Bugs: north, east, south, and west (house, scorpion, gated)
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I'm curious about what kind of insects/pests are prevalent in different regions of the country. I've lived my whole life in Colorado and Arizona, both places with dry climates. In Colorado, commonly found bugs include "daddy long legs," spiders, red ants, grasshoppers, normal bees, fruit flies and miller moths. Mosquitos are found when you are near a reservoir or an artificially irrigated piece of turf. I've heard of people having problems with black widdow spiders, but I've never seen one personally. Arizona is known for having a bunch of exotic, scary bugs, like tarantulas, but honestly I've never seen one before. Bugs I have come across here are cockroaches (yuck!), scorpions (), little gnats and mosquitos, ants, and HUGE black bees that hang out around certain trees. I've heard that AZ has an Africanized bee population, and ocassionally on the news you hear about people being attacked in their backyard by swarms of hundreds of Africanized bees. Scary stuff, but I try not to worry about it too much. I've been stung here by wasps twice, but not the big scary ones, thank god. Even though bugs ARE out here in AZ, for the most part, I rarely see bugs at all.
I'm almost certain that the kinds and types of bugs out west are different than in the east. I'm thinking about moving somewhere where it's greener and wetter, but I've heard some horror stories about bugs I've never experienced before. Like, wtf are "chiggers," and what geographical area are they found in? Pretty sure I've never come across one before. How big of an annoyance are ticks exactly? I've heard horror stories of flying cockroaches, mosquitos that eat you alive, and other bad stuff. When it comes to bugs, does West = Best? I admit, I hate bugs, but I want to at least be informed as to what is a problem where.
I Live In A Subdivision In The Middle Of The Desert Outside Albuquerque,a Few Weeks Back I Found A Child Of The Earth At My Door,that Was The Most Freaky Looking Insect Thing I Have Ever Seen,the Head Looked Like A Glossy Baby's Head And The Back Looked Like A Big Wasp But In Spider Form.I Find Earwigs In My House Alot,at Our Old House We Would Find Large Centipedes Inside And Roaches. I Ve Heard About Chiggers Too On Another Forum But I Dont Know What They Are.
Like, wtf are "chiggers," and what geographical area are they found in? Pretty sure I've never come across one before. How big of an annoyance are ticks exactly? I've heard horror stories of flying cockroaches, mosquitos that eat you alive, and other bad stuff. When it comes to bugs, does West = Best? I admit, I hate bugs, but I want to at least be informed as to what is a problem where.
chiggers are tiny little mite larvae, also called redbugs. They bite, attach themselves to your skin, and badly irritate it. They live inside the Spanish Moss, which grows in the warmer, coastal areas of the south. So no, you do not want to play with the spanish moss.
Chigger, under microscope Spanish Moss
We have flying cockroaches in the south. It's called the American Cockroach, it's big and dark brown, and only lives outside, in subtropical climates. They like to come inside your house when it starts raining, or when it starts cooling off in Sept/Oct. They get big - I saw one that was nearly 2 inches long crawling across my ceiling a few weeks ago.
These things definitely fly, I had one attack me in the shower not too long ago, lol. American Cockroach
Fire Ants are not fun, either. They are fast little red ants, imported from South America, that have very painful bites.
Location: Mableton, GA USA (NW Atlanta suburb, 4 miles OTP)
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Originally Posted by vegaspilgrim
I'm curious about what kind of insects/pests are prevalent in different regions of the country.
In 40 years of living in the Twin Cities and central Minnesota, I encountered surprisingly few problem insects, possibly due to the colder winter. The main problem bugs I experienced were mosquitos, woodticks (there were also deer ticks), carpenter ants, little sugar ants, paper wasps, and biting flies like horseflies and deerflies. Oh, and gnats sometimes. Ugh. Clouds.
Nothing poisonous, though.
After three years in the Atlanta metro I've encountered some new things. The most common are: palmetto bugs (aka American Cockroaches, big dark brown flying cockroaches that live outside but sometimes make their way indoors), house spiders with super long legs, carpenter bees (look like bumble bees but like drilling holes in wood), and one tiny little dead scorpion in our driveway about 1" long from claws to tail.
However, I guess the following can be found (some rarer than others) in the Atlanta metro area: a couple flavors of termites, fire ants, and both black and brown widow spiders (I've read that the latter has only been seen quite recently).
Location: Mableton, GA USA (NW Atlanta suburb, 4 miles OTP)
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Originally Posted by anonymous
You may be thinking of the Black Widow, and the Brown Recluse. Both are dangerous, and require medical treatment if you get bitten.
I forgot about the Brown Recluse, but I was specifically recalling this article in the AJC (http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/atlanta/stories/2007/10/17/spider_1018_web.html - broken link).
To my surprise, my house? Most common bug? None. No pest control either. If anything the most common bug was these peculiar, tiny ants that weren't attracted to food and SO easy to self exterminate. Haven't seen them in a year. I have never seen a roach either.
I live in Montana and have never seen a roach or any fleas here. We have a problem with yellow jackets and of coarse there are a few ticks and skeeters.
,a Few Weeks Back I Found A Child Of The Earth At My Door,that Was The Most Freaky Looking Insect Thing I Have Ever Seen,the Head Looked Like A Glossy Baby's Head And The Back Looked Like A Big Wasp But In Spider Form.
This intrigued me...I had never heard of this bug before!! And I didn't like the sound of it
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), little gnats and mosquitos, ants, and HUGE black bees that hang out around certain trees. I've heard that AZ has an Africanized bee population, and ocassionally on the news you hear about people being attacked in their backyard by swarms of hundreds of Africanized bees. Scary stuff, but I try not to worry about it too much. I've been stung here by wasps twice, but not the big scary ones, thank god. Even though bugs ARE out here in AZ, for the most part, I rarely see bugs at all.
The most common are: palmetto bugs (aka American Cockroaches, big dark brown flying cockroaches that live outside but sometimes make their way indoors), house spiders with super long legs, carpenter bees (look like bumble bees but like drilling holes in wood), and one tiny little dead scorpion in our driveway about 1" long from claws to tail.
