Food is NEVER left on the counters and I've vacuumed every day this week! Mattresses and upholstered furniture have been treated. Walls have been washed; holes and cracks caulked. Insecticide is routinely sprayed or spread and bug bombs were deployed while we took a drive. And still, they crawl or fly among us. Not as much, but by now we thought they'd be gone.

After Kitty Kitty once again had fleas and another Scorpian was found inside, I visited the hardware store for help. The owner informed me this is the worse outbreak of fleas they've had in years. He advised rotating insecticide products each month because, "They seem to build up an immunity."

Immunity? I think they could survive an Atomic blast.

Make no mistake, we like Florida. Sure beats the snow, ice and cold. But we've had our fill of Palmetto bugs (in the porch), flies, mosquitoes, beetles, four types of spiders (including a few Scorpians), four to five types of ants and FLEAS. Add a Bobcat walking across the yard and rattle snakes and, well, I just wanted to hibernate.

When doing our budget we included "pest control" - a first for us.

And the weather hasn't helped. Rain gives many ideal breeding conditions. But, we're vigilant about eliminating any water catchment. The mosquito control truck comes by every couple weeks too but the rain is daily.

This whole frustration got me wondering: "What would we do without pesticides?"

Forget about Zombies. The bugs would drive us away.

8 comments:

Mayberry said...

The 'skeeters have been eating me alive this week. "Palmetto bugs" (a genteel way of saying "giant a$$ cockroaches") are always around. And I've killed more black widows this year than I've ever seen in my life. Literally.

Those little circular Raid roach baits seem to keep the "palmetto bug" population in check, my gallon jug of Spectracide Bug Stop makes short work of the widows, and I've even killed wasps and hornets with that. The 'skeeters, well... I just hope for a nice breeze to keep them off me, or escape to the screen room...

2 Tramps said...

Wow - I don't know how you do it. I would be going nuts, I think. Sure do hope that the critters started to dissipate for you soon. Winter is coming and you will be so glad to be where you are!

mizdeb said...

We are on the Texas coast. The dog groomer recommended Advantix for the fleas.

treesong said...

Craig, the first Palmetto bug I saw came out a crack between the screened porch roof and the trailer. I about died. It was at least 3" across. We've used Spectricide by the jug, borax, fire ant killer, some kind of white dust, a brown bottle called 38 that you mix with water, Raid, roach and ant traps and a few other brands. I'm convinced part of the problem is this place was mostly unoccupied (used as fishing camp) so regular treatments were not done.

I will survive this but right now I'm exhausted from cleaning, spraying and doing it all over again.

SHARON said...

This is a BAD year for fleas up here in Pennsylvania also. I've always used FrontLine, but, it has failed me this year. Groomer said all of the dogs that she has found fleas on have been on FrontLine. I am switching to Advantix for both cats and dogs. When I get to heaven, the first thing I'm asking GOD is why did we have flies, fleas, ticks and mosquitoes? Oh, and fall grass, hate the stuff.

Mike Yukon said...

Bugs are bad this year in Northeast Florida also. The last rains left us over 11 inches in two days so all previous pesticides get washed away, all outside bugs snuk inside to keep from drowning, so now we're back to nature as it was a century ago.

What I use to control the fleas, ticks etc from my pet is Ortho MAX. Been using it for years and it works great. You may want to give it a try as all the people I tell about it like it also. It's a granular form and spreads like fertilizer.

debbieo said...

Have you ever tied DE Diatomacious Earth? Get food grade. We use it internally for us and externally on plants and animals.

Sixbears said...

Advantix worked on my dog when no other flea treatment worked.

My wife will wake up with the sound a Palmetto bug walking on the ceiling.

We've never been in FL during the summer when the bugs are really bad. Just as well.

One sailboat guy recommended putting a lizard on your boat to keep the bugs in check. Said it worked well.

Deerflies are bad now here in NH, but at least they don't come inside and go away at night.