Pest control in the Machine Shop

[Bentwings]

I find that the the easiest way to control pests in the shop is to take her out for a big meal and a few margaritas. When you get home she usually takes a nap and shop time is clear sailing.

Haha that’s good .

 

[Lloyd-ss]

Stink bugs.
When winter approaches they find the tiniest little cracks and crevices to crowd into. If all they did was just settle in for the winter and go to sleep, that wouldn't be too bad. But they like to hang out together and party and cause trouble.

A bunch of them were hanging out in this power supply until one of them backed into the high voltage and the lights went out.... right after his did.



And this guy thought he was faster than the electromagnetics in this 200 amp contactor. Hey guys, watch me put my head in and out real fast without it getting smashed. The contactor needed a good cleaning to remove his mashed and burned head.

 

[Steamchick]

I was at school with a lad who's Dad worked in a steel-works.... Over-run with rats, the way to keep their mess-room clear was some copper wire and 220V from the mains... One method was a saucer of water connected to "live" and a ring of copper wire 6" away from the saucer connected to Neutral. When a thirsty rat crawled up to the saucer he left his tail on the neutral - and ZAP! Dead bodies (from up to 20feet away!) were cleared away before the next meal break! Another was a live wet rag on some polythene, where they had steel floors... again so the rats' tails were Neutral when their noses/tongues reached the wet "live" and they became dead shorts. One guy used to take a few dead rats home each shift to feed his dogs... Saved him buying tinned food! (Apparently).
K2

 

[ShopShoe]

I heard this one many years ago....

A few guys were trying to get their small manufacturing business started and had to take whatever they could find for facilities. The drafting department was in an old quonset hut overrun with rats and the guys kept pellet guns at their desks to take potshots at the rats as they worked. I guess there was probably a large "knock before entering" sign outside the entrance door.

--ShopShoe

 

[WisJim]

We had a light switch in our old farmhouse that somehow attracted mice. They would crawl up the wall, squeeze into the fiberglass switch box, and then short themselves across the wires. I had cleared mice out of that same box 4 or 5 times over the years. One time there were 2 electrocuted mice in the switch box. Another time, I came into that room early in the morning, before daylight, and the ceiling light that this switch controlled was on, but was dim. I went to flip the switch and the light got bright. The mouse this time was across the switch terminals and provided a high resistance dimmer circuit when the switch was off. And then there was the time that I caught a mouse in 2 traps. The mouse had a rear foot in one trap, dragged it across the floor to another trap, which caught the mouse's head.

 

[ignator]

Does anyone have a solution for Box Elder beetles? They collect on warm surfaces then crawl in when the door is open in the fall. Then there's paper wasps, that find a winter home, just hope you don't grab something they are on.

 

[ChazzC]

Does anyone have a solution for Box Elder beetles? They collect on warm surfaces then crawl in when the door is open in the fall. Then there's paper wasps, that find a winter home, just hope you don't grab something they are on.

You can spray Box Edler Bettles, but the only way to rid them permanently is to find the grove/stand of Box Elder trees and cut them down. 20+ years ago I worked with a client and one of their building's outside South wall was covered with the little buggers. The pest control guy said they feed on the trees, then look for light colored surfaces to hang out on; he looked around and sure enough, there was a stand of 3 or 4 trees about a half mile away, with nothing between us. The treatment worked for the rest of the season, but they came back each Spring until the trees were cut down during road work.

 

[ChazzC]

Stink bugs.
When winter approaches they find the tiniest little cracks and crevices to crowd into. If all they did was just settle in for the winter and go to sleep, that wouldn't be too bad. But they like to hang out together and party and cause trouble.

A bunch of them were hanging out in this power supply until one of them backed into the high voltage and the lights went out.... right after his did.
View attachment 135663


And this guy thought he was faster than the electromagnetics in this 200 amp contactor. Hey guys, watch me put my head in and out real fast without it getting smashed. The contactor needed a good cleaning to remove his mashed and burned head.
View attachment 135662

I keep vacuum bug catchers on each floor to suck them up and dispose of them outside - you don't want to touch them or squash them! The numbers of them decreased when I put up a bug collector under the deck (UV bulb and collection basket), and really went down when we covered scraggly woodland to grass, but maybe the Spotted Lantern Flies are eating them