NationStates Jolt Archive

What plagues your home?

Is there anything more annoying than house flies? I just swatted about of twenty of these little sons of ***ches. Admittedly, I do so enjoy ending their miserable lives as I swat them to hell or suffocate them with bathroom cleaners. Ants and their ilk I can deal with, at least with them I can vacuum them up by the hundreds or spray 409 on them. Now I know everything in nature has their purpose, but houseflies, they just buzz around and eat trash all day long, just what purpose do they serve other than to annoy the hell out of critters and creatures everywhere? I'm thinking of buying a couple venus flytraps since the little bastards always somehow manage to get inside.

Though maybe I should be thankful I don't have a roach or mosquito problem...

In my room, I have these little orange bugs (quite large for bugs, now that I think of it). I think they're junebugs. We get so many of them in here the spiders come. My room's like a zoo.

If you think flies suck, try wasps. Ack. I don't know how they got in here, but here they are...

Fleas.....or at least during this past June. Now, houseflies. Grr.

annoying...

Termites... hate those bastards... especially during mating season.

Geckos: sure they eat the termites (not enough if you ask me.) but their shit is everywhere... and I do mean their shit.

my housmates pet parrot, that thing squaks and wistles from 5-9am every day, it annoys the s*%t out of me. especially when i get home from a big night out partying.

oh you said pest not pets, oh well i still stand by my claim

as pests go we had a plauge of midges a while back, very very annoying little buggers, they bite the crap out of you, and you itch for days

Gnats, or whatever little bastards keep landing on my computer monitor, and then they won't go away. No matter how many times I shoo them off, they just buzz around a bit and land right back on the same spot. Oh, how I hate them.
I also attract male mosquitoes for some reason. I don't get why, but my room always ends up being full of them. I suppose it is better than female (that is, biting) mosquitoes, but it is still annoying to have to keep tracking them down and killing them.

My family. Traps, poison, bribery...nothing will make them go away.

Spiders. They are the downside to living in the woods.

Also, my dog. His white hair.. everywhere.. It never goes away.. never!

Inside the house it would have to be them flies. But outside, even more anoying than flies, are crows. Goddamn birds keep spreading my garbage around the yard. I think I'll grab my gun next time I head home.

The most annoying household pest is, always has been, and always will be children. And a fetus is either a parasite or a tumor.

You may now impale me with your pitchforks and set me ablaze with your torches.

We get so many of them in here the spiders come.



Spiders. They are the downside to living in the woods.


Spiders are a good thing to have around. Helps keep all the other insect pests away. Especially during the summer heat wave, when we learn that said insects enjoy air conditioning as much as humans do.

They can also be quite fascinating. I knew an egg sac somewhere had hatched because one evening I sat at my desk and watched a mass of tiny baby spiders climb all the way up to to top of the desk lamp, extend a small strand of web, and then jump off into the air trying to get caught and lifted away in the "wind."

Little eight-legged paratroopers off to fight the insect horde. :D

http://www.encyclopediadramatica.com/images/c/ca/Abortionkills.jpg
Kids are annoying pests.

Fly's and gnats. I can't stand spiders. I am paranoid about them killing me while I am sleeping. -_-

http://www.encyclopediadramatica.com/images/c/ca/Abortionkills.jpg
Kids are annoying pests.

Thats a bit tasteless. You were a kid once.

http://www.encyclopediadramatica.com/images/c/ca/Abortionkills.jpg
Kids are annoying pests.

That is so wrong but help me, I laughed.

About every three days or so, I get Jehovah's Witnesses at the door.

About every three days or so, I get Jehovah's Witnesses at the door.

XD

Humanity. Wretched insects desecrating my world.

I had a MAJOR hatch of fruit flies a week and a half ago. These guys were really aggressive, too. Whenever I got a fruit fly infestation in past years, I could cope with fixing a meal within the few minutes' time it took them to cruise over and circulate, like orbiting asteroids.

These guys would make a frackin' beeline and chase me around the kitchen like rabid hyaenas, screaming little fruit fly warcries.

I tried to wipe them out with a home remedy of a bowlful of water, sugar and liquid soap. It helped somewhat but they weren't dying off fast enough, even though I emptied and refilled the bowl twice a day. There were still gobs of them and I could smell...spawn...it was coming from the kitchen garbage bin. :headbang:

The upshot: I went to the store, grabbed a can of RAID, and fumigated the place. Completely. Top to bottom. Three times. Then I spent about five hours scrubbing, disinfecting, throwing out, washing, sweeping, and otherwise returning my kitchen to original, pre-move in condition. Guess that fruit fly infestation was a backhanded blessing: I rebooted the kitchen and cleaned out my cupboards and fridge. :D

Jehovah's Witnesses.

I sometimes get ant invasions. Haven't had one in a while. I made defensive pacts with the local spiders. Well, more like mutual non-aggression... it just happens that they eat ants, so it works out for me.

But carpet beetles. I've gotten infestations of those for two years... not this year (knock on wood). I hate those buggers. You can fight ants... just get their trail. Or even march outside and drown their bloody nests... their mothers, their children. E-Z DIY Genocide (tm). But carpet beetles can fly. They don't live all together. They just appear out of nowhere and have to be individually slaughtered. Ugh.

Very annoying.

I can't stand spiders. I am paranoid about them killing me while I am sleeping. -_-

Once I was up most of the night while staying in a cabin in the mountains, watching what was quite possibly the largest not-a-tarantula spider I've ever seen run around the ceiling and walls of the room. Eventually it made the critical error of walking across the floor, allowing me to trap it with a clear plastic bowl where it would await removal back into the woods by someone far more brave than myself.

Thus primitive man learns the art of the hunt. **2001: A Space Odyssey theme music here**

The common household mess. I never see it coming, but it always does. I can never get it to go for good, I can only cleanup after it until it is gone.

But carpet beetles can fly. They don't live all together. They just appear out of nowhere and have to be individually slaughtered. Ugh.


At least they can be slaughtered.

I've thrown a fully loaded 24-can box of soda onto a cockroach. Landed directly on top of the bug with such force that cans of soda went flying in all directions. It got away completely unharmed.

Only repeated applications of a phone book while on linoleum flooring has proven effective. That and moving to an apartment away from the community trash dumpster...

the most annoying pest in any house is humans. they don't generally fly very well either.

=^^=
.../\...

[...]fruit flies [...]I tried to wipe them out with a home remedy of a bowlful of water, sugar and liquid soap.

Urgh, we get those all the time, too. Try using a concoction of 3/4 cup vinegar with 1/4 cup water (plus sugar and dish detergent) instead of water only and you'll get better results.

When I'm at my parents, the common household flies are a major problem, but we'll only get a lone one or two each day here.

I aggressively combat two bugs I cannot identify; one is a beetle-type bug, black, about as long as my thumbnail but rather thin, and can fly; the other looks like either a mutant fruit fly or a severely shrinked household fly. Hate them both to death.

Unfortunately, I also live in one of those 200+ year old houses (yes, yes, European), and we can never quite control the mice running in the insde of the outer walls, which can be terribly disturbing because it does sound like they are running right next to you in your room (well, technically they *are* running right next to you, but not in your room).

My family. Traps, poison, bribery...nothing will make them go away.
you win this thread!

Ants. While the other pests are certainly pesky, ants pose a serious threat to domestic security. They can burrow through bricks and mortar, tear plaster to pieces, and it is impossible to keep them out once they're in. Worst of all, they have the makings of an organised army, meaning they have outwitted us numerous times (not hard). One time they made a small hole near the fireplace, which we diligently spent time filling in, only for them to come through another hole right behind our backs! By the time we were finished with the one hole, there were hundreds of the little buggers all over the place - including their airborne divisions. By the time we finished killing THOSE, the original hole was breached again and they came in through there instead.

And nothing kills them. They can take impacts far greater than their size should allow, and it takes an entire can of ant killer just to kill ONE of the bastards. And try getting an army of ants out of a bagless vacuum cleaner, why don't you!

They outnumber us. They are smarter than us. They fear nothing. Walls don't stop them. The ants are coming.

Be afraid, be very afraid.

Blatella germanica (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_cockroach)

http://www.encyclopediadramatica.com/images/c/ca/Abortionkills.jpg


Hahaha, brilliant :D

Although they did miss two apostrophes.

Tropical climate. Roaches the size of a fist, wasps the size of your index fingers whose sting can make your entire arm go numb, and mosquitoes able to sit you down with fever for a week after they get you.

I have a personal phobia towards moths. Night moths tend to grow to a ridiculous size around here, and they give me psychological creeps after one introduced itself in my mouth when I was a young kid. (I was laughing out loud and the thing just raced in). I think that if Big Brother caughts me, it will convince me to cooperate using a cage full of moths.

I rest my case, even although I do not live south enough, like the brazilians.

Luckily, rats aren't abundant...

Unfortunately, I also live in one of those 200+ year old houses (yes, yes, European), and we can never quite control the mice running in the insde of the outer walls, which can be terribly disturbing because it does sound like they are running right next to you in your room (well, technically they *are* running right next to you, but not in your room).

Get a cat, or two. When I was a kid we lived in an old farm house in the sticks, had twenty some odd mice one year, so we invested in a cat. Never had to fuss with another mouse trap.

Flies. I had a greenbottle flying around which kept buzzing into the lamp. Next time it buzzed near it I pushed the lamp onto the desk so it had no way out. I heard the buzzing get more and more frantic with 'tzh' sounds, then it stopped.
I'm fine with ants, most ant invasions can be stopped by just keeping your food well sealed.

hamsters (noisy nocternal little fuckers) or those little rat dogs (yappy and pointless).


shit, i read that as 'pets'rather than 'pests'. well, spiders freak me out so they're up there.

My sister.

I'd have to go with ants and madagascar cockroaches/roaches in general.

Try taking a shower, and suddenly having carpenter ants coming out of the walls where the water is hitting (for me, it was more of the edges of tile around the window) and swarming. I didn't notice them till I reached for the shampoo.

In about a half second, that's when I realized the bottle was "moving". They were pissed enough to dig right through the plastic bottle, and get killed in toxic-to-them shampoo.

The same day, I went and got some RAID. Sprayed it all over that wall, in the crevices. More swarms...and two queens. Did this a few more times to ensure they were all dead before sealing the crevices again with caulking.

But roaches...ugh. They constantly getting in the house no matter how I fight them. I've gotten quite good at throwing shoes from across the room and hitting them.

And they do die. Especially when I get angry at them and go berserk.

Oh that reminds me, when I first moved into the house, I went to use the sink in the same bathroom as the shower, and was surprised by a swarm of small ants swarming out of the reservoir (secondary drain hole). They were promptly killed in a mass genocide by use of RAID.

EW omGGG that was gross to read.

furniture, it's everywhere :(

I like spiders and we have a good relationship here - I leave them be and they kill most of the bugs. They have pretty much permanent settlements around the windows and wherever bugs might come in. I'm grateful for them 99% of the time. I do wish they wouldn't kill the ladybugs, though, because I really like ladybugs.

Most annoying household pest has to be those huuuge black cockroaches. They are like tanks. Even a direct hit barely stuns them. But what drives me bonkers is when they fly. I am generally nonchalant about bugs inside (just scoop it up and take it outside), but when one of those things flies, I lose my mind. There is something profoundly horrifying to me about the flight.

I've found Dr. Bronner's peppermint soap in a spray bottle is very effective against huge cockroaches.

Is it so wrong to take excessive joy in killing roaches/bugs with RAID?

I figure, why get all upset when you can pretend to be a homicidal villain for as long as the bug's life remains?

Get a cat, or two. When I was a kid we lived in an old farm house in the sticks, had twenty some odd mice one year, so we invested in a cat. Never had to fuss with another mouse trap.

Advice to take in a cat is always good (few things beat cats; I'd even have a cat over chocolate supplies), but here-and-now it doesn't help (enough): we currently have seven lively and one old cat, and while they do kill mice very nicely (as proven by the latter's carcasses all over the patio and front door mat), there still are enough of them around to haunt the walls as described.

Advice to take in a cat is always good (few things beat cats; I'd even have a cat over chocolate supplies), but here-and-now it doesn't help (enough): we currently have seven lively and one old cat, and while they do kill mice very nicely (as proven by the latter's carcasses all over the patio and front door mat), there still are enough of them around to haunt the walls as described.

actually there are way to many cats, killing most of the original animals and destroying biodiversity and stuff.

actually there are way to many cats, killing most of the original animals and destroying biodiversity and stuff.

You can never have too many cats. Biodiversity is for hippies. Kitties are cute and fluffy and delightfully psychotic.

You can never have too many cats. Biodiversity is for hippies. Kitties are cute and fluffy and delightfully psychotic.

Have it your way, but don't come crying to me when they take over the world, I warned you!

Fleas suck, so do flies. Ants are bad. Wasps are scary. The worst is a swarm of spiders attacking the house. :eek:

I love my dog so frikking much but sometimes he can be so annoying.

Like today I was crawling on the floor to look for Plato on the bottem-most bookshelf and he starts barking and licking my face all over. Musta been thinking I was engaging in some kind of mating ritual.

Also, when I'm listening to the radio, he gets out his bone on which he likes to gnaw. Takes it in his mouth. Then throws it up into the air, tries to catch it, misses, and it falls on the floor, making an aweful lot of noise because our floor happens to be stone tiles. He's doing all of this while jumping around so I guess it's no big wonder he doesnt manage to catch the bone. Anyway after this he starts to ... well not jump... rather leap into the air, with his head pointing down and front paws close together and extended pointing towards the bone. Upon contact the bone rickotchets (sp?) away hitting the metal stove before bouncing away and hitting my mother's most beautiful porcelain vase.

Causing me to miss the most beautiful part of the damn guitar solo because of all the noise!!!

Religious proselytizers and solicitors of any kind.

Mosquitos, cockroaches, ants, charity collectors and religion sellers are no where near as annoying as my partner, he just exudes chaos, destruction and dirt wherever he goes.

Get a cat, or two. When I was a kid we lived in an old farm house in the sticks, had twenty some odd mice one year, so we invested in a cat. Never had to fuss with another mouse trap.Unfortunately, I've managed to collect too many cats. My roommate has explicitly asked for rats instead. He says they have smaller turds and don't chew on his toes when he sleeps. ( and we are having a small problem litter training our new kittens)

My least favorite pest? Other than my roommate, it would have to be the common housefly. The summer has been uncommonly wet around here, further complicated by the fact that feeding some of the cats on the porch tends to attract them. From there they migrate into the kitchen.

Mimes - even when you open a window so they can get out, they just pretend they are trapped behind glass.

Wasps are the most annoying, because they are capable of inflicting pain.

Other pests - I don't care. Actually I like flies, because if one fly into my flat, the cat catches it and eats it in short time. It is fun and food for cat.

I can't leave my window open in the evening at this time of year without having all kinds of annoying flying insects pay me a visit. Although last night a small black fly landed on my monitor, and I had great fun harrasing it with the cursor. Hee hee!

And although it is slightly off topic, all the spiders I've seen about the house are missing legs. All of them. No exceptions.

And although it is slightly off topic, all the spiders I've seen about the house are missing legs. All of them. No exceptions.Have cats?

I had a cat that insisted on de-legging everything he brought me. Spiders. Lizards. Flowers. He used to pull the flower head off my zinnias and pull off all the petals. Then bring me just the center part.