[OptimusPrime69]

Originally Posted by AES328

Or an uncle hill

lol, oops!

[gypsychic]

Originally Posted by StarfishKey

Breathing in poison on the daily is not better than living with bugs. There are many ways to naturally control pest populations in and around the home for far cheaper than paying a company to spray chemicals into your living space, and with far less risk to health. Those chemicals go into our ground and run off into our water supply and local bodies of water every time it rains. They don't just disappear. They get into the cells of the plants we eat, and screw up all our fish, and kill our coral reef. It's not necessary to pay someone every month to come in if you know about how to deter those critters naturally - when you make it a place they don't want to be, they don't want to show up, and they certainly won't stick around.

I just wish people would stop moving here who have severe phobias of the things the state is known for. We have hurricanes, we have bugs. Many people can get over it. But many people can't, and then they are miserable here and add to a miserable environment for all of us, and they spend their whole time here poisoning our land and trying to kill everything in sight, rather than just living WITH the environment and using minimalist natural methods to prevent infestations of pests. It is stressful for everybody. If you really can't get over the idea of cockroaches from time to time, you really shouldn't move, because you'll be unhappy and freaked out the whole time you're here.

I have a neighbor who got out of the shower and wrapped a towel around herself, and a scorpion was on the towel and it bit her. Now that's an awful experience to go through, and in future the practice is to shake off towels and shoes before they use them to be sure. But it didn't kill her, and it's just part of life down here. We all tend to think the beautiful climate, the sunsets over the water, etc. is worth it. The house is a stilt house, and about 30 years old. They don't have an infestation. But once in a while things get in. On the other hand, I have lived in my house a year, and have not yet seen a single cockroach inside, nor scorpion, and only one tiny lizard. In my apartment in Miami, because it was an apartment and poorly managed, there was an infestation of cockroaches. Because my walls were shared, and the management wouldn't do anything about it, there was not much I could do. I didn't see many, but I saw a few, and I saw plenty of evidence. If you own your own house, it's less of an issue because you can control the conditions and make them not want to be around. Mostly, you don't want to have pests get in the air ducts and leave droppings that you then have to breathe in every time the A/C is on - that's very dangerous for your health. So you have to be proactive about it, but it's definitely possible to stay on top of it, even with natural methods.

But if just the thought of it sends you into a panic attack, FL is not for you.

AMEN, brother (or sister!) ^^^ I feel the same way. Florida is my native state. I welcome all who want to come here and embrace all that it is, including our tropical wildlife! If you can't stand bugs or critters, stay where you are, or go to the arctic tundra! I am sick of people coming here who want to obliterate every living thing that is not to their liking while poisoning the rest of us! That goes for people who have to have "lawn" like up nawth, where it is all green and lush and must be sprayed and sprayed because LAWNS ARE NOT NATURAL FOR FLORIDA. We have sand, here , people! Learn to work with mother nature!

Anyway, to the OP, YES we have bugs aplenty. Again if you are phobic about it, please look at a non-tropical climate. Perhaps a warm but arid (desert) type place.

[StarfishKey]

Originally Posted by gypsychic

AMEN, brother (or sister!) ^^^ I feel the same way. Florida is my native state. I welcome all who want to come here and embrace all that it is, including our tropical wildlife! If you can't stand bugs or critters, stay where you are, or go to the arctic tundra! I am sick of people coming here who want to obliterate every living thing that is not to their liking while poisoning the rest of us! That goes for people who have to have "lawn" like up nawth, where it is all green and lush and must be sprayed and sprayed because LAWNS ARE NOT NATURAL FOR FLORIDA. We have sand, here , people! Learn to work with mother nature!

Anyway, to the OP, YES we have bugs aplenty. Again if you are phobic about it, please look at a non-tropical climate. Perhaps a warm but arid (desert) type place.

It's SISTER.

And yeah, I really agree about the lawns, healthy grass is just not that natural here, and we also as a state do not have enough fresh water to support the constant watering that such landscapes require (in addition to the loads of chemicals). Up North, water is everywhere, it is so abundant you can't imagine ever running out, and it's hard to understand why it should be conserved because it keeps coming back to you (in torrents all year long). But in FL, there are getting to be more people than there is fresh water, and all of our drinking water has chemical run-off poisoning it. 'Water water everywhere, and not a drop to drink' is quite fitting, because we're surrounded by salt water, but there are millions of people in this state using a ridiculous amount of water for a lot of things that are not natural to the environment here, and we are tapping out the few good fresh water resources we have - especially in SFL. People think of SFL as tropical and would assume it's full of rainwater all the time, but for half of the year it is dry as a desert and we actually get wildfires because there is so little rain. The reservoirs get low, and we need that water for PEOPLE, not for supporting lush yards that should be bone dry for half the year. It's just how it is down here - people need to adapt to the environment, not adapt the environment to THEM. It is survivable here, with a little bit of adjustment to a different lifestyle.

[ExNooYawk2]

This thread got old but as the OP I wanted to say thanks to all who thoughtfully replied. Best I should stay here in Oregon where we have a few critters but nothing like what lives in the tropics. I'll stick to Florida/Hawaii as a vacation spot.

[Arcenal813]

Originally Posted by StarfishKey

Yes, South Florida has Cuban Tree Frogs. They are poisonous, and the sound drives some transplants mad. Not much you can do - they are invasive, and they are everywhere (outside of the cities). Again, natural prevention is key, there's lots you can do to at least keep all these critters from wanting to be on your property.

And by the way, do NOT expect to swim in canals down here. They're not clean, and as we learned recently in Miami, crocodiles bite! This is a wild place, it's not completely controlled by humans. You need to be ok with that. I love it, but not everyone will.

Large reptiles are in virtually every body of water in FL. If there's water, assume there are large alligators inside. And yes, they do bite and will eat people.

[HarryWho?]

Lawns aren't natural anywhere. I remember years ago, watching the Mike Douglas show and they had a guy that took care of the English Royals lawns. They showed some pictures and Mike asked how they got the lawn so beautiful and so flat and level. The guy said, " you start with good seed, and then roll it for 600 years".

[Astral_Weeks]

^^The Mike Douglas Show....now that is a throwback to a bygone era.


Douglas was a Chicago native but died in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. Although the exact cause of his death was not revealed, his widow told the Associated Press that he had become dehydrated while golfing a few weeks earlier on a blazing hot Florida summer day. Douglas had been treated at a hospital following this episode, but was apparently unable to make a recovery.

[smarino]

The rivers in Hawaii are also not safe to swim or wade in. Lots of bacteria. As for bugs, you have more in Florida, but the centipede is no joke in Hawaii. Then again, the snakes, gators, etc are no joke in Florida. So you pick your poison. One thing about Hawaii, the health "authorities" are career bureaucrats, and totally inept if there is a health outbreak, such as what is going on there now w/ a mosquito health problem. I trust the health honchos in Florida much more to be on top of things.