[Synopsis]

Originally Posted by linicx

Not entirely. I worked and lived on one side of the lake and had a weekend house on the other side of the lake. Both were in original Cherokee Territory. But only one ground was flat enough and not so rocky that you could dig it. And there were Indian houses around me.

The first recluse bite I got I was visiting another state. That is where I learned they like to live in bushes like Arbor Vita and juniper. The last were from NE Oklahoma where I lived as was the snake and chiggers and tarantula and did I mention the scorpion I found outside the door and the fire ants I found inside.

I don't mean to scare anyone, but should be aware that Oklahoma is the Native State. - and a lot of critters are native to OK! The Hives was an allergic reaction to so many chigger bites it overwhelmed my natural auto-immune system. To give you a small example the hives were in my scalp, inside my ears, bottom of teet, in between towes and fingers, back butt, arms legs neck, under my arms, face, forehead, and the private parts of my body. I slept for four months. And it was another three before they were gone. It was another two before a felt good and a year before all the shell were picked off. I looked like a dalmation. The nurse said Hives can double.. That's what happened when the first outbreak began to recede, the second outbreak began. I did nothing for 4 months except sleep, eat and void. I could not stay away awake or stand long enough to do anything else. I needed sleep; I was 60 when that happened. I knew I would be okay the first time I watched tv for 30 minutes. The chigger nest looks like an ant hill. It' ain't. I learned to spray early and four times a year.

Geez linicx, that sounds like a real nightmare.

[_redbird_]

Originally Posted by colleeng47

OK, Kari, give. What the h*** did you do with the tarantula (complete with a really big egg sac)? I break out in a sweat just reading this.

The title is misleading. The snake didn't attack him. Should be called the flying lizard freaks out newsman.


YouTube - Snake scares news reporter

[krazy77]

i never had a prob with spiders till this year and i have killed about 15-20 jumping spiders in the house little black ones with green on there body and the bad thing is i live in tulsa not out in the woods .this year i have seen more spiders in tulsa than i saw growing up on eucha lake.remedy was ortho home defense max have not seen a living bug or spider in any of the rooms i sprayed in and was cheap $4.50 for a big enough bottle to do three rooms get at any home improvment store..

[Bass&Catfish2008]

Originally Posted by linicx

I wouldn't wish the brown recluse on an enemy. You don't feel them crawl. I never felt a bite. The area itched and burned and I felt ill. The area turned black. I had bites at the base of my spine, twice on my hips, and the last bite was on my lower belly. The half-dollar size was black for almost a year. They say if it untreated you can lose flesh and you can die. I always treated immediately. I hope to never meet another.

I had hives for seven months after I stepped in a nest of chiggers in the driveway. I din't know the little buggers lived in the ground. I was bit from head to toe. I still do not know how they got in between my toes when I had shoes and sox on. The only place I did not have a bite was my eyes. And luckily my throat did not swell shut - which is always a possiblity with that many bites. I now carry an epi-pen. .

Mud Dobbers aka ground wasps are a bigger problem than the wasps that nest in the eaves on your porch. You do not know where they live until you find them with the mower. They swarm as bad a chiggers. If you get enough stings it can kill.

I've seen the tarantula sunning on rocks by the porch, copperhead slithering across the road, and I found a big black snake cozied up to electrical wires that came into the fuse panel. He was cold. He scared the stuffin' out of me. The sheriff was useless so I called my attorney. He knows OK critters. He looks at the snake and poked it with his finger said he wanted to see its face. I didn't.
God loved me - the snake slithered down the wires and disappeared..The only thing Mr. Lawyer said, "He was a big boy, wasn't he?. I never saw one that big." I could have killed him. I put lilac scented moth balls under the wires and never saw snake again.

Oklahoma has a wonderful critter population from Scissortail and wild turkey to the deer and Owl and red headed woody. I had a woodpecker that tried every day for a year to poke holes in an aluminum night-light cover outside my door. The noise was like living next to a jack hammer most mornings. What joy. I was so happy when it found a new target twenty feet away. I suppose if I lived in a city and not in a wooded area in the county on a lake, I would not have had some of the problems, but in retrospect, I would return in a heartbeat. I wouldn't want to miss a minute of it - except the brown recluse.

You are right about Fiddlebacks. Worst bug in all the world. I grew up with 'em all over my house.

Several years back my mom had me tear down an old green house on her property. It was Fiddleback Central!!! I saw hundreds of the little critters and they were crawling all over me. I was wearing coveralls in the middle of a south-central Oklahoma summer! I didn't care, I would rather die of heatstroke then let one of those things bite me. Terrible creatures. I'm gonna ask the Lord what in the world was He thinkin' when He made Fiddlebacks. Little critters are the stuff of nightmares.

[karibear]

Originally Posted by Bass&Catfish2008

You are right about Fiddlebacks. Worst bug in all the world. I grew up with 'em all over my house.

Several years back my mom had me tear down an old green house on her property. It was Fiddleback Central!!! I saw hundreds of the little critters and they were crawling all over me. I was wearing coveralls in the middle of a south-central Oklahoma summer! I didn't care, I would rather die of heatstroke then let one of those things bite me. Terrible creatures. I'm gonna ask the Lord what in the world was He thinkin' when He made Fiddlebacks. Little critters are the stuff of nightmares.

I'd vote for hobo spiders as the worst. They are related to black widows and fiddlebacks, but those suckers are aggressive! If tarantulas had attitudes like that, none of us would go anywhere whithout a baseball bat.

[Raelyn28]

YOU GUYS ARE SCARING ME!! HOW DO YOU EXPECT ME TO WANT TO MOVE THERE WITH ALL THESE BUGS YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT? I THOUGHT THAT THE BROWN RECLUSE WAS ONLY IN THE PNW?? WE USED TO HAVE THEM IN OREGON AND I DIDN'T THINK THE MIDWEST HAD THOSE TYPES OF SPIDERS. UGH, I AM NOT LOOKING FORWARD TO ALL OF THIS. AND HOW IS THE HUMIDITY, HOW LONG DOES IT LAST? IT DOESN'T LIKE MY HAIR AT ALL

Originally Posted by linicx

I wouldn't wish the brown recluse on an enemy. You don't feel them crawl. I never felt a bite. The area itched and burned and I felt ill. The area turned black. I had bites at the base of my spine, twice on my hips, and the last bite was on my lower belly. The half-dollar size was black for almost a year. They say if it untreated you can lose flesh and you can die. I always treated immediately. I hope to never meet another.

I had hives for seven months after I stepped in a nest of chiggers in the driveway. I din't know the little buggers lived in the ground. I was bit from head to toe. I still do not know how they got in between my toes when I had shoes and sox on. The only place I did not have a bite was my eyes. And luckily my throat did not swell shut - which is always a possiblity with that many bites. I now carry an epi-pen. .

Mud Dobbers aka ground wasps are a bigger problem than the wasps that nest in the eaves on your porch. You do not know where they live until you find them with the mower. They swarm as bad a chiggers. If you get enough stings it can kill.

I've seen the tarantula sunning on rocks by the porch, copperhead slithering across the road, and I found a big black snake cozied up to electrical wires that came into the fuse panel. He was cold. He scared the stuffin' out of me. The sheriff was useless so I called my attorney. He knows OK critters. He looks at the snake and poked it with his finger said he wanted to see its face. I didn't.
God loved me - the snake slithered down the wires and disappeared..The only thing Mr. Lawyer said, "He was a big boy, wasn't he?. I never saw one that big." I could have killed him. I put lilac scented moth balls under the wires and never saw snake again.

Oklahoma has a wonderful critter population from Scissortail and wild turkey to the deer and Owl and red headed woody. I had a woodpecker that tried every day for a year to poke holes in an aluminum night-light cover outside my door. The noise was like living next to a jack hammer most mornings. What joy. I was so happy when it found a new target twenty feet away. I suppose if I lived in a city and not in a wooded area in the county on a lake, I would not have had some of the problems, but in retrospect, I would return in a heartbeat. I wouldn't want to miss a minute of it - except the brown recluse.

[mkfarnam]

Originally Posted by Raelyn28

YOU GUYS ARE SCARING ME!! HOW DO YOU EXPECT ME TO WANT TO MOVE THERE WITH ALL THESE BUGS YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT? I THOUGHT THAT THE BROWN RECLUSE WAS ONLY IN THE PNW?? WE USED TO HAVE THEM IN OREGON AND I DIDN'T THINK THE MIDWEST HAD THOSE TYPES OF SPIDERS. UGH, I AM NOT LOOKING FORWARD TO ALL OF THIS. AND HOW IS THE HUMIDITY, HOW LONG DOES IT LAST? IT DOESN'T LIKE MY HAIR AT ALL

I quess you'll have to find a better place.....

[karibear]

Originally Posted by Raelyn28

YOU GUYS ARE SCARING ME!! HOW DO YOU EXPECT ME TO WANT TO MOVE THERE WITH ALL THESE BUGS YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT? I THOUGHT THAT THE BROWN RECLUSE WAS ONLY IN THE PNW?? WE USED TO HAVE THEM IN OREGON AND I DIDN'T THINK THE MIDWEST HAD THOSE TYPES OF SPIDERS. UGH, I AM NOT LOOKING FORWARD TO ALL OF THIS. AND HOW IS THE HUMIDITY, HOW LONG DOES IT LAST? IT DOESN'T LIKE MY HAIR AT ALL

There are bugs everywhere, for the most part they are just a nuisance. The black widows, fiddlebacks, and the hobo, as I said, are relatives, and they cover the entire country. I'd rather take my chances with spiders than Lyme disease, but that's just me. There are tarantulas in OK, but they aren't interested in people - as long as you leave them alone, they leave you alone. One thing I haven't seen [so far] are cockroaches, though I've heard they can be found in the cities. But that shouldn't be a surprise the way people move all around with their possession. They're just like everywhere else across the nation, as long as you keep a clean house, they aren't a problem.

I'd also rather have bugs than those banana slugs! Ever step on one barefooted? Yuck! And compared to western OR and WA, OK isn't humid at all.

[nightbird47]

Originally Posted by karibear

There are bugs everywhere, for the most part they are just a nuisance. The black widows, fiddlebacks, and the hobo, as I said, are relatives, and they cover the entire country. I'd rather take my chances with spiders than Lyme disease, but that's just me. There are tarantulas in OK, but they aren't interested in people - as long as you leave them alone, they leave you alone. One thing I haven't seen [so far] are cockroaches, though I've heard they can be found in the cities. But that shouldn't be a surprise the way people move all around with their possession. They're just like everywhere else across the nation, as long as you keep a clean house, they aren't a problem.

I'd also rather have bugs than those banana slugs! Ever step on one barefooted? Yuck! And compared to western OR and WA, OK isn't humid at all.

I'll add that while the skeeters are many, they do not carry west nile. I still hate to be bit, but they are ichy bites alone I remember the year it hit Riverside county and the bird kills, and hope that it never reaches Oklahoma. I heard on the news where some of the countys are spraying for them, partly because the prevention is good in case any cases appear.

I've noticed some interesting bugs, and am already familiar with the brown reculse and black widows because they are common over socal. I will take the bugs over the smog anyday however.

[_redbird_]

Originally Posted by karibear

I'd also rather have bugs than those banana slugs! Ever step on one barefooted? Yuck!

LOL! You crack me up with those stepping on things stories! ~squish!