Garden Apartments & Pests
My girlfriend and I are considering moving into a floor-thourgh garden apartment in N. Park Slope where the bedroom faces the garen. We are worried about bugs, mice and other pets. Does anyone have any experiences/thoughts to share? Many thanks.
My girlfriend and I are considering moving into a floor-thourgh garden apartment in N. Park Slope where the bedroom faces the garen. We are worried about bugs, mice and other pets. Does anyone have any experiences/thoughts to share? Many thanks.
I have a garden…and cherish it a lot! so do my cats sometimes bringing back a mouse more saddly a bird. (happened twice this year)
Only annoyance are the mosquitoes preventing us in the summer from really enjoying the patio.
Once a racoon showed up…
yes, can confirm more bugs (no roaches or mice at all) in the form of flies, mosquitoes, occassional ants, and occasional house centipede (scary but harmless things). upside: cooler temps, fireflies, lush garden we sit out in all the time and bbq and our friends are envious.
“you do seem a little neurotic and naive. Any building can have mice, bugs(roaches),etc. Did you grow up/always live in some highrise apartment or something?”
Why the nasty responses? The Count was just asking for your thoughts and experiences with garden level living. Jeez!
Having lived on the ground floor for the past two years, I can tell you that come October when it starts getting cold, without fail, a family of mice has moved in. My landlord exterminates, but I think its just one of those things you have to deal with. But if its worth having a garden, then just get some mice poison and be prepared.
I used to live in a garden apartment in Long Island City. While my apartment did not have roaches, we did have the usual ant, fly occasional bee issues and we did have garden mice. Mice unfortunately come with the territory. I did have a cat who was a terrific mouser, but she didn’t like the hind legs and would leave those after eating the rest of the mouse … yikes!
I did use mouse traps and that worked, but in the winter time, the mouse problem increased a bit. I simply kept my floors and counters as clean as I could with no food ever left out and tried my best to patch up any holes or slits. Mice can flatten themselves out to almost nothing and can fit in the tiniest of holes/slits.
I don’t like poisons .. specially with pets … as mice can also die in between your walls and begin to smell. Make sure you have screens on all your windows, don’t leave doors ajar and check under cabinets. sinks etc and patch all holes as best you can, Nothing is as enjoyable as having an oasis of a garden in the city.
I would think the only extra pests on a garden level would be feral cats, and they keep away much more annoying pests.
Mice and roaches really have no problem getting up to the 3rd or 4th floor. I once had ants climbing up the exterior of my building to my 3rd floor kitchen window (apparently my kitchen counter had enough spilled sugar on it to justify the trek).
When I lived on the 9th floor, I definitely saw fewer bugs and no mice, although that building was fairly well maintained and had regular exterminations etc., so not sure how much of that was height.
And this reminds me… there is a mouse trap in my broiler that may or may not have been sprung… I should check up on that.
i think some people are under the impression the garden apartments are much more likely to have roaches, mice, etc. can anyone confirm if there is truth to this? i always believed that if a building has roaches and mice you will see them on every level.
Sounds lovely…. downside, expect seasonal ‘skeeters, so make sure your screens are in good shape, the upside, fireflies on dark Summer evenings…
bessie2 – that’s kinda sweet – will you continue to feed him? I wish some of the feral cats in my backyard would approach me, i’d love to have a pet..
Ok – well the OP has a point as we rent out our 2 bottom floors and the kitchen is on the groundfloor. In the summer the tenants do complain of having more bugs coming in through the kitchen window than normal. I mean it’s not roaches so I don’t really worry about it – bugs are everywhere – we have an ant problem on our floor(3rd) every spring – they come through a crack near the door to the deck.
My point is bugs happen everywhere, you can’t really escape them. Mice can happen anywhere too.