Lets Get Down to it! How BAD are the BUGS? (house, scorpions)
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All I ever hear from people when I tell them we will be moving to NC is humidity and bugs. I have lived with Humidity before. But the bugs are an entirely different matter. Are they really THAT bad? Give me some examples! The way people talk I won't be able to leave my house without them attacking me and I will find them in my house and bed at night. So what is the low down?
Well CAKD, I am in the same boat as you. I do know I am planning on having a screened porch and I am packing my bug zapper! I don't think the humidity is as bad as GA and SC. I have only been their in May, Oct and Nov. Charleston, SC in May was a bit sticky. No bug problem then and in Nov we sat on the screened porch everynight, it was wonderful!
Location: Hopefully Montana soon. But Prescott, AZ for now.......
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Originally Posted by CAKD
All I ever hear from people when I tell them we will be moving to NC is humidity and bugs. I have lived with Humidity before. But the bugs are an entirely different matter. Are they really THAT bad? Give me some examples!
Well, I don't want to scare ya! But a pal of mine was out camping in NC. He crawled into his sleeping bag and zipped up. He was just drifting off to sleep when something lifted the sleeping bag up! Suddenly he was floating through the air. He unzipped just enough to see four mosquitoes carrying him away. One of them said "Well, should we take him into the woods?" Then another replied " No way! The big ones will get him"!
Nah, they aren't too bad. I have scorpions and tarantulas out here. A few mosquitoes are nothing!
I have been curious also about fleas. I know ticks can be a problem, but if a flea is within 10 miles of us it finds my dog here in SoCal. Is there a flea problem and if so what times of the year?
All I ever hear from people when I tell them we will be moving to NC is humidity and bugs. .... So what is the low down?
They're about as big as you see in the pic. We see them in the fall, spinning webs and laying eggs.
TICKS, too! And fleas. Both in the summer. We treat our pets with the dab-on-the-neck stuff. Mosquitos come out in the evening, though only really bad around areas where there is standing water. We have lightning bugs, though they don't seem so prevalent now as when I was a kid. Somehow, cockroaches get in the house in the summer. I'm not bug-phobic, but cockroaches will get me twitterpated I associate them with filth, though my house is clean. Millipeds and centipeds - not sure of the difference, they just look like scaly worms with lotsa legs
Maybe because I'm a country person and am used to bugs and snakes, and presents the cats will leave on the door step; I don't mind them much. In fact, seeing a luna moth will send me scurrying for the camera.
Bugs are something one has to get used to. I doubt you'll see as many living in a subdivision. They are diverse and plentiful out here in the rural areas.
Bugs are in every state. People exaggerate the "problem". I think mosquitoes are worse in MN where I grew up. Humid summers aren't limited to North Carolina either.
Bugs are in every state. People exaggerate the "problem". I think mosquitoes are worse in MN where I grew up. Humid summers aren't limited to North Carolina either.
Well, I don't know how bad it is in NC but if it's anything like what I experienced while living in VA, that was just as bad as summers in Michigan. It's humid here as well in the Summer months but our winters are worse too.
Well, the humidity on the coast is horrible. The temps can soar to 100 degrees + even by the early part of June although normally the worse times are July and August and perhaps even the first of September. Although I have seen 100 degree days in May and 80 degrees on Christmas Day. As for the bugs, well, I stay indoors a lot. I have lupus so since the sun is a problem for me, I stay inside. I don't recall seeing that many but the worse offenders are the tiny tiny ants, a few spiders and if you allow even one roach to live, you may as well call Terminex. As for outside, the mosquitoes can be really bad and of course there are wasps, bees, spiders, a few beetles, ants, and there is probably something I have missed. One thing you can do is first of all, don't plant sweet smelling climbing flowers like lilac (they are purple climbing vines) near your house or the door you go in. They do attract bees in particular and wasps. My MIL had one near her door and it was nearly impossible to get inside without letting one in. Have screen on your windows, which isn't a problem for me as we use the A/C all summer and hardly ever open the windows. My allergies are so bad I can't tolerate the pollen. Common house flies can be quite bad if you don't install a screen door or screens on your windows. Also I believe I am correct in saying this but there are some plants that repell mosquitos. They are worse around standing water in the summer heat and after a big storm. If we have a hurricane, afterwards never allow children to play in standing water. There is no telling what could be in it including insects and possibly a snake. We didn't flood during Floyd even though 3/4 of the county did. But we got the snakes looking for higher ground. I guess I am accustomed to the inconvenience of the nuisance of the bugs. And the ticks are bad if you are the type to go near the woods, which again, I never do. I don't have any pets except for one outside cat and Chris takes care of her because I am allergic to cats. Of course I would be remiss if I didn't warn you about the field mice that live in the rural areas. When the farmers disk up the land, they will come pouring in if you don't set out some traps to catch them, hence why I have an outside cat. The cat usually takes care of what would normally be in the house. In the 14 years that I have lived here, we have had 3 to actually get in the house. And that was after the first cat we had died and before we got the second cat. I wasn't going to get another cat after Pepper died but we just about had to. Two of them we caught with a trap and the other one, well that is a story just right for funniest home video. He ran across something and I lifted it as Chris swatted it with a broom. But you have to be fast to perform this feat believe me. It is like living anywhere else. You have to decide what you can and can't live with. Personally I will take my chances here instead of the west desert region with the rattlesnakes and scorpions. I am probably immuned to the stuff that lives around here. What I would do if I came here to live is once I started experiencing something that I didn't know how to handle would be ask one of the locals how they contend with it. Just don't be shocked by what they tell you. I would be willing to bet that 50% of the time it is not going to be to call an exterminator.
I have been curious also about fleas. I know ticks can be a problem, but if a flea is within 10 miles of us it finds my dog here in SoCal. Is there a flea problem and if so what times of the year?
I've always had a dog and always given them the heart worm and flea medicine and it works. I don't know how bad they are elsewhere, but if that were the biggest problem I had, I'd have none.
All I ever hear from people when I tell them we will be moving to NC is humidity and bugs. I have lived with Humidity before. But the bugs are an entirely different matter. Are they really THAT bad? Give me some examples! The way people talk I won't be able to leave my house without them attacking me and I will find them in my house and bed at night. So what is the low down?
It would be helpful to know what region you're asking about. These responses do not apply to all. The regional environment of NC is that different from one section to another.
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Give me some examples! The way people talk I won't be able to leave my house without them attacking me and I will find them in my house and bed at night. So what is the low down?
