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I'm a home owner looking

#80910 On Friday, July 25, 2008 Guest (not verified) said,

I'm a home owner looking into this to prevent what seems like an imminent infestation, but I do have a couple of tips...

1) NEEM - Neem is a tree, and the powders and oils that are derived from it disrupt insect reproductive and growth cycles. On top of this, neem is completely safe to eat and use as a supplement. Neem, when applied to the only food that desert locusts had available, caused the desert locusts to starve themselves to death. They would not touch it. This is also safe for pets, so you can sprinkle it in their food if you have the powder. (That's what I plan on doing once I get my order in!) You can also combine it with natural/organic soap or canola oil and spray it in your yard or any outdoor space. This will be a natural pest repellent, obviously, and should help prevent new infestations. Buy it in bulk - it has millions of uses!

Note: Do not overpower your pets' food with this powder, as with anything you add to the diet of yourself or your pet, it can cause digestive turbulence.

2) Cockroaches eat the glue that keeps your floorboards together, and anything that is starchy at all. This means that they have food, even if you can eleminate all other sources.

3) Freezing them or trapping them in the hot summer sun will make them die with any eggs. If you step on a pregnant cockroach, the eggs can still hatch from the bottom of your shoe. So what you need to try to do is kill them whole. This may also help prevent more from arriving, as you are limiting where their smells and byproducts are. They only need 1 hour in a freezer, or several hours out in the sun. (The cockroaches I've seen outside, I trap under a bowl that has been outside and they explode by about 2pm in the hot, hot sun. Justice has been served.)

7) Don't leave standing water OUTSIDE, either. Obviously if it attracts them inside, it will do so outside also.

***I agree with most of the advice given above, except for the excessive use of pesticides. Haven't we already learned our lesson via pesticides on crops? Eventually, bugs gain a tolerance, and then you're screwed again. Go the all-natural ways that work, i.e. the peanut butter and boric acid, the sugar and baking soda, the neem. I definitely agree with keeping everything in tight, sealable containers and cleaning difficult places. I'm going to have to do the cleaning part of this, as I've been seeing cockroaches outside - and I'll be DAMNED if I end up living with them! Just not going to happen.

Sealing all cracks - gotta try this and see what happens. I'm sure it helps, but I'm also sure I'll miss some cracks... I'm also going to re-seal all my windows over this weekend, provided the rain stops coming down and the sun comes out.

And for the first entry, those methods DO work and they may work on cockroaches. Another thing that might help is garlic; garlic has this mystical property where it forces bugs to shrivel when they touch a puree or the juice of it. I used to use this on my yard to repel bugs, but it can be expensive. Also, I am unsure as to whether this had any part in attracting the bugs, but I doubt it. I live next to a farmer's field that grows starchy foods... So I'm fairly certain that is where most of my problems originate from, regardless of what I do.

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