Buggin out! (Portland, Bend, Grants Pass: houses, scorpions, live in)

[Juan Hau-Lee]

A question for folks in the Grants Pass area.

What is the bug situation like? Mostly in the summer? Mosquitos, flies, no-see-ums, etc. etc...?

Any info would be really appreciated!

[mauigirl6]

I would be curious too. We are planning a move from Maui to S. Oregon. Here we have centipedes, scorpians, giant roaches....but no snakes.
What kind of bugs and critters do you have in/around your houses?

[Bendite]

"The vermin only tease and pinch
Their foes superior by an inch.
So naturalists observe, a flea
Hath smaller fleas that on him pray,
And these have smaller yet to bite 'em
And so proceed ad infinitum:
Thus every poet in his kind
Is bit by him that comes behind."
(Jonathan Swift)

Oregon has an assortment of bugs and other critters but it's not as if we are overwhelmed by them (if we were, then no one would live here). There are certainly mosquitoes and they are probably the most plentiful of all pests. You can expect, depending on what part of Oregon you are in, yellow jackets, ticks, cockroaches, and carpenter ants. We have some cool snakes, toads, tree frogs, turtles and lizards, but I think the only poisonous of those is the western rattlesnake. We do have 4 kinds of scorpions, but their venom is supposed to be relatively mild. And of course we have spiders - garden spiders, jumping spiders and barn spiders (like Charlotte). The poisonous ones are black widows and hobo spiders (brown recluse spiders are not native to Oregon even though a lot of people think they are - if you find one, you brought it with you).

[Wicked Felina]

Originally Posted by Bendite

Oregon has an assortment of bugs and other critters but it's not as if we are overwhelmed by them (if we were, then no one would live here). There are certainly mosquitoes and they are probably the most plentiful of all pests. You can expect, depending on what part of Oregon you are in, yellow jackets, ticks, cockroaches, and carpenter ants. We have some cool snakes, toads, tree frogs, turtles and lizards, but I think the only poisonous of those is the western rattlesnake. We do have 4 kinds of scorpions, but their venom is supposed to be relatively mild. And of course we have spiders - garden spiders, jumping spiders and barn spiders (like Charlotte). The poisonous ones are black widows and hobo spiders (brown recluse spiders are not native to Oregon even though a lot of people think they are - if you find one, you brought it with you).

Can you tell me where one would find a prevalence (or any amount) of ticks and cockroaches in Oregon? I know they exist here, but have yet to find ticks...we've been hiking in the woods, in the sand dunes (are there such things are sand ticks?), and up to Mt. Hood, Bend, Sisters, etc. in the wilderness. I live in Portland, and may be lucky, but have never seen a cockroach.

Could be, though, that I'm blocking it all out and have been lucky, since nothings can compare with Missouri ticks, chiggers, bugs and critters! Thanks~

[haggardhouseelf]

I'm not in the Grants Pass area either, but I thought I'd add that Oregon is not as "buggy" as California or Texas! Like another poster - in the four years we've been in Oregon we've not seen a single roach! In California and Texas, they were everywhere!

We have lots of spiders and mosquito's, but other than that bugs don't seem to be much of an issue.

[Bendite]

[quote=SeeBee;3859740]Can you tell me where one would find a prevalence (or any amount) of ticks and cockroaches in Oregon? I know they exist here, but have yet to find ticks...we've been hiking in the woods, in the sand dunes (are there such things are sand ticks?), and up to Mt. Hood, Bend, Sisters, etc. in the wilderness. I live in Portland, and may be lucky, but have never seen a cockroach.

I haven't seen a cockroach in Bend either, but I've heard about them being found in restaurants here and I know they are all over Oregon - this from OSU:

Five species are fairly common in Oregon around homes. These are the American roach, the oriental roach, the German roach, the brown-banded roach, and one that normally does not invade homes, the native wood roach

I have found ticks in the early spring while hiking in the Cascades - from another OSU report:
There are approximately 20 species of hard ticks in Oregon. Of these, only four species are commonly found on humans:

• Western Black-Legged Tick
• Rocky Mountain Wood Tick
• American Dog Tick
• Pacific Coast Tick

[Wicked Felina]

[quote=Bendite;3861583]

Originally Posted by SeeBee

Can you tell me where one would find a prevalence (or any amount) of ticks and cockroaches in Oregon? I know they exist here, but have yet to find ticks...we've been hiking in the woods, in the sand dunes (are there such things are sand ticks?), and up to Mt. Hood, Bend, Sisters, etc. in the wilderness. I live in Portland, and may be lucky, but have never seen a cockroach.

I haven't seen a cockroach in Bend either, but I've heard about them being found in restaurants here and I know they are all over Oregon - this from OSU:

Five species are fairly common in Oregon around homes. These are the American roach, the oriental roach, the German roach, the brown-banded roach, and one that normally does not invade homes, the native wood roach

I have found ticks in the early spring while hiking in the Cascades - from another OSU report:
There are approximately 20 species of hard ticks in Oregon. Of these, only four species are commonly found on humans:

• Western Black-Legged Tick
• Rocky Mountain Wood Tick
• American Dog Tick
• Pacific Coast Tick

Thanks for that posting. I'm certainly not denying that they are here, all round us (), but it's not been my experience to see them (maybe I'm conditioned to ignore them!).

I was wondering what your experience with those critters was , like you said with hiking and such. And only because I want to avoid those places!

I have it in my mind that the word "ticks" means a huge, relentless army of them like the ones I've seen (and, I confess, ruthlessly murdered!!!) in Missouri, as well as the huge roaches I've seen in eastern cities.

It's akin to what my veterinary told me when I went to Missouri. He started my dog on heartworm meds three months before we left, and kept it up after we got back. The doc said that canine heartworm certainly exists in Oregon, and in every state, but it is endemic in Missouri, Louisiana, Mississippi, etc.

Ah well, I'll be blissfully ignorant about ticks and roaches, at least until I move! I think we might be spoiled here in Oregon!

[Bendite]

[quote=SeeBee;3862281]

Originally Posted by Bendite

Thanks for that posting. I'm certainly not denying that they are here, all round us (), but it's not been my experience to see them (maybe I'm conditioned to ignore them!).

I was wondering what your experience with those critters was , like you said with hiking and such. And only because I want to avoid those places!

I have it in my mind that the word "ticks" means a huge, relentless army of them like the ones I've seen (and, I confess, ruthlessly murdered!!!) in Missouri, as well as the huge roaches I've seen in eastern cities.

It's akin to what my veterinary told me when I went to Missouri. He started my dog on heartworm meds three months before we left, and kept it up after we got back. The doc said that canine heartworm certainly exists in Oregon, and in every state, but it is endemic in Missouri, Louisiana, Mississippi, etc.

Ah well, I'll be blissfully ignorant about ticks and roaches, at least until I move! I think we might be spoiled here in Oregon!

Oh, I agree - we are spoiled! No huge roaches or armies of ticks -- I'll stay away from Missouri,thanks