Poisonous creatures of El Paso (houses, buying, to live)

[Smooth from ELP]

Black widows usually hide in dark cool places. Just dont go sticking your hand in places where you should not. If you go hiking...watch where your step.

We used catch the black widows and find a mound of black or red ants. We would drop that b**tch in there and watch a small scale battle of the titans. She would take out some ants but eventually would get overrun. All we needed to complete the moment was to hear the music from "Platoon"...you know when that guy was trying to get to the helicopter while being chased by the Viet Cong.

Last summer in my drive way I saw a some fire ants attack some carpenter ants. It was the coolest thing ever. Those little fire ants took out those bigger ants in a few seconds. They left those guys twitching and running in circles until they died.

[southernbliss]

I do not think you have to worry about anything in your home.
I have had my home and yard sprayed 3 times since I was bite and not once was there anything in the house.
He found some spiders under my porch in my back yard.
he also found a huge one in the front but nothing in the home.

so I think the kids will be fine on the floor.

[Gary Siete]

The probability and danger is about the same or less as getting stung by a bee.

You shouldn't worry about your kids playing on the floor.
You will get more problems the closer to the desert or higher up the mountain you go. Older neighborhoods have fewer problems & you're not likely to see any rattlesnakes. We had the occasional scorpion in the house until we started spraying, inside and out, about 3 times a year. In 4 years I have only seen 2 tarantulas & 2 centipedes - outside at night.

We do have 'carpenter' bees - big black bumble bees that drill holes in trees to lay their eggs. They look aggressive but have never bothered me. The female does all the work and has a stinger while the male is harmless but flies around acting macho and tough.

[Caltep]

We have our home sprayed about every six weeks...we have found some scorpions in the house, tarantula and centipedes outside. But I understand scorpions are all over TX including Dallas (saw that on TXCN). Haven't seen a scorpion in a long time and most have been pretty small. Whoever said if you have a dog or cat and they willl sense it first is right...our dog would follow them across the kitchen. Then BANG! Flip-flop scorpion road kill.

[mrsrobinson73]

The probability and danger is about the same or less as getting stung by a bee.

eeks I hope its more like less! Bee stings aren't that rare. Atleast not where I'm at, maybe they are less rare in El Paso? If so thats a good thing.

Thank you ALL for being so helpful! I just wanted to know what to expect. thanks again!

[LEVOW]

Their is black widows,scorpions,centipedes, alot of daddy longlegs spiders, i remember in chaparral one year, we were popping fireworks and their was like 20 to 30 tarantulas all over my uncles house, i guess they got scared because of all the loud bangs!

[mrsrobinson73]

IN HIS HOUSE? OR OUTSIDE? AND WOW 20 - 30 THAT HAD TO BE A SIGHT TO SEE! wowsa!

[LEVOW]

Outside coming out of from the ground and the bushes, my grandpa got like 10 of them and was tying black jacks to them and blowing them up, not proud of that, but it was funny, you could actually hear them "cry" or ""scream" when they would blow up!

[alucard]

Be wary of Brown Recluse Spiders. Those are nasty. If bit seek care. I have seen the damage that has been done and how the skin just died and left a huge hole. Not pretty.

[Michchix]

Originally Posted by alucard

Be wary of Brown Recluse Spiders. Those are nasty. If bit seek care. I have seen the damage that has been done and how the skin just died and left a huge hole. Not pretty.

Are the Brown Recluse really active in EP? Is a Tarantula dangerous?