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I just saw one crawling on the bathroom floor at the Main Public Library in Columbia. they are everywhere! You should try walking on Ft. Jackson at night!
we'll be visiting the area the first week of Sept. So to ensure the wife truly loves the entire experience; will someone please run around ahead of time and spray for these darn things???
Last thing I wanna here: " boy it sure is beautiful down here, can't wait to move... arrrrrrgggggggggggg what the heck is that!!!!"
Seriously, we all have our native creatures to deal with--a little prevention goes a long way. We've learned to use stone around our home instead of mulch/bark--keeps the earwigs out of the house ( among other things as well ).
And as for those palmetto's flying: ever drive thru a 'swarm' of locusts? Now that is a real treat at 65 mph....
I'm a Midwest transplant and I really don't find the bugs to be any worse here. Spray your house or pay someone to do it regularly and you'll be fine. I use some spray that you can buy and Lowe's, Home Depot, etc. Spray it around your baseboards inside, bugs die when they crawl over it. In the nearly 2 years we've been in our house, I've seen 3 or 4 "palmetto bugs" and each was on his back dead, probably from encountering the bug spray. I'll take a bug over shoveling snow any day of the week!
How about the Palmettos that get into your gas grills, I'll take a little bit of snow over that, wait until you feel the humidity in summer (5 months long) at least in some areas of the north the cold air cleanses everything, ahh! the feel of a cold breeze through your hair, heaven! not Palmetto bugs in your sweet tea or sand fleas and the Flies , you are in for a real treat
^ all understood. But for us, who don't do anything in fall/winter but sit by the fireplace counting the days until we can get back on the lake the next spring, winter is not our thing. We've stayed in the south in the middle of summer; you bet it's hot ( and of course have seen our share of bugs/etc ). But again, everything is a trade off. If i want the cool breeze in my hair, i can stand in front of the ac ( a 40 below wind chill blowing is not our idea of refreshing hehe ).
It's all about a balance; and for what we do for recreation/enjoyment SC is far more of what we want "home" to be in the next chapter of our lives then what we have up here ( we are both born/raised in WI )...
Oh, and like up here when mice can nest in a grill..... that's what the "preheat" setting is for
I've lived half my life up north and half of it here in the south, mostly in the Lexington / Columbia area, so I second the "each region has its pests, you just have to deal" sentiment. As far as the news coverage your g/f saw, remember last year when that dude got stung by a scorpion on a plane flight (I think out of AZ, I know it was going from the southwest US to the northwest) and it made CNN? To my friends that live in that area, it was like, "If a dude got stung by a wasp in NY, would they put it on CNN?" The insect in question was under an inch in size... so take that phenomenon into consideration.
Palmetto bugs, yeah, they're just big roaches. They're primarily outdoor bugs, and they only come inside (as other posters have mentioned) usually in older houses that haven't been treated, especially if there's something in there they like. The only observations I can add are they only tend to do it around here (and I have a 100 year old house) when it's really hot and hasn't rained in awhile and they're looking for survival. We put the roach traps out in June and spray in July and usually see only like one or two when the temperature gets extreme (like about now!) and we've been going in and out of the house a lot.
How about the Palmettos that get into your gas grills, I'll take a little bit of snow over that, wait until you feel the humidity in summer (5 months long) at least in some areas of the north the cold air cleanses everything, ahh! the feel of a cold breeze through your hair, heaven! not Palmetto bugs in your sweet tea or sand fleas and the Flies , you are in for a real treat
Been here for 2 years. I love the heat and humidity, that's why I moved here. Bugs don't bother me at all. You are going to find bugs wherever you live, SC doesn't have some kind of patent on them.
You're in for a rude awakening if your definition of a cool breeze is 40ish degree day. That's a September day where I moved from. Wait until it doesn't get above zero (yes zero Fahrenheit) for a couple of weeks. Then when it does get up into the 20's, it snow 2 feet. Come back then and tell us about your cool breeze and a little snow. Better hope your furnace doesn't go out. Frozen pipes are so much fun to deal with. Oh, and that first gas bill of the heating season, good luck with that.
Been here for 2 years. I love the heat and humidity, that's why I moved here. Bugs don't bother me at all. You are going to find bugs wherever you live, SC doesn't have some kind of patent on them.
You're in for a rude awakening if your definition of a cool breeze is 40ish degree day. That's a September day where I moved from. Wait until it doesn't get above zero (yes zero Fahrenheit) for a couple of weeks. Then when it does get up into the 20's, it snow 2 feet. Come back then and tell us about your cool breeze and a little snow. Better hope your furnace doesn't go out. Frozen pipes are so much fun to deal with. Oh, and that first gas bill of the heating season, good luck with that.
Amen...I will take a the 6-8 weeks of 90 and above heat here any day (like we are currently experiencing) over the sub-30 & 20 degree temps, cloudy, gloomy days w/a foot of snow on the ground for 3+ months that we were accustomed to in the north. I love being able to go outside and take walks & runs in December & January while only wearing a sweatshirt - not 5 layers of clothing and fearing slipping on ice the entire time. I remember many halloweens where there would be an inch of snow on the ground as a child, last Thanksgiving we went for a walk after dinner in t-shirts enjoying the 70-degree fall day.
ahh! the feel of a cold breeze through your hair, heaven! not Palmetto bugs in your sweet tea or sand fleas and the Flies , you are in for a real treat
We thought you were leavin' ASAP?
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