tractor shed maintenance

snakes: any problems with spreading moth balls around the tool shed floor and outside the shed.

I do not like snakes, have heard the moth balls will keep them away,

wood bees: latest I heard was to spray wd40 in their holes, anyone ever heard of that?

I normally wait till evening, almost dark, bees should be back in their hive, then spray their holes full of the strongest bug spray I can buy. after spraying the hole full of chemical bug killer, then plugging the hole with caulking,

have seen them just chew a hole right through the side of the board from the inside, hard to get the chemical back inside their hive area.

wood bees will chew up your machinery shed or back porch, while you are standing there watching.

wellmax99 well the Snakes keep down the rodent population and most will not bite you if you leave them alone. As for the bees having same problems here and am wondering what people have done for their wood bee problems!
Ypop

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I don't know what I got around here, but there is a big red ?Mud wasp? That makes a hive stronger than good concrete. And a big black spider with a bright white face- 2 eire eyes and a mouth, on his back. I think mothballs outside or a big room is wasting money. A cupboard or close yeah.
The only bees were when a neighbor set his hive boxes near me. I think they all starved to death over the winter. I knew someone who had those wood bees, and some sort of animal came around and ate them all. But on a building, you don't want a critter to tear the place apart worse than the bees would. Some soap sprays will kill or chase them to a new hive. I would coat the wood around them with a preservative, but the stink might chase you out aswell.
The TV tells us to feel sorry for them and we need bees so badly.... I haven't made up my mind yet on that one. All my years in farming, I bet I never saw 2 dozen bees do the pollinating thing. But pick up an old plank in the barn and there's 200 in your face.
I was told if you don't like mice, you got to leave the snakes alone. I don't like mice. I guess there is a spray they sell in the southwest that keeps snakes away, it burns their belly? I see cats bring home snakes all the time, but I don't know how much you like cats.
I am waiting to find a baby armadillo, so I can make him into a pet for the kids... some people think that is a bad idea. But I bet they will eat all the things that bug us.
Everything else musta got washed out in the floods, either last week or today's.

I buy a commercial carpenter bee spray and it works very well. Google carpenter bees and it will advise how to eliminate them.

careful with the armadillo's some carry leprosy!
Ypop

thanks all for the tips,

latest was spraying wd 40 in the carpenter bee holes, then plug them,
do not know about that one, but worth a try before they eat my barns down, one board at a time,

snakes, I know people like them, not me, I respect them from afar,

opened my storage shed, one was hanging from the ladder rung over to the barn brace, did not see it at first, was about two feet from it, at face level,
now the experience is all I think of each time I go in there.

For snakes you can get these electronic noise makers that vibrate the ground a little, and use a little solar cell to keep them going. We bought a couple and we think they work. I think they were about $20 a piece, somewhere on line.

Here we go: http://www.stop-snakes.com/

The price on that page is crazy high; you can shop around. Mixed reviews on whether they're "snake oil" or real, but, we feel better.

Here in Colorado, I have rattlesnakes and bull snakes. I generally leave the bull snakes alone cuz they supposedly compete with the rattlers. Lost two llamas to rattlesnake bites. This bull snake tried to make some baby bluebirds his lunch and he was none to happy when I yanked him out of there. I'm going to put up a sign saying "No rattlers allowed". Any of them that ignore it will see the business end of my shotgun (please don't tell me that snakes can't read).
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Ypop, urban legend on Armadillos carrying Leprosy. They use them for Leprosy research, but they don't carry the disease.