Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Wondering what is messing with my garbage

When I got back from our trip, something had gotten into the one garbage can that had stuff left in it. I had thought ahead and tied the lid on, but that didn’t prevent whatever it was getting into it. It was knocked over and a corner of the lid was pried up and stuff scattered around. Of course that attracted every ant in the neighborhood. I blamed it on coons.


This morning the same garbage can was knocked over and even though the lid was tied on tightly, a corner was pried up again and some stuff scattered around. I spotted it first thing this mornitn in my security monitor, and figured that I would take care of it after I wrote my blog. Turned on the computer and walked out to the kitchen to get a drink of water and when I was coming back into my office I spotted in the monitor a big red dog at the garbage can. It looked somewhat like a golden retriever but with a tint of red.

Now I don’t know if that dog is the culprit or if something else, like a coon, knocked it over and pried up the corner of the lid and the dog just came by to investigate. I don’t see how the dog could pry up the lid, but I am sure it is possible.

I have plastic garbage cans. I may switch to metal ones if I can find any. I haven’t seen any metal garbage cans for sale for a long time. I might try some of the hardware stores. If I can’t find a metal can I will build a containment area to prevent them from being knocked over. The containment area seems like a better idea because the culprits may be able to get the lid off a metal can, also. The advantage of a metal one is that the lid is stiff and after tying it down the animal may not be able to pry up a corner. (Now how can you have a corner on a round garbage car?)

Also, the dang ants got into the pressure switch for the pump on my well. When it tried to switch on, it hit ants and didn’t make complete contact. It looked like it had arced a couple of time and burnt the contact pads, and this is a new switch. I cleaned it out and got the pump running again. Phew, I thought at first my well had gone dry. The fix didn’t last long, the ants came back. The second time I doused it with insect spray (after turning off the power). That was late yesterday afternoon and so far, it is still working. I think I will purchase a spare switch today.

You all have a great day and stay cool. Going to be another hot dry day here.

5 comments:

  1. There's a product called 'Quik Bayt' produced by Bayer as fly bait takes care of anything trying to get in ahead of the flies. It's available at your local livestock feed/supply store.

    Naturally a person's well advised to pay particular attention to the caveats and instructions for use on the label.

    Hope you figure out where the problem is without having to go to such extremes.

    Like the blog
    J

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  2. Fire ant granules work wonders. Put some in the pressure switch avoiding the mechanics of the switch and contacts. If possible pour some down the conduit if you have conduit.

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  3. When I lived in NC I got a plastic garbage can that had a lid with a locking mechanism the bears couldn't get into. They just turn the can over and stepped on it, popping the lid, but I was able to bend it back and the bears left it alone after that.

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  4. Sofar, i will check that out if no simple fix works. I just tied the lid on again and then tied it up to a fence. Will see if that works.

    BB, i sprayed the heck out of the swithc, inside and out and held my breath when I turned the power back on. I will get some fire ant crystals and put them in the switch.

    Gypsy, Dang, I thought bears could get into anything. When I was young a trapper that parked by our camp had his trunk lid tore off by a bear trying to get at his bait.

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  5. I think it was more like I didn't have anything interesting in the garbage can and the bears went on to greener pastures. At that time I recycled almost everything, including having a compost bin, so I had very little garbage. You are right though, bears can get into anything they want to.

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