Creepy crawlies in Charlotte? (live, invest, time)

[Rampart2]

Fire Ants - very common, you will most certainly encounter these. pretty painful bites that stick with you for a while


Scorpions are very rare here, but can still be found.


Velvet ants also rarely seen



Black Widows - you will see these, I see them often


Brown Recluse - you won't typically know what you're looking at but also a common occurrence


Copperheads - common if you live near a wooded area
http://scienceblogs.com/clock/upload/2007/02/copperhead.jpg (broken link)

Water Moccasins - less common but if you live near water you may see one


rattle snakes - I've never seen one and have heard very few stories of sightings in our area





Don't confuse the Brown Recluse with the non-poisonous Wolf Spider which is a VERY common spider here

[jp03]

Originally Posted by Rampart2

Scorpians are very rare here, but can still be found. The velvet ants also rarely seen. And I don't think either of them are deadly in this area.

The dangerous critters are

Black Widows - you will see these, I see them often


Brown Recluse - you won't typically know what you're looking at but also a common occurrence


Copperheads - common if you live near a wooded area


Water Moccasins - less common but if you live near water you may see one


rattle snakes - I've never seen one and have heard very few stories of sightings in our area





Don't confuse the Brown Recluse with the Wolf Spider which is a VERY common spider here

Thanks for the pictures NOT...........I have to learn to not look at these threads...

[Rampart2]

Originally Posted by jp03

Thanks for the pictures NOT...........I have to learn to not look at these threads...

lol.. sorry

[Nativechief]

No water moccasins or rattlesnakes in charlotte area.

[Rampart2]

Originally Posted by Nativechief

No water moccasins or rattlesnakes in charlotte area.

I've seen more than one water moccasin myself.

And I have heard 2 stories in 20 years of rattlesnakes from people who had the encounters.

[sundrop]

Originally Posted by Nativechief

No water moccasins or rattlesnakes in charlotte area.

Water mocscasins are definitely by the lakes/water around here. While my home was being built, there was a rattle snake found underneath some lumber that had been delivered. So yeah they are somewhere out there......

[Nativechief]

I know a guy who lives about 20 miles east of here and found a nest of cainbreaks in a wood pile. I always heard they weren't moccasins and rattle snakes here but I guess they have migrated here if your reports are accurate. The worse pest I have around my home in charlotte is the black widows. I found a big nasty one in my boat last year and it had been parked inside and was cleaned up shorty before this. If you get any fire ants in your yard its best to treat the entire yard with ant killer rather than wait for them to build multiple mounds. Just several bites from these little devils can send you to the hospital hoping you dont stop breathing before you get there. Not being able to breath is a serious side effect the bites can cause.

[Rampart2]

Originally Posted by Nativechief

I know a guy who lives about 20 miles east of here and found a nest of cainbreaks in a wood pile. I always heard they weren't moccasins and rattle snakes here but I guess they have migrated here if your reports are accurate. The worse pest I have around my home in charlotte is the black widows. I found a big nasty one in my boat last year and it had been parked inside and was cleaned up shorty before this. If you get any fire ants in your yard its best to treat the entire yard with ant killer rather than wait for them to build multiple mounds. Just several bites from these little devils can send you to the hospital hoping you dont stop breathing before you get there. Not being able to breath is a serious side effect the bites can cause.

I would imagine that you'd have to be allergic for that to be the case. Of all the stories and encounters I've seen or heard I've actually never heard or seen that. I've been bit more times then I can count, and it's a pretty common occurrence.

I do agree however that you'd probably be better off treating the whole yard. Seems like if you treat one mound, they just move over and build another..

Sorry, I don't know what a "Cainbreak" is. I looked it up:
Canebrake is the term given to a thicket of canes usually regarded as bamboos. This term is more precisely used for big species of bamboo. A forest of bamboo or a place where there are many bamboos can be called a canebrake.

But that doesn't seem to be what you're talking about. Is that a nickname for some snake that's found here?

I don't know when the moccasins arrived in the Charlotte area, but I know I used to encounter them as a child flipping rocks at Mcalpine creek, and fishing ponds in the Matthews/SE Charlotte area. 25 years ago..

[Nativechief]

I spelled it wrong..its CANEBRAKE see picture

[Rampart2]

Originally Posted by Nativechief

I spelled it wrong..its CANEBRAKE see picture

Ahh, it's a type of rattle snake..

Seems in looking it up, it's another name for a timber rattler.

That must have been an experience