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Post by UrbaneVirtuoso on Jun 4, 2014 2:26:42 GMT -5
Not in the sense of having them exterminated or whatever, but psychologically. Having done some lawn work today, I'm left walking in jumpy as all hell.
More onto that, it's at that point in Spring in which life flourishes most I deem -- in this case, caterpillar season. Once leaving the larval stage they tend to migrate randomly, and it's at this time I find them littered on my house. I'm put off, but don't think much of it at the time. I also live in a rural area, as away from city life as can be, so there's that to consider.
Having said this, there's also the canker worm issue our communities tend to have; they litter the highway, often clearing away the surrounding forestry. Again, unsightly as shit. Back to caterpillars, it was only after doing said lawn work I wound up with some inside my house upon entry, on the floor. Soon enough, I found several on my dress pants as well. That was a first; it wasn't fun, it wasn't nice in the slightest, but composure was kept.
Man, there's just so many negative ways I could describe my emotions right then and there. I mean, I can go about with disposing them, but I just can't put my finger on as to why I've got such a strong reflex and repugnance upon first sight; I'm not sure whether to classify this a phobia, since things like ants, ticks and various flyers I can handle fine, but if it's something with more than six legs and/or has a long, segmented body, then I immediately go NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE.
Overall, it's just a straight up inconvenience for me, so any advice and/or empathy is much appreciated. And no, before anyone says, I'm not going to hold one -- fuck that noise. Fuck it so hard.
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Den
He's That Guy
Posts: 4,294,967,295
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Post by Den on Jun 4, 2014 4:06:13 GMT -5
Lackadaisically. And with Peppermint Oil.
Living in an urban neighborhood, my primary buggy co-inhabitants are big roaches and hundred legged bastards and I hate their guts. Personally, I have no issues with insects (as in they don't creep me out or anything psychological), but I do have a disdain for pretty much all of them, I don't want to touch them and I don't want to get them on the bottom of my shoe, so I typically find some means to collect them without making a mess (ie take a vacuum cleaner to them and let them rot in that plastic prison) or just blast them with a jet of bugspray and hope they die in a crack in the wall.
Exceptions being small spiders and houseflies. For whatever reason I've no issue with them in particular. Hell, one time there was a house fly who lived for about a week in my house and I just let him bounce around. He hung out all day, ate some crumbs off my desk and eventually just flew outside when the door was open. And I leave the spiders that show up in my basement alone since they can take care of some of the other bugs that slip in and leave me alone. But if one of them decides to shack up in a corner close to my computer, he's getting the vacuum.
But pure Peppermint Oil works really well at repelling pretty much everything.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jun 4, 2014 5:33:30 GMT -5
Oh man, I hope you're right. I've been spraying lavender oil all over my room, but the bugs (mainly spiders) repopulate within days. I'll give peppermint a shot. My paranoia began when I found one of these in my bed
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Dumien
True Bro
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Post by Dumien on Jun 4, 2014 5:36:33 GMT -5
Well... I grew up on a low-end farm. Pretty much every picture of me when I was little was taken outside with some sort of farm equipment or vegetable in my hand. I would run around out fields and catch butterflies with my bare hands, show them to my folks (and let them go of course). At the risk of telling you my life's story... we found out I had a ton of allergies. Most were food and those I was treated for (and eventually cured of). The outdoors allergies though? They got progressively worse for some odd reason.
That love of nature turned into pure, unadulterated hatred.
Bugs are a part of nature. Because of the "wetlands" area we have, we get alot of odd bugs. The worst of which is this evil EVIL flyish with a stinger that will actively chase you. We get lots of bees/wasps and every morning I do "shoe checks" because of them...better to be stung in the hand than the foot. We get ants, but splenda mostly takes care of them. We get moths, but they aren't a big deal unless its night time and you have a computer screen on. I love spiders/mosquito hawks and I leave them around/watch them work. My least favorite insect is the silverfish. We have a lightbulb above the toilet...and they love to crawl all around the socket. When you turn on the light they eventually fall onto you because of the heat. ALWAYS sends shivers down my spine.
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Post by UrbaneVirtuoso on Jun 4, 2014 18:39:07 GMT -5
Thanks for sharing, Denbros. Quite an interesting read to see how others are affected. Man, I'd fucking loathe to see a house centipede. Moths are a bit of a nuisance as well -- whenever they're ignored they have an uncanny tendency to fly right by my damn head. So, they swiftly die on sight.
I'm also kind of envious towards your emotional indifference, Den, but that vacuum/peppermint oil solution looks to be better a solution than any for the time being. More onto bug remedies, I hear walnuts are very good for spiders -- these contain a neurotoxin that they don't take kindly of, apparently.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jun 4, 2014 18:47:27 GMT -5
I hate dealing with roaches. They're messy to deal with, produce fast, and sometimes they crawl under surfaces, pop up, and surround my tank line. Jerks. My biggest threat ATM is earwigs in the basement, but apparently that was the result of some arsehole in the neighborhood starting up a compost pile. "Oh guys, we need to save the environment- let's put all our rotting food scraps in a bin. This totally won't attract a massive population of earwigs." Jerks. EDIT: House flies, moths, and even wasps aren't that big of a nuisance when you have an old newspaper lying around. You don't even need to roll them up; just grab the Travel section and smash some bugs. Spiders aren't that bad either, especially considering they're not even armored. Again, newspapers are an easy answer. Earwigs and roaches, on the other hand, are a bit tougher- get a thicker section filled with nothing... like the Living section. I've heard that ants hate cucumbers, but that's only a rumour as far as I know. I do know that they hate newspapers. Tarantulas, however, are the cuter fuzzy spiders that people like.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jun 4, 2014 20:37:33 GMT -5
SO ADOWABLE!
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Dumien
True Bro
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No engrams. Only disappointment.
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Post by Dumien on Jun 4, 2014 23:13:25 GMT -5
My biggest threat ATM is earwigs in the basement, but apparently that was the result of some arsehole in the neighborhood starting up a compost pile. "Oh guys, we need to save the environment- let's put all our rotting food scraps in a bin. This totally won't attract a massive population of earwigs." Jerks. Compost piles are fine as long as you are in an area where you can put compost piles pretty far away from your house or other people's houses (i.e. non-densely populated areas) OR if you are in an area where the bugs it attracts are there anyways. They actually can decrease property value. Some states require composting permits and there is always a fiasco in densely populated areas concerning people trying to make the government deny individual permits.
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