- Aug
- 5
Dealing Kindly With Insects
Posted by Ingrid Newkirk at 5:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (16)
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The comedian George Carlin said that animal rights activists are the sort of people who would invent a cockroach spray that doesn't kill cockroaches. It just fills them with self-doubt so that they have to go away and think about things.
Cockroaches can be a problem, even in the best of places. The ones in Florida are nearly the size of condors, but even they are rather intriguing if you can get over your prejudices and look at them without that theatrical shudder we think we are supposed to let loose. Their wings are quite delicate. Yes, the Florida ones can fly. But they are polite and shy and scuttle away into the drains, out of sight, if they can avoid you.
Of the more than 4,000 species of cockroach in the world, only a handful are considered "pests." Among them are the European cockroaches and the German cockroaches who came to stay in my warehouse. I tried all sorts of "cures": bay leaves, talking to them (something my friend swore worked for her when she did social work in a tenement in Maryland), but they had decided to populate the planet with their offspring, starting at my place, and wouldn't listen.
I shall never forget the borax. That was a mistake. I hadn't wanted to use an insecticide, a poison, and had taken bad advice to buy this instead. The 40,000 nerve endings in their antennae, their keen sense of smell (so keen that they can identify different people by body odor alone!), and the little ears on their rears, weren't enough to warn the cockroaches away from the borax. They ate it and disintegrated slowly in front of me, no doubt in great pain as their small bodies burst asunder from some mysterious internal reaction. I felt hideously guilty, removed the refrigerator, forbade everyone from eating in the office (a cockroach can live for about a year on the carbs in a cracker crumb), and, in time, those who survived the hideous borax moved on to greener pastures.
Here's how to deal with:
Ants
Pour a line of cream tartar, red chili powder, paprika, or dried peppermint at the place where ants enter the house – they won't cross it. You can also try washing countertops, cabinets, and floors with equal parts of vinegar and water and putting a little paprika at the edges.
Some people swear by cinnamon oil, peppermint oil, mint oil, lavender oil, a mixture of olive oil and cayenne pepper, or catnip.
Moths
A humane and great smelling alternative to moth balls is to place cedar chips around clothes or store sachets made out of dried lavender or equal parts of dried rosemary and mint in drawers and closets.
Flies
To repel flies, hang clusters of cloves in a room, or leave an orange skin out. However, you may invite them back, as with ants, if you don't keep living areas clean, sweep up crumbs promptly, vacuum, wash dishes right away, empty garbage promptly, and store food in tightly sealed containers.
Spiders
If you must evict them, carefully trap them in an inverted jar and release them outside.
Cockroaches
Place whole bay leaves in several places around infested rooms, including inside kitchen cabinets. Apparently bay leaves smell like dirty socks to cockroaches and they would rather not be around them. For serious infestations, you may need to resort to an insect growth regulator, called Gentrol, which nips the cockroach reproductive cycle in the bud leading them to produce sterile offspring. Given that one German cockroach mother and her offspring can add 35,000 new lives to the world in a year, birth control is a must.
Mosquitoes
Taking B-complex vitamins or eating brewer's yeast daily (in tablets or powder) can keep you mosquito-bite free in the summer months. Oil of citronella and pennyroyal mint oil are both effective repellents when diluted with vodka or vegetable oil and dabbed onto the skin. Mosquitoes dislike fresh basil and pennyroyal so these can be usefully applied on porches and around the home.
Excerpted from Making Kind Choices: Everyday Ways to Enhance Your Life and Avoid Cruelty to Animals
Posted to Home & Garden | Posted to Tags: Ants, Cockroaches, Ingrid Newkirk, Insects, mosquitos, Spiders
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Nicolas Kaiser says...
August 5th, 2011, 4:21 pm
Some years ago I've seen on TV an ingenious device for safely trapping spiders. Later I've tried to find it to no avail.
It was a sizeable plastic tube with a shutter on one side, and a cylinder with handle on the other, similar to a syringe. This device allowed to suck a spider into the tube, trap it, and later release it outside.
Currently I'm using a small plastic box to trap spiders.
Noreen says...
August 5th, 2011, 6:38 pm
I live in Arizona and have many different kinds of spiders at my home inside and out. Black Widows, Sun Spiders, Borwn Spiders, Scorpions. I really can't stand to kill them with Raid, but I have a phobia of spiders. I do get the house sprayed with an ECO freindly company and it works for a while. I really only see them in the summer? Can anyone think of anything I can use to make them stay away besides killing them with Raid
Thanks
Sarah Rojas Escalona says...
August 6th, 2011, 1:05 am
Thank you so much for this article. I am very interested in "relocating" insects found in my home, rather than killing them.
Jacob Dijkstra, M.D. says...
August 6th, 2011, 8:15 am
Very useful information. Although not related to insects, I use every opportunity I get to mention the great effectiveness of plain vinegar (the cheapest one you can get in 1 gallon containers) to eradicate weeds in patios and brick driveways. Put it in a bucket and spread it out with a deck brush. Extremely effective and lasts for at least 2 months (do not apply it right after or right before a rain storm). It has never affected the rest of the plants in our yard and has been totally safe for the bricks and stones. No need for any nasty chemicals such as Monsanta's Roundup (!) and a lot cheaper as well.
anne hoesch says...
August 7th, 2011, 1:44 pm
I really like this article, i wonder how many people really care enough to try and spare the lives of insects? I try never to kill anything if I can help it, but I do admit to swatting a few flies because they were driving me insane, I felt horribly guilty afterwards because I really believe it`s wrong to kill anything.I have a lot of fairly large spiders in my house in the spring and I trap them in a glass and put them outside, smaller ones I pick up in my Hand and do the same. I dont think it`s necessary to kill things, insects have thier place in the world same as we do and we should respect their right to live
though I do admit also to having a strong aversion to Cockroaches and Im not sure how I would react if I ever saw one in my house!!!!
Toyya says...
August 8th, 2011, 10:18 am
Hmmm….very interesting article. I've never even thought to trap bugs or look for an alternative to killing them. At best I simply try to avoid them by keeping things clean and that keeps me down to spiders for the most part. I'm terribly afraid of them so I would not typically kill them, but I call my husband to do it. I think I'll ask him if he would mind trapping them instead. =) Then, I only wonder if they'd multiply and result in me having even more spiders at home when they all came back. =[
Samara says...
August 8th, 2011, 5:10 pm
I absolutely love this article! I have been dismissed as "extreme" by almost everyone, when they see me save a bug! Most people will try to save ladybugs or dragonflies, but not the so-called "gross" bugs! Since I was a young girl, I have used the same tried and true method – a dixie cup placed on the wall or ceiling at the perfect time, followed by a small piece of paper slowly slipped underneath – then carried to the nearest door! I've never encountered a cockroach, but it works for everything else, although I usually have to wait a day for the fly to slow down just a bit! I, also, do the talking thing – if one (usually a spider) is out of reach, or if it's really late – I tell them (literally out loud), "Please go back outside by tomorrow – it will be much easier on you!" – and nine times out of ten – they really do! My feeling is, really, they were here first and we are encroaching on their space, so it would be unjust to take their lives – they have "or should have", at least,the same rights that humans have! I am so grateful that there are others out there like me! Thank-you to all of you who are considerate enough to help out even the tiniest or most misunderstood creatures!
liz says...
August 15th, 2011, 7:21 pm
oh, its so nice to see others with my own view point. i live in deep woods northern ontario, so i will kill mosquitos. people at work think im just nuts for catching crickets and moths and spiders to bring safely outdoors. but like the others said, we have no greater right to be here than they do. they live in harmony with us, so why is it that we cant seem to live with them!? last year we live trapped mice that got into the house and i brought them to a horse barn down the road. i guess i got a mom and released her because before long i realized i had about 10 babies and no mom! so there i was handfeeding the babies till they were old enough to be released at the barn.
Micky D. says...
August 16th, 2011, 12:23 am
I have several spiders throughout my house that catch the little fruit flies that I seem to attract. They don't bother me & I welcome their bug control. I wouldn't want a spider on me but I respect them & believe they serve a useful purpose in my house.
Omar says...
August 17th, 2011, 2:05 am
I'm glad I read this article, like most others I thought I was on the extreme side for saving every little insect in my home rather than stepping on them… It's good to know there are others doing the same…and that it doesn't seem as futile or pathetic as others might see it to be.
Dani says...
August 20th, 2011, 8:40 am
People look at me like I'm crazy because I won't kill any insect. I once worked in a bank infested with gigantic waterbugs or flying roaches. We weren't sure which, but I always rescued them and brought them outside.
Not to get too into this, but a life is a life. People should think about it that way. A bug doesn't intend to annoy or scare anyone. Just because humans think they are creepy or gross gives them the right to just kill them? I think there are way more creepy and gross PEOPLE in this world.
Melissa says...
August 26th, 2011, 12:57 pm
I love this article. As a child I used to scream "Look out" if my mother or anyone else were about to step on an insect or other tiny creature. I'm pretty sure mom almost had a heart attack once. I was the official bug rescuer in our household. Now that I have my own household I'm always taking bugs outside (that make it past the cats) so they can have a happy life. I'll try some of these suggestions to keep the bugs out. I also like the other commentor's suggestion for killing weeds with vinegar.
ARCHURE says...
October 7th, 2011, 6:21 am
This is more info that before, glad to have it, hope it works. My home owners association sprays outside, I cant grow vegetables in my very small garden, and I am concerned about my contact with the pesticides. I eat organic foods
ATN says...
October 23rd, 2012, 11:38 am
How can I humanely keep crickets from entering the house? We've sealed up every gap we can find and still, many find their way in.
Kashif Ansari says...
April 2nd, 2013, 3:02 pm
insects are a nuisance yet to mercilessly kill one by stepping on it is decidely against any civilized rules. mind you i am not counting scorpions or wasps. if they get on the wrong side and attack you have to protect yourself no matter what. but ants? what harm can a puny ant do to you. cockroaches may be ugly and a source of disgust but that is pretty much it. ignore them and they'll probably also ignore you. insects are like sects. often persecuted by the orthodox humans as a per-version of sorts. but we are living in much more tolerant times. the ec(h)osystem needs all the diversity it can get and besides we are here for a short time period. mankind will be wiped off the face of the planet one day to make way for some species that is surely more tolerant so why not leave a relatively harmless carbon footprint.
Joe plant says...
April 23rd, 2013, 9:59 pm
I don't believe in killing insects the way I release them outside I with a glass or a cup and put some tissue on the glass or cup.