In Focus

I love fall, but I also hate the invasion that comes with it.

One morning, while getting ready to leave for the office, I heard a high-pitched squeak, similar to a screaming belt on a car. It sounded as if it were coming from inside the house. I noticed several of the cats surrounding the TV stand, which was a definite sign of some creature being present. My boyfriend and I moved the stand away from the wall, and as we did, two cats bolted into the widening space, just in time to see a tiny black furball scurry along the wall and disappear.

This wasn’t the first time we had a rodent in the house, and you’d think that with nine cats, we’d never see them. But you’d be mistaken. Before long, I heard the shrieking squeak again and returned to the TV stand. This time, the little culprit got under a floor grate and was moving around, just out of the cats’ reach. After moving some plants out of the way, I picked up the grate, and Sassy—my bipolar, fearless hunter—heard the shriek of the black furball and took off running. The other cats just stared at the thing as it shrieked from a corner and disappeared down a hole in the floor meant for cables.

I thought, oh great, now it’s in the basement. My boyfriend and I made our way down to the basement to the area of the hole. We grabbed two of the closest cats, King and Smokey (former outdoor strays), and tossed them onto a stack of totes in the area. They just growled at each other.

Well...enough of that...I had to get to work.

While I was gone, the creature emerged again and made its way to the other side of the house. My boyfriend stuck around and ended up moving some furniture and a large china cabinet, chasing the annoying thing, but still with no luck to catch it. My cats were entirely useless. When I got home, I cleaned everything up and sealed the hole in the floor with silicone. There was no sight—or sound—of the critter.

The next day, I heard the shriek coming from the basement again. There are so many places this thing could be hiding that I was going to have to tear apart the basement—where all of my holiday decorations are stored. Mentally preparing for what was to come, I descended the stairs to see a couple of cats staring at a plastic bag hanging on the wall—full of plastic bags—and there it was: the black furball was at the bottom of the bag and couldn’t seem to get out. How perfect! I finally got a good look at this thing. I saw a black body, a long snout, and a short tail. It was a shrew. I grabbed the entire thing, took it outside, and threw it in the trash. Problem solved.

A few days later, a neighbor cut down a tree in his backyard. I knew the guy who did it, so I went to say hi. He informed me about a nearby tree infested with box elder bugs. So we checked out the tree just on the edge of my lawn, and there was a puddle of red moving up the trunk. All I had at the time was some diatomaceous earth, so I tossed a few handfuls onto the pile as they scattered. Then, I went inside and waited for the white powder to hopefully kill most of them off.

While inside, I walked upstairs and noticed that the Asian beetles had made their annual appearance. I just couldn’t win! I cleaned up the ones I found and made some traps.

A few days later, my boyfriend and I were outside when we saw the entire south side of my home covered in box elder bugs. At some point, the cats had tugged on the screen in my office, allowing bugs—including hornets—to get in. I had to run a few errands, so I grabbed some pet-safe bug spray, and my boyfriend went to town spraying everything, including the giant pile of bugs by the tree. Apparently, the diatomaceous earth hadn’t done much to them. I bought another plug-in trap as well. It works, but the Asian beetles prefer the homemade traps.

*Asian Beetle Traps:* Take an empty plastic juice or soda bottle (12 ounces); add a couple of tablespoons of white sugar and a little hot water until the sugar is completely dissolved; fill the bottle halfway with cool water; add a couple of drops of dish soap; cover the mouth of the bottle with wax paper, securing it with a rubber band or hair tie; poke a hole in the wax paper large enough for bugs to enter. Place traps in areas where you see the most beetles, such as windows.

*Gnat Traps:* I like using little disposable shot glasses, but any plastic cup or glass will work. Pour about a shot’s worth of apple cider vinegar and a few drops of dish soap into the cup. Place it where you see gnats, like the kitchen near fruits and veggies.

Thankfully, we killed a good share of the bugs, but now my windows need to be washed because the bug spray left residue everywhere.

All of this and it hasn’t even been cold yet. I think I’m going to have to spray the outside of my house to hopefully slow the invasion if I want to make it through to the first hard frost.