[movingvanmorrison]

Originally Posted by bgrasser

I lived in Fellsmere on 5 acres, East Central Florida.
Fire Ants and Armadillo will keep you busy.

Sounds like an are to avoid. Will look up Fellsmere.
But this is the kind of info I need!
I know every place has pluses and minuses but I prefer to know those ahead of time, especially the minuses!

For example someone just told me that at Ocala Forest there is a bombing area where they test bombs!
Wondering how often they do so and how far away you can hear it and is it with jet bombers whizzing by? Do they ever MISS and hit someone's house? LOL.

[movingvanmorrison]

Originally Posted by TD*

First off, A heck of a lot less people, so less traffic and congestion. Its one of the only cities in Florida with 4 seasons, and hilly terrain. It has an extensive park and greenway system, and its generally a beautiful place to live.

In addition its surrounded by springs, rivers, national forests and wildlife refuges.

Thanks. I appreciate the feedback. Will at least look at it on one of the city comparison web sites.
But not looking for 4 seasons. I like it warm. Even FL gets too cold for me at times! (But not often.)

[Gypsy3n8]

Originally Posted by movingvanmorrison

For example someone just told me that at Ocala Forest there is a bombing area where they test bombs!
Wondering how often they do so and how far away you can hear it and is it with jet bombers whizzing by? Do they ever MISS and hit someone's house? LOL.

There aren't many houses near there. My brother bought 15 acres VERY close to the range and he has to go through a stupid Naval security gate to get to his property. It's in the middle of ever-loving nowhere and you couldn't pay me to live there, but he likes it.


He has all manner of critters he sees on his trail cams, including bear.

[movingvanmorrison]

Originally Posted by Gypsy3n8

There aren't many houses near there. My brother bought 15 acres VERY close to the range and he has to go through a stupid Naval security gate to get to his property. It's in the middle of ever-loving nowhere and you couldn't pay me to live there, but he likes it.


He has all manner of critters he sees on his trail cams, including bear.

I'm looking for " the middle of ever-loving nowhere"! Which means, to me, less neighbor noise.
Thus could you ask your uncle if you happen to talk to him, how often he hears bombing or low flying bombers passing? How long has he lived there?

[movingvanmorrison]

Originally Posted by bgrasser

I lived in Fellsmere on 5 acres, East Central Florida.
Fire Ants and Armadillo will keep you busy.

Could you be more specific? Fire ants... in the house or just around the property?
Armadillos - Never lived around them before. What problems do they cause?

[Arcenal813]

Originally Posted by movingvanmorrison

Could you be more specific? Fire ants... in the house or just around the property?
Armadillos - Never lived around them before. What problems do they cause?

Fire ants won't be a problem in your house. On the property, sure, as you'll most likely be living on sugar sand, and they seem to thrive there, as do lots of other angry critters.

Armadillos dig. That's about it. I haven't had much issues with them. Where I am, wildlife seems to take care of itself just fine. Lots of birds of prey to get rid of snakes and unwanted rodents. You'll see lots of tortoises, which are always fun to watch IMO. LOTS of different birds, dragonflies, and owls at night.
The main thing to be wary of, I think, are bears. At the very least, just be aware of their existence, and respect them. I once had to take care of my uncle's place while he was out of town for months. Found an old gallon of milk in the house and went to throw it out. His trash cans were behind his shed. As I turned the corner at the shed, there was a huge bear RIGHT there at the trash can (literally within striking distance of me.) I stopped. It stopped moving. We looked at each other for a brief second, then I slowly backed away, and it did the same.

[bgrasser]

Originally Posted by movingvanmorrison

Could you be more specific? Fire ants... in the house or just around the property?
Armadillos - Never lived around them before. What problems do they cause?

If, or should I say when you are bitten by Fire Ants you’ll know it, google them, interesting read. I would poison their nests on a regular basis, and more nests would be built, it was a losing battle. Armadillo is another story, they are digging machines, tearing up your lawn looking for a meal, most weeks I used to trap then shoot 1 - 3 , then toss the carcass into the bush for the Turkey Vultures to clean up.

I never saw a Bear or Gator, but plenty of Snakes, and was charged by 2 wild pigs on one occasion, they were heading for my garden.

You have to realize, It wasn’t Suburbia,I was living in the middle of the jungle, 3/4 mile down a dirt road on 5 acres, mostly Saw Palmetto bush, and most 5-10 acre lots were not developed....very exciting, late August into September I had to guard my cash crop Saw Palmetto Berries from poachers.

[Gypsy3n8]

Originally Posted by movingvanmorrison

I'm looking for " the middle of ever-loving nowhere"! Which means, to me, less neighbor noise.
Thus could you ask your uncle if you happen to talk to him, how often he hears bombing or low flying bombers passing? How long has he lived there?

It's my brother, and he's lived there for about 2 years now. He works in Mt. Dora, so unless they are doing night bombing, he doesn't really hear it. But there are almost daily helicopter landings near the gate he has to go through.


Google Camp Ocala and you will see the big rectangle that is his property. There are a couple other people there, but not many. But I will say, he always has people traipsing across his property hunting deer with their yappy dang dogs. It was really irritating to me when we stayed there over Christmas 2016.

[movingvanmorrison]

Originally Posted by Arcenal352

Fire ants won't be a problem in your house. On the property, sure, as you'll most likely be living on sugar sand, and they seem to thrive there, as do lots of other angry critters.

Armadillos dig. That's about it. I haven't had much issues with them. Where I am, wildlife seems to take care of itself just fine. Lots of birds of prey to get rid of snakes and unwanted rodents. You'll see lots of tortoises, which are always fun to watch IMO. LOTS of different birds, dragonflies, and owls at night.
The main thing to be wary of, I think, are bears. At the very least, just be aware of their existence, and respect them. I once had to take care of my uncle's place while he was out of town for months. Found an old gallon of milk in the house and went to throw it out. His trash cans were behind his shed. As I turned the corner at the shed, there was a huge bear RIGHT there at the trash can (literally within striking distance of me.) I stopped. It stopped moving. We looked at each other for a brief second, then I slowly backed away, and it did the same.

Thanks much for the info.
I now live in a 3rd world country where there are all kinds of ants but they don't tend to invade the house.

We built our house tight and tightened it more with silicone etc. So we get very few insects in the house even though we live next to what is more or less a rainforest for 8 months a year. The other 4 months it's a "hot and dry wind forest" LOL. We maybe see 4-5 insects a day; a beetle here, a fly there, a cockroach there. Here it's interesting. Cockroaches don't come in droves, just individuals, and ants tend to stay outside as do mice. Weird but great.

We have some of the most poisonous snakes on the planet here and I've seen many. You get bit, you either get to the hospital within an hour (or less) or you die or lose a limb etc. Have to just be careful in the weeds. They really aren't aggressive - you have to scare them or bother them in some way of they leave you alone.

I used to go camping where there were bears. Have had several up close and personal encounters. You have to keep in mind that they could come so keep food out of reach and out of sight. I'd build a metal "bear box" for garbage I think... like at campgrounds. Most are pretty mellow and scared of you unless they're very accustomed to eating garbage or food people leave out. Then they get more bold.

We have monkeys, nightbirds and frogs and mountain lions and raccoons and anteaters and hawks etc here but none are a problem. Here they're wild and not used to people so they fear people. Rightfully so I guess.

(The mt. lions are a problem if you wish to have a cat or dog outside at night. It has eaten about 5 neighbors' dogs including a German Shepherd!) But I don't own a pet so for me none of the above are a problem.

A raccoon or ? did eat a hole in our 35 foot hose... That was a small problem.

What I don't like are ants that invade and are hard to get rid of... mice that take up residence... cockroaches (the worst!) and any other animals or insects that try to live in, under or on top of my house! Most wildlife I've encountered here and in the USA is not that big of a problem. Here there must be 50 types of ants and they seldom come in the house but I'm constantly fighting them when I see them on the porch, just to keep them away. There are ones called "bullets" which are huge, I call them Terminators because you can step on them 4-5 times and they keep going, crippled but moving forward!

So yes there are insect and animal problems here and any "wild" area, but it all depends on how bad it is... right?

[movingvanmorrison]

Originally Posted by bgrasser

If, or should I say when you are bitten by Fire Ants you’ll know it, google them, interesting read. I would poison their nests on a regular basis, and more nests would be built, it was a losing battle. Armadillo is another story, they are digging machines, tearing up your lawn looking for a meal, most weeks I used to trap then shoot 1 - 3 , then toss the carcass into the bush for the Turkey Vultures to clean up.

I never saw a Bear or Gator, but plenty of Snakes, and was charged by 2 wild pigs on one occasion, they were heading for my garden.

You have to realize, It wasn’t Suburbia,I was living in the middle of the jungle, 3/4 mile down a dirt road on 5 acres, mostly Saw Palmetto bush, and most 5-10 acre lots were not developed....very exciting, late August into September I had to guard my cash crop Saw Palmetto Berries from poachers.

Interesting. Would you tell me more or less what area you were in? PM me if you wish, I won't tell anyone. Up to you though...

Are those the wild pigs that are like the size of a volkswagen? I saw a site where they'd take people wild pig hunting and they had to pick them up with a back-hoe or cat or whatever, LOL. I'd not want to tangle with one of those! Let alone 2!

I imagine it's like where I live: one area may have a bad x, y, or z problem of insects or animals and a mile or so away, not... Am I right?

So I imagine in buying a property with 5-10 acres more or less "out in the country" as I wish to do, it may be pretty hard to really know what the insect or animal problems are. I guess talking to the closest neighbors would be advisable... assuming they'd talk to me and tell the truth and not be helping the neighbor selling - who could be a friend - by keeping secrets...