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I’m always so impressed by the answers that you all share in the “Your Turn” posts and now I have another opportunity for you to help fellow reader out! Here is the question:
With the warmer weather approaching I’ve noticed that the creepy crawlies are starting to emerge. My landlord has put out bait traps after I complained of the pest problem, he doesn’t believe me when I say he has roaches and mice in the house I’m renting. I’ve bought some cereal and rice containers for the packages that are open and refuse to let my kids open another box of cereal until a container is empty of it’s current contents. Is there anything that can be done to keep pests out of my stocked food?
Have any of you dealt with pests in your home? How do you keep them away from your stockpile?
Please leave a comment to share your wisdom!
sandra says
Put the items in the cheap plastic containers with lids, you can get them at the $ store. Or if you have alot of items, get the big Tupperware containers like you can put blankets or a Christmas tree in.
Megan says
The only traps that ever worked when we had mice were the ones that basically electrocute them. It sounds awful, but it is supposedly the most humane way to kill them. They are a bit pricey (around $20 each if I remember correctly) but well worth it for peace of mind and to keep those dirty creatures out of my food!
Mindy says
Diatomaceous Earth, you can find it at garden stores and it is all natural, so safe for kids and pets. Google the name for more info on it. It will kill any type of pests with an exoskeleton. 🙂 Use it on the ants every year. But…………………. I’m with Hazel. How do I get rid of the two legged pests? I’m tired of them stealing my stockpile. Damn teenage nephews lol
Kristin says
I have everything in big plastic tubs. Did this when we had problems with mice. EEEEWWWWWW!!!!!
The other thing that has helped is an expensive (BUT TOTALLY WORTH THE MONEY) contraption that you plug into the wall and it repels mice. Has worked great!!!!!!
I also lived in Central America and there had problems with roaches, and kept everything in sealed jars/containers. Not easy to do for a stockpile, but….
🙂
Melissa says
I put some of my basic staples that come in packaging that is easily eaten through in plastic 5gal buckets in my basement (Other sizes work just fine as well). You can put bags of sugar, cake mixes & all kinds of other staples just as they are in their original packaging inside the buckets & put the lid on tight. Rodents can’t chew through the rounded plastic edges. That also happens to protect them from light & if you’ve got a cool storage place the life of your stockpile items will be extended. You can also use any type of sealed container. Glass jars will keep out both mice & bugs. (Large pickle jars work well for large quantities but canning jars or other jars you’ve emptied & washed & dried well will work.) If you’re mostly worried about bugs, you could even put dry food into clean old plastic containers that contained food previously (pop bottles, syrup bottles, you name it) can keep bugs out of your food. That way you’re recycling & keeping the pests out!
Maxine says
Oh – also if you have ant problems, they don’t crawl over baby powder. I have had to use it around the dog bowl.
Hazel says
I’ve also heard cayenne pepper but that wouldn’t be good to have around for kiddos and pets.
I put bay leaves in my window wells to help with spiders & we used to always shove loose steel wool into holes to keep the mice out. In Florida we used Boric Acid on the palmettos bugs but I’ve heard that doesn’t really work long term.
Guess I’ve been lucky so far – only little buggers I’ve seen have been in my Christmas Cactus and I sprinkled cinnamon on the soil. They never migrated into any food type stuff. I’m not really sure if it took care of the buggers but it made people think I was always baking. Either way, the buggers are gone so I’m happy.
I’d be watching episodes of Animal Planet / Infested! Not sure if it would help but it’s a skin crawly kind of show that’s fun for the whole family. Well, maybe not fun per se, but … you know.
Maxine says
In California roaches can be a problem. I had a friend that put orange peels all around the cuboards and on the floor. Now here in our mountain home I use the electronic – sonic pest controls. You plug it in and it has a sound you can’t hear, but the mice don’t like it. That I know works. Hope that helps.
Hazel says
I hide when they ring the doorbell.
Oh, we’re not discussing two legged pests.
Nevermind.