Lizards and Centipedes? (Hilo, Waimea, Hawaiian Beaches: condo, subdivisions, living in)

[hotzcatz]

We have chickens AND centipedes, although, I must admit we have a lot less centipedes after getting the hens in the backyard. Most of the time the chickens stay outside, but they occasionally sneak in and eat the cat's food.

Chickens are cannibals, do they count? Today they finished off the last of the Thanksgiving turkey I found hiding in the back of the 'fridge. That should be considered cannibal cousins if not outright cannibalistic.

Hawaii has lots of bugs, although not too many wild critters. No squirrels, skunks, armadillos, possums, gators, snakes (except for one that looks like a worm), etc.

[Gibs07GTcpe]

Been out here a couple months now and continually find Gecko's in the house. We dont kill them though. Just let them be due to the fact they eat the pest bugs... Plus my daughter loves them.


LOL

Have yet to see a Centipede though.

[Jungjohann]

DON'T LOOK UNDER THE BED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

uuuurrrrpppp,,,,,, gonna rain,,,, scuze me. melekidakineliadat

[uluapark]

Don't worry..besides centipedes, we have scorpions, spiders, feral pigs..seen a few in hauula(oahu). peacocks too. And of course we have sharks , jelly fish..ect. Life isn't safe..just keep a watchful eye and use common sense.. you will be fine.

[UHgrad]

Is that brown anole still taking over the place? I started seeing them a lot around 2005-2006, they would attack the nice green house geckos and eat them.

[agita_san]

Check out thepicture thread, someone posted a picture of a spider getting attacked by a wasp, that is your average cane spider. They are intimidating looking, big, but mostly harmless. They will only bite if they absolutely have to which is very rare. In the pics I posted there is a picof your average centipede. Scary, and very painful bite, but other than being painful it isn't really anything to worry about. There are also scorpions around but they are very small and generally harmless. I've never been stung and I've come across tons of them while camping.

There are a couple pests that you do have to worry about, namely the brown recluse spider. His bite can do a lot of damage. I also swear to go that I've seen a couple black widows, unless there is a spider with very similar markings around. In the 15 years I've lived here I've seen 2 black widows and have never seen a brown recluse. I see cane spiders all the time (just found one in my bathroom last night) and centipedes maybe once a week.

Lizards are the one thing you never need to worry about to be honest. They are all harmless.

All in all there are a few pests that you need to watch out for, but for the most part nothing will ever really happen.

The one pest I notice that no one really seems to wonder about and is a very real problem is jelly fish. If you see jelly fish warnings posted, stay the heck outta the water! lol

[Mahrie]

G'morning!

Name me one place on Earth that doesn't have predatory (biting, stinging, carnivorous, etc.) bugs! I know of no place - period.

Y'get used to things that you don't imagine you could. I remember when we first went to Jerusalem. I hate flies because of the germs they carry, but the shuks (outdoor markets) have hordes of them everywhere, and unless you'd like to starve, you will eat the flat bread that was crawling with the things before the vendor picked it up with his bare and often dirty hands and gave it to you. Jerusalem has cockroaches, huge ones, but the worst thing there, I think, are bed bugs. We didn't bother with mattresses after our first encounter with the blighters and slept on air mattresses in an expedition tent instead. It was easier on the budget and the nerves.

In wilderness areas and tropical climes, sensible people use screens on their windows and enclosed mosquito netting over and around their beds. They wear rubber gloves while gardening, bug suits while on photo shoots (my specialty), and decent foot protection - and they put glue traps at entry points where rodents are likely to be a problem. I don't want to trap a gecko, but if it came down to a gecko or a rat....

Cane spiders are harmless, so why not think of them as misguided pets and calmly escort them outside?

I'd be a great deal more concerned about viruses that I cannot see - anywhere on Earth - than a few pesky insects that I can whack out of existence.

Blessings,

Mahrie.

[Calico Salsa]

I was at the Maui County Fair yesterday, and a fellow at the Ag booth said that toads eat centipedes. Is that true? We didn't have many toads at all for the last 3-ish years, but have one living in the front yard now. Used to be a whole lot more of them. I thought maybe a problem with the ground water, since they are so sensitive to anything toxic, but Ag fellow said Kihei had a drop in the population after the ditches were all filled in. That makes sense too.

[jahmalla]

Ha Ha that was funny about the mini cooper.
You did not mention which island you would be moving to. I can tell you about the Big Island Hilo side but its probably the same deal on each island. Some subdivisions here are worse than others, Hawaiian Beaches being one of the worst. When I lived there for about 6 months probably got at least 4 centipedes inside . When I lived In Paradise Park, I got about 3 a year inside the House. Sometimes it can be the street you live on . I had 2 friends who lived across the street from each other. They lived closer to the ocean and they did not get any inside. One of the houses had a lot of big red ants. i think that could be a deterant, because I lived in a house with big red ants and did not get centipedes there. The last house I lived in , It was almost 2 years before I got one inside and it was small. I only got small ones there. That house was located going the mountain towards Volcano. It appears that the higher up in elevation you go, the colder it gets less bugs. Closer to Hilo and warmer more bugs. If you can stand the cold, My friend in Volcano subdivision says she does not get bugs, but it can get in the 40's at night in the winter. As far as gecko's go, they have been inside every house I have lived in. The 2 main things I do not like about geckos is they caca on my furniture, clothes etc and when my cats get them and their tails come off and are moving like its alive. What I can tell you about centipedes are they like cockroaches, so if you can stay cockroach free(keep your house very clean) that helps. They like damp but not wet conditions as they seem to come in more when its raining hard. As far as the size I once saw a green one cut in half that was was at least 6 or more inches. So remember, the colder the place the least likely you'll get the bugs. Try Waimea on Big Island Its cold there.

[aqua0]

Originally Posted by tonesdef

If you don't like bugs or cold blooded animals you should not move to any tropical area. Stay up north were the winter kills all of these pest. The tropics are filled with pest.

Completely agree! You cannot get away from it all. I stayed at a friend's million dollar mansion, on the 2nd floor, got up to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night, and heard something behind the toilet....a huge centipede making pitter-patter sounds with its 100 feet. It snuck into a cabinet and disappeared.

She also told me she was vacuuming and a centipede came out from under the sofa, and she sucked it up in the vacuum cleaner, stuffed a towel into the end of the vacuum hose so the centipede can suffocate and die. Hopefully it did.

Pest control cannot get rid of critters. Nothing can, until you live in a place cold enough where they cannot survive.

The decision is:

Warm climate + Critters.....or.......Cold climate + shoveling snow?