Hi, friends!
Anything you’ve been percolating on lately?
My bathroom has a skylight with a high ceiling and I am vertically challenged. There was a silverfish crawling around higher than I could reach, even with a flyswatter. So it got away.
And then last night it peaked out again. It was on the ceiling over the tub and I could reach with a flyswatter if I had one. Which I didn’t. So I thought I could freeze it with some hairspray.
I grabbed my Redken 28 Control Addict and hit it with the aerosol. And it promptly fell into the tub and died.
A few months back I hit a grass spider with that same hairspray while I ran for a flipflop. It also died before I got back.
At this point, I’m like great this kills insects on contact and I spray it near my face, inhaling it somewhat (although not intentionally). This is fine.
i should probably percolate on things more….i kinda do whilst the idea is forming
electric tennis racket of doom and the shower are not a great mix btw….just so you know
on the upside…those rackets are cheap as dirt….so at least i didnt break the bank by being an idiot…this time
didnt hurt myself or cause an explosion either…
really…this was practically a win 😀
My mom loves her bug racket electrocuter.
I tried it and managed to zap myself just using it outside. I try to know my limits, hence why I haven’t gotten one.
In my opinion, the best thing for bugs is a vacuum cleaner. Less squishing, and if you miss you may as well vacuum up other crud so it’s not a total loss.
You know, even with the extension on the vacuum cleaner hose, I don’t think I’d be able to reach the damn silverfish in the skylight without a ladder.
get another extension tube, or tape it to a spare broom handle?
Granted, at some point, weight might be an issue…
We have a vacuum zapper with a pretty far reach, which is a neat toy for the real creepy crawlies you don’t want to get near. It was gifted to my husband because he’s terrified of spiders, and now he doesn’t automatically need to call me in every time he sees one.
Any chance you can drop a link to that bad boy?
I’ve searched Amazon and everything has like a 12 inch reach which won’t work for my stumpy arms.
I looked it up and it’s pricier than I expected! Still, we get excellent use out of it.
https://www.hammacher.com/product/best-bug-vacuum
If I had that, I’d have a blast killing the stinkbugs in my garden, too.
Another advocate of the vacuum cleaner as an arthropod killer/cleaner here.
I’ve used mine for black widows, hornets/yellow jackets, basic spiders, stink bugs, crane flys, and a few other random insects.
Have you ever tried the drowning trick? One year at one of the beach houses the town was going through an ant infestation. Only that year, and no one exactly knew why. Since fumigators were in high demand we were told that it would be “about” three days before our house could be seen to.
“Worry not, mes amis, I know a trick!” I said. Fill a shallow soup bowl with wine or orange juice and leave it out overnight. The little buggers can’t get enough. In the morning your other stuff will be left unmolested and you’ll find many casualties in the soup bowl. This is completely gross but this is war and it’s them vs. us.
I used wine because I thought that would be a more pleasurable way for them to die but another housemate went online and was advised that orange juice was even more attractive to them.
Good to know! I was just going to call the pest control company that treats the outside of my house quarterly.
We do that with slugs and beer.
Well at least you didn’t light the hairspray on fire and use it as a flamethrower. You’re a regular model citizen.
Years ago when I worked in the makeup store, I had coworkers who did that when there was a big spider in the back room. Of course, it was a cement floor and they could move stuff away.
I did not wish to light my bathroom on fire. I only have 1 bathroom in my house.
The regular/non-burning hair spray might even be more effective – I think the film it leaves behind seals up their spiracles so that they cannot breath. Might be wrong on that, though…
No, you’re right. Bugs breathe through holes in their skin, which as you note are called spiracles. Hair spray blocks them. It can be relatively slow to kill them though.
Hair spray also gums up their joints (and wings if they have them) making them stiff and unable to move. A lot of times when they fall to the ground it’s because the hairspray “froze” them. It can blind them as well. And the chemicals are probably toxic. It’s probably kinder to administer a coup de grace with a shoe or something after they’re down.
yep, they get squished in a clump of toilet paper and then burial at sea