Unwanteds
Even in what I regard as a comfortable sanctuary, there are residents and visitors that show up that I really wish would move on. It’s hard to say which one takes top billing because they are all shadows. So, in no particular order…
Free-Ranging Cats
Anyone who’s read my blog for any length of time knows the neighbor across the street lets his cats roam freely and they roam over here, looking to kill anything they can catch. The only one I see these days is a black and white one. There have been others. One is more than enough.
This is an old study (2013) on how many animals free-ranging cats kill, but it gives you an astonishing number to think about.
not the actual cat. image link
Ants
These noxious tiny beasts have caused me a world of trouble. It’s my own fault. I left logs from the trimmed tree out back to get wet and the space between the bark and the wood provides a perfect habitat for them. I installed a wooden raised bed for peonies close to the house, which became a perfect nest for them. They invaded the rafters of the atrium and started to eat the wet wood where there were leaks in the seals of the dome. I’m very glad I shared my plight in the blogging community. Thank you to those who said use borax on them. I bought a case of borax (20 mule) and sprinkled it on the outside perimeter of the house. You see, the ants weren’t living in the rafters, they lived out in those two areas mentioned and were carrying the wood back to them. I also put terro ant traps near the house (liquid borax) and between the two of them I think/hope/pray they are gone. The following pic is where zillions were living under the bark. It was a major hassle clearing this all out.
Poison Ivy
Another noxious, unwanted visitor. Being allergic to it has spoiled the idyllic atmosphere here. It crept and spread stealthily along the west and north sides of the house. I’ve cut it back repeatedly with clippers, which is not a good method and hazardous, as it “contaminates” the clippers with the oil it exudes, making it necessary to clean any garden tool used on it with strong cleanser. Further if even one leaf brushes my skin, a blister that lasts for weeks torments with unbearable itching. Thankfully my blogmates (Thank You!) told me that borax also kills poison ivy. The borax has removed it from around the house, but it still runs rampant between the outside wall of the carport and the evergreen mat that shelters the possums. Today I went out and dosed that area with borax before it leafs out. It also flourishes in the ditch out front and climbs the big willows, but that is just too much to deal with right now.
Spongy Moth Caterpillars
I mentioned them in the “O” post. They have attacked the smaller oaks up by the house. They also killed a birch tree in a weakened state one of the years. I have manually removed the hideous looking caterpillars and sprayed the trees with BT (a natural substance not harmful to most critters afaik) which interrupts their life cycle. I pray they are gone for good! This is what was in the bucket of dish soapy water the I dumped out after picking a zillion off of the trees.
Ground Bees/Wasps
Steve reminded me of one more. Ground bees/wasps. Back in 2023, I found a nest of them when mowing. Thank goodness they didn’t come after me. It truly is a miracle. I stayed far from them after that. They didn’t return in spring.
Tomato Hornworms
I have about a million facebook pics that have been in a zip file. I decided to open the file today and oh what a wealth of history, from about 2012 — 2018 (I think!) I came across the pic I took of one tomato hornworm that I talked about sometime this month and the horror of finding them all over my tomato plants that year (2015.)
What are the most noxious pests you’ve had to contend with? How did you deal with them?
Tao Talk 
Did they perhaps think the same about you, Lisa? ;o)
LikeLiked by 1 person
When my hellfire rained down, I’m sure they did lol
LikeLiked by 1 person
Oh my Li, our pool cabana is infested with rats right now, they just keep moving to the next spot. 😜
LikeLiked by 1 person
Cindy, rats??? I don’t think many other critters will take on rats. Rat terriers and snakes. Are they underground dwellers? Maybe there is something where you can close up their tunnels and fumigate?
LikeLike
I hate cockroaches 🪳 and lizard 🦎 and today I got the house fumigated from the outside.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Those are two noxious ones to get rid of, I would imagine. I think they multiply quickly and can become resistant to poison. Good luck with the fumigation, Sadje.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Termites were not fun when I managed a housing project in California. I crawled under the buildings to find the channels they used for climbing into the structure. I soaked wood in noxious chemicals to protect it. I sought out sources of moisture and eliminated them.
Scorpions were the hazard in Nicaragua. The first sting got me running to “Donde no hay doctor” (“Where There is no Doctor” in the English translation) to find out what to do. I took subsequent stings in stride when I realized they stung briefly but had no lasting effects. One day I was stung in the outhouse while pulling up my pants. I went out to the truck to tell my co-workers about it, picked up my pack from the back of the truck, and was promptly stung on the thigh by one that was hiding under my pack. They would be in the clothes I laid out at night for the next morning, which made getting dressed in the dark a daily adventure. I found sleeping in a hammock better than in my tent. I killed more of them than stung me. Someone gave me the name “El rey de los alacranes” (“King of the scorpions”) which I found in an outhouse graffito.
Then there was the attack of the Africanized bees, which was nothing compared to the attack of yellowjackets in my Wisconsin driveway.
But what I really don’t like is bats in my house.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I acquired termites in my old house after buying a truckload of dirt for gardening. I should have sued the company. Termites are no joke! They did a lot of damage until I got them treated with feeding stations of “non-toxic” per the company placed around the perimeter of the house. Again, they lived out on the back lot (so the tech said) but were carrying pieces of my house back to their nest. I had to have some work on the foundation before being able to sell the house in good conscience.
Scorpions sound like a living nightmare! No effin way would I live in any geography that has them. King of the Scorpions, good nickname if you’re going to have one.
Bees and yellowjackets are no joke. I forgot to mention the ground nest of some kind of bee/yellowjacket a few years back, right by one of the small oak. Like the paper wasp nest, I drove right by that sucker and didn’t get attacked (someone’s watching out for me.)
LikeLiked by 1 person
I wasn’t so lucky. I counted 20 yellowjacket stings, but some were close together or on top of each other so I think I undercounted by a lot. In both that attack and the Africanized bees, I swatted my glasses off while swatting insects. With the bees I had to stop and retrieve the glasses while someone else continued swatting for me. (No stings!) With the yellowjackets I went back out after dark when they were dormant and found the specs.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Such horrible experiences. Humans think we are top of the heap until something like this happens.
LikeLiked by 1 person
p.s. just added the video to my post.
LikeLiked by 1 person
p.p.s. Bats in the house is no joke either. We had them get in once in awhile in our house in the city. One cat thought one was a play toy in the middle of the night.
LikeLiked by 1 person
OMG the numbers in that cat kill study are staggering! I never imagined it was such a problem.
LikeLiked by 1 person
They are built for killing and have a built in instinct for it. I don’t blame the cats; I blame the owners for letting them run free.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thankfully my two cats don’t catch anything. I hate that aspect and don;t agree with someone letting their cats roam to kill like that.
LikeLiked by 1 person
What bothers me the most is that birds are already under attack with shrinking habitats, hunting seasons by humans, and cell phone towers. Adding the cat hazard, I fear Rachel Carson’s prophecy will come to pass.
LikeLiked by 1 person
It really is an awful prospect.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hmm, I have to say that cats can be very good at killing things. My Luna was very, very wicked when she was rather younger. Not now though (phew).
Glad to see your gargoyle again!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank goodness Luna’s killing days are over. Yes, that little gargoyle was under attack by two different vines then.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes, they are. I hope we will be free of them for a few months at least
LikeLiked by 1 person
We have 3-4 neighborhood cats that visit at night over the last year. One sometimes comes during the day but our dog discourages that. Now one of them is brave enough to come up on our deck at night, even walking the railing. I used to complain but no more – this is the first fall/winter without any signs of mice in our house.
But there is one dog that is let run at night and he loves to pee on the bushes in front of our house. We haven’t found a way to discourage him yet.
Donna: Click for my 2025 A-Z Blog
LikeLiked by 1 person
Maybe I need to get a dog? Irresponsible pet owners are just that … irresponsible.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Living in rural Tennessee, there are WAY too many off-leash, run around the neighborhood dogs. We have close to 2 acres fenced in so I don’t have to walk our doodle, thank goodness. People don’t spay or neuter near enough, too, and they aren’t afraid to just dump dogs. Breaks my heart…
LikeLiked by 1 person
Where I’m at now, there has been little problem with dogs, at least running loose. My next door neighbor has one and sometimes more over there barking. I’m not crazy about the day barking, but at night when they bark, I know something’s out there and appreciate it. In the city there seems to be a bigger problem with wandering dogs and animal shelters full of mostly pit bulls. It breaks my heart also :(
LikeLiked by 1 person
I have two porch kitties — feral strays that showed up one day and decided to stay (because I’m an old softy and can’t bear to let a kitty starve to death)…. but they leave the birds alone, thank goodness. They do harass small rodents like pocket gophers, but since those animals are very numerous and destructive, I look the other way.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Maybe they are more prone not to kill birds when they get regular meals? The cat that hunts here now looks ratty but well-fed.
LikeLiked by 1 person
That’s very possible. It could also be that the sheer abundance of small rodents (a much easier thing to catch) satisfies their hunting urges.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Ugh! Ants. They get us every spring–in the house! We use diatomaceous earth across the thresholds and that dissuades them. @samanthabwriter from Balancing Act
LikeLiked by 1 person
Ants are beastly little beasties. Good thing they are as small as they are or we would be in big trouble.
LikeLike
I’ve had ants, cockroaches, and waterbugs (I really dislike those). Also mice, and once a rat. The mice were very hard to get rid of–that was four residences ago. I shudder just thinking of it. A lot depends on the neighbors in an apartment building. Management here is good about having the exterminator come every once in awhile.
I’ve lived in many neighborhoods with feral cats, but I do not see them around here. I imagine they have plenty of rodents to feast on and do not much bother the birds, although I wouldn’t mind them thinning the pigeon population. (K)
LikeLiked by 1 person
Not sure what waterbugs are but they sound hideous if they are getting into your water! Before I had cats I had mice, but no issues now. I imagine in an apartment building it is a real hassle keeping your place pest free. I remember hearing pigeons described as rats with wings.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes that description of city pigeons is apt.
LikeLiked by 1 person
The garden pests that plague me the most are lily leaf beetles and asparagus beetles. For years I’ve gone out and squished the larvae and adults by hand day after day, which is disgusting and time-consuming. I managed to get the lily beetles under control, but the asparagus is still utterly overrun. Then I also have some kind of invasive vine I’m always battling. Gardens are vicious places!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Never saw lily beetles (that I know of) but I had a very small patch (maybe 10 plants) of asparagus. They are totally overrun with the asparagus beetles so I just let them go to seed now. There is a roadside vendor about 10 miles from here that sells delicious asparagus for a reasonable price, so that’s where I buy it in large quantities while it’s in season. You are 100% right, they are vicious places. You just reminded me of another garden pest: tiny slugs on my strawberries. I have to pick them quick or the slugs get them.
LikeLike
Like someone above, we had an infestation of termites in a place in Asia. They were so creepy. I swear I heard them feasting on the wood, a strange kind of buzzing. Yuck! I also HATE cockroaches from hot places. It does sound like it is a battle to keep your plants healthy and safe!
LikeLiked by 1 person
There is a feeling of helplessness against them so many times. I would be freaking out at buzzing! I saw something called a palmetto bug at a laundromat in FL once that I hope to never see again. That thing was huge!
LikeLike
I just shivered!
LikeLiked by 1 person
That’s some collection of critters Lisa. Those moths seem to go in cycles around here and not sure what sets them off but they can spread like wildfire. We call the tent caterpillars, I think the same thing, but as you say they are indeed turning into moths, which we tend to forget.
LikeLiked by 1 person
So sorry you get them there, Randy. They march like armies, decimating all in their path.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes they do a lot of damage all right.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I never thought about cats like that…but you are right. I bet a lot of birds get killed every year by free roaming cats along with other smaller mammals.
I’m not sure if it was Spongy Moth Caterpillars…but we had a tree/bush that was around 6 feet tall. You could see the limbs “move” and it was dead before long. We saved the other one but it was pretty gross. It kinda looked like those caterpillars.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes they do and nobody wants to put an ordinance in place because it would be impossible to enforce. Therefore begging people to do the right thing for the birds has to suffice.
The moment of horror with infestation, when you see an army of things attacking something you care about, can’t be forgotten. That’s why infestation is such a common theme in horror movies.
LikeLiked by 1 person
That is sad. I never thought about cats running loose…dogs yes because they make themselves known but cats like to live in the shadows lol.
It was sickening I agree to see the damage it down…we had to cut it down.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I used to hate cats because my neighbors had tons of them and let them roam wild. They’d kill animals and leave them all over the place; it was so frustrating! Now I have a pet cat we keep inside but I can’t imagine what she’d kill if we let her loose.
Those hornworms are wild! I’ve never seen them before and can’t believe how big they are, yikes!
– Allison
https://lightningflashwriting.blogspot.com/
LikeLiked by 1 person
Allison, I’m glad you understand about the lethality of cats. The one that hunts here is not hungry, just likes to kill.
Yes on the hornworms. They blend in perfectly with the color of the tomato vines and that’s why you can miss them. Shuddering right now just thinking of them.
LikeLike
Certainly seems like it’s you versus nature. I hope it goes more to your plans soon.
I hope you’re enjoying the A to Z Challenge. Please check out the giveaway on my W post.
J Lenni Dorner (he/him 👨🏽 or 🧑🏽 they/them) ~ Speculative Fiction & Reference Author and Co-host of the April Blogging #AtoZchallenge
LikeLiked by 1 person
I just did, thanks, :::fingers crossed:::
LikeLike