How does everyone keep critters out of their shops???

I just wish my teenage age critter would put the tools back..

 

I ;ile my cat. So I'm keeping the cat door. Actually there was one racoon that was pretty nice. Would come in and sit and watch me work. I almost tried petting it. But one day my cat and the 'coon got to groweling and spitting at each other so the coon had to go. Felt bad about that. hope she is doing well in the woods. In fact this cat wandered in 12 years ago when that was the old cats door.

 

I know this will sound strange. OIL OF PEPERMINT comes in small vials put some on small cotten balls spread them around the garage 8 or 10 of them. No more bugs or mice for a couple of months. When they start to reappear do it again. It works in my basement and quantset hut.

 

call Billy the Exterminater!

 

Almost every time that I open the shop door for the first time on any given day there's a parade of spiders and insects charging in. The spiders lay up in the void of the steel door bottom, so as soon as the door opens they scurry in.

The spiders aren't as nasty as the other bugs that lay eggs and leave those brown
bug-like cocoons everywhere along the walls and near the overhead doors. NASTY!

The bugs don't get in the cars, but the spiders do. The centipedes and millipedes are also a pain in the ass.

 

Well,my issue is with yellowjackets;I effin' hate 'em!! The local hardware store loves me when i come in around March to purchase the extermination equipment-spray bombs galore. Cheap-ass carb cleaner works very well;except I think those that I've sprayed and have survived(as in 'flown away') have had offspring that are developing an immunity to Gumout. Not good... Been taking longer-more shots- to kill those @#$%&*s.

I(thank God) have not had a coon or possum get into the garage. I've learned from the mistakes of others as far as leaving a window ajar. There's a couple of cats that roam around,but I still see plenty of mice. My own cats stay indoors-way too dangerous for them where I'm at.

Unless they're in my way,I leave the spiders as well-great exterminators. A lot of bats have died around Michigan lately from some kind of mite;haven't seen many of them around.

 

I just leave the dinner left overs in the shop... wife's cooking is killing me!! Little critters O.D. quickly!

 

But it leaves too many holes.

I had an ant problem in my bathroom this year. I kept seeing a few everyday. Well my neighbors bug guy came over with some "honey" thats what he called it. The next day I had a hundred dead ants the number decrease over the next 3 days and no more. He put some stuff up for the spider and long legs down stairs. He even suggested using the shop vac.

 

Black widows and Mohave greens (rattlesnakes) around here. I kill about 5 widows a day on average.

 

i got lucky my house has small perforated tubes that run through the inside of all the exterior walls and run to a port on the out side where pesticide is injected in,i cant believe how good it works..no bugs!

 

Hand spray around the inside and outside perimeter every week or two. Remember those egg sacs you've been seein'? Well, those little beggars hatch and then you've got yourself a whole 'nother generation of trouble. Bomb every week or two and attrition will eventually wipe 'em out. Or... you could move from the south like I did... We just have scorpions here...

 

It's the freakin' mice I can't stand...I had problems with them getting into my 53..until I found "the original Fresh Cab"..They sell it up here in farm supply stores, I put one under driver's seat and one in the trunk..They haven't been back..

 

lol....

 

This is what you need to take care of ants and bugs

 

I have 6 of these around my shop that makes sure mice don't give me a hard time.

 

You got to go further out away from the shop. seven dust works ok. Your best bet would be to find a farmer,or if you have a friend who's friends with a farmer,they can get you some really good stuff that'll kill everything. Main thing really though,is if you're goin to put out chemicals,make the most effective use there is. I figuire your shop isn't too far from a patch of woods,or a cow pasture,You know,a breading ground for all your little pals.so by making a much larger perimeter,the bug problem should lesson drastically.Also,keep your grass pretty short.most creepy crawleys don't like full sun.

 

Thankfully we in the UK don't get any real nasty critters here, I did find some mice in my garage this spring after a real cold winter.
I closed up the garage with my truck running on full choke for 20 minutes,sorted them right out.

Spiders I don't mind,none of our native species bite and they keep the other bugs in check!
Although I have heard that Black Widows are starting to appear down south.

 

When I was living in N.S.W. Australia during the '60's, we had some little black lizzards with silver bottoms that would sun them selves on the big rocks during the hot summer months.. I always though they were cool so I left them alone. We also had the very deadly "Funnel Web" spiders that littered the whole back yard. Back then I didn't think nothng of it 'cause I was always walking around barefoot in the back yard. YIKES!!

 

I sprayed Ortho Home Defense every two weeks when I first moved to my shop (I live in the office part of my warehouse). I have a serious fear of spiders. I didn't know if it worked or not because there was so many bugs and spiders. They were in the shop, but not so much in the office except now & then. I bought a couple of those plug in the wall bug repeller things, the bugs/spiders seemed to literally run away. I don't know if it was from the Ortho overkill, or the wall socket things, or a combination of both...but there havent been any bugs and I haven't sprayed Ortho in over a year. Summer time is rolling around, and I've seen maybe 3-4 weird bugs, and a couple baby spiders in the shop, so I'm gonna give the place another Ortho treatment.

I also hate snakes...and once found a snakeskin behind a temporary wall in the shop. I freaked out. So I read up about snakes and tried the lime powder with cayenne pepper trick. Put it around the outside of the building and just inside the walls. Never seen another snake or snakeskin around here.

I've only encountered one mouse...but he was coming through a crack in the wall corner. I fixed that the next day with some spackle and haven't seen any others, nor their droppings since.

And bats...don't even get me started on bats.

 

Get a rattlecan of red paint. it won't kill the Black Widows, but it will make them easier to avoid...

 

I have a tarp-covered dirt floor old timber barn, the kind that "glows in the dark", but it is fairly pleasant. I recommend:

1. A big black cat called "Bernard" (because he is like a French furniture mover). He even has a heavy foot noise when he walks. He eats everything- mice, rats, bunnies, snakes... just loves to crunch bones, and I get to clean up the entrails!

2. Bats. Lots of them in my attic, but they eat a huge amount of bugs, so we are my good friends.

3. For bees and yellow jackets, get the bags of poisoned fat that hangs in bags from the ceiling. It looks absolutely gross because it is full of dead insects, but isn't that the point?

4. Its an old barn, so spiders are part of the territory, but a shop vac and a leaf blower come in very handy before I venture into parts unseen.

 

Snakes don't bother me that much, but spiders send a chill up my spine. My old boss got a nasty bite from a deadly Brown Recluce (spell check) spider on the back of his leg. This was in '98 and his leg still ain't heeled right. He was layed up in the hospital for almost 6 weeks. The docs almost cut his leg off from the bite.

 

D con baby.
I have my garage doors, sealed very tight when closed, works, but yesterday, I had the doors open for about two hours, went to put something in the shop last night, and saw a mouse, so I opened a 'fresh' d con, found an empty box tonight, just know that mouse bled out last night, yes....

 

This sounds like good advice. Thanks.
What about my dog, will she be affected by the stuff that kills everything?

 

Here is one of my critters inspecting a louvered panel I had made for my visor.

 

Demon WP is the best stuff out there. It was developed for Gulf Coast areas and around Marinas. Leaves a white residue and works really well.

You can order it over the Internet. It is small bags that disolve in your sprayer.

 

I use sticky traps that I put along the walls just inside the door openings. Seems to trap the little critters.

 

Gasser300, watch out for coon shit. Some (most?) carry a bug in their crap, that if ingested (?) will eat the back of your eyes then move onto your brain. A child here in Toronto was crawling around on the porch of the house, apparently got some of the residue on his hands that was left over after cleaning up the coon shit, stuck his fingers in his mouth and now he is blind. Doesn't happen often but it does happen.

 

man I use cats, kittens and anything else that'll work ... spiders and toads are the biggest problem then theres the mud dobbers and those damn snakes ! picture this ..I'm under the 'ol 46 rat rod truck checking out the rear brake bleeding deal, and nuts bolts etc, making sure everything is ready to go look over here pops A SNAKE'S head out of a hole in the side of the frame...bout made me hurt myself, and I guess he's still there ? gotta finish the exhaust hope he's gone , heard about some kind of apple to put in the corners for the snakes but I don't have a clue .

 

well theres your tail for the radio ant.