Uninvited Guests

Well, we all get unwanted visitors, and I am not talking about the 2-legged kind. I am talking about some of the insects, bugs etc. that invade our home, and pests that invade our garden.

No, Kieran, he is not lovely, beautiful, or interesting !!

I am sure you have all been sitting in a chair at night and seen the carpet move as a spider runs across the floor and up the curtains, but can you find it when you look? can you heck as like!
Apparently, spiders are always living in the house, but you tend to see them from September to October when the male is looking for a mate. They are generally harmless, although we do have a couple in the UK that can give a nasty bite apparently, and please remember they are more scared of you than you are of them. The last thing you should ever do is kill one or spray the room to deter them. They do a lot of good housekeeping for you and tend to eat bugs etc. you can't even see. If you really don't want them in the room with you, and I am like that to an extent, get a glass, put it over the spider, and he will climb into it, then slip a bit of paper over the top and take it outside.
No doubt it will return though.

Bed bugs, fleas, flies are all common in people's homes. And mice and rats are as well.

Again, in the case of bed bugs, hoover your mattress.
Fleas, obviously, are brought in by your pets, so make sure you de-flea the pet monthly.
And mice and rats are looking for food, especially if you keep bird food inside.

Mice can be quite cute but do cause a lot of damage, but don’t carry the diseases rats do, but do need to be discouraged. If you see one indoors, make sure you trap it and then remove anything that will tempt more to arrive cos they will soon make a nest and breed and you will have a hell of a job to get rid of them.

The trick is to check frequently you do not have any unwanted visitors in your house.

Garden visitors can be difficult to deter but certain ones need to be.

I personally do not consider these a pest. They are cute but they do like to bury stuff in flower pots or dig up your bulbs to eat. They are very entertaining and intelligent though, so to be honest you may as well give in and welcome them.

Rabbits need to be discouraged as they will eat any veg you attempt to grow and plants. Again, though, they are cute.

Moles are so cute and not to be killed.

Rats and mice are frequent visitors, and if you feed the birds you will have rats and mice. They say nobody is ever more than 6 feet away from a rat.
Now, these are the one pest I do not like. They carry disease and do so much damage and sorry but they have to go.

Like mice, they breed very quickly and before you know it you have a problem!

Just remember if you keep chickens, lock them up at night. A fox doesn’t have a key!

Some Snails are actually very pretty!

Foxes, I do not call an unwanted visitor but I know some do.
Slugs and snails cause a lot of damage to plants and again, unfortunately, slug pellets have to be used, but if I see one heading for a plant, I just put him in the opposite direction.

These are horrible pests!

We have a few of these around the garden

You also get welcome visitors that you may not have invited into the garden. Hedgehogs, ladybirds, frogs and toads to name a few.

Toads eat pests like slugs and snails and should be encouraged. It is quite spooky to see one walking in front of you on the path late at night. Ladybirds eat pests like greenfly and whitefly on your plants. Hedgehogs also need to be encouraged, as apart from they are seriously in decline, they dine on slugs, snails and caterpillars, as well as any food you put down for them. Provide them with a covered house, can be bought in any pet shop and somewhere warm to hibernate and they are happy.

Very useful visitor to your garden!

Let us know what unwanted visitors you have in your garden and how you deal with them.
Just remember most garden visitors are in decline, so be careful how you treat things like bees etc. Insects are there for a reason and that reason is not to be killed.

All are welcome.
And please feel free to share all discussions you enjoy.