Advice needed ,back yard is infested! !

S

Spartan00

Joined
Feb 4, 2016
Messages
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Hey guys need some advice here . I live in the south . I have a pool in the backyard as well as this is where my daughter plays but here's my problem.

The backyard is getting overrun with Spyders mainly and other insects .

I've considered poisons or something like that but we live kind of out from people and in a valley . Along with the Souder and other bugs we also have all kinds of wildlife here from rabbits to deer to turtles and frogs.

Don't want to spray or dust the yard and take a chance on killing the wildlife or having something that could make our daughter or our dogs sick either .

Not really looking to call a pro unless I haft to ,I'd rather do it myself .

Had black widows in one of my buildings so I set off bug bombs in the buildings problem now is the yard .

Doing nothing is not really an option because I have my kid as well as other kids in my yard all the time . Any advice is appreciated
 
theobetts said:
Any chance you would want to have some chickens around? They would help with insect control.
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Cant, I'm away from folks but technically in city limits and chickens and other farm animals are prohibited in the city limits.
 
Malathion. Spray or fog your yard with it before bed once kids and pets are in for the night. Keep them out of the yard for 24hrs if possible but really not necessary. This should take care of most of the insects, spiders too. But once the insects are gone, the spiders won't have anything to eat and will move on anyway.
If you're really against using chemical, build a birdhouse or two a birdbath and perhaps a feeder, although the idea is for the attracted birds to eat your insects...
 
spyderg said:
Malathion. Spray or fog your yard with it before bed once kids and pets are in for the night. Keep them out of the yard for 24hrs if possible but really not necessary. This should take care of most of the insects, spiders too. But once the insects are gone, the spiders won't have anything to eat and will move on anyway.
If you're really against using chemical, build a birdhouse or two a birdbath and perhaps a feeder, although the idea is for the attracted birds to eat your insects...
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Wow! That seems usual to me. If I mow and keep the grass short, say about 1.5" I have no problems with insects. But, if you have some shady spots, I'd get some ceramic flower pots, dig some shallow holes and half bury the pots on their sides, put some mulch in them, and wait for frogs, or more likely toads to move in. They are prodigious insect eaters. A bat house in a nearby tree is something to think about too, I have one and it works like a charm. It's great to see them come out at dusk and swoop around eating insects. Another thing you can do is send off for praying mantis's. They are available on-line, and these suckers will eat anything . Release a few thousand of them in your yard and prepare for insect war. Other than chickens, guinea fowl, etc,. that's it, other than going the chemical route, and that too is a temporary fix, one you'd have to repeat on occasion.

Aww shoot, Spyderg, sorry for copying you in a quote. I meant to quote the Op. My bad.:eek:
 
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I like spiders. They eat the other bugs. Like bats also they eat more bugs.

For black widows look at the lay of the land and deal with where they like to build nests.

For the rest just keep the green trimmed. Scalp the grass and so on so there's less cover.
 
Besides bats, there are insectivorous birds that you can attract. You can try planting chrysanthemum flowers, but I don't know how well that works. I'd also look at treating the hidden corners where the spiders are with a permethrin based chemical, its a contact chemical and stays for a long time, so you can use it where the kiddo won't get to it. Maybe pheromone based traps?

I'm guessing though that if you have a lot of spiders, its due to lots of spider food, so maybe you have another infestation that you haven't found yet?
 
I would spray with an insecticide or perhaps just spray the portion of the yard that the kids use. Keep the kids off the yard for a day. If it a residue troubles you, water the yard after a couple days. Me, I hate watering my yard. Chickens are very good at eating insects, but their droppings and mess far exceed any benefit I can see for me. Guinea hens.... turkeys... other choices.
 
We went outside last night about midnight . I have seven dust but wanted to get an idea of what I was up against as they really come out at night .

We had about 20 brown widows on the back side of the house in the siding . I bombed my buildings a few weeks ago so I don't know if that drew them out or what . Anyhow didn't have any poison except seven dust but read a bleach solution would kill the spiders we could see . I sprayed them but my daughter woke up so couldn't stick around to see the outcome .

Wife said she saw even more on our deck . I hate to spray or dust and take a chance on killing everything but my kids safety is number 1.
 
gadgetgeek said:
Besides bats, there are insectivorous birds that you can attract. You can try planting chrysanthemum flowers, but I don't know how well that works. I'd also look at treating the hidden corners where the spiders are with a permethrin based chemical, its a contact chemical and stays for a long time, so you can use it where the kiddo won't get to it. Maybe pheromone based traps?

I'm guessing though that if you have a lot of spiders, its due to lots of spider food, so maybe you have another infestation that you haven't found yet?
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I live in a valley kind of out in the country . My property line and my neighbors is basically a swamp , it's not on my property and the other guy doesn't really seem too concerned about it .

We've got more critters and bugs here than I've ever seen in one place. Knock on wood we've only found snake skins around the property and not seen the actual snakes . We've got snake food all around though . He haven't had much of a winter either so the bugs didn't really die off .
 
Just to give yall an example of the critters out here . Last week I let my dog lose in the back yard . He's a lab and I dunno if yall know labs or not but everyone I've had if they pick up a scent they are on it lol.

Turned him loose last Monday and he hit on a scent and was gone . He disappeared for a minute and cane running back to me with a turtle in his mouth lol.

Next day maybe 2 same thing turn the dog loose and sure enough he got on something else trail . All I see is my dog pointing then hopping and finally he brought me a chipmunk (unharmed but frozen but still kind of wiggling in his mouth ) we released it and it took off.

Over the weekend again turned him loose and he went straight to my buildings . I went in the house to get some meat for the grill and hear my wife and neighbor screaming at my dog . Run outside to neighbor hitting my dog with a shirt . He had hit on a rabbit and brought it to them but he wouldn't release it . I came outside or ran outside thinking my kid had stepped on a snake or something to see my dog bring me a rabbit , again released it unharmed .

We have many many deer around here too, coyotes and people laugh but I have the trail cams to prove it we have cougars . People laughed at me until they heard it too and a farmer had a goat and some chickens get killed they put up the trail cams and got the same thing I got .

There's a game trail that runs up this mountain 2 trails actually one runs to the front of the property and that's the one the deer follow mostly . The one in the back with all the bugs and rabbits etc is in the back and leads to that low marsh or swamp.

So that's my situation. I don't want to put a chemical down and take a chance on killing everything I want the bugs gone though.

There's a little more to it that some people just wouldn't understand about the land .
 
What would Billy the Exterminator do? He would use pyrethrum insecticide probably, but I would do research on that before using.
 
Spartan00 said:
....... hear my wife and neighbor screaming at my dog . Run outside to neighbor hitting my dog with a shirt.
..........
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IMNSHO, unless it was a human being attacked, there is absolutely NO REASON to hit a dog for being a dog, even with a shirt.

A dog is a dog is a dog. They chase things. The fast and smart ones catch things. Some dogs, labs included, have been bred to be retrievers for a long time. These dogs bring what they "retrieve", whether it is still alive, or has been shot, like a dove, pheasant, grouse, rabbit, etc. Yours sounds like it has good retriever instincts. Just hope it doesn't decide to retrieve a skunk some night. If it retrieves a skunk in the daylight, the skunk is rabid. If it retrieves a skunk at night, the skunk may not be rabid, but it is probably a rabies carrier.

Screaming does not make a dog do what you want. A scream, no matter what the words are, does not mean a thing to a dog with respect to any prior training it has, UNLESS the training INCLUDES screamed commands, so that the dog LEARNS what that particular signal means. Hitting a dog with ANYTHING, including a shirt, does nothing except confuse and maybe piss off the dog. Want your dog to quit bringing you stuff it finds and make it learn to be scared every time someone picks up a newspaper, magazine, shirt, whatever the hitting object is??? Keep screaming and hitting the dog. That will train the dog to know that bringing you stuff will result in being screamed at and hit. May make it aggressive in the long run too.
 
zzyzzogeton said:
IMNSHO, unless it was a human being attacked, there is absolutely NO REASON to hit a dog for being a dog, even with a shirt.

A dog is a dog is a dog. They chase things. The fast and smart ones catch things. Some dogs, labs included, have been bred to be retrievers for a long time. These dogs bring what they "retrieve", whether it is still alive, or has been shot, like a dove, pheasant, grouse, rabbit, etc. Yours sounds like it has good retriever instincts. Just hope it doesn't decide to retrieve a skunk some night. If it retrieves a skunk in the daylight, the skunk is rabid. If it retrieves a skunk at night, the skunk may not be rabid, but it is probably a rabies carrier.

Screaming does not make a dog do what you want. A scream, no matter what the words are, does not mean a thing to a dog with respect to any prior training it has, UNLESS the training INCLUDES screamed commands, so that the dog LEARNS what that particular signal means. Hitting a dog with ANYTHING, including a shirt, does nothing except confuse and maybe piss off the dog. Want your dog to quit bringing you stuff it finds and make it learn to be scared every time someone picks up a newspaper, magazine, shirt, whatever the hitting object is??? Keep screaming and hitting the dog. That will train the dog to know that bringing you stuff will result in being screamed at and hit. May make it aggressive in the long run too.
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My dog responds to me , my wife and neighbor not so much . Especially when he's on somethings scent or has an animal .

Trust me when I tell you the neighbor and I had a talk about them hitting my dog . They have another breed of dog and she may whip hers but mine is not hers if that makes since .

I have no issue with the dog doing what he does and like your post I explained to the lady my dogs origins and instincts and that they were different from her dogs .

Trust me my dog has never been abused . He's with me 24/7 if I'm at home and to my knowledge the shirt incident was the first time he's been whipped by anyone .
 
The post was not complaining about what the dog does it was an example of all the animals we have on the property that when I turn him lose he finds something .
 
Encase the yard in a climate controlled bubble?

Any bug you kill is just going to be replaced; that's how it works.

Turtles, rabbits and chimpmunks wont' hurt anyone. Once your dog kills enough of them the others will avoid that patch.

If your daughter is small enough to be coyote bait don't leave her in the yard alone. Even for a minute. Yeah it's inconvenient right now but she'll grow out of that before you know it.

Or get a condo in LA.
 
Spartan00 said:
....We have many many deer around here too, coyotes and people laugh but I have the trail cams to prove it we have cougars . People laughed at me until they heard it too and a farmer had a goat and some chickens get killed they put up the trail cams and got the same thing I got.
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What state are you in? Are there documented cougars? Mating pairs? I'm interested.

Dogs will be dogs. Sounds like you have a good one.
 
So you live near a swamp, no wonder you have problems. My previous advice probably wasn't helpful, wish I could offer better, but I think it's the nature of where you are, and doubt it much can be done over the long run. Bugs and swamps well....
 
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