Rescue Journal

i highly doubt flies are afraid of wet money..

Carol  ·  Jun 9, 2011

it is bad enough that... i have to live with a ton of homeless, leaking, pooping, crippled, spoiled, demanding, sick, and freaking expensive wrecked animals who used to belong to other people.

but hey...i can deal with that.

and it is bad enough that i have to deal constantly with wanting, needing, demanding, desperate people who think saints rescue is the answer to their getting rid of their wet pet dreams.

and i can deal with that too.

and it is bad enough that at midnight last night i was abruptly brought out of my sleep by a mini war zone happening out in the cat run..those three brazen raccoons were back hanging from the wire and having a snack. sweetie took it upon herself to tell them to get the hell out of saints (and the cats food bowl!)..they didn't listen to her til i showed up and then they just looked at me calmly and crawled up on the roof.

so i guess i can sort of deal with midnight cat food buglars too.


but honestly... some things are just too much..some things cross the crazy line...like tammy's new voodoo magic that are SUPPOSED to discourage flies. i am simple and practical...buy a giant fly zapper and nuke the little beasts and then hang a ton of sticky fly paper to catch the ones who miss the nuking machine.

so far in the last couple of weeks, tammy has tried to out do me in keeping flies out of saints.....first milk jugs filled with water and fly killing crap appeared and are hanging from the walls (and not one of them has a single dead fly in them by the way!) and then some weird turbo nuclear fly sucker thing that traps and dehydrates the flies in a blue light wind tunnel showed up on the medical room counter..which currently after a week is holding a whopping FOUR dead flies....and finally the best one of all (which is putting me right over the edge...)

zip lock sandwich bags filled with water and pennies are now hanging overtop of our heads. she has got three set up in the doorways..i told her she might as well hang some garlic too to keep any wandering vampires away....the place is starting to look like the funny farm with all of the fly paranoia paraphanalia hanging around in my face.

lets take a vote here...are water filled bladders of pennies all that effective in keeping us fly free or are folks just going to think we are crazy???
come on folks..be honest..tell us what you think...

cuz i have enough crazy around here as it is and i don't need to add to my lunacy legend with tammy's sandwich bags full of water and pennies hanging from our ceilings.

please HELP me..tammy is on a(n) (unsuccessful in my humble opinion) fly catching roll!

Comments

Jenn

http://www.spalding-labs.com/

Their fly predators work wonders! Not sure if you can get them in Canada (as I live in Upstate NY). I worked for an animal shelter for quite a while, and the manager (who had a hobby goat farm, and used the fly predators) had the shelter start using them. Its a tiny bit late to start now I believe, but next summer you guys should look into it! Good luck! And for the record, I have seen the penny thing before :)

Liana

I know your busy but nexxt time you sit down at the computer look up Diatomaceous Earth(food grade) there are some really good tips on controlling flies around livestock. Not to take away from Tammy's fun.

Marla

I've heard of water-filled bags with pennies in them, too. Haven't tried it, but have friends who say it works. I've also heard of the Apple Cider Vinegar/dish soap mixture. And for some reason I think my grandfather used to poke holes with a big nail in the lid of a gallon jar (like for pickles), put a thick sugar water mixture in the bottom 1/4 of it, and set it near an open doorway in his tractor shed and on the front steps of the house, which trapped the flies - they could get in, but not out. The only bad part is then you have these gross, sugar water coated fly jars to contend with to clean them out - YUCK! And you can buy things like that for bees and wasps (I'll take flies any day over bees and wasps - oops, my phobia's showing!) here at farm supply stores, so there must be something to it!

I say GO TAMMY! Good luck on the fly fight!

Hillevi

Tonight on the radio I heard that bowls of Apple Cider Vinegar with a few drops of dish soap kill the flies. It's a thought.

Brenda

I actually HAVE heard that the pennies in water in baggies does work. I have not tried it myself, but according to the Internet, it has worked for lots of folks. So, you go girl!!!

Renee

So that's why the food and water bowls were on the ground, because of the raccoons?? I get it now! I put then back up so you should grab them before you go to bed carol so you don't have any more nightly visitors haha.

lynne

maybe the baggies will ward off evil spirits or something or if she puts enough pennies in them we can stat up a saints collection for the animals. i will most likely get to saints tomorrow to help renee and get some carriers ready for the animals for mon to go to vets.

Carol

hey! quit encouraging her fer chrissakes..there are penny filled water baggies hanging from my door jams ...and none of them better fall on my head either!
and hah! i told tammy that folks have always thought i was the crazy one...when in reality... i have been covering and taking the rap for the volunteers!

lynne

well good on tammy for trying to help. we need all the help we can get. those flys last year were just nasty. i better remember to get the screens for the big dog room out of the shop. by the way erin how bad are your cooking skills lol maybe you need more than a witch. maybe you need a miracle.

Tammy

On another note we have dropped to second in the shelter challenge. With just over a week to go now is not the time to slip.
We need to pick it up and pull back into first.
Let's do it for the animals (not the flies).

Tammy

Ouch. First its only been a few days for the fly sucker, not a week. Its the same brand item that you have hanging outside, only this is the inside version.
As for the bags (they are freezer bags not sandwich bags) you can google it. Apparently they prevent flies from coming in. Someone at my work swears by them also so it is not just from the internet.
As for the flies, you have to get a jump on them before they become a problem. Last year in the MP building and medical room I was scared to open my mouth, there were soooo many flies. They like to lay eggs in the leftover cat food bowls, which then become maggots. Not to mention the maggots that were in places they shouldn't have been. And you know I worry about Cali, if she developes open wounds she doesn't need flies around feeding off her.

erin

i for one have never heard of baggies of water and pennies, tammy is it supposed to ward off the flies before they come in? be a fuck of a conversation piece at the open house.sounds to me kinda like the time i was given a "kitchen witch" to help with my cooking skills. the thought is there but.....