What about bugs in the 'burgh? (Lebanon: apartments, mortgage, house)

[guylocke]

It should also be noted that ALL spiders are venomous

I tried really hard not to say anything and just leave this go... but I couldn't. There are non-venomous spiders - the spider families of Uloboridae and Holarchaeidae are completely without venom sacs.

[Hopes]

Originally Posted by Steve-o

The only critter in PA thats dangerous, IMO, is the timber rattlesnake (Crotalus horridus), of which there are many.

Yet, many of us who have lived here our entire lives have never seen a rattlesnake. Even most of us who are avid hunters, campers and hikers have never seen them.

[pghlibrarian]

Originally Posted by outofsc

How about those creepy banana spiders? They are black with a yellow mark on their back. They are so named b/c they arrived in this country via banana boxes - I'm told. My exterminator says they are poisonous but gentle and the venom is only a threat to children and the elderly. They get huge and each morning in the summer, I see new webs hanging betweens the limbs of trees and my house. I can handle roaches - they are gross, but not scary. Giant spiders hanging in the trees freaks me out however. I know - they eat bugs so they are good, yada, yada, yada... Still freaks me out.

Banana spiders are only found in the coastal Southeast area of the United States. Finding a banana spider in Pittsburgh would be like finding a hippopotamus in the Allegheny River.

More info on banana spiders can be found here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_silk_orb-weaver

I've lived a few places in the US (but never the coastal Southeast), and I have never seen a banana spider before (thank God...they are kinda creepy)!

[guylocke]

Yet, many of us who have lived here our entire lives have never seen a rattlesnake

I've never seen one. The only thing I've ever seen in all my years here that was "remotely dangerous" was a single black widow spider.

[outofsc]

Thanks for all the info - can you tell I have a touch of arachnophobia? I thought perhaps banana spiders thrived in the south but figured that bananas get shipped everywhere so maybe they had adapted to life in the burgh. :-)

Snakes don't bother me as much as bats and spiders. I know bats are super beneficial to have in your yard but when they buzz my ear at night - I flip out. I know, I know - they only buzz your ear to eat the mosquito next to it but still.... Thanks for the info. Sounds like professional quarterly pest control may be an expense I can forgo when we move.

Now a question about termites - does PA require a CL100 letter before securing a mortgage. This may be a secondary market regulation and not one that is left up to each state... In your experiences, do most homeowners get and keep a termite bond on their homes? In SC, 3 out of our 4 homes we've purchased did not have a termite bond. Each passed inspection and we promptly got a bond on each home. Any thoughts???

[Tallysmom]

Originally Posted by Hopes

Yet, many of us who have lived here our entire lives have never seen a rattlesnake. Even most of us who are avid hunters, campers and hikers have never seen them.

My aunt lives in the mountains of PA, and she had this one leaning over tree with rough bark that was SO creepy..... it had stuff hanging off the branches and it scared me when I was little and I told my mom I wouldn't stay at my aunt's because the scary tree would come after me...

As I got older, I found out what it was -- the bark made it perfect for snakes shedding their skins.... they'd wind their way up the tree bark.... and go to the low branches and fall out -- leaving their shed skins on tree...

After I found out what it was, I wasn't scared anymore...

[Steve-o]

Originally Posted by boylocke

I tried really hard not to say anything and just leave this go... but I couldn't. There are non-venomous spiders - the spider families of Uloboridae and Holarchaeidae are completely without venom sacs.

With the super rare exception of course... Those families are probably not in the USA Id imagine, they dont look familiar to me whatsoever. Whats their range (without getting too off-topic)?

[Steve-o]

Originally Posted by Hopes

Yet, many of us who have lived here our entire lives have never seen a rattlesnake. Even most of us who are avid hunters, campers and hikers have never seen them.

I wonder how many snakes have seen you? Youd be hard-pressed to see one even if you were almost standing on top of it. If you went to their prime habitat and actually looked for them, youd uncover lots.

Find the snake (and yes, there ARE snakes in these images). Unless you keep a constant and close eye, youre not going to see the rattlers :
http://www.venomousreptiles.org/libr...4195?offset=15

http://www.venomousreptiles.org/libr...4175?offset=13

http://www.venomousreptiles.org/libr...4173?offset=11

[Elder18]

A trouser snake.

And she's been with me ever since.

[outofsc]

Argh......