Eastern Remedies For Pest Control

Visit any food storage cupboards in Malaysia and I would bet that you will find some empty egg shells in it. What you have discovered is an ancient eastern remedy to repel lizards called the “nuk ka cicak” which means lizard and egg in the Chinese.

I think it is easy to understand why this method gains so much popularity because of its simplicity. All one has to do is to get an empty egg shell and place it in the kitchen cabinet. It is thought that lizards have an inborn fear towards egg shells and will stay away from the cabinets.

I tried to apply this method to my lizard-infested kitchen cabinet once. Meticulously I placed the egg shells in the cabinet. The following day I checked the shells, lo and behold, the shells had become a convenient spot for the lizards to leave their tiny “white pearls” behind. Frustrated, I promptly removed the eggs and replaced it with glue traps and duly captured the lizards.

Another famous remedy is the use of dried chilli to repel the most common pantry pest in Asia: the rice weevil.  Very much like first method, it has simplicity written all over it. It is believed that the dry chilli in the rice will irritate the weevils in the rice causing them to move away from the storage container.

Out of curiosity I tried this method in my house and much to my disappointment (again), the population of rice weevil in the storage area doubled. Some of the weevils were even noted to be crawling and resting on the dried chilli. I quickly placed the rice storage container in the fridge. The infestation was cleared within one week.

So next time if someone recommends any of the above remedies to solve your pest problem, I suggest you think twice before applying it. Try a professional pest controller instead.