[temara.brown]

How to Deal with Creepy Crawlies

BY TEMARA BROWN, MACINSIDERS

If you're currently living in your student house during these hot days of summer, you might have experienced the sheer terror of having a insect in your path.. well okay

they at least really terrify me to the point of much squealing, flailing, and climbing chairs!

The most terrifying insect in my opinion is the house centipede.
Although, they are a beneficial predator in the sense that they do prey on cockroaches, silverfish and other household insects, I sincerely would rather not have them in my house!

The House Centipede, Scutigera coleoptrata, can be identified by its long spindly legs, its affinity for dark, moist areas, and, although I have not experienced this (thank goodness), they also have a painful bite.

Also, this is the time of the year when they really start to come out!

What does one do about these creepy little friends? Well, there are many products you can try. Garden centres sell diatomaceous earth and all you have to do is sprinkle it liberally along baseboards and around heating vents etc. When they crawl through it their epicuticle is cut up and then they die by dessication. This would be the best thing is that it is non-toxic to pets and humans. What you can also do is buy a dehumidifier for your basement if you don't have one. Centipedes love moist basements and their prey do too! Now, if you are like me and are desperate, another method you can try is the Borax method. Borax is a typical powered laundry detergent that you might already have on hand! You can try sprinkling it around the perimeter of the basement floorboards. Just remember to sprinkle a little more after you vacuum.

Another pesky critter is one more familiar to us all! Mosquitos! What I despise most about them besides the bites is the sound they make when they fly near your ears! Ew!

There are several ways to reduce your encounters with these guys. The most active time for a mosquito is between sunset and sunrise. If you are to go out during these times, be sure to use an insect repellant containing DEET. The more DEET in the repellent, the longer the effect will last. If you have a repellent containing permethrin, don't apply it directly to your skin, just spray on your clothes. You should also avoid wearing perfume and dark coloured clothing - this attracts mosquitoes.

To reduce the number of mosquitoes in your area, get rid of all still standing water as this is where the mosquito larva thrive.

When a mosquito bites, it uses its saliva to numb and lubricate the bite. When the saliva starts mixing with our bodily fluids, it starts to itch.

As we've all experienced the sheer annoyance of having a horrendously itchy mosquito bite, I asked around for potential remedies to relieve them. Here are some suggestions I've heard:

• Try rubbing a bounce dryer sheet over the bite.
• Try dabbing a little bit of liquid soap on the bite immediately after and the itch should disappear.
• You might also try tee tree oil or lavendar oil.
  
• I've also heard that placing a potato slice on the bite will stop the itching, but I've yet to try this.
• Scalding the bite with hot water breaks down the histamines that cause the itch, but the scalding part kind of hurts. I'd recommend trying the other suggestions first.

The last crawling creepers that you might encounter in your student house are ants!

If the problem is still bad after using those poisonous ant traps, then you can try these few all-natural suggestions below:

• First, try mixing baking soda and icing sugar in equal parts and leave it in small piles around the infested room. They'll be attracted by the icing sugar but then ultimately destroyed by the baking soda.
• Plant mint all around your house. That is only if you are not living in an apartment of course.
• Try drawing chalk lines on problem areas. Ants seem to avoid chalk.
• Spread powdered red chili pepper, paprika, dried peppermint or borax on ant trails or near entryways to prevent them from entering the room.
• If you have found the anthill, make a mixture of citrus peelings and water, mix it in a blender, and pour it over said anthill. This acts as a natural repellent.
• Try leaving out little piles of cornmeal or cream of wheat. The ants cannot completely eat this stuff so will take it back to their homes. Then, when the ants eat it, it expands, ultimately leading to their demise. Just don't cook the cornmeal or cream of wheat before you put it out.
• Lastly, you can use the same trick as above with the house centipedes: diatomaceous earth.

Best of luck with your bug battles!

[lorend]

awesome article!

[davey]

omgosh!! i am sooooooooo glad you posted this!! im terrified of insects. o.o

[feonateresa]

Thanks for this article. I couldn't even look at that picture of the... centipede without getting itchy all over. So scared of them. I had to cover the picture with a different object over the screen. >.> Aiiiee I'm still itchy!

[temara.brown]

They gross me out soooo much!!

I'll never forget last summer after watching the latest Saw movie. The movie had just ended.. I wasn't that affected by it or scared. But oh boy, when that friggin centipede came out from no where at the end, I screamed like no tomorrow and ran away.. Centipedes are scarier then serial killings? apparently so...

[dragonfly]

That is the creepiest looking centipede i have ever seen, reallly long legs >__<. I really don't like centipedes, but I wouldn't say i'm afraid (i didn't know they bit though...that bumps up the fear factor a bit). But it would be gross to have any of those bugs in my house. Though put even a picture of a spider in front of me and I'll jump back in terror. I can't stand them.

[temara.brown]

lol this is somewhat fitting for this article: http://www.macinsiders.com/arcade.ph...lay&gameid=317

[Cippi]

Awww, the creeped-out part of me makes me want to eradicate centipedes at all cost, but the science geek in me wants to let them live - they are, after all, considered "beneficial predators" - in other words, they're killing machines :p You could have one centipede in your basement or 100 other insects instead, since they're quite prolific hunters.

That still doesn't mean I won't terminate them with extreme prejudice if I see one scurrying across the floor.....

[lorend]

I prefer the running away screaming and asking housemate for kill-age for me. I hate killing things.

[Cippi]

Oh man.....I think I've angered the centipede gods with my post. I fell asleep on the couch in my basement rec room while watching TV about half an hour ago, and was just awaken by a freakin' centipede CRAWLING ACROSS MY FACE.

This has never happened before. I'm going to go cry now.

[lorend]

Talk about irony!

Also, ew.

And I'm sooo sorry you had that happen to you!!

[feonateresa]

Wow that's... if that ever happened to me I'd probably faint. Hang in there buddy.

[kokosas]

Great article, but way to give a girl heart failure first thing in the morning! lol Lorend will vouch for me when I say I simply cannot STAND bugs with more than 6 legs... yet for some reason she comes to me to kill them when no one else is around!

If you ever want to see something really funny come over to our house when its just lorend and I and one of us has just seen a centipede in the basement. There's usally yelling and running and doing the creepy crawly dance in the kitchen while trying to figure out what to do...

[temara.brown]

Borax!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!

[lorend]

We have kitties.