Scorpions, Tarantulas, Snakes, Oh-My (Houston, Austin: to live, garden, eat)

[citizenone]

Fire ants eat protein. They don't care if it is in your underware or if it is a tick or flea. There are excellent ways to keep them under controll with an annual application of the appropriate ant killer. Rapid Kill is my choice and I use Bengal Roach spray for all inside insects and have no problems. But these little beasts (ants) have reduced the tick population so much is is now nice to walk about Texas without getting spotted fever.

[love roses]

Lizards also cut down on the chance of Lyme disease from ticks. The Lizards have some kind of enzyme (?) in their blood that kills lyme disease, and ticks do attach to lizards. I think I read about this in the paper.

[Schmoo]

How do you folks with pets keep them safe, from both fire ants and snakes?

I've read that you should keep brush, wood piles, etc away from the home & that makes sense. But is there anything you can really do to keep your dogs from being bitten, besides that? (Not really while out hiking, but mostly in your own backyard.) Do fire ants pose a problem for dogs as they walk through the grass?

We're looking at the more rural areas on the outskirts of Austin, so this won't be inside a subdivision - there will surely be more critters, and I'm slightly concerned about keeping the pooches safe!

[Driftwood1]

Never heard of dogs getting into trouble with fire ants, but snakes, well yes, our neighbors dog "played" with a rattler, he survived but really dammaged his paws. Still , most everyone lets their dogs run free in their yards out here so I think its pretty rare occurance..

Now, our cat.. well, it made it 5 1/2 years then a fox got it..(:<

On that note, I do beleive an outdoor animal anywhere in the US is at risk , not just in TX..

G

[Schmoo]

Originally Posted by Driftwood1

On that note, I do beleive an outdoor animal anywhere in the US is at risk , not just in TX..
G

Oh, these are definitely indoor pets. We don't allow our cats out and we would install a fence for the dogs and they'd only be outside when supervised. That is comforting to hear that dog fatalities may not be that common though. With all the snake talk, I was getting nervous!

[twange]

I'll be moving down there in September. We're into hiking/backpacking so this will be an area of concern...my dog is very curious and loves to investigate nooks and crannies. It's what makes it so much fun to take her out Check out these links:

http://www.countryworldnews.com/Editorial/CTX/2006/ct0713snake.html (broken link)
http://www.uplandbirddog.com/snake/

Depending on what sort of outdoor activities that you engage in, I don't think this is an overeaction. I generally don't believe in extreme training but when it comes to poisonous snakes and my dog...she'll have to endure the brief pain and I'll have to endure the lingering guilt

As far as ticks go, get a specific collar(advantix/preventic) for your dog if/when you go out into the wild frontier...for just backyard/park stuff I think the monthly flea/tick treatments should be sufficient.

[jhwest]

My son just did a report on Scorpions. There is absolutely no way to kill them, other than by force (smashing). Scorpions can be frozen, and will still live (my SIL in AZ tried this and it really is true.) Pesticides are inneffective. They are also the only creature that can survive a nuclear blast. Nice.
They are particularly attracted to dark spots. This same SIL in AZ has been bitten twicence by a scorpion in a shoe, once by one under her pillow (ARGGGH!) They are particularly fond of living in citrus groves. So if you ever live in a neighborhood that was formerly a citrus grove, then BEWARE. They are very territorial and like to stay very close to where they were born. They won't migrate to find food.
This all proves that truly they are the spawn of the devil!
Here in Utah where I live we have black widows, and rattlers. There's always some poor boy scout who gets bitten every summer. We never see them in subdivisions, though. One of my friends did find one in her family room last year. They were moving and had the doors open a lot. Must have snuck in. She just scooped it up in a dustpan and threw it in the backyard. What was she thinking?!!

[jennyb315]

I had a lovely snake on my driveway yesterday--- my son was yelling at me that it was a rattler becuase it was coiled up with its head up hissing..... OMG-- I am ready to move to Hawaii were there are no snakes!!! My husband was at work and would not leave to come and kill it and there were no construction workers around on a Sunday. No way am I going in the grass for a long long long long time...... turns out it was just a whip snake, not poisonous but has attitude----- frankly, I don't care what it was-- I just want it gone far far away from me!!!!!!! ewh!!!!

[Austin97]

Originally Posted by Schmoo

How do you folks with pets keep them safe, from both fire ants and snakes?

I've read that you should keep brush, wood piles, etc away from the home & that makes sense. But is there anything you can really do to keep your dogs from being bitten, besides that? (Not really while out hiking, but mostly in your own backyard.) Do fire ants pose a problem for dogs as they walk through the grass?

We're looking at the more rural areas on the outskirts of Austin, so this won't be inside a subdivision - there will surely be more critters, and I'm slightly concerned about keeping the pooches safe!

Fire ants arent like those army ants that you see in documentaries. Typically you wont get bitten unless you are standing right on their mound. When you get bitten you know pretty quick. I typically only get 1 or 2 bites.

I dont know if my dog has ever been bitten, but we do have a few mounds in our yard. We use amdro which pretty much kills the mound. New ones are always popping up so I have to treat them as I find them.

[Zenobyte]

What about roaches? I've heard that they can be a problem in Texas but nobody has mentioned them on this thread yet. Also, is there any legal restrictions on using a pellet gun or a small caliber firearm to kill snakes or other unwelcome critters?