bugs in Wisconsin?? (Milwaukee, Madison, West Allis: apartment complexes, home, scorpion)
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Hey there! Wisconsin sounds like a great place to live! but before i look too far into it, are there tons of bugs in WI??? in both Milwaukee and Madison area?? im not talking about the normal bugs in parks and in soil/gardens. i mean like giant spiders/black widows, roaches, flying roaches, and anything like that.
also, how about the mosquitos.
i'm looking more into the Madison area, but Milwaukee is pretty awesome too and has a better Jewish community (it's important to me)
Bad news first: the mosquitoes are pretty bad. I dunno where you're coming from, but if it's not somewhere very humid, they're probably worse here. However, if you're moving to Madison or Milwaukee, just stay away from bodies of standing water and it shouldn't be too bad. Also, they only last for 3 or 4 months.
Good news: There aren't really any "giant" spiders, black and brown widows are incredibly rare (as in most people never see or deal with one), and you'll only find roaches in bad apartment complexes. I don't even know what a flying roach is... I kind of assumed they could all fly but rarely did. I've only seen 3 in my life. Junebugs are a minor annoyance for part of the year (guess what month!), but they don't really cause any problems. The insect I probably see indoors most often (besides flies & mosquitoes) are daddy long legs in basements.
Well I don't know how it is in madison but in Milwaukee where I live say a half mile south of downtown there is never any mosquitoes and you really don't get hit with the bugs until you go out to the suburbs like Brookfield, Mequon, Franklin, Pewaukee. Urban suburbs like Wauwatosa, West Allis, South Milwaukee, Whitefish Bay you don't have a real problem with bugs or mosquitoes. If I don't go camping I can go the whole year without mosquito bites.
Hey there! Wisconsin sounds like a great place to live! but before i look too far into it, are there tons of bugs in WI??? in both Milwaukee and Madison area?? im not talking about the normal bugs in parks and in soil/gardens. i mean like giant spiders/black widows, roaches, flying roaches, and anything like that.
also, how about the mosquitos.
you wont see any flying 'roaches' like there are down south (nothing like having a big ol' palmetto bug hit you in the head while on a walk lol), same for many of the spider and snake species, fire ants, etc that prefer warm climates. All the years we lived in the Madison area, mosquitos were usually the worst pest we had to deal with (and even in the burbs they could get nasty), and earwigs and occasional wasps could be a nuisance in summers as well. If you have concerns in a home they can be treated (even using natural sprays can work against spiders and other bugs).
I'd bet that there are some form of pests in any part of the country; some common sense approaches to how you keep your home and yard can go a long ways to helping keep them at bay
I don't think there's a way to avoid mosquitoes unless you move either to a desert climate or a semi-arid climate like the western great plains (Rapid City, SD, Denver, CO, etc.) .... there are mosquitoes from here straight east into eastern WI and everywhere in between, though they aren't as bad this summer with the heat and dry weather.
I don't think there's a way to avoid mosquitoes unless you move either to a desert climate or a semi-arid climate like the western great plains (Rapid City, SD, Denver, CO, etc.) .... there are mosquitoes from here straight east into eastern WI and everywhere in between, though they aren't as bad this summer with the heat and dry weather.
Just as an aside, this ^^^ is not entirely true. I currently live in an arid/semi-arid climate and we have to deal with mosquitoes as well because summer is our wet season. And ours have the added quirk of spreading West Nile Virus. Oh so fun.
Anyway, you'll have some kind of pest or bug to deal with no matter where you go. Just do your research how to minimize your exposure to them and work around it. That's all you can do.
Mosquitoes in WI are generally bad but as far as other bugs, the state is pretty mild. The deer ticks can be bad up North as well but if you really want nasty insects, head down to Arizona/Texas area and play with scorpions, brown recluse spiders, giant re-headed centipedes and fire ants.
Don't move to WI if you think you're going to avoid bugs ...... there is no shortage of bugs, anywhere you live.
But having lived in WI for 45 yrs and AZ for the balance ... you'll have to determine what worse:
Deep Woods off for deodorant in the spring\summer\fall
dodging deer in Nov\Dec with your vehical
Ziebart
and the old TV PBS show jingle from "Outdoor Wisconsin" which goes (altered of course)
Winter in the Spring,
.....Summer in the Fall
......... you do not know where you are at all
.......... but that's ok, cause your livin' in ............. WI.
Or in my case, now living in AZ
trying to explain what swamp cooling air conditioning when I go back and visit
trying to explain what "storm windows" to people here.
trying to explain that people drink from a "bubbler" not a water fountain.
insisting I don't have an accent
getting used to tires "crunching" sounds knowing that it's not because of snow
Don't move to WI if you think you're going to avoid bugs ...... there is no shortage of bugs, anywhere you live.
But having lived in WI for 45 yrs and AZ for the balance ... you'll have to determine what worse:
Deep Woods off for deodorant in the spring\summer\fall
dodging deer in Nov\Dec with your vehical
Ziebart
and the old TV PBS show jingle from "Outdoor Wisconsin" which goes (altered of course)
Winter in the Spring,
.....Summer in the Fall
......... you do not know where you are at all
.......... but that's ok, cause your livin' in ............. WI.
Or in my case, now living in AZ
trying to explain what swamp cooling air conditioning when I go back and visit
trying to explain what "storm windows" to people here.
trying to explain that people drink from a "bubbler" not a water fountain.
insisting I don't have an accent
getting used to tires "crunching" sounds knowing that it's not because of snow
In Arizona you might not have such a huge assortment or population of the pesky bugs like mosquitoes, flies, gnats, chiggers, etc., but what they do have is usually far more dangerous and the coping mechanisms to avoid being stung or bitten by one of them are things someone in a place like Wisconsin never has to think about. For example:
You never know when or how a scorpion, brown recluse or other poisonous critter gets into your house, so you have to shake out your shoes or slippers before pulling them on to make sure one didn't take up residence in them overnight.
You shouldn't walk around in the dark because you might not see the scorpion you're about to step right on top of in your bare feet.
Better have your gardening gloves on, a pair of sturdy boots and a sharp eye if you do any gardening there (not that much grows). Other than the usual garden pests, you also have to watch out for rattlers, poisonous centipedes, scorpions, and poisonous spiders.
They get fire ants as long as a half-inch in some areas and they make massive hives. You can't walk anywhere without seeing them, and after rains especially they're out in swarms.
The point is, every region of the U.S. has it's own bug issues. Unless you want to live life in a bubble or a sterile laboratory environment and never set foot outside, you just learn the coping mechanisms you need to avoid the worst of the pests for your region. What bugs a place has certainly shouldn't be a major bullet-point in deciding where to live when what's really more important is how you feel towards an area and how well you can maintain whatever lifestyle you want in that region.
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