Cute, aren't they? - Image courtesy of gb_packards

First off, mole crickets are omnivores, feeding on worms, larvae, worms, and grass roots. Believe it or not, mole crickets are very common; however, being nocturnal, they spend most of the day underground in elaborate tunnels, generally only surfacing at night. They thrive on every continent except Antarctica, and they are even considered as tasty treats in areas of East Asia. Not that I expect you to be scouring your yard for a supplemental food source…But they can be eaten.

Now that we know a bit about the elusive mole cricket, let’s discuss how they can put a world of hurt on your yard. Their nightly feeding can cause extensive damage to your lawn, as they eat away at roots and stem tissue. Their tunneling disrupts the root beds and causes unsightly blemishes in your lawn.

How do we get rid of them?
There are a couple of methods that can be used to thin out a mole cricket infestation:

• Biological control: Mole crickets have a few natural enemies, including
  • birds
  • armadillos
  • raccoons
  • rats
  • amphibians/toads

  Parasitic wasps have been imported from South America to areas such as Florida, where the dry soil is a safe haven for mole crickets; in turn, these wasps can thin out a population. Still, biological measures might act as good deterrent, but they will be hard-pressed to eradicate a large mole cricket infestation.

• Insecticides: I know, more chemicals. But, when you have the cricket flu, you need to turn to something with enough power to remove your mole crickets before your lawn is destroyed. Some of the more reliable products include Acephate Pro 75 and Orthene Turf, Tree & Ornamental Spray, among others. However, please note that many of these products must be employed by a professional, and they can be harmful to pests and other critters.
• Natural remedies: There is an alternative to insecticides, although it does involve a bit of manual labor. Mix in a small amount of non-detergent soap into a large bucket (think: small amount, as we don’t want to damage the yard); then, pour the soapy water into one of the burrows or tunnels in your yard. after a few minutes, the mole crickets should surface (they don’t like the soap; plus, they find it hard to breathe with a tunnel filled with soapy water!); you can then catch and dispatch them…Or even save them for a later snack! This can be time consuming, but an afternoon spent mole cricket hunting can really thin out the population in your yard. Follow this up with a new, well-stocked bird feeder in order to attract more birds to your yard…Who in turn will hopefully feed on the mole crickets to keep the population under control. Finally, make sure your yard is receiving plenty of water.

Please share any methods that you use to control mole crickets in your home or yard.

Image courtesy of chapmankj75.

• Install a screen over your chimney and even dryer vent. This will keep certain pests from wandering into your abode.
• Keep firewood away from your home. If you must store it, aim for a dry location at least 25 feet from your home. That way, critters won’t try to take up shop in the comfort of your front yard.
• As food sources dwindle, rodents and other pests will try their luck and reaching some of your food stores. To combat this, keep food items, as well as other scented goods, stored in sealed bins or containers.
• Don’t stockpile garbage! Keep your garbage in lidded bins, and don’t miss your trash or burn day.
• Double-check your gutters and spouts to ensure that pooled water is not collecting close to your home. If so, realign or replace leaking or non-functional gutters.

These tips should help to keep you critter-free in the winter time, ensuring that unwelcome house guests are not enjoying the comforts of your home.

Why not try a natural remedy? Purchase some borax and sugar, mixing it together in roughly equal parts. Take this paste and apply it to low-lying areas, such as base boards and under stoves (where lots of scrap food items tend to accumulate. Don’t believe me? Pull your stove away from the wall, and be prepared for the worse). The roaches will be attracted to the sugar, but will consumer the borax in the process…Which is a poison to their biological systems. You will soon have dead roaches to scoop up.

Easy to make, gets results…And gets rid of the roaches!

To prevent similar problems with your pets, try adhering to the following pet principles:

• Much like children, be careful when leaving your household pets unattended in the outdoors. Keep tabs on their location, and only let them outside if you are in the immediate area, or the pets will be in a secure area (fenced-in back yard, confined run area, and so forth).
• Make sure to clean up any garbage and food-based trash in the immediate vicinity of your yard. Trash can attract wild animals, such as raccoons, possums, and even wild or unleashed dogs.
• Make sure your pets have all of the required shots and immunizations, and that the vaccinations are up to date. This can go a long ways towards the prevention of disease spreading, such as rabies.

Please share any methods that have assisted you in keeping your pets safe in the outdoors, as well as ways to keep wild critters from infringing on your pet’s enjoyment of the great outdoors.

• Keep trash cleaned up, and do not put trash bags out the night before your trash pickup. As raccoons do a lot of foraging at night, that gives them plenty of time to rip open your trash bags and eat their fill…Thus scattering your garbage for miles. If you must put trash out early, make sure that you place it in a sturdy, covered container.
• If you have fruit trees in your yard, make sure that you pick up any rotting fruit from the ground. The fragrant fruit is a strong lure for raccoons. The same can be said for pet food and bird feeders; make sure that you keep it picked up, or the raccoons will be paying you a visit.
• Putting up a fence will help to keep them from foraging in your yard or garden. A few sstrands of electric fence: one about 6 inches up from the ground, and the other about a foot up, will keep them from stopping.
• It is a known fact that raccoons do not like the sound of human voices. If you can leave a radio outside and near your garden, and you dial it on talk radio, there is a good chance that the raccoons will be too wary to stop. Change stations up a bit to ensure that you have different voices. This method is cheap, easy to implement, and will keep the raccoons out…Not to mention that it will give you something to listen to when you tend to your garden!
• Trapping raccoons is another way to get rid of the critters. Pick up a large trap (from your hardware/pest control store, or borrow one from your local conservation department) and bait it with canned tuna or cat food. Check the trap often; if you catch one, make sure to take it at least 5 miles away. Remember: they bite (and can be very mean when cornered), so be sure to wear gloves and long sleeves when you handle the trap.


A good-sized raccoon trap can be used to effectively trap and relocate the critter.

Good luck with your raccoon control. They truly are unique, interesting creatures. Just make sure to enjoy them from the convenience of your neighbor’s yard!

Once mice get in a home, they can be difficult to get rid of.

First off, poison is an option, but not one that I recommend. Poison might kill the mice, but it does not get to the root of the problem: how the mouse got into your house in the first place. Find the hole/opening that the rodents are using, and you can permanently fix the problem.

• Check for loose foundations, gaps in the garage door, decks that do not fit snugly against the house, gaps in dryer vents or other pipes/cables going into the home, and holes in the corners of walls, such as garages and utility rooms (small, dark places with low traffic). These are prime entry points for rats and mice, so fix the holes with plaster, wood barriers (I used wood trim over a hole in a utility closet; after a couple of coats of paint, you can’t tell the difference between the trim and the wall), and other blocking methods. Ensure that your doors (including garage doors) seal snugly with the frame and floor. If there are gaps, you will need to close them, either by reseating the door, or wood patches.
• Perform a thorough inspection of your home’s HVAC system. Mice are good at tunneling through cheap insulating foam, as well as ducts with gaps. You might want to enlist the help of a qualified HVAC specialist to ensure that your complete system is checked (good time for an HVAC inspection as well).
• Mice are great climbers, so inspect your roof for openings at corners, plywood holes under the shingles, and other points of entry.
• Get a cat (and even a dog). Most cats love dining on mice, and the kitty’s presence will keep other mice away. Some dogs will even sniff out and remove rodents.

Take the time to inspect your home, and you can nip your mice problem in the bud. Once you have everything sealed off, use traps (either live, or lethal) to rid your home of any mice that are stuck in your abode.

Good luck!

Despite their cute, armored appearance, armadillos can be quite destructive to a yard or garden.

Armadillos used to be isolated to the Southeast United States, but that is no longer the case. They are on the move, and even northern states are no longer free from their presence. The time to act is now, and here is how you can reduce the presence of armadillos in your your or garden:

• Apply repellents.  Castor oil spray and all natural granular repellents, such as Mole Out.
• Trapping.  Obtain a good-sized raccoon trap, bait it with overripe apples and bananas, and earthworms in a net or panty hose.
  

  A good-sized raccoon trap can be used to effectively trap armadillos.

  Place a couple of boards on the outside of the trap to make a “V” shape: this will help to funnel the armadillo into the trap.  Check your trap often; if you bag an armadillo (or other pest), be sure to take it to a safe location to release it (far from your home, of course).  And, be careful when handling the trapped animal, as armadillos can give you a nasty bite or scratch.

• Pesticides to get rid of the armadillo food source.  Check your local pest conservation department to find what works best (and is legal to use) in your area.

With a little planning and perseverance, you can keep these interesting creatures out of your yard. Enjoy them from a distance!

Groundhogs like to burrow, and they have a penchant for eating the nice greens in your yard and garden. However, you can keep them away from your garden without killing them.

A little information on groundhogs: they hibernate from October through February, and their breeding season begins soon after they wake up.  Groundhogs like to burrow, and they have a penchant for eating the nice greens in your yard and garden (they are vegetarians, but they are highly protective of their burrows: a groundhog in my yard killed a young rabbit that attempted to enter the groundhog’s burrow).

You can always resort to trapping and relocating groundhogs, but this can   lead to starving young that are left behind. It is much more effective to simply exclude groundhogs from areas where they’re not wanted. There are a few steps that you can take to keep the groundhogs out of certain areas:

• Groundhogs are cautious creatures that do not like humans (although this can be reversed; my father used to take fresh vegetables out to a groundhog burrow, and the residents of the burrow would practically line up to enjoy the treats).   To discourage frequent visits to your garden, try adding objects that will blow around in the wind, such as wind chimes, inflatable balls, and so forth.
• Place chicken wire or mesh around your garden.  If you place the fence a few inches under the ground, this will also discourage digging.  Add a noise-maker to the fence, and you will double your protection.
• Adding a simple electric fence around your garden can also help to keep the critters away. Place one strand 1 to 4 inches above the ground, and the other 8 to 9 inches high. This is also effective in deterring groundhogs as well as other unwanted garden visitors, such as raccoons.
• Take used kitty litter and deposit it in existing groundhog entrances.  Groundhogs hate the odor, and it could cause them to pack up and move away.

If you must evict a groundhog from a burrow, do so shortly after they’ve emerged from hibernation(late February to early March) or wait until late summer, after the young have been weaned and are living on their own.

We have had luck with using a live trap, baited with fresh lettuce, and placed in the front of a burrow entrace.  Just be sure to check the trap often.  If you catch a live one, be sure to release it in a distant, wooded area.  The groundhog will take up residence far from your home.

With a little patience and determination, you can coexist peacefully with the groundhog, as well as have hours of enjoyment watching the interesting creatures.

How to keep ants out of your home: follow these preventive steps to keep ants from invading your house.

That being said, there are some preventive measure that you can take to keep the ants away.

• Clean up all food debris, crumbs, and open beverages.  Leaving open food and food debris out only serves to attract the ants to a potential food source.  And, as we know, they come in numbers.
• Don’t leave trash lying around the house.  If your trash can is filling up, take out the garbage bag, tie it off, and stick it in your garage or outside.  Large amounts of smelly trash tend to attract ants (as well as roaches, mice, vagrants, etc).  
• Make sure that your dishes are clean before you put them back in the cupboard.  Dishes with food residue will quickly be noticed by those stealthy, 6-legged intruders that we loathe so much.
• Before throwing cans and jars in your recycling bag/box, get the a quick rinse in the sink.  Removing the food particles will cut down on the ant’s food supply in your house.
• Got a cat or dog?  If so, then you probably leave food laying around.  Guess what?  Ants will home

Ok, you cut off the food supply in your house. Now, let’s make sure that they can’t even get IN the house.

• Keep your doors and windows sealed.  Holes in your screen?  Patch em and keep the ants where they belong: outside!
• Keep those gutter clean; otherwise, you will be opening up an ant bordello.
• Why build an ant highway?  Keep trees and bushes trimmed up and away from your home. 
• If you keep firewood laying around, it is time to burn it…Or move it away from your house.  Ants aside, termites like to lounge in firewood.  Trust me, you don’t want these critters gnawing on your home.  Do yourself a favor and move the firewood away.

Follow these steps, and you will be on your way to an ant-free zone in your home.

Juicy Fruit and other types of gum can be used to remove moles from your yard or garden.

Here is the scoop: you take a stick of gum (preferably Juicy Fruit, or something similar),make a small hole in the side of the more recent, active mole run/tunnel (you know how to check for active tunnels?  If not, stomp on the top of one of the tunnels; if the mole repairs it within a day, it is an active tunnel), slide in a rolled-up stick of gum (make sure to wear a glove when handling the gum, as moles hate the smell of humans), then replace the dirt.

So how does this work?  The mole eats the gum, it clogs up the mole’s digestive system, and it is curtains for the mole.  It is probably not the most pleasant way to die, but it should thin out your mole population,  And, don’t look for this “mole fix” to be printed on a Juicy Fruit label any time soon.  But, there have been enough reports out there to testify to this method.  Since the costs are minimal, this is definitely worth a shot.