Apartment Therapy: insects & pests

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Posts tagged “insects & pests”

How To: Build A DIY Humane Mouse Trap

It appears that my recent house guest was an elderly member of a rodent community underneath our building. Our friend and neighbor found another rodent brought in by her cat in her adjoining unit, and...

The Unexpected House Guest: A Mouse in the House

Normally, most folks try their best to rid themselves of rodents from their home. But yesterday I ended up inviting a diminutive friend into our place as an unexpected house guest, rescuing an ailing ...

Trader Joe’s Lavender Dryer Bags

We’ve been meaning to blog these for a while but we wanted to try them out for ourselves first and see if they worked and our Trader Joe’s (apparently the most popular TJ’s in LA) has been out o...

Tarmoset's Leather and Birch Fly Swatter

Only one thing can ruin a glorious sunny day outside in the garden: flies. Even by the beach, the breeze can't blow them all inland. So we present to you what is probably our favorite fly swatter. ...

Gnat Gonna Live With It: Getting Rid of Indoor Gnats

Ugghh, in the last few weeks, we've had a steady and noticeable increase of small flying annoyances that coincided with our trips to the farmer's market and also the warmer weather. That means small g...

LA Good Questions: How To Get Rid of Snails?

ATTACK OF THE KILLER SNAILS! The weather has been great these past few days in sunny So Cal, so this morning we thought we'd have some coffee on our patio- only to discover the horror......

How To: Make a 2 Liter Soda Bottle Wasp Trap

Uh oh, looks like a small nest of wasps have taken roost near our place. The warmer weather and reappearance of sweet snacks attract wasps and we've been the victim of their painful harassment before....

Mites Out Spray

My girlfriend's bout with allergies has sparked an interest in dust mite management. I wash bedding regularly, UV treat the mattress, and I'm trying to keep dust under control with regular cleaning an...

The Bug Vacuum

I have to admit, I was once a bug stomping killer who rarely took pity on intruding arachnids or insects. But now, a cup and a magazine subscription card is the kinder option for ridding of creepy c...

Goo Gone: Ant Repellant

I've discovered a curious thing about Goo Gone Spray Gel recently while trying to remove some adhesive residue on the kitchen floor: Argentinean ants avoid any area or surface sprayed with it. Citrus ...

They're back...

Monday's mass insect infestation has subsided, but this morning I found myself eye to antennae with a baby roach while taking a bath. It was skittering around, probably looking for water, proving the ...

Home Invasion!

Mondays are bad enough as it is. But coming home last night to a house infested with ants and one fat cockroach (this looked like a NYC sized roach) scampering inside the trash made for a most unwel...

Rat Hunt: Day 3

Score! While our Hav-a-heart trap continued to fail us and no visitors were registered inside the house last night, Eric from Pro Pest came today and removed one juvenile rat from under the house. ...

Rat Hunt: Day 2

No dice. We baited up our trap again (with apples, peanut butter and cheese), and went to sleep hopeful (left pic from last night). We caught nothing! These guys are smart. So, we called in a pest...

Rat Hunt: Day 1

In NYC we have mice in apartments and rats in the subway. Out here in LA, they've got rats in their homes (sometimes). Since our arrival on Saturday, the kitchen has been visited nightly by a visitor...

Humane Mouse Trap

If you need to catch a mouse and ummmm, you want to do it humanely, I suppose this Humane Mouse Trap is for you. *Giggling* we couldnt help but notice the uhhh, well...the adultness of it's shape as ...

Wiffle Ball Sachets

Heres a tip that will not only keep your closet free of pesky moths, mosquitoes, and flies with nary a sniff of toxic moth balls, but will also leave your small space smelling pleasantly fragrant: ...