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We relocated here from WNY state which would have a very similar climate/etc to NE Ohio. With that said - yes there are more bugs here. The reason is you don't have god-awful, dreary, depressing winters with days of 10degree weather that kill off the bugs! I think the likelihood of seeing snakes here is probably more. I have seen none since I moved here 8 months ago and I too was only used to seeing the very occasional garter snake. My husband has seen several on the Neuse River Trail. He doesn't interact with them - they don't intereact with him!!!! I live in a new house with new landscaping and mulch - my landscaper guy says they can sometimes slither under pinestraw mulch (which is kind of common here) so I am not going to have any pinestraw at my house! The other thing we do is have a quarterly pest control service - they are very, very thorough and I have yet to see much in the line of bugs around/in the house. Oh and by the way we live right at the Wake Forest border.....
Now...the other thing that struck me about your post was not dealing with things you are not used to.....well not to be obvious but isn't just about everything in a new locale "dealing with things you aren't used to"? It is a lovely area here, for us the weather is wonderful, the trail system is great, the mountains and beach are terrific to visit - but things are different. The grocery stores are different (we come from the land of Wegmans!), the traffic is MUCH different, the housing is different, if you have kids - the school system from what I understand is VERY different. These are all things you will be "dealing with" and I think not worrying about things too much and having a positive attitude will carry you far.....! I guess for us the motivation to move was the overriding desire to not live where there is so much winter - things that are different here - well they just are.....soon it will be the new norm for us. Hope this was helpful!
Some good advice here regarding bugs/critters and your overall move.
As far as snakes and ticks, commons sense will take you far. Stay off the trails if you are that scared of snakes and don't buy a home in a rural wooded area. Know that they like to hide under leaf piles or wood piles so approach those with caution. If you go walking in the woods check for ticks after. These things are here but it is possible to have minimal interaction with them.
Moved here from WI. Wi is known for ticks,but I didnt encounter any there, and lived there my whole life until 2 years ago when we moved here. I have caught 3 in my house this summer alone, can't take out the trash without being attacked by mosquitoes, and got pinched in BED by a giant beetle-unsure who invited him or how he got in.
The spiders we find in the garage are almost as big as our former pet tarantula, but so far we've only seen small snakes in the yard. The bugs/creatures are no joke here, but..... we don't have to shovel in the winter. So, which is the lesser of two evils: snow or creatures?
DH would rather shovel-I'll tolerate the bugs. He made this move for me.
Is there anything we can do to cut down on exposure to spiders and snakes? Like extermination?
Live in an urban area, like downtown Raleigh or Durham. Suburbs with woods are going to have them, period. Actually you'll see spiders everywhere, even downtown, but ticks and snakes are not likely to be in urban areas.
Do you have any other concrete reason, like a job transfer, for moving to the area other than "my wife has always wanted to live in NC"?
I read that in Denver Colorado, they really don't deal with creepy crawly's, but not sure Denver is for me!
Agreed. I just moved from Co Springs which is an hour south of Denver and bugs were pretty much nonexistent. That is one thing I'm trying to get used to now while living in NC. We have seen 3 snakes since we moved here in July, which probably isn't a huge number to some folks, LOL.
As others have said, it is just something new you have to deal with. It should not prevent you from moving if you have strong positive motivation.
My least favorite "critter" is the fire ant. They have moved into coastal NC, but not sure about the Triangle. They give nasty bites if you disturb their nest, but you just have to keep eliminating them.
When we lived in New Orleans, fire ants abounded. I once hit a nest mowing a lawn and wound up with blisters all over my legs.
Now...the other thing that struck me about your post was not dealing with things you are not used to.....well not to be obvious but isn't just about everything in a new locale "dealing with things you aren't used to"?
Yes, this struck me as well. You are going to be "Dealing with things you're not used to" ANY place you move, and it will likely be in the form of things you hadn't even thought of. If you are not flexible and open to new things and ways of doing things, moving is going to cause you problems no matter where you move, spiders and snakes or no. Just please don't be one of those folks who moves somewhere and promptly starts in on the whole "Well you should have X, Y, and Z or do it like T, U, and V exactly the way we did where I came from!"--NOT a way to win friends.
The title of the thread is what got me. "I don't want spiders, etc, to stop relocation efforts..." as if the actual creepy crawlies could! It's all about you, man. Spiders, ticks & snakes certainly haven't stopped thousands of other people from moving here. If you let 'em stop you, that's on you.
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