Spiders/ants in and Around Sandbox!!

go to dirtdoctor.com and get the receipe for the garlic pepper tea. It is organic. It does repel bugs, you just have to be consistent in spraying it down especially after rain.

Take Care,
P.

Hi Bethany,
I live in Texas too. I hate to say it, but, I think your only answer is to get rid of the sand, treat the area in your yard and start with fresh sand. I mean, how else are you going to get rid if them?

Its better to be safe than sorry!!!

Margaret, Mom to Bethany :)

Corn meal is supposed to help get rid of ants. They eat and it expands in their stomachs and die. I would sprinkle some around the sandbox. Not sure what to do about the spiders. Diatomaceous Earth is a natural insect repellent - maybe try that.

You will probably want to dump the old sand and clean the sand box and get new sand. Don't know about Texas but when we were in Florida( also a state with colossal sized insects lol) I found a company by the name of SafePest that used organic products that were safe for kids and pets. You didn't even have to leave the room while they treated the area. I had them treat our property inside and out every few months and it kept things pretty well under control. There may be a similar company in your area.

Don't trust any advice from exterminator. There are about 10,000 synthetic chemicals used to create stuff from cosmetics to bug sprays. 89% of them have NEVER been tested for safety. Europe has banned about 1000 of these chemicals as known carcinogens - - while the U.S. has banned only 9. ((www.teensturninggreen.com >> Get Educated >> Dirty Thirty)) Diazinon was used in all of my neighbors' yards when my kids were little. I tried to keep them away from the grass of their friends' houses, but it was impossible. Diazinon was finally banned in the U.S., because a link to childhood leukemia was found. But all retailers like Home Depot were allowed to sell off any remaining product - - after it had been banned. They didn't want to lose money by destroying the product. Money was priority over kids' health. So, my advice is avoid any and all pesticides in yard and home, especially for the children's sake. Their ratio of skin surface to body weight is much higher than adults', therefore, any toxin they absorb through their skin is likely to affect their little bodies more. I liked the advice of two moms: Clean out the old sand, replace with new sand, and staple the mosquito netting all around with an overlapped slit for kids to get in and out. P.S. I like to have wolf spiders around. When I see one, I let it live, because they eat crickets! They are wonderful mamas, too. They carry their babies on their backs. And the black jumping spiders with white polka dots? They are great at catching flies! My mother kept one as a "pet" in her kitchen window. Anytime one of us kids left the back screen door ajar and fly got into her kitchen, she'd open the window, let the fly go next to the screen, then close the window. Her spider would take care of it. No RAID necessary! The only two spiders we need to worry about here in N Texas are brown recluses and black widows. Brown recluses will most likely be in cardboard boxes in your garage or under blankets or clothes left on the floor. Black widows build globby webs up under outdoor structures, away from weather. Early settlers learned to check under outhouse seats before sitting down.

l

I would try Ortho Home Defense around the outside of the sandbox. I use this around the outside perimeter of our home, as well as along the walls inside. It is odorless and safe when dry. (It may be safe when wet, too, but I keep the kids away until dry anyway). It's not an organic pesticide, but works great and should deter pests from entering the box and might even get rid of any that have already made their way in. Good luck!

Put a bag of Cedarside mulch down in the bottom, then sand.

Hi Bethany - TX is a far cry from Colorado when it comes to bugs but I would imagine that an exterminator could give you some suggestions for kid-safe products to use for ants and spiders. We had a red-ant problem that started at our neighbors and after a summer expanded to our garage and then our back patio. We hired someone who blew in a powdery substance into the cracks. It sticks to the ants and they take it back to the nest and eventually kills the whole underground population. I'm sure they will have some sort of solution for a sandbox area.

btw - this wont help for your sandbox but we installed some of those sonic repellents for bugs and mice, etc in our basement and garage. Works like a charm. The voles left right away. The bugs take a season because the sound disrupts their egg fertilization. The next season our garage was cricket and spider free.