Spiders (homes, scorpions, live)

[jamiez]

Hey Tinabell,

I don't know if you have already made your decision about moving to Georgia or not...but, as to spiders...they are every where. There are 200 species of Wolf spiders spread out across North America, even in Pennsylvania. The Black Widow's domain goes from Fla. to Mass. to California. The Brown recluse is more commonly found in the South, but has been spotted all across the U.S..

I have been living in Georgia for two years and found Black Widows nesting in my mothers back yard. She lives in Buford, Ga.. If you move to Ga. you will know where Buford is because The Mall Of Georgia (the largest mall in Ga.) is located there. This is a densely poulated area. What did we do? Call the exterminator.

I live in Augusta, Ga. and about a month ago my husbands co-worker was bitten by a Brown Recluse on the leg. He required surgery to remove the infected area and now has a sizeable hole where tissue was removed. He is not sure when he got bit.

I have lived in Massachusettes, Texas and California and in every state have found venomous spiders. Trust me, they are in your area. You just havent noticed them, because they like to stay outside. They do not want to come in the house.

Your best bet, if you are worried, is to have a routine service with an exterminator and to educate your self about spiders. If one gets in your house spray it with Raid or whack it with a broom or for the nature lovers...gently push it out with the broom.

Keep your house clean, knock down any webs as soon as you see them and make sure your windows, window screens and doors are properly sealed.

As for your dog, I think he is in more danger of getting Lyme disease from a tick (even with tick prevention) then getting bit by a spider.

How about bird flu or west nile? Dont freak out! The South is beautiful. C'mon down!

JZ

[jamiez]

Tinabell,

One last thing. I did not even look at the other replies you recieved before mine. Most are correct or genuine, but there is a WHOLE LOT of mis-information about spiders and insects.

I just wanted to add that I am both afraid and captivated by bugs in general and if you are truely worried or making a life altering decision based on a fear then your problem is not a spider. Educate your self another way. Buy a book. It is O.K. to be afraid, but you should never let your fear stop you from doing what you want to do.

JZ aka Dr. Phil

[Everett]

I was born in Atlanta in 1943. The town was idyllic and sleepy; warm with honey suckle, gardenias and magnolias. You could walk the streets at night, crime was not a problem.

It was relaxed and friendly. You could shop downtown and go to downtown Atlanta at night without taking a 38 Magnum in your purse or backpocket. It was like a happy dream.

I wish to God all the crap I am reading in here about too much humidity, too many cloudy days, too many bugs, too hot and too many ignorant redneck was true. Then instead of 4,000,000 people we would have the 300,000 that was here in the 50's. We would still be small and comfortable.

If Atlanta, Georgia, and the South in general is such a hell hole, why do people keep piling in here day after day? The bugs, heat and humidity did not keep 3,000,000 from moving here from all over the nation. Of course, since the 3,000,000 have moved in bringing the habits they learned in the squalid, roach infested quarters of Manhatten Island and Queens, we have too much traffic and congestion.

Mostly drugs and crime have ruined an environment that at one time had the grace and charm that Gone with the Wind evoked.

[southernguyGA]

Originally Posted by Tinabell

I would really like to know if the spiders Iv'e read about are a problem in houses. I hate spiders and I'm seriously considering not moving to GA for this reason. I read about Brown recluse spiders. wolf spiders, and black widows. I don't want to have to search my bed everynight for these ugly huge hairy things! Does anyone have a problem with them? How do you get them out without them biting?? I don't want my dog to get bit either! We're both scardy cats!!!

No not in the houses, outside in woodpiles, do not have one if thats a problem. LOL I have lived in GA 10 years now and never heard of a problem in the house, only ants and that is easy to solve.

[southernguyGA]

Originally Posted by Everett

I was born in Atlanta in 1943. The town was idyllic and sleepy; warm with honey suckle, gardenias and magnolias. You could walk the streets at night, crime was not a problem.

It was relaxed and friendly. You could shop downtown and go to downtown Atlanta at night without taking a 38 Magnum in your purse or backpocket. It was like a happy dream.

I wish to God all the crap I am reading in here about too much humidity, too many cloudy days, too many bugs, too hot and too many ignorant redneck was true. Then instead of 4,000,000 people we would have the 300,000 that was here in the 50's. We would still be small and comfortable.

If Atlanta, Georgia, and the South in general is such a hell hole, why do people keep piling in here day after day? The bugs, heat and humidity did not keep 3,000,000 from moving here from all over the nation. Of course, since the 3,000,000 have moved in bringing the habits they learned in the squalid, roach infested quarters of Manhatten Island and Queens, we have too much traffic and congestion.

Mostly drugs and crime have ruined an environment that at one time had the grace and charm that Gone with the Wind evoked.

AMEN!!!!!!!!!!!!! I agree!!! I think it is not perfect but heck what is? I love Georgia but too many are moving there to soak in the great state of Georgia! LOL

[smurfette36]

Hi Everyone, I have something to share about creapy crawlies. Have you all seen the scorpions? In 1987, i worked for a cleaning service for the new houses and i have never seen the spiders that you all mentioned but on several occasions i did see scorpions. I worked in falcon hills subdivision for one, cant remember them all, town manor maybe too. Now i live in Ky. and we have the brown recluse here too. I heard of a child that was bitten a few miles away from us and it had to have surgery because of the bite, they can be nasty. No matter where we live, there is always something to deal with.I also had a snake get in my house once too. it crawled up the sink drain and crawled over my feet while i was washing dishes. i caught and killed it.it was trying to lay eggs in my house. it was a house snake i was told.Smurfette36

[MoMark]

Originally Posted by Tinabell

I would really like to know if the spiders Iv'e read about are a problem in houses. I hate spiders and I'm seriously considering not moving to GA for this reason. I read about Brown recluse spiders. wolf spiders, and black widows. I don't want to have to search my bed everynight for these ugly huge hairy things! Does anyone have a problem with them? How do you get them out without them biting?? I don't want my dog to get bit either! We're both scardy cats!!!

I hate spiders too. They totally creep me out, and if you ever want to hear a grown man scream in E-Flat, throw one on me when I don't expect it... The recluse spiders worry me the most, but I've never seen one, but I like to slide my feet inbetween the cushions of my couches when I'm watching tv and all curled up, and I don't conscientiously because of worry about brown recluses. I had a large spider flee from under a cushion when a rather large friend of mine sat on my living room couch a couple of weeks ago and then run under the couch. I have no idea where it went to. I need to spray because I'm getting the willies. When I lived in Las Vegas I had a huge problem with black widows, and I did check my bed for them before sliding in at night. I never found one in the house, but I could easily find two or three around my patio in the evening. They have crazily woven messy webs and like to hang in the middle waiting for unlucky insects to get entwined. Right now in Austria there is some kind of spider invasion going on with venomous spiders called Gelbbauchspinner I believe it is, yellow stomach spiders, or something like that. They are poisonous and hundreds of people have reported being bitten and gone to the hospitals and Austria is freaked out. That's in Europe. And one guy here made a joke about a "ceiling spider" dropping down in the night and laying eggs in a victim's skin...well, a friend of mine in Germany was out in the country, got bitten by something, got a big black/blue welt on his lower leg below his knee. It itched, but he left it alone, then he accidently hit his leg against a coffee table and it burst and dozens of little spiders ran out and down his leg. True story and it totally grossed me out. Nowhere is spider-free. I found six spiders around midnight inside the house. I usually catch them in a glass and open the front door and throw them out, or if I'm lazy and not feeling generous, I wet toilet paper, throw it on them, then toss them into the toilet for a water ride direct into the septic tank. I need to call an exterminator though. That's the best solution...that and my two cats who eat most of the bugs they find in the house. But though I hate them, I wouldn't not move somewhere just because of spiders.

[atlantagreg30127]

Originally Posted by Everett

If Atlanta, Georgia, and the South in general is such a hell hole, why do people keep piling in here day after day?

It's all misinformation from realtors and relocators in other areas. They portray Atlanta as some sort of golden city filled with jobs and laughing children and free lotto tickets or something - people pile in, and poof, it all goes to hell. It's still going on - Atlanta has averaged anywhere from 35,000 to up to 95,000 people moving into the metro area PER YEAR since the late 70s!

Every friend I have ever had who moved here from out of state told me that realtors told them how wonderful Atlanta was. They moved here based on those comments, and once settled quickly were shaking their heads like, "What? WHAT did they say???". I've been in the area for 22 years and am somewhat stuck here for various reasons at the moment, but of the nearly two dozen friends I've had in those 22 years, 19 of them have moved back out of the Atlanta area (most back out of state) since they moved here.

This is a very vague example, but I'll use it: In West Cobb, McEachern High School once had the reputation of being one of the best in the metro area. So, in the last 4 years, urban parents who have "troubled" kids with poor peers in their schools, decided to start relocating to this area and put their kids in McEachern so they would be around better peers. Sounds nice. Well, in 4 years, about 250 of these parents with gangster kids did the same thing. Now McEachern has one of the worst school incident problems in the area, to the point they actually built a nicer school north of here, and the parents with the good kids are moving out of the McEachern district, into the new one, leaving the old school to all the bad kids who found each other, formed gangs, etc. Same with Atlanta - too many bad apples move here, so the best ones are leaving - leaving the city to the bad ones.

Ok, was off topic. Just imagine all the good little spiders leave and all you have left are Black Widows. That's Atlanta.

Keep your house sprayed and don't carry in stuff like piles of papers or bags or things from the garage. You'll be fine. Too bad we don't have a 1200ft tall can of bug spray for the city.

[betenoir]

Originally Posted by hwd

As far as aunts, big deal. I haven't been bit by an aunt sense I was a kid, and the only reason I got bit then was because I was playing in an ant bed.

I have yet to have been bitten by an aunt. Especially not by her in bed.

now, cousins on the other hand, they were more likely to push than bite.

[netdragon]

I've been in Smyrna for a year and a half already, and was initially on the lookout for brown recluse, learned what they look like from the internet, etc, but I haven't seen one yet. I've learned they usually "infest" properties and live in colonies, so if you see one, there are probably many, and if the place is infested, you'll usually see one. They can be exterminated. Georgia is on the far edge of their range, so they are more common as you head northwest towards arkansas. (http://www.geo-outdoors.info/brown_recluse.htm)

I've seen some big wolf, wood or possibly fishing spiders, and killed one in the bedroom. They aren't unique to Georgia and the biggest I've ever seen were in Canada -- fishing spiders that measured 5 inches across from leg tip to leg tip, so you'll find them anywhere.

The biggest annoyance are the big beetles (outdoor cockroaches?) and ants. Since GA has mild winters, I believe they live longer than up North, grow bigger, and are very good at getting into homes. If I come home at night, there's usually a beetle or two waiting to sneak in when I open the door. The place I lived in before the current condo had a huge ant problem, but the one I'm in now doesn't. I don't recommend letting brush or leaves touch the foundation of your property, because it makes it easier for them to get in and harder to fight off. The beetles are annoying as heck, and fast -- I find them very hard to catch when they get in.