Category: Pests and Bugs

Have you ever wondered what frog droppings look like? Do you really care? You might if you’d seen something that you previously thought were rat droppings, so here are a couple of photos to put your mind at ease.

In my other posts about how to get rid of frogs I talk about how it’s really just a case of making them choose somewhere else to live.

I did that by waiting for the frogs to leave their holes and then filling it up with river sand. Of course that means you’ll either have to wait until night time for them to come out, or force them out…

I forced them out by filling the holes with water. but it took a long time because apparently frogs can breathe a little through their skin…

Continue reading “Frog Droppings”

Another reader of this site was kind enough to leave a tip for getting rid of fruit flies in the house.

Karen had this to say:

For those dealing with the annoyance of fruit flies in the home, because we DO like keeping a number of fresh fruits and vegetables around the house, my younger brother has stumbled upon this remedy:

Pour a little wine into a cup.
Dip the tip of your finger into bubbly dish detergent and drip a drop or two into the cup of wine and swish it around.
Change the cup of fly-wine every few days until your problem is gone.

Works like a charm!!

After a little email exchange, Karen explained the reason this seems to work:

… I know it works.  My brother and father have had problems with the fruit flies and this worked for them both.

The amount of detergent is very little [we are not talking about drops of soap, but drops of soapy liquid as when you wash your dishes and the bubbles fall off].

The reason it works is because the surface tension of the liquid is broken.  The fruitflies would typically be able to stand on wine and drink it, but the soap changes the tension and the fruit flies fall in when they expect to stand on the surface.

Thanks Karen.

If you have your own tips or tricks, feel free to leave a comment, use the contact form, or if you’re a subscriber to this site by email, just hit reply.

I’m sure everybody’s sick of maggots!

Thanks to Julie, a reader who left a comment on the above post, we have this “definitive guide to getting rid of Maggots“.

She browsed for hours and hours and wrote a summary of what she has seen to be the most common resolutions to the problem of having maggots.

And with her permission, I’ve posted what she found. There is a lot of information to digest, so hopefully it proves helpful

And, if you’ve read the comments on the post about getting rid of maggots, you’ll know it’s a common problem. So use a solution from the list below, and know that you are not alone!

Continue reading “How to get rid of Maggots”

Thanks to one of this site’s readers, we have a new homemade spray to get rid of flies.

Michelle uses it to spray on horses and on dogs to prevent the flies landing on them, and she’s allowed me to write about it.
Continue reading “Homemade Dog and Horse Fly Spray”

Here is a story from Jakki that was quite well written and made for an interesting read. Because I’ve closed the comments on my “Killing Maggots” article, feel free to leave your own story as a comment below this one…

—===—

Your webpage was quite helpful in understanding a situation where I had a kitchen invasion of maggots.

This is a summary:

Our home is built on a concrete foundation. The maggots were found coming out of a 1/3 inch gap between a ceramic tile floor and drywall behind the oven. I will leave out all the drama behind finding the source. I could not get to the nest of maggots so I had to let nature take its course.

Hot shot wasp killer with permethrin works to kill maggots, but it takes a long time to work. It is also a repellent. The drawback? Once the Hot Shot dries, it stops working as a repellent and killer. The maggots crawl right over the dried Hot Shot for Wasps. That is the only product that worked to kill.
Continue reading “Maggots”

In my quest to get rid of the frogs in my garden, I had a brainwave:

They won’t stay if they HAVE nowhere TO stay!

You may notice the frogs in the evenings, sitting under your porch light, or, if you’re unlucky like us, coming into your house. I’d have to guess the frogs are attracted to the light because that’s where all the insects are.
Continue reading “Battle with the Frogs”