Does Austin have a mosquito and flying roach problem? (Galveston: apartment, homes)

[BoxOChocolates]

I've found mosquitos to be problematic under live oak canopies in NW Austin during summertime. Otherwise I've found Austin to be relatively benign from a bug standpoint. Here are a couple of good pest tips I've picked up over the years living in places that were less benign.

Fire Ants: Look for a product which contains Fipronil that you broadcast over your entire lawn with a fertilizer spreader. Treat once a year and you will see no fire ants - even when your neighbors have mounds popping up like weeds after rainfall.

Roaches: Get yourself some Boric Acid, dissolve it in water, and spray in places that kids/pets can't get to. One treatment is good for a couple of years. Super cheap and amazingly effective.

[AuburnAL]

Originally Posted by Blowback

True. As long as you don't mind the screams of your 3-year-old being bitten by dozens of them after he steps on one of those "small piles of dirt".

Please point to one part of my post that said anything about the appearance of ant hills, then calmly go back to putting sauce on your BBQ.

Pretty obvious where they are. They bit me once when I was a kid, but after that you learn your lesson. I'd rather have the ants than the poison.

[CarnivalGal]

Originally Posted by AuburnAL

Pretty obvious where they are. They bit me once when I was a kid, but after that you learn your lesson. I'd rather have the ants than the poison.

Not always. I stepped out of my car into a very small pile of leaves, in a parking lot, on asphalt that wasn't near any grass, only to discover he hard way that under the leaves were a bunch of fire ants. No mound, no dirt, nothing but a few leaves.

[Tams here]

Originally Posted by mm57553

Not always. I stepped out of my car into a very small pile of leaves, in a parking lot, on asphalt that wasn't near any grass, only to discover he hard way that under the leaves were a bunch of fire ants. No mound, no dirt, nothing but a few leaves.

I got bit by a fire ant while hanging up clothes in my walk in closet about two years ago. Couldn't believe it when I found a small mound full of fire ants in a tennis shoe! I'm pretty nit picky clean and organized, so was completely surprised with that discovery. Still ooges me out when I think about it!

[CptnRn]

Originally Posted by Tams here

I got bit by a fire ant while hanging up clothes in my walk in closet about two years ago. Couldn't believe it when I found a small mound full of fire ants in a tennis shoe! I'm pretty nit picky clean and organized, so was completely surprised with that discovery. Still ooges me out when I think about it!

I once found a colony of ants that built a nest and were laying eggs in my partially used box of business cards, this was in the layout table behind my desk on the third floor of an office building in downtown Austin. It is surprising what environments insects with try to colonize.

But in regard to the larger question of insect problems in Austin, I have lived in lots of different states with radically different environments. Generally Southern states have more insects than Northern states. But none of them have had problems that were so significant I actually felt they had a major impact on my life. Austin has been especially mild. Perhaps a few fire ant ambro issues each year and a few smaller ant problems occasionally getting into the kitchen or bathroom looking for water, and 3-4 times each year I have to kill a spider of roach inside the house. But even without annual spraying, none of those has taken a significant amount of effort to deal with.

I'm surprised at the number of people who are so squeamish about insects that it becomes a factor for them on where they are willing to live. Seems like a mental problem to me, not something that is really rooted in the reality of what it takes to deal with a few bugs on occasion.

Occasionally annoying, yes. Life threatening or changing, no.

[sloppymeg]

Originally Posted by CptnRn

Occasionally annoying, yes. Life threatening or changing, no.

Until it becomes life threatening or changing.

We had no idea about fireants until we moved here. Then found out the hard way with a fireant bite and anaphylactic reaction. Scary, scary stuff that became life threatening and changing immediately.

We treat our yard, educate my son, get allergy shots, but they still find him from time to time. At least now we're more prepared and know how to deal with it, as long as it's just one. More than one and we still have to pull out the epipen and seek treatment.

It's the #1 reason my hubby would like to move. But my son loves it here.

[Tams here]

Originally Posted by CptnRn

I once found a colony of ants that built a nest and were laying eggs in my partially used box of business cards, this was in the layout table behind my desk on the third floor of an office building in downtown Austin. It is surprising what environments insects with try to colonize.

But in regard to the larger question of insect problems in Austin, I have lived in lots of different states with radically different environments. Generally Southern states have more insects than Northern states. But none of them have had problems that were so significant I actually felt they had a major impact on my life. Austin has been especially mild. Perhaps a few fire ant ambro issues each year and a few smaller ant problems occasionally getting into the kitchen or bathroom looking for water, and 3-4 times each year I have to kill a spider of roach inside the house. But even without annual spraying, none of those has taken a significant amount of effort to deal with.

I'm surprised at the number of people who are so squeamish about insects that it becomes a factor for them on where they are willing to live. Seems like a mental problem to me, not something that is really rooted in the reality of what it takes to deal with a few bugs on occasion.

Occasionally annoying, yes. Life threatening or changing, no.

I've been known to use the vacuum cleaner to suck up a bigger bugs ( roaches, scorpion and beetles). Had a goliath beetle with HUGE pinchers get stuck in the end of the vacuum hose one time. What an ordeal that was! The perils of living alone. I am a sissy when it comes to bigger bugs. But hate the idea of big bugs looming about!

[hornraider]

June bugs used to freak me out when I first moved here. We didn't have those on the west coast.

[Roadking2003]

Originally Posted by ThingsLikeThat

Does Austin have a mosquito and flying roach problem? If not mosquitoes and flying roaches, are there any other bugs that are a general nuisance in Austin?

We spend lots of evenings on our deck and never see mosquitoes. Maybe it's because our deck is very high. But with millions of barn swallows and bats around Austin, I suspect we don't have very many mosquitoes.

[Roadking2003]

Originally Posted by mm57553

I'm in Steiner Ranch and we have mosquitoes, roaches, and don't forget the scorpions. We also have quarterly pest control service, which helps, but we still see them. .

That's interesting. I've been in my house for 11 years and never had a pest control service. I see about one scorpion every other year and never see roaches.