Insects, humidity - what's the real scoop...thinking about Houston metro? (Dallas: homes, purchase)

[crbcrbrgv]

Originally Posted by Cornellian

If I remember right professorsenator you are from Boston and seem to have nothing pleasant to say about Houston. I am a transplant and enjoy the city very much and have grown to love it. You are right about the city not being as stunning as NY or Chicago, however, Boston has nothing to offer over and above Houston. I spent 4 years in grad. school there and please go spew your acid elsewhere.

That and your damned football team blew it....big time!

[professorsenator]

Originally Posted by crbcrbrgv

That and your damned football team blew it....big time!

Yeah, tell me about it. Sad, isn't it? We're very disappointed.

But I guess you folks in Houston know what a downer it is to see your hometown team lose its bid for its fourth Superbowl win. Oh wait....I forgot--Houston's never had a football team make it to a Superbowl.

[arbucle]

But Texas is big and i live in Houston but am a Dallas cowboys fan and they have won 5 superbowls and been in 8.Thats beats everyone in the NFL yankee boy.Hopefully next year will be number six!Thats gods team we are talking about my boy.But i forget New englanders worship socialism and Ted the murderer Kennedy!

[jfre81]

I see this has drifted from "Let's see how many nuisances present throughout the Gulf Coast that we can make out as being unique to Houston" to "My football team is better than yours."

And if the Cowboys are God's team, Tony Romo is living proof that he hates us all.

[pavu]

I've lived in Houston's suburban area (Waller and Katy) all of my life, I am now 38.

Flying roaches - I've only had a handful of of experiences with "flying" roaches, they don't and can't fly that far. If you live in a house and you don't live next to a landfill or a filthy neighbor and you keep your house somewhat clean, you will not have much of an experience with ANY roaches. But the ones you do encounter will most likely be running along the baseboards in your home. Now if you use an exterminator or just spray a little Raid around the baseboards then you will have virtually no problem at all.

Mosquitos - Like some have said most of the communities/subdivisions have a mosquito control which keeps the mosquito population down. I live in the city of Katy, where they spray, BUT I live fairly close to a wooded area that has standing water when we get a lot of rain, so they can be a nuisance in the evening time, but there are ways to help the situation, spray on a mosquito repellant or some kind of yard spray, and it shouldn't be much of a problem.

Heat and humidity - Please, yes it can be very hot and humid anytime of the year in this area, but consistently hot and humid in July-Sep, but pretty much everywhere you go you will have weather issues to deal with, so it's all in what you personally would rather deal with. While I may sweat my tail off in the summer, I have never had to do any physical work due to the weather. Unlike that folks up north that have to shovel snow just to walk down their sidewalk or get their car out of the driveway.

I watched the NFL playoffs in my shorts, while the folks at the Green Bay game where sitting in sub zero temps....

[Texas Mack]

The biggest bug(s) I've ever seen was a unique species of Palmetto bug in south Florida that was (and I'm not exaggerating) the size of a ten year old's fist. Thankfully, it was only ground-based. I never did find out the name of it.

And I didn't freak out either. Thought it was cool, actually (especially, since it was crawling away from me towards some hedges).

[carolineb]

texdav -- what about the caterpillars in Maine that give you a rash -- we camped their every year with friends and you coudn't avoid them. The 1st year, our friends didn't see the signs and their kids re-used their towels after hanging them up to dry and got terrible rashes.

[Supermac34]

That hot, humid weather is the same reason you can play golf year round in Houston.

[UK-Trinity]

As some one who is considering a move to the Houston are (probably Sugar Land) can you tell me if swimming pools in the ground attract bugs?

I was reading elsewhere on this board that roaches are attracted to water - do people with pools in their yards have extra bug problems?

[brinab99]

The mosquitos are much worse than the flying roaches. Having moved here from S. Florida I was already aware of what they call Palmetto Bugs (flying roaches) and if you put down some boric acid outside and inside and a few Large Roach baits soon you won't see them in your home anymore. Outside is a different story. But the mosquitos are an expensive problem. We have purchased candles, zapper lights, foggers, and sprays and none of them work for very long. The only contraption I could find on the internet last year that looked like it might help costs about $500. It's not practical to wear long sleeves and pants when it's nearly 100 degrees outside so I do my best to make sure I'm wearing Off before I got outside. But remember because it's so hot outside it tends to sweat off pretty quickly so if you will be outside for more than 2hrs make sure you keep some Off with you to respray yourself.
Also I have a dog so I make sure she has her monthly heartworm pill since mosquitos spread heartworm disease.
Hope this helps you a bit.