Vanity Fair is great for....

Smashing roaches crawling quickly across the floor. No better use for a few pounds of Versace ads.

FUCK. Roaches. the exterminator was just here. never saw one as big as this one before.


Good thing I didn't have the September issue handy, I would'a put a hole through the floor.

damn i hear you

my place usually doesn't get roaches but every once in a while a freakin gigantic godzilla sized one will just scurry across my living room floor.


i also get house centipedes those things are creepy.

when i first moved into my place about 3 years ago i cleaned out the kitchen and threw away literally handfuls of roach carcasses.

my super told me the person that lived in the place before was a filthy old women who in the 10 odd years she lived there never cleaned the place once. when i finally get around to renovating my kitchen i dont even want to think about what im going to find behind my cabinets. :oops:

Cletus the Slack-Jawed Yokel wrote: Nothin' cracks a turtle like Leon Uris.

jgregorie wrote: when i finally get around to renovating my kitchen i dont even want to think about what im going to find behind my cabinets. :oops:

oh, I hear you. I have this false formica wall against the regular wall. there is, of course, a half inch of space between false-wall and real-wall. I replaced my fridge and stove recently - and swept out about a grocery bag of assorted garbage, carcasses and rodent poo from behind those spaces. I don't want to know what's lurking behind false-wall. I'm hoping I hit the lottery and can have someone just show up and deal with it.

Found this in my back yard. It was not the biggest one, mind you.

whooo weeee

thats a juicy sucker...

i want to put a sadle on that bad boy and ride it.

Subject: Exterminator

When I purchased my place a few years ago I had a terrible water bug (aka giant cockroach) problem. It was especially awful because I did a complete gut renovation before moving on...They were on my newly sanded floors, on the marble tiles in the bathroom...and then I called Ben.
He's the world's greatest exterminator, and unlike many of the charlatan's, he considers roach extermination a fine art...I use him monthly, instead of my building's extermintor, and I hardly ever see roaches---dead or alive. Knock on wood, but I haven't seen a live roach in more than three months.

Subject: Re: Exterminator

RBG wrote: When I purchased my place a few years ago I had a terrible water bug (aka giant cockroach) problem. It was especially awful because I did a complete gut renovation before moving on...They were on my newly sanded floors, on the marble tiles in the bathroom...and then I called Ben.
He's the world's greatest exterminator, and unlike many of the charlatan's, he considers roach extermination a fine art...I use him monthly, instead of my building's extermintor, and I hardly ever see roaches---dead or alive. Knock on wood, but I haven't seen a live roach in more than three months.

RBG would you mind posting or PM'ing me his info. We are getting a lot of centipedes lately and while my cats enjoy them I for one want them gone

Caahyoko,

That is a wild, nature adventure you've got there! Wow, and that's medium sized? I've got a back yard too and have never seen an insect that big. Rats? Yes, but not a bug! That is some Indy Jones shit!

ewwwwwww
I had a dog that liked to eat those! EWWWWW! I wish slugs were just an intermediate stage, like caterpillers...

[quote=caaahyoko]Found this in my back yard. It was not the biggest one, mind you.

Get the salt, quick!!!!!!!

Carnivore wrote: Get the salt, quick!!!!!!!

when we were teenagers, by oregon cousin said he would ride the bus around town, periodically turning to a seatmate to say, "you know, banana slugs don't taste like banana. at ALL."

I have tons of these in my yard. I was okay with leaving them alone until I discovered they were eating my veggies. I declared war on them and would leave out bowls of cheap beer (graciously supplied by friends who came over to watch baseball and boxing). The slugs and snails are attracted to the smell, crawl onto the lip of the bowl, drink until intoxicated and then fall in and drown.

It kept the population down to a managable number and allowed my veggies to flourish.

I thought Vanity Fair is also good for dealing with other kinds of roaches:

http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2006/12/neocons200612

homeowner wrote: I have tons of these in my yard. I was okay with leaving them alone until I discovered they were eating my veggies. I declared war on them and would leave out bowls of cheap beer (graciously supplied by friends who came over to watch baseball and boxing). The slugs and snails are attracted to the smell, crawl onto the lip of the bowl, drink until intoxicated and then fall in and drown.

It kept the population down to a managable number and allowed my veggies to flourish.

That's so funny, isn't it? Slugs are such lushes.

Yeah, that was the king for a while. Then I left my collapsible yard waste bin out on the lawn for a couple days. I picked it up, and Egads! There was one about 50% bigger. I'm sure I'll have to put out some beer traps in the spring.

I kinda like the little fellas, though. It feels cool when they crawl on my hands.

Yeah, I'm in touch with nature.

here's one of mine

yeah
i've have those mixed feelings too, but once i start planting in earnest,
i have no doubt about what's going to happen to them

i did however dig up some earth worms that are weighing in a close second to those slugs, very different from the little guys i've had in my compost box for years. i was tempted to add them to the box, but thought better of it,
why mess with what might be a very delicate balance in there...

My slug population is kept somewhat in check by birds. Finches, starlings and crows love them.

i'd rather slugs than roaches.

slow moving! not in the house! the blessings you all have

We are getting a lot of centipedes lately and while my cats enjoy them I for one want them gone

You don't want to kill them. If they are house centepides, they prey on roaches. The key is to stop them from coming by in the first place.

From a google search: House centipedes feed on silverfish, firebrats, carpet beetle larvae, cockroaches, spiders and other small arthropods. If house centipedes are seen frequently, this indicates that some prey arthropod is in abundance, and may signify a greater problem then the presence of the centipedes.

http://www.ento.psu.edu/extension/factsheets/centipedeHouse.htm

doublediamond wrote:

We are getting a lot of centipedes lately and while my cats enjoy them I for one want them gone

You don't want to kill them. If they are house centepides, they prey on roaches. The key is to stop them from coming by in the first place.

From a google search: House centipedes feed on silverfish, firebrats, carpet beetle larvae, cockroaches, spiders and other small arthropods. If house centipedes are seen frequently, this indicates that some prey arthropod is in abundance, and may signify a greater problem then the presence of the centipedes.

http://www.ento.psu.edu/extension/factsheets/centipedeHouse.htm

wow thanks for that info. Luckily we have just finished a gut reno so most of the entry points are pretty well plugged and we exterminated as we went along. Unfortunately my first floor is more like a subbasement (all I have is grade A Brooklyn dirt and the main lines feeding my gas and water) which means we have to keep a few access doors in my floors. I have a feeling that is where they are coming from. Still they are just . . . ewwwww and if I could cut down on them I would be happy.


OMG DoubleD I just saw your new avatar - I am addicted to that show!!

stacey wrote:

wow thanks for that info. Luckily we have just finished a gut reno so most of the entry points are pretty well plugged and we exterminated as we went along. Unfortunately my first floor is more like a subbasement (all I have is grade A Brooklyn dirt and the main lines feeding my gas and water) which means we have to keep a few access doors in my floors. I have a feeling that is where they are coming from. Still they are just . . . ewwwww and if I could cut down on them I would be happy.

Yeah, they are probably coming from there. They like water. They are really creepy, but they help out. They are paying room and board. Seriously, they will make themselves scarce once their food supply is gone.

OMG DoubleD I just saw your new avatar - I am addicted to that show!!

I LOVE Heroes! Watching it now.