About to Move Out From Roaches and Centipedes (Raleigh, Cary: apartments, condos)
Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill, CaryThe Triangle Area
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Firstly, I've lived in the countryside my entire life. It's much more city than I'm used to down here and that's the most attractive part to me. I've never lived in a situation in where everything is so accessible. I was never able to afford living in or near Boston and even if I was the cost wouldn't be practical.
Firstly, some things about the area that I've noticed so far...
There are groups for just about anything you could be into and it's crowded enough that you can meet a lot of people. There are events happening everywhere all the time, though maybe now with the virus not as much. In the country, out in the boonies, the worst thing you go through is the isolation, nothing was accessable, I had to drive about 20-30 minutes to get groceries.
Everything where I live now in Cary is extremely clean, there are bike paths and nice clean parks sprawled around everywhere. Downtown Cary is expanding and you get this feeling that this is an area where America is actually functional. This isn't like the rustbelt cities up north that are all charred, burnt down and depressed, it feels very very safe compared to the cities up north.
There are a ton of people from New Jersey/New York here I notice. About 80% of the people I've come in contact with so far have mentioned that they're from New Jersey or Queens, New York.
My impression is that when you drive outside of the metropolitan area you get into the 'south' south. Some of the towns surrounding the metro area seemed really nice, like for example Fuquay Varina south of Raleigh or Apex.
So now to what I didn't expect...
Well, in my apartment, a first floor, so far I've seen in the 3 months I've lived here 3 house centipedes and about 6 cockroaches. When the pest control guy came in today he was from Tennessee he said that it's normal to see maybe 1 or 2 cockroaches every month.
The problem is that I have a runaway phobia of insects. All day I have trouble with twitching, I'm becoming tweaked out. I'm looking at the walls, ceiling constantly, constantly vacuuming and cleaning over and over. I woke up just today yelling in my sleep from a dream about a centipede. I've done everything I could and laid down cockroach bait traps and sprayed diatomus earth into the corners of every room.
It's really a shame, but I can't live like this...Now reading stories on here about people in places like Arizona, stories about families having trianchulas and spider infestations, my brother recently visited Costa Rica and he said he saw all kinds of big spiders and bugs down there, the idea being that the further south you go the bigger and badder the insects get...I feel like once summer comes into full swing, things are gonna get so much worse down here due to the 90 degree weather and the 100 percent humidity.
I feel like an idiot because I had researched down here for 4 months before coming down. I heard that there are more snakes in Wake county than anywhere in the country, and I was okay with that. What I didn't take into account was the bugs. Where I'm from there are definitely ticks and we got yellow jackets, but for the most part if you have a park with mowed grass you can lay in the grass and not be worried. The last apartment I lived in I had only seen one small spider in an entire year. The trailer I lived in before that I had only seen one small spider in 4 years. The worst thing you got were bears out in the woods but at least with a bear you can have a rifle with you for protection. I'm really surprised because where I'm from originally in New England nature is far more friendly, and I can't believe I didn't take this into account when moving down, I didn't see anything about this in any videos or articles or forum posts on 'before you move down to North Carolina'. I hadn't realized that I lived in one of tamest places in the entire country.
So, as much of a shame as it is, I'm looking to transfer back up north as soon as possible. I just see myself being a tweaked out mess more and more down here from the phobia and feel like it's going to start taking a tole on my health. Even the exterminator was like "Well, my borther is in Maine and you don't get anything up there, but there aren't any jobs up there", so it seemed like he was implying that if he had a job up north he'd be up there instead. The only other option I could think of, is to get like a 4th story modern apartment, but there's no way I can afford that for very long down here.
I'm going to go looking around for gaps and holes in the ceilings, walls and cabinets now. I hope this forum post and people's replies to it can help out others from the far north make a more informed decision about moving down. For most people it's going to be alright, because the phobia I have isn't just a regular fear.
You need to focus on your mental health man. Please see a professional as what you are talking about is not normal and you are wasting your life attempting to run from what's inside your brain. It needs fixed. Seriously. Good luck in your journey
Nowhere on the planet besides maybe the Arctic/Antarctic is devoid of insects.
well... your phobia aside, it really isn't normal to have cockroaches and centipedes strolling around your home. It's probably more a problem with the apartments you're living in. I've been here over 40 years and never had a problem in any of my apartments, condos or houses with either. As you travel towards the coast I've found it much more "buggy"
You've lived in the countryside your entire life and bugs and insects are new to you? Sorry, I'm calling BS on this post. I don't care if you're from Sasketchewan. Also bugs can get from one floor to another, so I doubt your first floor apartment is the problem.
You need to focus on your mental health man. Please see a professional as what you are talking about is not normal and you are wasting your life attempting to run from what's inside your brain. It needs fixed. Seriously. Good luck in your journey
Nowhere on the planet besides maybe the Arctic/Antarctic is devoid of insects.
Bingo.
You DO know that there are bugs EVERYWHERE, right? Do you ever leave the house? Bugs everywhere. Underfoot, in the air, on the walls next to where you are walking.
I know phobias are difficult to manage and VERY uncomfortable when they are triggered. I had a phobia for 2 decades with dogs. It took time and A LOT of work to get over it, but it was worth it. It normalized my social life, my outside activity and my worry/paranoia whenever I was out of doors.
We stay in northern Michigan in the summer and it has many times the amount of bugs we get here. Mosquito population is legendary there. I don't know if apartments will let you get your own bug guy but I am more phobic of the chemicals than of the bugs.
I live in an apartment that is an older building (built in the 90's), and I get a fair amount of bugs. Last year was a weird infestation of teeny tiny centipedes ... I found a few a day for a few weeks. That was a one-time thing. I've live here 4 years, and that was the only time it happened. I do get roaches (the big ones ... water bugs?) 2 or 3 times a month during the warmer months. It's unpleasant, but I deal with it (bug spray is my weapon of choice).
I agree that OP needs to deal with the phobia aspect of it, rather than allowing the phobia to dictate where he lives.
Well I have to say that one of the reasons we had to move from our home in Raleigh was the large number of BIG cockroaches. We did back to woods and I think they were wood roaches but really disgusting! Putting roach gel around the pipes under the sinks did help some.
You need to focus on your mental health man. Please see a professional as what you are talking about is not normal and you are wasting your life attempting to run from what's inside your brain. It needs fixed. Seriously. Good luck in your journey
Nowhere on the planet besides maybe the Arctic/Antarctic is devoid of insects.
phobia - "an extreme or irrational fear of or aversion to something."
treat the condition, not the location.
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