Omelet wrote:
> In article >,
> George Shirley > wrote:
>
>> When it is very dry out or during a drought, ants and other insects,
>> including the big woods roaches, will come into your house looking for
>> water. Insects, like most living things on earth, need water to survive.
>
> Very true... The only time I ever have ants (or Palmetto bugs) is when
> it's been very dry for awhile. Watering the cactus plants outside helps.
>
> The cats love the Palmetto bugs (they think they are cat toys) so I
> seldom ever see an intact one. Ants have only recently been a problem.
>
> Pyrethrine along the floor boards takes care of that issue for the most
> part and no insecticide on the food surfaces...
>
> I've not had much luck with boric acid baits for ants, but it does work
> for roaches. Keeping a clean area free of dirty dishes and food scraps
> helps too. The last ant issue I had was them getting into the recycling
> bucket due to the cans not being rinsed out well enough.

The palmetto bugs I've seen were all in Florida and were much bigger
than the big woods roaches we get when it is dry.

When we did some extensive remodeling a few years ago I bought a lot of
boric acid and put it inside all the walls and in the attic. Haven't
seen a lot of roaches since then. A friend, who bought an old house down
the street, had to tear out all the interior walls (rain and mold after
Rita). We went in and put boric acid literally every where. In addition
he used the insulation made from old newspapers and it is soaked in
boric acid to make it fireproof and it keeps roaches and ants down due
to that factor.