Fact or Fiction: Popular Old Wives Tales About Household Pests

Household pests have been at the centre of much discussion for centuries, resulting in plenty of myths and misconceptions.

Want to know the truth about a few of the more popular tales about household pests? By the time you get to the end of this little piece, you’ll know what is true and what is nothing but fake news.

Table of Contents
Ant vs Termite: Civil War

This old wives tale has been circulating for quite some time. As the myth goes, if you have ants in your house, then you won’t have termites.

Ants and termites are far from being the best of friends, but there is considerable evidence of people having both ants and termites in their homes concurrently.

The fact that ants and termites despise each other does not mean that they won’t co-exist when they need to.

This tale is fictional.

2. Earwigs have a taste for human brain.

Earwigs are arguably the most misunderstood pests on this list. Their name alone is a product of an old wives tale.

Earwigs are believed by some to love the taste of earwax and ultimately brain matter. Many believe that earwigs love crawling into the ears of unsuspecting victims while they sleep.

This old tale is a bit scary. Earwigs were believed to crawl into our ears just so they could feed and lay their eggs in our brains.

This tale is unrealistic and false.

3. Orange oil is effective in controlling termites.

There have been multiple claims of orange oil’s ability to control termites. This tale is particularly interesting since it’s both true and untrue.

Orange oil contains an active ingredient known as “d-limonene,” which is deadly to termites. But orange oil can only kill a few hundred termites at a time because of its short residual effect.

Since the average termite colony contains about 350,000 members, if you really want to control the population, you’ll need a little more than orange oil.

This tale is arguably a fact.

4. Cheese is the perfect bait for trapping mice.

This is arguably the most famous tale on this list. It has been fueled by television shows so much that most people accept it to be true.

Almost every representation depicts cheese as the best bait for trapping and getting rid of mice. Admittedly, cheese is great for trapping mice, but if you want to get the job done in record time make use of peanut butter as mice prefer it.

This tale is fictional.

5. Cucumber can be used to control ants.

Admittedly, cucumbers can be somewhat effective in controlling ants within your home. The scent that cucumbers emit is enough to disrupt ants temporarily.

This interruption gives you an opportunity to round up the pests and annihilate them with a stronger, more effective natural pesticide.

The tale is indeed factual, but keep in mind that cucumber only stuns and leaves ants incapacitated for a short while. It won’t kill or harm ants.