Controlling Pests 367
Pest control without chemicals
Sometimes keeping the house clean is not enough, and more active pest control
is needed.
For cockroaches, make a mixture of sugar and boric acid or baking soda.
Sprinkle it on surfaces where cockroaches crawl. They will eat it and
die. OR, mix boric acid with water to make a thick paste. Add corn flour
and make little balls. Leave them around the house, but take care that
children do not eat them!
For ants, sprinkle red chili powder, dried peppermint,
or crushed cinnamon where they enter.
For fly maggots, soak crushed basil leaves in water for 24 hours.
Filter and spray onto maggots.
To learn how to make a simple fly trap, see page 57.
For termites, make sure wooden building materials do not come into direct
contact with the soil. Do not store firewood next to the
house.
To kill rodents, use traps. Poisons should be used
only by people trained in their use, with great
care, and with good safety equipment.
Some insect pests, such as “chinches” that cause
Chagas’ disease in Mexico, and Central and
South America, live in cracks in the floors, walls, and
roofs of houses, especially those made from mud, adobe, and thatch. Sealing
wall cracks with plaster, and plastering the walls completely or even just
the bottom meter of wall, will help prevent insect breeding. (To make earth
plaster, see page 382.) Replacing thatch roofs with tile, metal, or cement, or
lining the inside of the roof will also keep the insects out.
How to make a simple roach trap
➊ Fill the bottom of a jar with beer, boiled raisins, or some other
sweet substance.
➋ Smear a band of petroleum jelly inside the jar below the rim
to prevent roaches from crawling out.
➌ To kill the captured roaches, dump them in hot, soapy water.
A Community Guide to Environmental Health 2012