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You can go to Home Depot and buy a squirt bottle of Home Defense. Spray it on the ground, on concrete, gravel, whatever surrounds the house or structure you live in. Most critters won't cross that line. The smaller plastic bottle still has a hand sprayer I think. The bigger gallon jug has a battery powered sprayer now that is powered by AA batteries. If you get the battery powered one, get spare batteries. I prefer just a hand spray small bottle. You can also spray it inside around wall basses and doors/entries. Seems like it's good for 3 months or so. If you are on catchment water, spray a ring around your electric pump. Little fire ants like to get inside the pump and their little ant bodies will block the cut it/cut out switch contacts and your pump won't work right. That's, IF there are fire ants wherever you live.
Centipedes don't want to see you any more than you want to see them. If you see one, it'll probably either be dead, or running away from you. Chickens will gobble up cockroaches like candy, should there be free rangers on the property.
Jon in Keaau/HPP
Jon in Keaau/HPP
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As Birdmove said chickens will spend their entire day looking for bugs, slugs and such. They also like coqui frogs. And you get a few eggs out of the deal. At our place centipedes seem to get in by going under the doors. You can spray the threshold with stuff that kills for weeks. I haven't seen a centipede since the LFA guy sprayed around the house. Come to think of it, I haven't seen any bug that doesn't fly.
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Terricore, do you think the LFA treatment is responsible for the decline of insects in the house or coincidence?
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Roosters LOVE to eat pedes .
Hens not so much.
Roaches are every where.
Cane spiders are our friends.
Pedes will crawl into your shoes n boots if left out doors on the ground.
Always shake your shoes n boots before putting them on .
9 times out of 10 a peed will crawl in.
They mate for life,so if you see one ,there is always another close by.
Roaches live here - they multiply like wabbits .
They are in your ride - they are in grocery bags n boxes .
You are moving into their home turf .
We see them all the time in D.H.
Perfect environment for them .We do not kill them - we shoo them along - they are in the tree's,under rocks and do like to crawl into the truck via the air con system .
If you dislike bugs - remember = you are moving into bug central .
Mrs.Mimosa
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I understand the concern. Roaches freak me out. Centipedes apparently can have painful bites -- I have cats and I certainly do not want them harmed. I don't even want geckos in the house. And I fully get the having trouble sleeping if there is a bug in the house (I hear one mosquito buzz me and I'm half awake the rest of the night). We have been here only a little over a year, so I am no expert... but, in that year we have thoroughly sprayed with Home Defense (Ortho I think) three times. We are on post and pier which seems to make a difference. I have not yet found a roach in the house, though there have been three (dying or dead) in the garage. I have never seen a centipede (I'm in lower HPP) and only two millipedes have made it into the house. We are meticulous about garbage and scrapes. Food scrapes go into a Tupperware that is kept in the fridge until it gets emptied into the compost bin (enclosed bin, no pile). Recycle is rinsed and kept outside. Weird things that might attract bugs but don't go into compost or recycle (food packaging that cannot be recycled but has 'stuff' on it) go into a small bag that is also kept in the fridge until it is full then tossed into a trash can outside several feet from the house.
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"Terricore, do you think the LFA treatment is responsible for the decline of insects in the house or coincidence?"
Too early to tell. We see flies etc but we rarely saw any crawling insects other than the LFA and occasional spiders inside the house before he showed up. I haven't seen a centipede since the LFA guy sprayed but I only saw a few a year anyway. When we sprayed around the house it was a pretty tight spray, the LFA guy sprayed several feet further away from the house than we did, used a lot more insecticide. That had to have an effect. I'm not a big fan of poison but his strategy is that bigger doses less often are more effective than smaller doses more often and once the ants are controlled we can go many several weeks between touch ups.
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We only use Tango so we can eat our fruit. I don't think it sterilizes anybody but LFA, so probably won't have any effect on other insects.
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Roaches are also known as B - 52s .
Especially the LARGE flying ones.
If you are on a slab , more likely to have peeds .
Peeds also live in the tree's so keep all foliage cut back from around the house 30 to 40 ft.
Post n pier structures far better than a slab as far as bugs go.
If you do not want LFA - do not bring home potted plants or anything in soil.
If you already have LFA - tango works best .
Get some Roosters n hens to eat many types of Bugs .
Mrs.Mimosa
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Eight year experience:
--Moving from Calif., the first time a big B52/747 flew by my head (never heard "beach beetles" term), I thought it was a hummingbird. I actually had to think, "Wait. It's nighttime."
--Home Defense is the bomb. Worked great for 1st 3 yrs (when I'd remember to use it!), but we switched to Terminix. Will Kill another company, and a new one coming up any day an ex-Terminix guy is starting (we're switching cause we love the guy). They come every 3 months. But I still use Home Defense occasionally.
--We find dead 747's oh, once every other month or so. I still spray 'em with Raid to make sure they're dead. They often are still wiggly. They are so big, you can see their faces.
--I'm in lower HPP, 3rd & Makuu. I have seen 5 big centipedes since we moved here (at night, when I'm walking the dogs around the property)*, and have found 5 dead small ones in the house. We're on post and pier. So don't think they don't come in post and pier.
--My friend was recently bitten (altho not proper word - it's more like being stabbed by their fangs) by a centipede. She was incapacitated for 2 weeks with her foot up. Most painful thing she said she has ever experienced. Far more painful than a bee or wasp sting. You can go into shock.
--When I've seen centipedes (approx 6" long), I run in the house screaming like a little girl. I grab the Raid, then go out and blast the sucker from 5 feet away. IMMEDIATELY it is writhing til dead. Trust in Raid!
--Home Defense and Terminex do not stop them when they're flying. If a 747 lands on the front of the house, I no longer scream like a little girl, but I calmly go get the Raid and let 'em have it. I like to leave their bodies around to warn their friends that this is the Death House.
--We keep our kitchen trash outside. I have a small countertop plastic container, put today's trash in there if I'm too lazy to walk more than 20 feet, and then empty it before bedtime.
--Caulk, caulk, caulk. Fill ALL entrances and cracks to outside. Here in Puna, where everything is "Puna built," you're liable to have a lot. At 8 year mark, we're still finding openings.
--I, too, don't like geckos in the house due to gecko poo. Outside, they're my buddies.
*I ONLY walk my dogs at night on a leash. The toads are too dangerous and my little doggie especially wants at 'em.
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Adding: Should you see a centipede, do NOT try to stomp on it. Both ends look an awful lot alike, and they are tough MF's! Also, one end can easily snap around to the top of your foot. Again, trust in Raid. I have a can in both bathrooms, the kitchen, and the ohana.
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