Please help, I'm moving to Texas in a few weeks and have some questions (Houston: low crime, hotels) - (TX) - Page 2 - City-Data Forum

tstone · 10-10-2007, 06:59 AM

That'll be a huge culture shock just simply in the demographics. Wikipedia says Maine is 98% white, 1% black, 1% native American... and regardless of race 1% Hispanic. Houston and Texas are both minority-majority. But as long as you know how to carry yourself properly you'll blend in fine.

As for the flying roaches, they are rare but everyone here has their stories. You'll be sitting down watching TV nearly half asleep when all the sudden you hear this loud buzzing noise above you. You can swat at them in flight and it always seems like they try to chase you around. You have to smash them HARD or they won't die. (I have a wiener dog and he finishes them off after I knock it down.) But most roaches here are 1.5-2 inches long and don't fly. If you walk the neighborhood around midnight you can see a few crawling in the streets. They crawl out of the storm drains in search of water when things get dry.

love roses · 10-10-2007, 02:51 PM

They aren't rare if you live in Houston and you have lots of trees. When I lived in Rice Village those things were everywhere. True, more were outside than inside, but those things gross me out so bad, It doesn't matter where they are. They used to get into my apartment, and they will fly after you! Even after you swat at them. They don't bite or anything, but they're just gross. My story of a roach is about one at my husbands apartment while we were still dating. He was at work at the time. One got in his apartment, and try as I might that thing wouldn't let me kill it. It kept going behind something I couldn't reach it at, and it would stay there and after a while, creep out halfway and when it saw or felt me coming it went right back into hiding. This kept up for several hours until I finally outsmarted it (or so I thought). I could swear I smushed it pretty good, but lo and behold, while I went to get a paper towel to pick it up with, It was gone when I came back. The rest of the night, I was worried about that genius cockroach coming back to plot revenge on me!

britneyokeefe · 10-11-2007, 10:27 AM

I have visited. I spent two weeks there this past May. I loved it. I can't wait to go back actually, I'm just really terrified of bugs.

britneyokeefe · 10-11-2007, 10:29 AM

We're moving into a gated community of apartments. Do they have any kind of regular pest control? Will there be bugs in the apartment??

chris_ut · 10-11-2007, 11:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by britneyokeefe

We're moving into a gated community of apartments. Do they have any kind of regular pest control? Will there be bugs in the apartment??

Best call the apartment complex and ask management about that. All but the most ghetto apartments usually have regular pest control.

blancspons · 10-11-2007, 02:00 PM

We also just moved here from Portland. The bugs are not that bad... the one thing that got me was the large brown tree roach that crawled across my floor one day. We had the apartment sprayed the next day and they haven't been back since. Your apartment complex should regularly spray, and you'll be all set. The grass is different here, too. You can't really sit down on it and relax because there are fire ants and fleas. You're moving here at a good time though, the weather will be great! We moved here in June and nearly died in the hot hot humid weather- nothing like Maine! Good luck with your move!

tstone... Portland, Maine is not 98% white anymore (not even close!)

tstone · 10-11-2007, 02:43 PM

I didn't check Portland; i checked Maine as a whole. I guess the far NE is white like that, like Canada.

Laying down on the grass I'm more concerned about spiders but I go barefoot in my yard and don't have many problems. I've have been bitten by a spider - it itched a little and went away fast, but it wasn't of the poisonous type. You have to look before you step or lay.

Fleas are a product of neighbors with pet (and possibly personal) hygiene issues.

You can also find plenty of earthworms. My dog likes to pull dead, stinky ones out of the ground with his teeth and roll all over them!

Historian/Traveler · 10-11-2007, 03:56 PM

If you think about it all the time you will get bitten. Bugs, like other creatures of this planet, smell and feed off of fear. Cheers!

lmillington · 05-24-2010, 05:09 PM

I'm moving there too and I am skeptical about the whole "roaches flying in your face" thing. It will be an adventure.........

cheryjohns · 05-24-2010, 08:41 PM

The first time you see one - which may be a year after you move here - you will think "OMG". After that shock is over, it's not a big deal. The only time I think about them is when I read about the fears people have when moving down. I just don't see that many. I show houses, including foreclosures - most of my experiences with them have been dead ones, belly-up in vacant houses.