Please HELP... moving to North Peoria and Im freaken out..... (Mesa: buying a house, landscaping)

[Abe779]

Hi everyone... I'm moving to north peoria in 2 months and my wife is freaken out about scorpions... We are buying a house in the Vistancia sub. Is there a huge issue there with Scorpions, Snakes or Spiders? Any help would be great. I plan on having the house sprayed every months but i need to know if the area is a hot bed or not...

[cmist]

No, I wouldnt freak out about it. I dont live in Vistancia but my parents did. We saw one scorpion out front at one point, but they definitely werent invading the home and dropping out of the A/C vents etc. Snakes are even rarer. Spiders are probably most common then all of the above but out of 30+ years in AZ, and 10+ years of living in North Peoria, neither me or anyone in my family, or anyone I know in Vistancia has ever been bitten by anything poisonous.

Dont freak out!

PS a couple tips I heard is this. They love crickets, so if you spray for them you kill their food source and they will find a different place to hang out and eat. I also hear that housecats are immune to their stings and will kill them for fun.

[observer53]

STOP panicking. Vistancia is NOT a "hotbed" for scorpions. I had lived here almost thirty years before I saw a scorpion in a house. In fifty years, I've seen a total of three. Spraying is not effective for scorpions, BTW.

Spiders are no more an issue here than anywhere else. Most spiders here are harmless if you do see one. Black widows tend to show up in untended corners, outside and occasionally inside. Their webs are messy, so it's easy to figure out where one is. Keep things neat and tidy, and no problem.

Snakes? Not an issue. Relax, and enjoy your new home! There are folks here who live in Vistancia and really love it.

[Ponderosa]

Scorpions are extremely common in the desert and are nearly impossible to eradicate. The spray doesn't kill them very effectively. You kill off the food source and hope for the best. People who don't see them aren't looking. My family members and I have been stung a few times by scorpions in several different areas of the valley. We have lived here since the early 1970s though. We do not spray the house or yard because I believe the chemicals are more dangerous than the bugs. Scorpion risk is over-rated. No one has died of a scorpion sting in decades in contrast to dozens who have died of West Nile here in just the last couple years. I think mosquitos are a bigger worry.

Black widows are everywhere. They can be found in wood, under the lawn mower, just about anywhere in the yard or garage where there is "junk". They are not usually found inside the house. You have to be careless or drunk to be bit by a black widow though. They are slow and very non-aggressive. Once you know where they hang out, look before putting your bare hands in. I've never known anyone who has been bitten by a BW, though just about everyone has seen them or their egg sacks.

Snakes are rarely encountered in the life of a city slicker. We had a rattlesnake in our garage a few years ago - a baby - that we captured and released. But your chances of encountering a rattlesnake are between slim and none. Rattlesnakes are a threat mostly to drunk young men and dogs. They seem to share certain behaviors when it comes to rattlesnakes.

[MotleyCrew]

Originally Posted by cmist

No, I wouldnt freak out about it. I dont live in Vistancia but my parents did. We saw one scorpion out front at one point, but they definitely werent invading the home and dropping out of the A/C vents etc. Snakes are even rarer. Spiders are probably most common then all of the above but out of 30+ years in AZ, and 10+ years of living in North Peoria, neither me or anyone in my family, or anyone I know in Vistancia has ever been bitten by anything poisonous.

Dont freak out!

PS a couple tips I heard is this. They love crickets, so if you spray for them you kill their food source and they will find a different place to hang out and eat. I also hear that housecats are immune to their stings and will kill them for fun.

We live in Vistancia now and I have only seen one orb spider this year. We have been here going on 5 years now and have only seen 4 dead, or in the process, scorpions. We have our house sprayed quarterly and that seems to help a great deal. We did have one elementary school aged boy bitten by a rattlesnake last summer. He ran through the shrubs and it found him. So, not many bugs here and I am absolutly terrified of spiders.

[roundball]

I think they are more prevalent then anyone thinks. The people across the street have done nightly hunts, after his wife was stung 2 months ago, and have killed 131 of them.. 131. I thought he was messing with me at first. They have only seen 2 in the previous 10 years, before they bought a blacklight and actively looked for them.

Just fyi, not to freak you out. You can go to Wal-Mart and buy a light w/fixture and look for yourself after you move in. I've only found 4 in our yard and we have a grate fence in back and are on the corner. The have block and are sandwiched by other houses.

[asufan]

Originally Posted by roundball

I think they are more prevalent then anyone thinks. The people across the street have done nightly hunts, after his wife was stung 2 months ago, and have killed 131 of them.. 131. I thought he was messing with me at first. They have only seen 2 in the previous 10 years, before they bought a blacklight and actively looked for them.

Just fyi, not to freak you out. You can go to Wal-Mart and buy a light w/fixture and look for yourself after you move in. I've only found 4 in our yard and we have a grate fence in back and are on the corner. The have block and are sandwiched by other houses.

What part of town do you live in? I'm gonna guess North Mesa?

[roundball]

NW corner of the 101...Not to far from Vistancia. My wife looked at some houses last summer and saw 4-6 dead ones in some of the homes she was looking at. This was the first year that I've seen any around here.

[asufan]

Originally Posted by roundball

NW corner of the 101...Not to far from Vistancia. My wife looked at some houses last summer and saw 4-6 dead ones in some of the homes she was looking at.

My parents live in Arrowhead Ranch, and have never seen one. But I'm sure they are there. I have never had one at my house in Chandler, but the neighbor across the street did. However he saw it the day after he had landscaping done (newer community), so it could have come in with the landscaping. I hear that lots of houses in North Mesa are infested with scorpions. Something to do with the groves.

[roundball]

Originally Posted by Abe779

my wife is freaken out about scorpions...

I hope I didn't freak her out more. I'm sure you'll love your new house. You picked a great community.