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I apologize in advance for the long post and I hope I'm posting this on the right thread, so here it goes......If anyone has any suggestions about this problem, it would be greatly appreciated.
We live in a small rural town in South Georgia in the middle of pecan trees near the woods. We are currently living in a rental house. Ever since we have lived here, I have personally witnessed something I have never seen in my life. Consequently, we have spoken to a pest control company and have had the house sprayed. We clean, vacuum, take out the trash, etc. (The landlords won't do pest control - they can afford it - they're just wealthy land owners who are cheap) I have spoken with the landlord and he could care less about my concern.
The pest control man did not find what I am going to tell you strange at all. All through the year, tiny little spiders and ants will crawl onto our baseboards all over the house and just die. I don't mean five or ten, but hundreds of them. In one particular bedroom, the white baseboard looks as though someone has taken a Sharpie magic marker and made little black dots all over the baseboard. You can clean off the baseboard and pest control keeps them away for a while, but here they come again.
My husband's bathroom literally looks like a breeding ground for baby spiders - once cleaned, here they come again and again. Dead spiders literally line the corners of the guest bedroom, the baseboards and into his bathroom and all around the floor of the bathroom. It almost looks as though someone has taken a pepper shaker and dropped the contents around the edges of the bathroom.
In our bedroom alone, I am constantly killing baby spiders before I go to bed. They are all over the walls, baseboards and ceiling. It's as though we moved into their house!
Then, in the fall and cooler times of the year, hundreds and hundreds of ants have been found on our kitchen counter, in the kitchen cabinets and crawling around the molding on the ceiling. Folks, this is a constant occurrence. I can wipe them up with Clorox wipes one morning and the next morning they are back again.
We finally had to get two shelving units from Lowe's for our dishware because the ant infestation in the cabinets was so bad. One morning I walked into the kitchen to make coffee and saw a black line going up the wall and followed it - there had to be thousands of ants in a single file line going around the kitchen crown molding into the dining room and literally circling both rooms around the crown molding. (By the way, we don't keep sugar out or leave food on the counters)
In our living room, we have had a major (and I mean major) baby spider infestation. The come in and die and collect on the crown molding next to the ceiling. I have to literally vacuum them down. Almost every baseboard and corner in the house is covered and dotted with dead spiders and ants. Even when pest control comes and sprays on the inside and outside, the bugs still come into the house to die.
If I had $5.00 for every baby spider or ant I have killed, I could retire tomorrow. I am not exaggerating - this has been unbelievable. My grandmother used to have a cabin on a church campground and we would go up there once a year. Even after a year of the cabin being closed, I never saw anything like this.
From what I understand, many people down here have problems with ants, but this is ridiculous. Any suggestions? I know that since I have moved into this house, my allergies have gotten increasingly worse and I constantly feel really tired and just plain exhausted. As a matter of fact, I've had unexplained fatigue.
We've been looking for another house for quite a while, but unfortunately, people down here don't keep up their properties and we don't want to swap bad for worse. Also, my husband has gone through a heart attack and another surgery, which has slowed us down in looking for a house. Until we can find a good rental property or relocate to another town, any suggestions about getting rid of baby spiders and ants?
Hi there. We live in the southeast as well, but in northeast Tennessee and we have the ant issue as well (and this is crazy and believe it or not, there was just one crawling on my elbow! Dont know how it got there! ) Every spring we have these tiny ant problems, as does my grandfather next door and several others. My mother had a recipe for some type of solution that was good for getting shed of them, but it was lost.
Strange, sometimes the ants will be in my bedroom, or the kitchen, or the bathroom. Its my understanding they like "sinks" because of the water, but that dont make sense, because its really been wet outside with all of the rain we have had. We literally had a trail of them in the kitchen on the counter the other evening. Its true, you can wipe them up, then they are right back again.
Latest thing we heard/tried is wiping some water/vinegar solution on the countes- the ants hate it and it seems to have helped some. We were also reading that its wise to wipe the sinks "dry" before you go to bed.
Do your ants seem to be worse in the kitchen or bathrooms?
I set out some ant traps in my room, which took care of the problem in my bedroom, until this evening when I had that one on my arm, but looking around, I dont see any. I guess it was a fluke.
As far as spiders go, with your issue, I have no idea. Any idea of what kind of spiders they are? The other day I was cleaning up a old 1973 car that I rarely drive and on the passenger side front, there were tons of little spiders blowing around and all over the car there. I guess a nest had hatched (or whatever they do) or something. It may be you have some entry way for spiders and they are hatching and the inside enviroment is killing them. Good thing they are dying, so you dont have a house full of huge spiders.
Have you seen any large spiders in the home?
I have often wondered how it would be like living with the insects/snakes in south Georgia. Seems like a place where they would be rampant.
Hi, I used to live down near you (tip of SC) and I can relate.
It sounds like the house sat empty for several years, and that there is structural damage that has gone unnoticed and unrepaired over time, leaving holes where the creatures have gotten in and feel at home, as well as permitting moisture to get into the wood frame. I would hate to peel back the drywall and see what was inside those walls, because if you have that many BABY spiders, as well as that many ants, what is inside those walls must be endless nests. Do you have a crawlspace or is it a slab built home? Crawlspaces are open invitations to all sorts of critters. Any access open to the outside - for plumbing, for A/C, even vents - is an open invitation. Living in a pecan grove exacerbate this; trees are perfect homes for bugs and what they feed on, and they sound like they all feel right at home there.
If you owned the house, I would suggest that you have an exterminator bag the house for a full attack, and have a contractor come out and look for/repair any damages. I hate to tell you, though, that bug infestations are very normal in the deep South; the moisture is so prevalent that it is as if the whole world is steeped in a slow rot. It allows bugs to proliferate when real seasonal changes and drier air would help kill them off. There may actually be mold growth inside the walls, which could be a part of your illness. You won't see it until it actually breaks through the drywall, which could be years. If the walls are plaster, this only makes it worse - cool damp plaster is even more of a comfort zone for bugs, especially in the summer. No doubt your landlord is very much aware of all this, which is probably why he won't do anything about it... he has lived with it for so long that he can't understand why you are complaining. This is just a fact of life in some areas, odd as that sounds, and people get used to it.
If you can't move and he won't help, get yourself some canned spray foam and go around every exterior wall, inside and out, even up into the attic if you have one, and fill in every hole you find. THEN have the exterminator come out and spray, inside and outside on the perimeter. It will help keep the population down - but it sounds like, to me, that they are deep within the walls and have made it their home.
I agree with SCGranny, it sounds like you have a moisture problem. My Mom had a roof leak that leaked down into one of her walls, and when I pulled the drywall off you wouldn't believe how may ants were in that insulation. Just as much as they like moisture, they will also run from water when it rains. One time when it rained here for several days my a/c quit working, and when the repairman came he found that my a/c breaker box was filled with ants.
Here in NY..I have had the same problem, the exterminator called the ants..sugar ants....Well, after about 3 in home treatments not doing the job..they had us evacuate one day...and did the inside and the outside of the house, from the roof to the ground, covering every inch of space! I understand and have lived with the ants on the baseboard, I swear I said the same thing with it looking like marker dots! And still its only been a few weeks since the "job" was done, I still look at my baseboard daily.... I see a speck of dust and wait for it to move..LOL>..! Good Luck...keep us informed.
Thank you so much for your responses and your help. The house is built upon a slab. We haven't looked into the small attic. To be honest, I'm afraid that we would be attacked by spiders. As a matter of fact, we were told by the locals that this was a former Boyscout Hut where the Boyscouts held their meetings. Then, a man purchased the place and turned it into a house. There is white vinyl siding on the exterior of the house.
Part of the problem down here is that people simply will not "keep up" their properties. There are a lot of wealthy landowners down here, people who have been in the pine tree business for years. However, they all behave as though they are poor and will not spend the necessary money to keep up their rental properties. Culturally, this place has been a big shock to our system. Rust, ignorance and disrepair are part of the culture down here. We have looked at houses all over town and have been shocked that people are willing to rent or sell absolute dumps. We have looked at houses that look as though they have been closed up since the 60's or 70's. ........Musty, nasty, markings on walls, long shag carpet, old, old appliances, holes in the floor, duct tape on electrical problems....... We could write a book on what we have seen in South Georgia. North Georgia and South Georgia are like two completely different planets.
We're not originally from this area and we've only been here a few years. My husband is from Texas and I moved up here from Florida (even though I'm from Augusta, GA). We both moved up here to take positions at the local college and after we got married, we wanted to rent until we decided if we actually wanted to stay here. Then, he began to have health problems, to include a heart attack. He's doing much better now.
About the large spiders......yes, I have definitely seen some "scary-looking" creatures around here. Here is a description of a few I have seen.
1. A large brown spider with a circle of yellow dots on his back. (Very unusual) I found this one in the guest bedroom.
2. A very large solid black spider coming in the front door that had a very "fat-looking" body.
3. Quite a few large brown spiders that look like the typical spiders you would see in a mountain cabin.
4. I have seen a few brown spiders that have made me "raise my eyebrows". I just hope they were not Brown Recluse Spiders. I've looked at pictures online, but I wasn't really sure because they were running across a darker carpet before I ended their existence.
So far, and thank God, we have never seen a cockroach or a mouse in this house. People down here have horrible problems with mice. Owning a cat in this area is actually a part of pest control.
The ants are much worse in the kitchen, but they will literally take a tour of the house. One day they're in the bathroom and the next day they are in the hallway. The spiders are absolutely everywhere. I literally cannot imagine what we would see if someone pulled back the carpet and looked inside the walls.
I, too, believe that this house probably has a major infestation. It feels as though I'm sitting on top of a spider mound. It's actually very disturbing. My allergies, sinus problems and fatigue have reached an all-time high and I am praying that a door will open for us to move from this area.
To be honest, when we find a place and can leave, the landlords really do not need to rent this house to anyone until this problem is resolved. They do not need one stitch of carpet in this house and they need to have this place fully inspected.
What kind of spiders are they? We have them in our bathroom, especially the shower but also in the bedroom and other areas of the house. What are they? Thank you!
sounds to me like a serious health issue. Can't you go to your health department and have the owner cited for infractions. Seems like the owner must accept some responsibility for this situation. maybe a local legal aide committee or something like that. Yes South Georgia is a very strange place.
Hmmm... let me share a little tough love. Sounds like you have a "class warfare" problem, and you don't like the Southern way of life. If you don't like the house, move out. My guess is that such a house cannot be costing more than $200 or so a month. You are probably allergic to mold, and many other things, and such a house is only going to make you more sick every day you stay there. Why don't you move further north? There are certainly less bugs up there; but there are probably wealthy northern landlords looking to make your life miserable too!
Okay this is what you do go find some tree frogs and put them in your bathroom guaranteed you will not have this problem very long after they are placed in the house . I lived in florida for a while and a neighbor lady told me to do this and guess what it worked and I never had another roach either . amen for tree frogs .
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) Every spring we have these tiny ant problems, as does my grandfather next door and several others. My mother had a recipe for some type of solution that was good for getting shed of them, but it was lost. 
