Entomologist Anyone?

[tan]

..yes.
ticks are dangerous, and so can fleas be, and yeah one shouls take steps to eliminate them from the immediate vincitiy; tick and fleas shots for pets( for what they are worth), keeping a clean house etc. but keep in mind, just nuking the garden with any old stuff what so ever, that gets rid of the problem for the time being, might harm you and your family even worse.to hear you guys , you just put on any old thing, because of the yuk! factor-admittendly rightously so not illogiclally, being faced with these little mosters... but please read up on what is inside that poison and check it out before you spray the tomatoes that will feed your family at a later date... some of the stuff legally sold is absoutely lethal to the health of your family in the futurr, so before nuking the garden, please check out what you use...( .. just remember when everybody thought that ddt was the answer to all our insect problems..and be aware a lot of the stuff available is tested just as little as ddt was. living in the third worldi i come accross a lot of bad stuff, first i thought we only got it because we were poor, but now i found out that our stuff is rather begnin compared to some of the newer and so called more sophisticated stuff,you use.. and certainly when it comes to veterinary medicine everything goes!
so by all means protect yourself and your family.. but do not make the cure more dangerous than the problem,read up on what you plan to use!!
thanks for bearing with me - this is not a new age message ok, (and no i am not a vegetarian and yeah -living where i live i do eat crickets once and a while with my beer- quite nice,by the way... the gentleman' s problem was probably : - and it happens a lot-here too; the crickets were killed with insecticide... happedned to a few friende of mine too.. and yeakh the will make you spectacularely sick...) thanks for bearing with me
tan
ps excuse my spelling, lost my peripheral vision due to freak hiking accident, it will come back eventually...

[Serenity]

Originally posted by Angie:

Originally posted by Serenity:
[qb] MADE IN FRANCE!

Mer!

If the tick business happened to me, I'd be more likely to say, "Merde!"

Ooooops! That would give a whole new meaning to Debussy's beautiful symphonic work of art. I think I'll request "La Mer" by Debussy next monday.

<small>[ 05-21-2005, 10:18 AM: Message edited by: Serenity ]</small>

[DavidS]

Analog, I have seen mosquitoes in mid-winter in Holland, in the Polder region - land reclaimed from the Zuider Zee. I was told that was quite usual in such swampy areas.

[dai bread]

Reading this thread makes me shudder.

I think I'll stay home!

[DavidS]

Are there no mosquitoes, cockroaches, scorpions, snakes or centipedes in NZ?

[Angie Parkes]

Originally posted by Serenity:
Ooooops! That would give a whole new meaning to Debussy's beautiful symphonic work of art.

Of course, if Debussy had written the piece after an oil spill...

[Angie Parkes]

Originally posted by DavidS:
Are there no mosquitoes, cockroaches, scorpions, snakes or centipedes in NZ?

No, but the hobbits have been known to make large burrows

[DavidS]

Not to mention the Erewhonians.

[Serenity]

I found a tick in my bed this morning! YUCK!

I grabbed it with tweezers and squeezed it in disgust (couldn't help myself) then shoved it into a plastic baggie to show the kids so they know what to expect....."Show & Tell" tomorrow.
Species, definitely the Dog Tick...looks just like the picture on the internet. (The only Tick I ever liked was the cartoon superhero).

Then, I washed the sheets, checked the matresses and rug under the bed, vacuumed the bedroom, took a shower (looked myself over)...it didn't really help....I feel itchy all over and experience the sensation of something crawling on me as a figment of my imagination.

[Serenity]

Who are the E-whoreians?

[DavidS]

Citizens of Erewhon, the land featuring in the satirical novel of that name by Samuel Butler attacking the ecclesiatical institutions and moral hypocrisy of Victorian England.
Erewhon, an anagram of "nowhere", is an unknown civilisation on the far side of a range of uncharted mountains in a remote colony of the British Empire, obviously modelled on New Zealand...

<small>[ 05-23-2005, 01:41 AM: Message edited by: DavidS ]</small>

[piqaboo]

We tried all the non-toxics on the fleas, and also on the ants that followed them.
Then we nuked em.
We didnt nuke our food plants. We still have far more ants, earwigs and snails than we want, but the poison phase is over.

I have no idea HOW a snail got to my potted tomato plant. There is no snail trail, it would have had to cross a moat, its too big to have hatched in the soil I used. Amazing.

Serenity, I am so sorry. I know that skin-crawling feeling. Yuck.

I lifted a 6" pot this weekend, to relocate a plant (drainage, mosquito control, etc), and ~ 40 earwigs went running in a panic. BARF!
Altoid still tries to pick up little things and taste them. I was so glad she wasnt close enough to see them!

[dai bread]

Originally posted by DavidS:
Citizens of Erewhon, the land featuring in the satirical novel of that name by Samuel Butler attacking the ecclesiatical institutions and moral hypocrisy of Victorian England.
Erewhon, an anagram of "nowhere", is an unknown civilisation on the far side of a range of uncharted mountains in a remote colony of the British Empire, obviously modelled on New Zealand...

He was living here at the time he wrote the book. I think the mosquitos carried him off. No, on second thoughts it would have been the sandflies at Milford Sound or Stewart Island or pretty well anywhere else down that end of the country.

[Serenity]

Rose Geranium oil repels ticks. The second best essential oil for repelling ticks is American Pennyroyal.

2 tablespoons of almond oil (contains sulfur, a repellent in its own right) and mix 25 drops of Rose Geranium oil. Combine in a glass jar and shake to blend. Makes 2 tablespoons, lasts 6 months. Dab a few drops on your skin or clothing and avoid the eyes. Essential oils can burn the skin and harm eyes; don't use around cats. Skip Pennyroyal if anyone is pregnant (including pets) since it can induce miscarriage.

Palmerosa also repels ticks. Eat garlic pills too. Brought to you by the Northwest Coalition for Alternatives to Pesticides (NCAP).

[OperaTenor]

Does anyone out there know of a sure-fire snail killer on par with Corry's Slug and Snail Death(I just love that name!) that's safe for babies within a couple of days of application?

Corry's works great, but from everything I can find out about it, the toxins are around for a frighteningly long time, and we really don't want Altoid gnawing on an empty, poisoned snail shell she happens across in the yard.

Thanks.

[Selma in Sandy Eggo]

Sure-fire snail and slug killer: a duck. They're also exceedingly good for reducing other insect-type garden pests. Or course then you have duck-mess to deal with. You'd also have to build a coyote proof duck-house for your snail eradication staff. But this is an effective chemical-free approach.

[DavidS]

That is my approach to feral cats: Better them than rats, mice and snakes (although they are noisier).

[treebeau]

Do snails go for the "can of beer" trick like slugs?

Regards,
Tim B.

[OperaTenor]

Beer does indeed work for snails as well as slugs. It needs to be in an open pan, as I recall.

However, both the ducks and the beer are perhaps a little risky with Altoid, granted probably not lethal.

Thanks.

[mmichaelson]

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO Altoid!!!!!!!!!! Dooooooooonnnnnnnn'tttttttttt ddddddoooooo iiiiitttttttt!!!!!!!

I hated it when the kids I sat for/were related to went through the "eat everything in sight" phase. It's a dangerous phase.