[Beauchamp]

Okay, so we have bugs. And an 8 month old LO who crawls. I mean, silverfish, spiders, unidentifiable little black ones...in the past, even scorpions. We live in South Texas and our lot backs up to a field with a flood ditch a few hundred feet away. (i.e. Water + Field = YUCKY creatures approaching/entering our house on a daily basis.)

We used to have a service spray in the house, but no more now that DD is crawling. We find dead bugs everywhere...along baseboards, on windowsills, middle of the carpet, back of the pantry...you name it. Mostly they are dead, but that is really no consolation. I am constantly vacuuming them up.

So my question is, how bad is this in terms of germs? Obviously I don't want DD to get bitten by anything, but in terms of how often I must start steam-mopping my floor, how germy is it?

p.s. Bonus points to anyone who (gross alert!) can tell me what is inhabiting our garage. (Only in the garage) There is what looks like small bits of poop clinging to the walls. And I mean sticking to the middle of the walls, not long baseboards...?????

 

[betsyj]

I don't know about germs but I use a lot of tips from this website:

http://www.eartheasy.com/live_natpest_control.htm

I only get ants but the ideas work well and are safe.

 

[cschick]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Beauchamp p.s. Bonus points to anyone who (gross alert!) can tell me what is inhabiting our garage. (Only in the garage) There is what looks like small bits of poop clinging to the walls. And I mean sticking to the middle of the walls, not long baseboards...?????

Are they actual bugs, or something like mold/fungus?

In the midwest, we have all sorts of fungus that will grow on siding and in garages, especially in the fall and spring.

 

[Pepper44]

I don't think they are *that* germy, it's just gross to eat bugs.

(Assuming they don't have poison!) My only real concern would be that some insects carry parasite eggs in their guts, like fleas and crickets, but even that shouldn't be too huge of a deal.

If you want to keep bugs away naturally try diatomaceous earth! You can buy food grade DE at a feed store. (Not all DE is food grade, so you have to be careful what you get.) It's totally natural and very effective. It dehydrates insect bodies, causing them to die. I use it with my chickens and my cats and dogs to get rid of fleas, flies, etc. It's supposed to kill parasites when ingested, also.

This past spring I found that it stopped our annual ant plague! You can sprinkle it in the powder form, or you can add a bit of water to some in a cup and make a paste then smear it over where the bugs are coming in. Mine were coming in through a tiny crack in the brick, so I coated over the crack with DE paste then sprinkled some powder around the base of the house. They never came back! (Usually our kitchen is over run every spring with ants.)

 

[Beauchamp]

Quote:

Originally Posted by cschick Are they actual bugs, or something like mold/fungus?

They look a lot like little bits of bird poop. We can't figure out what the heck they are, besides really gross.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pepper44 If you want to keep bugs away naturally try diatomaceous earth! You can buy food grade DE at a feed store. (Not all DE is food grade, so you have to be careful what you get.) You can sprinkle it in the powder form, or you can add a bit of water to some in a cup and make a paste then smear it over where the bugs are coming in. Mine were coming in through a tiny crack in the brick, so I coated over the crack with DE paste then sprinkled some powder around the base of the house. They never came back! (Usually our kitchen is over run every spring with ants.)

So this is something for the whole perimeter of the house? Sweet! Is it very expensive?

 

[Pepper44]

At our local feed store it was $50 for 50 pounds, and that's like a life time supply. I've had it for more than two years and haven't even been able to use 1/4th of it!

You can sprinkle it anywhere, even inside if you have fleas in your carpet or something like that. It's just like the consistency of baking soda. The only precaution is that it's drying to your skin and you aren't supposed to inhale a big poof of it or anything.

It's for sale online too in smaller amounts, I think.

 

[oiseau]

Any chance the stuff on the walls could be coming from some kind of lizard? Lizard poop looks just like bird poop (since birds are closely related to lizards).

 

[Norasmomma]

Eh, my DD ate dead bugs often at that age. She'd find a crusty dead bug and eat them, totally ewwwww, but developmentally helpful to ones immune system.

FWIW she now is 3 and very healthy, now she picks her nose, which also is supposed to help the immune system in children-gross but true.

 

[LiLStar]

omg. I'd move.

I dont do bugs. Especially not spiders. never seen a scorpion that wasnt in a cage but I dont think I could handle that either!!

 

[Vancouver Mommy]

I wish my silverfish only turned up dead. My son calls them "reallyfastbug". I know that they are harmless - just really annoying. As for spiders, I expect it depends on the type.