Sunday, February 21, 2010

How to kill fleas

Today we take a look on how to kill fleas subject. Many pet owners are facing this problem every day. First thing you must know is that even if you kill fleas on your pet, the fleas still remain at pets bed or in the yard or in your carpet. During the flea cycle just about 5% of the fleas are living on your pet. The other 95% of them are somewhere in your house or back yard(being in different stages: eggs, larvae, pupae). So if you have noticed fleas around your house and your yard then its good to get them killed all at once, because if you don't, they will be back on your pet in two weeks.

Step one in the battle with fleas is to vacuum your entire house. You are vacuuming up a lot of eggs, larvae pupae and fleas. This is really important mostly because of the pupae. If the larvae pupates, it is a cocoon where they are changing into adult fleas. The thing is that while being inside the cocoon you cant kill fleas with insecticides. The cocoon is waterproof and protects them from any outside factor. So vacuuming is the first key here. Do it good and you kill fleas more effectively. After finishing vacuuming its best to throw away the vacuum bag, if you have disposable one. If not clean it really really good. You can put a piece of a flea collar inside the vacuum bag before vacuuming. This way you kill fleas, that are vacuumed.

Step number two - Choose a insecticide with the IGR(insect growth regulator) ingridient - this is important! You can consult a specialist at your local pet store or order the product on internet.
Spray it on all you carpets, dog beds, cat beds, floors. Make sure you spray it everywhere(corners, under the carpet, under the furniture etc). You can use a pressure sprayer if you have it.
If you are done with your house, then move to the yard. Spray around where your pet sleeps. Gravel and sandy areas. Also wash you pets bedding and soft toys. Dry them in the sunlight, because larvae doesn't like sunlight.

Third step in this war is to kill fleas on your pet. You can use a pet shampoo that kills fleas. This is the best way. In couple of days from bathing you might want to use Frontline or Advantage(not before a few days, because these products use the skins oils to disperse. If you pets don't let you bathe them apply Frontline or Advantage directly. Read the manual first.

In short:
1) find out where are the fleas. Only pet? yard? carpets?
2) Vacuum
3) Spray house and other places where you found fleas or you think they might be.
4) Kill fleas on your pets.

Its important that you do it all in 1 day.

If the fleas keep coming back then you should check if there is someone who brings them to your yard(neighbors pets maybe) and act accordingly. Suggest you neighbors to kill fleas on their pets.

Friday, February 19, 2010

How to kill mice

Mice running around your house? In this article we try to give you some advice on how to get rid of mice. Mice might carry some diseases(the urine, saliva and feces of some mice may contain viruses and bacteria, such as salmonella and Hantavirus) so its more than recommended to deal with this problem ASAP(the first sign of mice in your house). Mouse populations grow fast and its best to kill them if the colonies are small.

There are some certain ways to kill mice but not all of them might suit for you. Poison is the most effective way to kill mice, but you don't want to use this method in your house, because the poison is dangerous for you pets and your little children. Also, the mice are not killed instantly by the poison, they have the time to go under the floor or into the walls and when they die, they will start to smell. And the smell is awful.

snap trapsIn my opinion the snap traps are the best way to kill mice. The mouse dies instantly if it hits properly. Just place the trap with bait near the mouse hole or on the mouses path. To be more effective on killing mice put up more traps(i.e 1 to each room).

Glue boards are effective on catching the mouse but its not a pretty sight if the mouse has chewed off its own limbs to escape or is starved to death. This method is just not humane.

Another way to kill mice is to use zapper traps. They lure the mice close enough to give the lethal electric shock. Zapper traps cost more and use batteries, but they are sometimes preferred over the messier glue boards and snap traps.

Cats are nice friendly pets :) If you have a cat, its likely that its a mouse killer. Most cats like to hunt and if they sense the mouse at their house or yard or where ever, its probable that they want to catch and eat the mouse. But if shes not a killer, use the traps, but place them where your cat can't reach them.

So, for the conclusion...
1)No poison in your own house.
2)Use snap traps or zappers to kill mice fast and humanely.
3)Get a killer cat:)

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

How To Kill Ants

In this post we discuss How to kill ants.
Ants often live in big colonies varying from 100 ants to as large as 4 million ants. If ants are invading your house, then there's got to be something they like. Maybe its a good spot for their nest or maybe they find food there. Make sure your house is clean and you don't have some nice food lying around for the ants to find. Because if they find it, they run back to their nest leaving a certain pheromone trail behind them to come back with bigger troops of ants.

If you find few ants wandering around your house then the first thing is to find out where are they coming from. Where is their nest. Because there they reproduce. If you only kill the one you see in the house then you are going to kill ants rest of your life. Therefore you have to remove the source.
To find out where they come from, you have to follow them.If they are living in the ground and you found the entrance then cover it with a clay pot which will not be blown away so easily. In a few days ants have moved up from the soil with their white larvae. You can now collect it and kill the eggs.

Another way to kill ants is using boric acid. It is toxic to ants and other insects. Make a 50:50 mixture with icing sugar and place it near the nest. That method should destroy the colony. Boric acid is being used in many commercial products and it is relatively non-toxic for humans and their environment. yet you might want to keep the mixture away from pets and children.

Third option to kill ants fast is by using boiling water. Just pour a few gallons over the mounds and into the pavement cracks where they come from.

Also there are a lot of household products to kill ants. Some chemicals are usually available only for the professionals, but nowadays you can get anything from the pest control products websites. When using those products its important to read the labels carefully.

So if you are going to kill ants you first must find out the source. Secondly: figure out the tactics to kill them. Thirdly: Kill ants.
Fourthly: prevention from the future invasions( keeping your house clean, closing any obvious entrance cracks and holes, etc)

Remember! In case you have small children or pets you have to use caution if using chemicals or other toxic substances.

Sunday, February 14, 2010

Welcome to How to kill things!

Welcome to How To Kill Things blog. We are here to give you the tips and tricks on how to kill nasty unwanted things. By things we mean everykind of ants, spiders, mice, roaches or bedbugs. The list of undesirable creatures is long. Im sure you want to get rid of them ASAP. So if you stick with us, we provide you with the advice of killing them. Just Use the blogs search field or browse in the posts.