Brown Recluse in Barn

[Peter Drouin]

I know you have to do what you have to do. For me working in all that poison all day and every day I don't think I could do that.
Up here in NH we have none of that. Some ticks and a few mosquitoes. Some mice, some spiders none poisonous I hardly ever see.
I wish you luck. 

[Cedarman]

YH, sure wish you would experiment with some cedar sawdust.  If it would work, might be a good marketing angle for cedar sawdust.

[YellowHammer]

Sounds good, I'll do it, I have some cedar to mill up, just haven't gotten to them.  Now I have a reason to move them up in the queue.

I agree, I really don't like pesticides, that's why I let my restricted license lapse many years ago.  So then we hired a pro and let them handle things, and they do OK for the most part, but I'm tired of hearing how hard Recluse spiders are to control, and the situation not getting better. 

It's obvious the current strategy isn't working.  Scorpions (Martha's been stung), brown recluse (my several bites), black widows (never been hit but they are everywhere), fire ants (invasive, real bad), bird poop (histoplasmosis), mice (all the time in my tools), Norway rats (one got in my boat a couple months ago and did some major damage), armadillos destroying the yard (they invaded about a decade ago with the fore ants, are leprosy carriers, and if you think I'm over the top, my neighbor keeps his shotgun by the front door and shoots every armadillo's destroying his manicured yard.  He got an all time high of 19 in one month), the odd snake (did you see the video of Martha getting bitten by the blacksnake?) and the other normal stuff not worth mentioning (except all the wasps, and my Uncle died from a wasp sting, on the way to the hospital). 

So I'm going to try a little bit of everything.  These critters have nearly 1,000 acres of nearby land (not all mine) to live in peace, they don't need to be my shop or my house. 

[thecfarm]

Like I say,
you leave me alone, I will leave you alone.
Same thing you are saying with the 1000 acres.

[SawyerTed]

Of course the obligatory Forestry Forum mill yard chickens could be as effective as anything. 

[Cedarman]

There were some studies that ERC sawdust repelled argentine ants.  I think those are the little bitty ones.
While your at it YH, see if ERC dust will repel fire ants.  We don't have them up here.  

[doc henderson]

the carpenter ones (I think) sure like to eat the center out of some bigger ERC.

[beenthere]

But carpenter ants don't eat solid wood, only rotted wood. So the rot comes first, the ants follow along second.

The carpenter ants, if found in a house, are great predictors of a problem as they are indicators of having rotted wood somewhere. Often, from what I have found, the first inkling that there is a water leak or unvented spaces that are damp.

[GRANITEstateMP]

I just reread this whole thread and I've come to the conclusion that I'm totally fine with NH winters, mud season, and mosquitos, just keep the crawly stuff below the Mason Dixon line.  I don't know how you guys deal with them critters!

 I have tomorrow off and might swing by the gun. store. They were trying to sell me a flame thrower last time I was there.  I had no interest, but I think it'd be a good investment in case you spider friends take a northern road trip

[YellowHammer]

Do you guys really not have these critters up North?

I tried the chicken thing years ago, year after year, we would get 30 or 40, and they ate every bug that moved, but unfortunately, our large predator population is about as thick as the bugs are, and much more aggressive.  I started feeling guilty because when we put the flock out in the yard for daylight patrol, (chicken house at night) it was a death sentence.  None survived the front yard, nothing, even in the daylight.  We would lose one or two a week, and by the end of summer, not more chickens.  We even bought a whole flock of guinea fowl one year, they were supposed to be more predator proof, because they would roost at night in trees, but the owls LOVED that.  Nope, the flock got whacked day and night.  I did think about getting some Emu's, still considering it, but Martha isn't real excited about that idea.

If anybody knows of some kind of predator proof chicken like birds, Spring is just around the corner, I'll buy a flock and let them loose.       

   

[Downstream]

After reading about the Alabama issues I feel alot better about my one primary issue which is horrific mosquitos.  And I live in town now. I cannot be outside during the summer for more than 30 seconds without being coated with Deet or Picardin.  If is miss a few square inches they find it and come in for the feast. We have tiger mosquitos which are active all day and feed more aggressively.  Much worse here in town than when we lived on the lake and in the woods about 20 miles away.  As bad as northern Wi or Minnesota.

That being said I hate snakes and only periodically see garter snakes here, no scorpions, armadilos etc.  We did see a black widow once or twice in the 15 years we lived on the lake.  In Shawnee NF in sourthern illinois there is a place called "Snake Road"  They close it during the spring migration from the bluffs on one side to the swamp/water n the other side.  I see alot of people hiking the road during that time and their videos freak me out.

I could not imagine dealing with all of YH animals on a daily basis.  Makes me want to reconsider a spring trip down to Guntersville for fishing. 

[doc henderson]

That makes sense, but spoils the idea that cedar wood might repel, I think.

[beenthere]

YH
Not that anybody talks about, so if they are here, not an apparent problem. 

[customsawyer]

I have pretty much everything that Robert has, but I don't think I have the Brown Recluse that he does. Even get the occasional opossum up on the porch eating the cat food. I've heard the opossum will eat a lot of ticks and other insects. Don't know if they like spiders.
I'm thinking the large barn is an attractant for the spiders in Robert's case. I don't have that many spiders under my saw shed and he don't seem to have them in his open store as much.

[Peter Drouin]

No, YH no bugs to talk about. The air is nice and clean, water where one can see 30' down in the lake.
Not too cold or hot.  A little snow is ok with me.
A place where you don't have to have a camera on every tree. Unless you are hunting.
I think we have 1.2 million people in the state, and more are in the southern half.
The bottom half voted blue while the top half was red. I'm in the red half.   Thats why the state went blue, more people from away in the south.
Life is good.
I wish you the best of luck.

[YellowHammer]

If you have these critters, you would know it.   

A funny story, my old Dr who moved in from out of state once asked me why every workshop or garage has an old refrigerator or freezer in it, is it a Southern Thing?  Do we really drink that much beer?  I laughed and said no, the refrigerators and old freezers are the only places the spiders, scorpions and mice can't get into, so you put your "important" stuff in there where you just can't tolerate bugs or bug bites, like welding helmets, safety glasses, new gloves still in the package, hats, work shirts, papers, all that kind of stuff.  I could see the light bulb go off in his head and he exclaimed "Oh, so THAT'S how you do that!, I was wondering because these **##!! spiders are EVERYWHERE!"

[aigheadish]

Oh, and beer.

[barbender]

No YH, we really don't have that stuff up here. Actually, I think we are in the natural range of brown recluse spiders, but I've never seen one. Venomous stuff is pretty rare up here. But then, it was -20° when I got up this morning🥶Tradeoffs🤷😊 

The only snake I see around here are garter snakes. The southeast part of the state has timber rattlers I guess, but that's a different world down there. 

Hornets, wasps, and bees and the cold are about the most dangerous things we have. 

I think the Emus are a great idea. An emu following you around the woodyard would make for some great content on your YouTube channel😁

[doc henderson]

Might even see Chip get a little animated!  

[SawyerTed]

We have a little of all of the aggravating insects, spiders, snakes (rattlers and copperheads) and nuisance animals but no scorpions or armadillos. 

Brown Recluse aren't abundant but are here.  Black widow are prodigious if not controlled. 

Lately bald-faced hornets are my nemesis.  I had one of the largest nests I've ever seen in a tree in my front yard.  Didn't know it was there until the leaves came off the tree.  I usually have at least one as big as a basketball within 100 yards of the house.  Sometimes under the eaves of the house or under a shed. 

[YellowHammer]

Hornets? Wow, that could have been bad!  I think I've only seen a handful of big hornet nests here in over 20 years.  We have lots of yellow jackets which I guess are hornets but none of the big ones.  

[SawyerTed]

Yellow jackets and black ground wasps, paper wasps and a thing called a velvet ant.  It's a red furry looking thing that's not an ant at all but a wasp.   Stings like one too!  Let's say I learned this while mowing my lawn without a shirt on!     They aren't plentiful but aren't hard to find.  

[Magicman]

and a thing called a velvet ant.  It's a red furry looking thing that's not an ant at all but a wasp

I have heard them called "cow killer ants".  Cow Killer Ant

[YellowHammer]

We have them too, we call them "Killer Ants."  They fight the scorpions.  

One day a few years ago, we had a scorpion come out from under a board a customer and I were moving, and as it dropped on the floor and scurried away, I stomped it flat.  The customer looked at me with near panic about to set in, and asked if it was a scorpion because scorpions only live in the desert, and it couldn't be a scorpion, could it???  So I just deadpanned, nope, you are correct, we don't have them here and kicked what was left out into the lawn.

[aigheadish]

Well, not that it's the same but I'm officially ready to go Yellow Hammer Overboard with the bird(s) in my shop after I sat down out there, this morning, and had one poop right on me. Not sure why I went to wipe at my belly but my hand pulled away wet and sh****. It's cold out now and kind of inaccessible in this weather but I need to find a way to seal my doors up better and get that bubble liner up in my ceiling. I've considered a pellet gun, but I assume they've told their friends and shooting one would only be useful until the next moved in. Not sure how many there are living in my insulation but there is certainly one right above my seat.