Bugs in Mississippi (Jackson, Brandon, Flowood: apartment, rental homes, how much)

[joanie55]

As some of you on this forum may know, I will be moving to Miss. from se Florida in less than 60 days. I am bug phobic. You may find this odd considering I have been living in Florida for the past 4 years, but strangely enough, I have had fewer bugs in my home in Florida than anywhere I have ever lived - and I've lived in 4 places here in Florida (I'm a bit of a gypsy.) I have never once had a spider or a cockroach in my home. We have palmetto bugs down here - those flying roaches than are large enough to put a leash on and walk, but I only had a few in my garage once and once I had professionals spray once I never saw another one. My cousin has a home in Brandon near the reservoir and she has spiders and cockroaches, especially when it rains. Her husband sprays but I don't know how often. My mom lives in an apartment in Flowood and they spray every month and she has seen nothing. However, she has macular degeneration and is going blind so God only knows what is crawling around in there that she is unaware of. I lived in Jackson as a young teenager and remember those flying June bugs I think they were and one flew in my hair once And I remember the mosquitos and how much they loved me (in Florida if you live near the ocean, which I do, you don't have a big mosquito problem). Anway, I plan on living in the Fondren, Belhaven area, don't know if that makes a difference. My question is, if I have my home professionally sprayed monthly, will I still have to put up with critters that not only creep my out but who don't pay rent? Thanks for any info you can give me.

[jacksonian]

Living in Fondren, we have our house treated once every 3 months, which works well for us. That being said, the mosquitoes get pretty bad outside during the warmer months. We have a bug zapper with mosquito bait which surprisingly makes a significant difference. I have seen a couple of king snakes (nonpoisonous and eat small rodents) and to my surprise, I had a possum in my backyard just the other morning (very rare in my neighborhood). No matter where you live in central MS, you will have some sort of bugs and/or critters to deal with, and you'll just have to find the best way to cope with them.

[bornjacksonian]

Originally Posted by jacksonian

Living in Fondren, we have our house treated once every 3 months, which works well for us. That being said, the mosquitoes get pretty bad outside during the warmer months. We have a bug zapper with mosquito bait which surprisingly makes a significant difference. I have seen a couple of king snakes (nonpoisonous and eat small rodents) and to my surprise, I had a possum in my backyard just the other morning (very rare in my neighborhood). No matter where you live in central MS, you will have some sort of bugs and/or critters to deal with, and you'll just have to find the best way to cope with them.

Lol I agree jacksonian. You will not be able to avoid this nowhere in metro Jackson. It's so common to us ...... it may scare you real quick, but once you kill it its back to whatever you was doing.

[joanie55]

Thanks for your honesty. Jacksonian, possums are actually pretty common in Florida near the water. I sort of freaked out the first time I saw one. I was walking my 10 lb dog and she started to go after it (don't know how big the ones you saw were but here they can be huge - easily 15 pounds) and it ran up a tree. They are actually quite docile and afraid of us. Racoons, which are always portrayed as cute, are not the same. My cat was mauled by a racoon about a year and half ago. He was 11 and in great shape but he got out by accident and had no front claws. I will never have another cat declawed based on that experience.Yes, I've heard those mosquito zappers work very well. Certain things I can adjust to. Alb, NM is full of nasty roaches and I made an unfortunate move into a home that was in a neighborhood that was full of them. When I moved out at 10 am they were jumping around in the yard and a couple tried to climb into the u-haul to ride along. I drank heavily during that time - it was the only way I could go to sleep. Needless to say, I don't want to repeat that experience. By the way, I find very little on the websites for houses in Fondren. There are no listings for rentals in the Jacksona area at all on realtor.com. There is craigslist and home rentals but that's all I can find. Do you have any other resources for rental homes that I'm not aware of? If so, I would appreciate it. Thanks!

[jacksonian]

I will pm you some information. The forum will not allow me to post up business websites.

[2HHI]

I lived in a brand new apt. community on the MS Coast. They sprayed every month, and I still got those large, flying, gross **** roaches. I even found a dead spider on my living room floor and could see its shiny fangs. The bugs are the only things I disliked about living in MS. I find it almost unbelievable that you had no bug problem in FLA., your lucky.

[joanie55]

Originally Posted by 2HHI

I lived in a brand new apt. community on the MS Coast. They sprayed every month, and I still got those large, flying, gross **** roaches. I even found a dead spider on my living room floor and could see its shiny fangs. The bugs are the only things I disliked about living in MS. I find it almost unbelievable that you had no bug problem in FLA., your lucky.

Maybe I AM just lucky because I know people in this area who have had problems but they also seldom got their homes sprayed. Most of the communties here spray the entire area frequently so I think that does a lot to help.