How to deal with "pest"/insects in your home?

[*Om*]

We've only really had sugar ants and moths that come in when the door is open. Spiders are left alone (although sometimes my cats catch them and eat them) Moths are caught by my oldest child who is some kind of bug whisperer and can catch any flying insect and put outside. The sugar ants? I just blocked off their opening when they were all in their house after dark and that got rid of them.

Recently we had a flea infestation when one of the cats got outside and picked up fleas. I felt bad but the only way to get rid of fleas is to kill them. They had to go because they were endangering my cats and my children.

[oldbob]

Lots of good comments.

Here is my 2 cents about the little critters, and taking responsibility for my actions.

viewtopic.php?f=42&t=9586#p120581

That said, you need a system to make it work.

I leave small plastic containers, with tight fitting covers, in various places. Then when I see a little critter, I very carefully get it into the container and take it outside, and let it go with a mani.
For mice I use plastic have a heart traps, and let them out, with a mani, in the woods.
When I lived in NYC, for cock roaches, I would set out a tray of sugar water when I went to sleep, set my alarm to 3 am, and then vacuum them and take them outside to the garbage bin with a prayer that they make it to garbage heaven.

I think it helps to have some soft stuff in the garbage bag of the vacuum cleaner and just run the vacuum intermittently. Now I have a hand held, battery operated, vacuum that I can pulse with a trigger.

For ants you need to break the scent of the trail that they follow - so I clean with fantastic or a cleaner that has ammonia in it. If you can use organic cleaners, I am sure that is better for you and the critters.

For wasp nests - it works to hit it with a gentle stream of water from a hose. They get the idea and leave eventually. Don't stay around to watch them fly out. Spray and run away.

For little spiders - I mostly leave them alone, until the webs get too much like a haunted house movie and then I collect them all at once into the vacuum and then immediately put them into the outside garbage bin.

For mosquitoes, I try to blow at them, or flick them off, If I am mindful, and wish them a better rebirth if I am not.

I guess the key point is to do my best not to cause harm to any critter - big or small, and then to say Vajrasattva, for purification, and Shi Tro for better rebirth, for unavoidable accidents.

There is also a teaching called shen powa, which allows me to feel that I have transferred the soul (nexus of karmic propensities) of a dead critter to a pure land. So I do that too.

Far better not to kill or cause any harm.

Hope this helps,

ob

[Kunzang]

We've had a lot of cicadas this summer, and late this summer a few cicada-killer wasps found a home in my herb garden next to my back patio.

They're terrifying looking and will menacingly fly at you when you're near their underground nest.

But I researched them and found the males can't sting and the females will only do so if you disturb their nest and even then it's not a powerful sting, it's supposedly like a honey bee or less painful. So we're leaving them alone. I'm going to be planting out chives and thyme this fall and I'll probably just add a big layer of soil to plant them in instead of digging holes. I don't want to provoke their fury.

[muni]

Many solutions. I'll print them and share them!

I use a plastic transparant pot. Then put the pot over the little guest and then slowly glide a piece of flat thiny carton between the pot and the wall or floor or furniture till it is inside. With flying ones, I need patience till they land...
Then it can go out and see where it gets a new home.

[Sara H]

I use a cup and a piece of paper. *grins*

And have used a "Buddhist flyswatter" (I. E. a butterfly net).

lol

Little buggers are always fly-pooing on my monitor.

I think they like it 'cause it's warm. *grins*

In Gassho,

Sara

[underthetree]

Just combed several hundred lice out of my daughter's hair (lice have become endemic in our school system - global warming? Over-zealous hair-washing? No-one really seems to know). Separated from their human host, they have died. Inevitable and indeed intentional from my perspective but each one a little, individual tragedy nonetheless.

[Kaji]

Speaking from personal experience, it is essential to keep your house clean (if you aren't already doing this already). Occasionally I still see a crowd of ants gathering food scraps, spilt fluids, etc. - with them I use the handheld vacuum cleaner and release them back into my front yard. Other crawling insects I pick up with paper and similarly release outside. Flies are tricky to deal with - I still haven't come across a butterfly net in my area that I can buy yet. However, I haven't been seeing a lot of them anyway. Why? Perhaps it was because I've asked all insects and other bugs to leave my house and not come back, and in particular do not bother my other family members (who are not as merciful).

Whenever I see an animal (including insects, spiders, etc.) I try to, quietly in my mind, recite the name of the Ratna-Shikine Buddha or his Life-Protecting Mantra for them. Where time permits I would also let them take refuge in Ratna-Traya (three jewels). I do this for dead animals too (except meat that I have to eat, for which I use other mantra and Buddha's names).

We have just started making an enzyme, which can be use to keep pests away from the house. Our domestic helper said she had been using it at her place and it works wonderfully. The enzyme is easy to make and have many other uses - let me know if you are interested to find out more.

[Red Faced Buddha]

I've filled conflicted about this for awhile as well.I think it really depends.I don't kill daddy long-legs because they're pretty much harmless.However,rats and their kind can spread disease so I have no qualms against using rat poison.

[seeker242]

I've filled conflicted about this for awhile as well.I think it really depends.I don't kill daddy long-legs because they're pretty much harmless.However,rats and their kind can spread disease so I have no qualms against using rat poison.

I personally use live traps for rats and mice. Rats can spread disease so they must be removed, but live traps work quite well, especially with peanut butter. They can smell that from nearly anywhere from inside the house. I personally use this one below. Rat poison is an extremely cruel way to get rid of them. Rat poison takes a couple of days, up to a week or more to actually cause the rat to die. Through those days their insides are literally turning into mush and their blood vessels burst and leaks into their muscle and joints, after the several day period of bleeding internally and their organs turning into mush they struggle for their last breath out of their impacting and decaying lugs. It is a very painful and lengthy death. This is not a very nice thing to do to any animal, when there are alternatives that won't actually hurt them.