millepedes

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OK. We found out that the crawly things in the basement are millipedes. (Our youngest took one to school in a jar and showed it to her biology teacher). Does anyone have a natural way to get rid of them.

Someone told us Boric Acid. Anything else that might work?

-- Cordy (ckaylegian@aol.com), November 29, 2001

Answers

Wal-mart sells several organic insect killers, a spray and a powder made from clove extracts I believe. I have used the powder to dust the dog houses for earwigs this summer and it worked great and smelled wonderful. Cost was under 4 dollars for a big canister of the stuff, I think it was called "Biorganics".

-- Annie Miller in SE OH (annie@1st.net), November 29, 2001.

Thank you Annie.

-- Cordy (ckaylegian@aol.com), November 29, 2001.

Cordy, I have millipedes in my garden, and love them as they only eat decaying material, speeding up the process, and do not bother even the roots of my vegetables. I am concerned about what might be decaying that they are eating in your basement... Good luck! Leslie

-- Leslie Coray (leslie@webolium.com), November 29, 2001.

I can empathize with Cordy. Last year we had millipedes (the hardshelled 2-3" long critters with lots of legs) coming in the back door by the HUNDREDS. FOR WEEKS. I think it was some kind of cyclical hatch and they were trying to get in or migrate to their breeding grounds. Ugh. We sprayed TOXIC, TOXIC, TOXIC stuff for weeks to stop them coming in. All over the step, the walls, the dirt. Very creepy. Very wierd. They finally stopped. It was the first time since we moved out to the country 6 years ago that I had seen the buggers. Damn.

-- Gailann Schrader (gtschrader@aol.com), November 29, 2001.

I put a bunch of the millipedes in a jar and took them down to the Ag Extension office for identification. They told me they were millipedes! -LOL- To me they're just worms, but a kind I'd never seen before!

I've put food grade Diatomaceous Earth all over the place, so I'm constantly sweeping up piles of the dead things.

-- ~Rogo (rogo2020@yahoo.com), November 30, 2001.



Are these the big mahagony brown-shiny-hard shelled ones that make a stink when you scare/pick them up? Other than the warmth of your house being an attractant, look for termite/rotten/wet wood. I belive that is their prime food stuff. +yikes!+

-- bj pepper in C. MS. (pepper.pepper@excite.com), November 30, 2001.

BJ,

No these are not big hard shelled and when we purchased the house earlier in the year we had a termite inspection.

-- Cordy (ckaylegian@aol.com), December 03, 2001.


We live in australia and we get the stupid things aswell. Not only are they annoying but they smell really gross and we get tonnes of them surrounding our front door as soon as it gets dark. I would really like to know how to get rid of them!! We tried vinegar tonight and will let you know how it went! Bye, Bec.

-- Bec (indi182@hotmail.com), April 16, 2002.

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