How do you all cope with BUGS/INSECTS?
 

Hi all - i'm new to this forum so not sure if you have covered this one recently. I'm relocating back to nz soon and i'm just trying to conquer all my fears. Its my 3 time to nz so I know what kind of stuff i'm in for. Last time i was there we had to have our house sprayed 2 times as we were getting quite a few visits from cockroaches. It was just a bad house! I was changing the beds one morning and found a dead cockroach in the pillow case so that was it - I was outta there. Now we are laughing at it and joking about who's face it crawled on to get into the pillow (it was my husbands pillow so I got way more mileage) But it made my experience a bad one! None of my friends have really had problems (we all lived in the same area) (only had 3 friends tho) Is there a cheaper way of keeping the nasty little fellas out or a way of checking before we rent that they are not there? They are not everywhere and we were unlucky but i just want to find out what I can just so i know!

Any bad experiences? I'd love to hear them!

Re: How do you all cope with BUGS/INSECTS?
 

my daughter had a white tailed spider crawl on her face one night when she was in bed :eek:

but we spray our house in the summer and don't have any problems, the flies are the most annoying thing to me though, but we have automatic fly sprays on in summer, that the only thing I dislike about the summer the bloody flies!!!

but I do like the stick insects praying mantis monarch Butterflies, cicadas in summer sweet crawlies :) in fact my youngest daughter has kept a stick insect in a container from the summer and it is now pregnant! :ohmy::rofl:

Think your self lucky its not Australia your going to :eek:

Re: How do you all cope with BUGS/INSECTS?
 

Err, are you thinking about the HuHu bug? the coachroaches that fly? Sometimes known as Wetas? They scare the living daylights out of most people because of the simple fact that they fly. They're the beetles that appear out on your porch around christmas time, and gravitate to your outside lights. They are disgusting as well, as in the morning all you find are masses of wings and feelers - I think the birds swoop down and eat their bodies during the night. Gross. I think they might be more common in the South, but I might be wrong - I've not lived in the north to know. They are very scary. But apart from that, I don't think there's any scary insects.

Re: How do you all cope with BUGS/INSECTS?
 

Sorry none - we are in the South Island which seems to have fewer of them (not that they are particularly nasty anyway, ya wuss).:D

Re: How do you all cope with BUGS/INSECTS?
 

nope you get cockroaches here too, they are ok though unlike the ones you get in Tenerife...:lol:

Re: How do you all cope with BUGS/INSECTS?
 

I don't see, why would you worry too much. This Is not Australia, at least.

There are cockroaches at my place too. (I must say this Is the first crap house having cockroaches & mice ever since we have lived in nz... ) found a dead one in beween banana....on the fruit comport :scaredhair: a few days ago. (freaking-me-out! :eek: - banana & coffee is my breakfast you know...) and found live one on the floor while picking up rubbish yesterday with my mate.....(managed to touch it with my hands...:eek:) btw, why are there many dead cockroaches around at home? perhaps, it's too cold? or no enough food for them? .................................................. I rarely clean the house, therefore don't even know or never discover what's going on at my place?? .......:rofl: (I just go home at night in order to sleep & shower.... but not much else...) yeah, hate cleaning ... I do that just twice a year..... :rofl: I'd need to hire someone to clean my place properly tho. (once a week) They're all very well tended. Just realized that I am not a kind of lass who likes to do dirty duty....am not strong enough to do heavy cleaning anyhow. If I keep cleaning my house then there might be less cockroaches I presume.

Don't worry. not a major problem I guess

Re: How do you all cope with BUGS/INSECTS?
 

We used to get wetas in Auckland and the odd katipo spider. Here in the south we never see cockroaches, even though we have an old house, or wetas. You get wetas more if you live near a bush area, but although they look scary they don't hurt.

We've never sprayed our house as we've never had that many spiders to worry about. I spray the flies with ordinary fly spray during the few weeks they are around. Mice can be a problem at this time of the year, but that's why we have cats. If you go for a newer house you might have less problem, and avoid being too close to a reserve or bush.

Re: How do you all cope with BUGS/INSECTS?
 

Ah, that reminds me - we did have rats nesting in the wall right beside our bed - which was extremely offputting. That was in the autumn soon as it turned cold, they'd be looking for their winter home, and we must have a hole into the wall cavity somewhere from under the house. Anyway, nothing a bit of bait poison couldn't fix. We don't seem to have a problem this year.

Re: How do you all cope with BUGS/INSECTS?
 

I just thought about borer. If you have a wooden house you may bet borer beetles in your woodwork, and at times of the year they go from larval stage and grow wings. Apparently, borer bombs are not much good as they only kill what's on the wing, so whatever hatches after that is not affected. You'd have to use them constantly for weeks to get them all. Unbeknown to us we hit upon the perfect solution. We re-gibbed and plastered our internal walls and carpeted the floor. If they can't get out they die, so there's only a few now in our exterior walls and we don't get the annoying little brats in the house at all. :thumbup:

Re: How do you all cope with BUGS/INSECTS?
 

I had a rat nesting in my van just recently. Though it was a mouse and set traps and bait for it. The little bugger ate all my petrol receipts in the glove box - must have had a back door to it through the bodywork. Anyway after 4 days of just generally being annoyed at it and thinking it'd jump out at me on the way to Palmy one morning (and then I'd just be another statistic on the bad driving thread!) I found it dead in the passenger foot well and it was a blummin great rat! Nice.

But no real problems with insects.

Re: How do you all cope with BUGS/INSECTS?
 

I've not had many problems here but I find the flies REALLY irritating in summer. They seem to be far more persistent than UK flies and don't take the hint and move when you swipe at them:curse:
We have a can of spray that gets used lots-much celebration when I get a direct hit:thumbup:
Other than that we have loads of cobwebs around but we just leave them, the spiders don't bother me so I don't bother with them. And if we hoover up a cobweb they only seem to be back by the next day with a vengeance so it's a pointless exercise [and saves on housework:o]. Not seen any whitetails or scary big hairy spiders, if I did then war would be declared. I can cope with the long legged and small ones but hate spiders with big bodies:scaredhair:

Re: How do you all cope with BUGS/INSECTS?
 

+ fat legs

:rofl:

So do I. :scaredhair:

Re: How do you all cope with BUGS/INSECTS?
 

Even worse: big hairy bodies and big thick hairy legs:eek::sneaky:

Re: How do you all cope with BUGS/INSECTS?
 

forgot they are hairy .. :rofl:

Re: How do you all cope with BUGS/INSECTS?
 

I'm fortunate enough to live in a new build, so don't get too many insects etc. However, I did come home from work last week & find the second cousin to a tarantula hanging above my garage door. I swear it's legs had muscles! As I hate spiders with a vengeance (you wouldn't get me to go & see Arachnophobia for all the money in the world) I came out in a hot sweat. I've never seen such a big bugger.