Pest Control - Crickets in the basement?

Author

Crickets in the basement?

Pat and Chris

2005-11-15, 11:21 am

Got a phone call last night from young relatives who are having trouble with
crickets in the basement and the attached garage of their new house. The
husband killed seven in the basement last night and I saw one in their
garage when I visited a few days ago. I'm not sure if they've seen any in
the main living area of the house. The wife is phobic about all insects so
she is pretty upset.

The basement is a combination of finished and unfinished, and is generally
dry, though they did have water come in there a few weeks ago during the
torrential rains here in the Northeast.

They have both a toddler and a dog, so they need to be *very* careful about
what they use and where they put it.

Any suggestions? A non-toxic solution would definitely be preferable, if one
exists.

Thanks,
Pat McC.

Lar

2005-11-15, 1:21 pm

In article <TZmef.14349$oP5.5459@fe09.lga>,
NospamforPatorChris@invalid.example says...

Got a phone call last night from young relatives who are having trouble with

crickets in the basement and the attached garage of their new house. The

husband killed seven in the basement last night and I saw one in their

garage when I visited a few days ago. I'm not sure if they've seen any in

the main living area of the house. The wife is phobic about all insects so

she is pretty upset.

The basement is a combination of finished and unfinished, and is generally

dry, though they did have water come in there a few weeks ago during the

torrential rains here in the Northeast.

They have both a toddler and a dog, so they need to be *very* careful about

what they use and where they put it.

Any suggestions? A non-toxic solution would definitely be preferable, if one

exists.

Thanks,

Pat McC.

A non toxic way would be to place glue boards along the basement walls,
but can be a mess if pets/kids get into them. Any of the liquid
insecticides used will be low toxic if used per label directions and can
be an aid. Treating with a boric acid dust will probably be the most
toxic insecticide you can use for your situation but can be helpful if
placed in a very light dusting around the corners of the basement out of
traffic areas. Placement of a roach/cricket granular bait can be helpful
under the crawl space of the home. If they were to call a pro he would
probably use an insecticide dust under the crawl area where they are
probably originating.

--
Lar

Oh, if only Noah would of been a bit more wise,
he surely would of swatted those two flies.

to email....get rid of the BUGS

Pat and Chris

2005-11-15, 2:21 pm

Thank you, Lar. To clarify: I thought boric acid was not very toxic. Is your
statement calling it "the most toxic insecticide you can use for your
situation" a typo? Or is boric acid indeed more toxic than I had thought?

Thanks again,
Pat McC.

"Lar" <larlfu@comcastBUGS.net> wrote in message
news:MPG.1de3d1fd1f4504d8989829@netnews.comcast.net...
> In article <TZmef.14349$oP5.5459@fe09.lga>,
<snip Pat's description of cricket problem>

> A non toxic way would be to place glue boards along the basement walls,
> but can be a mess if pets/kids get into them. Any of the liquid
> insecticides used will be low toxic if used per label directions and can
> be an aid. Treating with a boric acid dust will probably be the most
> toxic insecticide you can use for your situation but can be helpful if
> placed in a very light dusting around the corners of the basement out of
> traffic areas. Placement of a roach/cricket granular bait can be helpful
> under the crawl space of the home. If they were to call a pro he would
> probably use an insecticide dust under the crawl area where they are
> probably originating.
>
> --
> Lar
>
> Oh, if only Noah would of been a bit more wise,
> he surely would of swatted those two flies.
>
> to email....get rid of the BUGS

Lar

2005-11-15, 4:21 pm

In article <ztpef.76585$rE2.23266@fe10.lga>,
NospamforPatorChris@invalid.example says...

Thank you, Lar. To clarify: I thought boric acid was not very toxic. Is your

statement calling it "the most toxic insecticide you can use for your

situation" a typo? Or is boric acid indeed more toxic than I had thought?

Though it is considered a low toxic product, it also is probably more
toxic than you thought. You will find it all over the web about it being
a safe alternative to the man made chemicals sold at the local nursery
stores /hardware stores but the problem is they are comparing apples to
oranges. For example, the molecule of the active ingredient in what I
use in my pest service is probably 10-12 times more toxic than the boric
acid molecule, thus BA is less toxic than that man made chemical. The
difference is, boric acid is used at near 100% as an insecticide dust
and what I use, as well as any of the other products you might buy from
Home Depot will only contain a fraction of a percent of the active
ingredient. It would take 85-90 tablespoons of the finished product
(the insecticide) to get the amount of my active ingredient to equal the
amount of one tablespoon of boric acid. Roughly the amount of
insecticide that I would use to treat almost two homes contains the
toxicity (of the active ingredient) that equals one tablespoon of BA.
--
Lar

Oh, if only Noah would of been a bit more wise,
he surely would of swatted those two flies.

to email....get rid of the BUGS

Pat and Chris

2005-11-15, 6:21 pm

Ah, I see now. Thank you for the clarification about boric acid--of course,
I had never thought about the dilution factor!

I really appreciate your suggestions, Lar, and will pass them on to this
family.

Thanks again,
Pat McC.

"Lar" <larlfu@comcastBUGS.net> wrote in message
news:MPG.1de3f4be731a94e498982a@netnews.comcast.net...
> In article <ztpef.76585$rE2.23266@fe10.lga>,
> NospamforPatorChris@invalid.example says...
>

Thank you, Lar. To clarify: I thought boric acid was not very toxic.
> Is your
>

statement calling it "the most toxic insecticide you can use for your
>

situation" a typo? Or is boric acid indeed more toxic than I had
> thought?
>

> Though it is considered a low toxic product, it also is probably more
> toxic than you thought. You will find it all over the web about it being
> a safe alternative to the man made chemicals sold at the local nursery
> stores /hardware stores but the problem is they are comparing apples to
> oranges. For example, the molecule of the active ingredient in what I
> use in my pest service is probably 10-12 times more toxic than the boric
> acid molecule, thus BA is less toxic than that man made chemical. The
> difference is, boric acid is used at near 100% as an insecticide dust
> and what I use, as well as any of the other products you might buy from
> Home Depot will only contain a fraction of a percent of the active
> ingredient. It would take 85-90 tablespoons of the finished product
> (the insecticide) to get the amount of my active ingredient to equal the
> amount of one tablespoon of boric acid. Roughly the amount of
> insecticide that I would use to treat almost two homes contains the
> toxicity (of the active ingredient) that equals one tablespoon of BA.
> --
> Lar
>
> Oh, if only Noah would of been a bit more wise,
> he surely would of swatted those two flies.
>
> to email....get rid of the BUGS

bugs@bugs.com

2005-11-16, 1:21 am

On 15-Nov-2005, "Pat and Chris" <NospamforPatorChris@invalid.example> wrote:

> Got a phone call last night from young relatives who are having trouble
> with
> crickets in the basement and the attached garage of their new house. The
> husband killed seven in the basement last night and I saw one in their
> garage when I visited a few days ago. I'm not sure if they've seen any in
> the main living area of the house. The wife is phobic about all insects so
>
> she is pretty upset.
>
> The basement is a combination of finished and unfinished, and is generally
>
> dry, though they did have water come in there a few weeks ago during the
> torrential rains here in the Northeast.
>
> They have both a toddler and a dog, so they need to be *very* careful
> about
> what they use and where they put it.
>
> Any suggestions? A non-toxic solution would definitely be preferable, if
> one
> exists.
>
> Thanks,
> Pat McC.

Hello Pat, there is also another method that can be used but it should be
used only if there are no open flames in the basement and if they can take
the baby away for a couple of hours. That is to use a few of those foggers
you can buy over the counter for fleas and cockroaches and set them off in
the basement. The pyrethrin in them will kill the crickets quickly. I do
fogging for crickets all the time but again you need to make sure there are
no open flames and that the baby can leave for a little while. The baby
leaving may not be needed but I always err on the side of caution and
suggest it.

You can do it this way or take Lar's advice either one both will work mine
will be much quicker but both will be very effective.

I hope this helps somewhat.

--
I wish you all the best
Tim Wise

www.onepest.com
www.askourpros.com

Pat and Chris

2005-11-16, 3:21 pm

Thank you for the suggestion, Tim--I'll pass it on. I don't know what kind
of heating system they have, so not sure if this would be an option--though
it does sound like it would work quickly.

Thanks again,
Pat McC.

<bugs@bugs.com> wrote in message
news:Oo6dnXdstPVJIufenZ2dnUVZ_tadnZ2d@adelphia.com...
>
> On 15-Nov-2005, "Pat and Chris" <NospamforPatorChris@invalid.example>
> wrote:
<snip Pat's post about crickets in basement>

> Hello Pat, there is also another method that can be used but it should be
> used only if there are no open flames in the basement and if they can take
> the baby away for a couple of hours. That is to use a few of those foggers
> you can buy over the counter for fleas and cockroaches and set them off in
> the basement. The pyrethrin in them will kill the crickets quickly. I do
> fogging for crickets all the time but again you need to make sure there
> are
> no open flames and that the baby can leave for a little while. The baby
> leaving may not be needed but I always err on the side of caution and
> suggest it.
>
> You can do it this way or take Lar's advice either one both will work mine
> will be much quicker but both will be very effective.
>
> I hope this helps somewhat.
>
> --
> I wish you all the best
> Tim Wise
>
> www.onepest.com
> www.askourpros.com

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