Be honest — how bad are the spiders in Portland? (Forest Grove: 2013, apartments)

[philwithbeard]

Brenda,

that's just plain disturbing.

That's going to scare more than a few away from Oregon.

[2bpurrfect]

Originally Posted by ParadiseFalls

I'm moving there from Florida next month for a job, and I was SO excited to finally escape the horrific mutant bugs in Florida (I have a crippling fear of all bugs), but now I'm hearing of this hellish "spider season" in Portland.

What I'm trying to figure out is if this is a big deal to the average person or just someone who isn't used to seeing bugs at all. If I have spiders crawling on my car or in my house, I'm going to freak out.

So these are my questions:

1. Is a person who is terrified of spiders likely to survive? Like will I be able to walk my dog and avoid them, or is the city really covered in them?

2. If it really is that bad, do you have any tips on how to avoid them?

i had a black widow infestation once a few years back, under the kitchen counter in the back of that one big corner cabinet that you can't see into. What I think attracts them is darkness- so I was very glad when the cupboards were replaced with all- white interior ones. I do recommend white interiors of everything to keep spiders out. (This was in a suburb of Portland).
the other things that spiders, and especially black widows like around here, are woodpiles, yard debris, etc. Anything like even old boxes left in a closet undisturbed.
The ones that live outside, with the big webs in the garden that are flat, round and regular weave, are completely harmless but you might encounter them between bushes. Avoid any kind of web that is like a cloud, highly irregular, or funneled! bad spiders!
Since moving into a newer house, only about 30 years old, I hardly see any spiders inside. Especially since last fall, when they started zapping our neighborhood with the 4G Clearwire wifi frequency.Not only are there way fewer spiders, but also way fewer honey bees.
I do use a product called Poison Free, which is a spray you get at Fred Meyer garden center or Ace or True Value hardware. It is made of mint concentrate,works very well and you can spray it along the baseboards in every room, cars, etc, without worrying about any toxic effects to humans or pets.
The biggest spider I ever saw since living 45+ years in this area, was no bigger than about 2 inches and that was huge for here.
Never saw a cockroach in this area. Little ants, yes, but you just put out ant traps for them and they disappear. Big huge flying ants and termites, yes. Mosquitoes? SWARMS of them if you live within a few blocks of slow water. Oh they are small but then size is not a factor with mosquitoes. It's how they use it . Umm, their beak. No really, the little ones bite and carry disease of any kind. This is mainly spring but also summer. The huge ones we do sometimes see, about 2-3 inches, don't seem dangerous and i am told they aren't. They're easy to see and swat.
AND I have seen something like a firefly, it's a huge swarm of tiny winged things with a white , sort of bright little bulb thingy on their body. But they are very rare.(I used to live in the banana belt in the suburban south end, near the willamette river.)
We get yellowjackets that bite, they are aggressive and dangerous; they like the cracks of porches for nests, and the smell of barbecue meat, they LOVE dog food and dog feces or residues!

I hear the worst pest nowadays for downtown, is the bedbug. Of course it can be spread by all kinds of means,including in the treads of your shoes.....

And if you ever see any raccoons in your yard, (not uncommon in some areas), please call animal control, because raccoons carry very deadly disease that is left behind in their feces on the ground. Deadly to humans.

Welcome to Portland.

[aroseinrain]

Originally Posted by 2bpurrfect

i had a black widow infestation once a few years back, <snip>

Since moving into a newer house, only about 30 years old, I hardly see any spiders inside. Especially since last fall, when they started zapping our neighborhood with the 4G Clearwire wifi frequency.Not only are there way fewer spiders, but also way fewer honey bees. <snip>

The huge ones we do sometimes see, about 2-3 inches, don't seem dangerous and i am told they aren't. <snip>

Yes, black widows... we get brown recluse here too.

I know it's "not hip", but that's one of the reasons I want to buy one of those newly built cookie cutter homes -- no ants/spiders. BTW: Alfred Einstein once said that the world would very quickly come to an end if bees ever became extinct. Everyone worries about some crazed world leader hitting "the button", but I bet it's the power lines that end up doing us in because it's a fact that bees don't go near them..... and they're everywhere.

Those huge mosquito looking bugs? I don't know their real name, but they aren't mosquitoes, they do eat mosquitoes though so they're nice to have around. I call them mosquito eaters.

[LeftCoastee]

Originally Posted by aroseinrain

Alfred Einstein once said that the world would very quickly come to an end if bees ever became extinct.

I'm not sure why I'd care what a Mozart chronologist thinks about bees. But if Albert had said it, I just might believe it.

[CH14]

Originally Posted by 2bpurrfect

i had a black widow infestation once a few years back, under the kitchen counter in the back of that one big corner cabinet that you can't see into. What I think attracts them is darkness- so I was very glad when the cupboards were replaced with all- white interior ones. I do recommend white interiors of everything to keep spiders out. (This was in a suburb of Portland).

I didn't realize that when the cupboards are closed with no light, that the interior color is still visable

[aroseinrain]

Originally Posted by LeftCoastee

I'm not sure why I'd care what a Mozart chronologist thinks about bees. But if Albert had said it, I just might believe it.

LOL! Too early in the A.M. I didn't even realize I wrote that! hehehee.... yea, the other Einstein said it.

[insightofitall]

I've heard Oregon has hobo spiders. Are they also in Portland?

[wanderbygrace]

Sorry for bringing this thread back, but we've been here for three months now and I'm really starting to see why people talk about spiders.

We're in a new subdivision (entire neighborhood is less than five years old) and I'm floored at the scene from Arachnaphobia in my back yard. Opened the sliding door last night to see a spider built a foot-square web in the open screen door area within a matter of an hour.

Mosquitos (or whatever it was that my neighbor called them) are getting very annoying, too.

[pdxMIKEpdx]

I've taken to having a stick with me in my yard and garden to knock down the webs as I walk through.

Getting my face and head covered by an sticky unseen spideweb really isn't one of my favorite things.
I always wonder where the spider ended up.

[Sassafras49]

I have been in Portland for over 30 years and (knock on wood) I have not yet seen a black widow, nor do I want to. I lived in northern Colorado for several years and had the black widows crawling up our walls! They were everywhere and it was horrible. Originating from the very humid midwest and having family in the deep south, I can tell you that any bug west of the Mississippi is far larger than I have ever seen up here. This is not to say that I haven't seen many bugs, spiders, etc ... I have, and I loathe them, but I'm grateful for not having seen black widows crawling up the walls, 3"+ spiders roaming around the house and cockroaches in the drawers!