NY Bad stuff?

[New_Yorker]

In Queens - NYC: you might see a small rat in the subway. On occassion I might see a dead cockaroach in the lobby of my building. They're not so bad as most think. I have a cat to chase off any that might make their way to my apartment.

Also, might see silverfish; they are little silver-shiny bugs. They are usually attracted to water. So you may see one around the bathroom sink. The cat usually takes care of them too.

I just have to be carefull about not leaving any food around. If I do, hords of tiny black ants come from nowhere to engulf the food. One good shoe kills them all with one stomp.

Other than that, the only harmful animals are the human kind.

[Lax]

sliverfish as mentioned above, and house centipedes. I did not notice them until living uptate, but I've seen them in several places in the east coast. House centipedes creep me out more than anything.

[nymom]

I would be careful of deer tics. They do carry Lymes disease. Also mosquitos here on Long island are said to carry the West Nile Virus which can be serious if you are elderly or a baby. I have only known 1 person who had that and he turned out to be fine. Just use bug spray if you're going to be out for a lengthy amount of time-especially in wooded areas.

[LauraC]

Field mice (Sept and October, especially), mosquitos and ticks on Long Island and my biggest bugaboo about LI - CRICKETS in August. Seriously, the crickets drove me nuts. They are noisy and they are fast. I never got any sleep in August. I saw another thread in this forum about cancer. I used to spray so much because of the crickets in August I thought for sure I'd get cancer.

Oh yeah, and the Canadian geese on their way south used to **** all over my car. The bad thing is I lived someplace where there were a lot of berries so they used to **** purple all over my car.

LI has those bugs in the trees that hum all summer, too, but I can't think of the name of them.

And, don't live anywhere near a duck farm (smell).

[GypsySoul22]

Long Island here, too.
I agree about the crickets. Right now I have one hiding in my home and I just vacuumed up a few more but it's something you deal with. In my old home, I had an infestation but I should have brought out the borax and ended that but my son was very young at the time (borax is toxic if ingested).

I find the wasps bad the end of the summer if you go to parks or sit in the yard drinking something with sugar.

My neighbor's stinky pigeon coops are by far the MOST annoying thing. The other stuff is really not a big deal. Oh and a lot of people seem to think it's okay to let their dogs roam around--I know sometimes they get out but it seems like more and more of them are around.

We're pretty lucky here. Not many 'horrible' pests to avoid.

[Miker]

Originally Posted by Lax

sliverfish as mentioned above, and house centipedes. I did not notice them until living uptate, but I've seen them in several places in the east coast. House centipedes creep me out more than anything.

I'm with you on the house centipedes Lax. I have lived in upstate NY my entire life but had never seen one of these creepy critters until about 6 months ago, shortly after moving into a new house. Unfortunately I have seen a couple more since. I have chills running through my body right now just thinking about them.

The good news, according to research I have done on-line, they are not only harmless but actually beneficial as they will eat other insects that are harmful to your house or food.

I still hope I never see one again.

[RiversideScribe]

Deer are the only real hazard in NY: they have no natural predators, despite state efforts to reintroduce the coyote, and while hunting is still socially acceptable in those counties outside New York City and Long lsland--what they like to call "upstate" --there are less hunters every year. And, as developers continually encroach on more woods and forests every year, you are seeing more road-killed deer every year.
"Bambi" lovers take note: a clean gunshot from a competent hunter is more merciful than getting body-slammed by several tons of steel and aluminum at highway speeds.
Skunks can also be vile if you hit them with the family car, but that goes for any state!