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Originally Posted by Hitch
True, that. And yes--I had a friend that lives on the island one over from Guadeloupe--can never remember the damn name--and she has a gecko for this very purpose, wild-ass bug control. While most of her neighbors hear that horrid "cockroach slither" at night--she doesn't. She feels that the barking is a small price to pay. We have to have professional pest control here, for termites. Constantly. And ladies and gents, lemme tell you--ain't cheap. Thousands per year. {sigh}
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Termites are not an issue here.
A friend in NYC was living down south for a while, and talked about Palmetto bugs. She was dismayed when she first encountered them. A local friend she called for help said "We don't let 'em get that
big!" (How they were
prevented from getting that big wasn't stated.)
Another old friend was stationed down south in the Air Force at one point, and told her then husband they were getting lots of Tupperware containers. The reason was the Palmetto bugs, which get into
everything that isn't a properly sealed container.
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Yes. When we were building the house in Wyoming, those small field mice (unlike NY mice by a factor of 50% and then some) would try to smuggle their relatives across the border nightly. Major hassle. As nobody was living there full-time, a cat was not an option. Traps were the only option while someone was there, and it's true that they are remarkable at figuring out how to get the bait, and NOT get caught.
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The ones I caught with standard traps tended to be young ones. The older more experienced mice avoided them.
An old friend who once lived in my building smoked pot. He'd leave the seeds for the mouse that appeared to be a permanent resident in his place. I'm sure it appreciated the food, but don't know if the active ingredient affected it.
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I don't actually believe that there is any type of prophylactic snake-exterminating that can be done, and when you live where we do, getting a pro to come out and dispose of a snake you've caught...well, it's beyond "pricey." You can, if you have time, etc., free a snake from a glueboard with oil, which is what I'd do. Otherwise, she'd throw the poor creature into her TRASH bin (the outdoor one that the trash contractor picks up), and let him SIT there, stuck to the glue board, for, what, weeks? While the snake--which can live remarkably long sans sustenance--would suffer? No, no...horrid.
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Agreed. I'd do my best to make sure the critter couldn't get into the house in the first place.
And I don't, in general, mind snakes, so I wouldn't get all that upset if a non-venomous species
did get in. I'd simply try to catch it and deposit it back outside.
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Oh, dear. I had a King snake that escaped from his terrarium, when I was a teen. My dad had a THING about snakes, and I'm not sure he spoke to me for months. We never did find him, mind you...although, this was another very rural home, that had garter snakes a plenty (they'd get into the house all the time. I was the designated garter snake catcher and releaser), mice everywhere (cats thought that they were in Kitty Heaven), etc. It's true that we did see a remarkable decrease in the mouse population for a year or so while he must have grown into his more-adult size and shape, and then he seemed to move on. Eventually, my Dad started speaking to me again.
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<chuckle> I
don't have a thing about snakes.
There was a hilarious story from the 80s on that line. Rock star Alice Cooper did publicity shots adorned with a large python. At one shoot in a hotel, the snake escaped and couldn't be located. The next person to stay in that hotel room was country musician Charlie Pride. He discovered why his bed felt unaccountably lumpy. The snake had managed to find a hole, and crawled into and wrapped itself around the springs in the mattress.
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Dennis