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View Poll Results: Does Austin have a bug problem?
Yes 14 42.42%
No 19 57.58%
Voters: 33. You may not vote on this poll

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Old 02-28-2015, 09:02 PM
 
4,710 posts, read 7,098,252 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ThingsLikeThat View Post
Why not just use bug spray? Also too, did you mean 'no' natural predators?
Yes, I meant "no natural predators." Sorry about the typo. There are people working on bringing in wasps that are predators to fire ants. As I understand it, there have been some successes, but they are limited, and the problem is very wide spread. I have also found "amdro" and similar bait products to be only temporary fixes.

You can of course use repellant against the mosquitoes. I hate using insecticides, as they also kill many beneficial insects, many insects that are needed as bird food, catapillars of butterflies and moths, bees, etc., not to mention their toxicity to us, but sometimes limited use is necessary.
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Old 02-28-2015, 10:45 PM
 
Location: Lancaster, PA
997 posts, read 1,311,653 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ThingsLikeThat View Post
Does Austin have a mosquito and flying roach problem? If not mosquitoes and flying roaches, are there any other bugs that are a general nuisance in Austin?
No problems overall.
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Old 03-01-2015, 07:35 AM
 
Location: home
1,235 posts, read 1,530,831 times
Reputation: 1080
Quote:
Originally Posted by G Grasshopper View Post

Are mosquitos and roaches a "problem"? It depends on what you mean. They are a part of the natural environment. Lots of people don't like them, but we have to deal with them. Mosquitos are polinators and great food for birds, bats and reptiles. Roaches are not polinators, but they are good food for many other creatures. Are they out of balance in Texas? I don't know. I haven't studies this well enough. Is everything we don't like a "problem" and do we need to get rid of everything that bothers us?
Nature abhors a vacuum. If it wasn't fire ants, it would have been another insect to fill that biological niche.

I agree that when we try to eliminate any link in our food chain, bad things happen. Even the top predators (like pumas) regulate the food chain in a necessary way and promote biodiversity.

Imagine if deer were allowed to breed uncontrollably within Austin and there was no natural predator to hunt them.
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Old 03-01-2015, 07:46 AM
 
8,009 posts, read 10,418,653 times
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I'm in Steiner Ranch and we have mosquitoes, roaches, and don't forget the scorpions. We also have quarterly pest control service, which helps, but we still see them. Last year we also had a cicada killer living just out side our garage. Google it and prepare for the nightmares. My husband also caught a tarantula hawk dragging a tarantula behind our house last year. Again, Google it and be prepared. So, yes, we have plenty of bugs and flying bugs around. Oh, and like the others said, fire ants are the worst. We keep our yard clear of them, but I think every member of our family has stepped in a small pile of leaves in a parking lot or somewhere only to discover that it contained fire ants. The bites can be very painful.
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Old 03-01-2015, 09:02 AM
 
176 posts, read 263,386 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by JT-3 View Post
No problems overall.
Haha. Except for the many areas that do have problems.
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Old 03-03-2015, 09:58 PM
 
3,804 posts, read 6,169,557 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Blowback View Post
They bite. They're damn near impossible to get rid of and everything attracts them.
If you can live with your yard having a few small piles of dirt in it there's nothing wrong with them. If you freak out about not having a perfectly landscaped yard feel free to spend money poisoning one colony after another.
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Old 03-03-2015, 10:08 PM
 
Location: Austin/Houston
2,930 posts, read 5,269,365 times
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To the OP.

I trust you just didn't hear.

Austin is the absolutely the perfect place in Texas, just like Dallas that is totally devoid of any of the state's problems such as mosquitos, heat, humidity, and traffic/congestion, and noise.
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Old 03-03-2015, 10:29 PM
 
Location: Holly Neighborhood, Austin, Texas
3,981 posts, read 6,733,219 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ThingsLikeThat View Post
Does Austin have a mosquito and flying roach problem? If not mosquitoes and flying roaches, are there any other bugs that are a general nuisance in Austin?
Yes, blame the Deity for this first world problem. I think His address is somewhere in Leviticus if you want to file a complaint.
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Old 03-04-2015, 03:43 AM
 
Location: Cedar Park, Texas
320 posts, read 486,793 times
Reputation: 294
When we lived in apartments on 620 we were tortured by red wasps. We could hardly enjoy the patio. Also my little one stepped in a fire ant hill once when we first moved there. Not pretty. We all know to steer clear now! In our house now in Cedar Park, when we first moved in we had giant cockroaches, carpenter ants and other creepys. Called a Green pest control service, Alterra, and cleaned every square inch of the house and haven't had any issues.
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Old 03-04-2015, 09:13 AM
 
Location: Warrior Country
4,573 posts, read 6,778,254 times
Reputation: 3978
Quote:
Originally Posted by Blowback View Post
True. As long as you don't mind the screams of your 3-year-old being bitten by dozens of them after he steps on one of those "small piles of dirt".

Please point to one part of my post that said anything about the appearance of ant hills, then calmly go back to putting sauce on your BBQ.
Regarding the little red devils. Kids (& adults) will shriek when making the mistake of stepping near them. One might be hand watering a plant & take a half step back.....7 seconds later 12 of those little devils will be biting your ankle within a couple of seconds. Fire ants were absolutely the inspiration to those hilariously morbid Raid commercials.

Regarding sauce on Q....your comment had me spit out my coffee. Nice one.
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