See that bug? I kill at least one each day in my house. It was like that all last summer, too. They don't bite or sting or anything, they're just annoying. They fly around buzzing and freaking out the kids. They don't come in through the doors or windows so I knew they were getting in through some crack or something somewhere - but I didn't know where. Until now. I have figured out that they're coming in through the chimney. We haven't used our fireplace in several years because the chimney really needs to be swept and I don't want to pay for it. So apparently an infestation is going on in there now. But what do I do about it? The chimney is three stories high, so I don't think spraying something up there is going to work. And the top of the chimney is totally unreachable even from the top of the house (if we had a way of getting up there, which we don't). The thought occurred to me to just build a fire - maybe that would smoke them out. But if they have a nest in there somewhere it seems like that just adds to the fire hazard that has kept me from building a fire prior to this. What do I do?
6 comments:
Maybe burn one of those Creosote logs? Yeek!
That is a hemiptera, or true bug. They are an order of plant sucking insects that feed by sucking up plant sap through a tube-like mouth. There are a few species, especially in South America, that bite people but the ones in our neck of the woods are harmless, except to plants. They are probably not entering your house on purpose, unless you have house plants that smell particularly good to them. If you have ivy growing into the chimney, or a tree overhanging it, they might fall into your house from those. Their standard defense mechanism is that when anything approaches them they fall off the plant and then scurry away. If you want to spray them, the best bet is to spray around that chimney.
I posted a comment and expected it to appear instanteously. Now I have waited a cheked for it at least three times. I am just curious if something is wrong. So this is like a test-but just in case my comment is "chek the damper and close it if necessary.'
couldn't you just use wasp spray (which sprays forever away) and then close the flue (is that how it's spelled)?
"We'll smoke the monster out" I'm singing the song from Alice in Wonderland... I have no idea how to get rid of those buggers. We get them too, but they mostly stay outside. I've said it before, and I'll say it again - if I was on one of those pilgrim ships that landed here way back when, I would've never lasted through the swampy Virginia summers... the gnats alone are enough to keep me indoors.
Maybe they continue to enter the house to seek vengeance on the monsters that have been killing their family every year...
I give the following advice with no semblance of past experience to back it up nor guarantees nor nothing like that.
Here's what I would do - just because I like bug bombs:
Get ready to go away from the house for an extended period of time per the instructions on the bug bomb. Buy some blue painters tape and a bug bomb. Tape a trash bag (or two) over the fireplace entrance using the blue tape. Place the bug bomb in the fireplace with the flue open and set it off before quickly sealing it up.
Stand back (maybe best outside the house) and enjoy the thought of the pesticide-induced death throws of countless bugs, spiders, and other creepy creatures as they live out the last few moments of their lives in an OSHA-restricted confined space of pesticidal fury. Whether or not it solves your heminoptera (or whatever earl said) problem or not, you can rest easy knowing that you are solely responsible for a mass-insect-genocide.
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