Curious if one of you guys have a "scorched earth" type bug killer that either I don't know about from the store or that I can mix.
The better half was just out front watering her plants and found a bunch of Black Widow spiders. She hit them with the Ortho stuff we have from Lowe's, just curious if there is something stronger.
Brake cleaner? :)
bifen i/t
Black widows are very common here. If I encounter them outside, I will generally leave them alone. They will very often set up shop in the garage however. When I find one, I drag it out onto the concrete floor and stomp it. It's the only way to be sure!
To be fair, I have gotten a few with a large screwdriver, because they aren't always easy to uncover and get in the open.
I have ordered from these guys a few times. They have good "how to's" as well.
Taurus sc, it’s strong stuff. I believe it’s advertised for termites and ants. I’ve used it successfully to kill and prevent spiders in the eves of my house.
1988RedT2 said:Black widows are very common here. If I encounter them outside, I will generally leave them alone. They will very often set up shop in the garage however. When I find one, I drag it out onto the concrete floor and stomp it. It's the only way to be sure!
To be fair, I have gotten a few with a large screwdriver, because they aren't always easy to uncover and get in the open.
In 5 years of being in this house, it's the first time we saw them. I'm guessing it's because the Orb spider hasn't been back this year on my office window.
Black widows enjoy clutter. Outside, that means corners and crevices and the leaves that tend to collect there. Inside, they like dark corners. I've never found one more than a few inches above the ground/slab. I could probably go out to the garage right now with a flashlight and find one or two just inside the overhead doors, down in the crevice between the framing and the bottom of the door track.
The good thing about black widows is that they are very shy and will try to avoid you. The risk is in reaching into something and touching them. One thing to note about black widow webs--they are among the very strongest of spider silk, and you can generally tell if you're dealing with a black widow on the strength of the webbing alone. Their webs are just a messy hodgepodge of super strong lines, and they tend to collect leaves and other debris.
I did find one inside of a rolled-up 25-foot black rubber garden hose, which was hung five feet above the floor in the garage. Only one I've ever found that wasn't at ground level. I looked into the end of the hose and all I see is this red hourglass. Freaked me out a little.
MrJoshua said:I have ordered from these guys a few times. They have good "how to's" as well.
This, and the Taurus SC also suggested that I bought here. Our sugar ant problem is gone with once yearly treatments rather than always having to have an ant bait out.
My dad bought a brown bottle Ortho concentrate killer product in the late 1960's when we lived in St. Louis. Later he told me it was banned but he kept it until the early 2000's.
When I had ant problems he'd show up with 3-4 ounces in an unmarked mason jar. Put it my pump sprayer with water and spray the perimeter of the house.
Always wonder what it was.....
Im a big fan of the Bifen XTS. Its the only thing i have found that works as advertised. I avoid any/all of the deltamethrin products. I NEVER found them to work up to their hype.
Thanks for the info gents!
We are a bit more sensitive to this kind of thing. My better half has an auto-immune disease that wasn't diagnosed until she was an adult.
She ended up in the hospital for 3 weeks when she was younger after a bite from a Brown Recluse spider. And as I've gotten older I have developed severe allergies to animals (like urgent care and the ER a few times until we figured it out).
I'll second (third?) DIY Pest Control. I bought a gallon of Bifen I/T and a 16oz bottle of Tekko Pro IGR from them. I mix it in a 2 gallon garden sprayer and douse every window, door or exterior opening. Its reduced the number of cockroaches or other bugs (including spiders) by at least 98%.
DIY Pest Control was also very knowledgeable and answered all of my dumb noob questions.
Ive never dealt with them outside. Inside I just got some fumigation bombs and nuked the place.
When I lived up in the DC area through some connection of one of my roommates, we had a non-operational '92 Supra Turbo sitting in one of the garage bays forever. I rolled out from under one of my cars on a creeper, looked to my left and there was a black widow right by my face. I looked up under the wheelwell of the Supra and it was filled with them/webs/eggs. Like a black widow mecca.
In reply to ProDarwin :
Turns out that humans aren't the only species with a thing for turbo Supras!
What works remarkable well for killing off pesky bugs is a small squirt of Dawn mixed with water in a spray bottle.
The detergent cleans off the layer that makes various creepy-crawlies water resistant. And they drown.
On arachnids YMMV, this works on stinging insects. Use at your own risk.
Bayer DeltaDust. It basically kills anything that crawls.
I had an ant problem that was driving me nuts. After trying every method under the sun, that stuff did the job. Apparently it is a true "scorched earth" product with a whole crap-load of warnings. Applied using a funky squeezer gadget. It's kinda surprising you can get it from Amazon.
I'm disappointed none of you said shotgun.
Kills every bug I put it on.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008GUI0XU/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1
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