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Old 05-05-2008, 05:06 AM
 
Location: Northern California
42 posts, read 167,054 times
Reputation: 30

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Okay everybody... we're finally at the ''serious'' fork in the road about whether to move to the Clayton area or stay in Northern CA. And I have to admit, one of the biggest issues we're struggling with is the idea of dealing with chiggers, fleas and ticks! We're just not sure we're up for that!

Just how prevalent are these little buggers? We have a couple of dogs, so are we supposed to just not let them out in the yard from April to October? Is it true you can't even go barefoot during the Summer? I've read all about the remedies to be used (such as clear nail polish over a bite, etc.). What we want to know is how drastic this issue really is. Again, coming from Northern CA where the worst thing we deal with is an occasional wasp's nest or an ant parade... we're spoiled, I suppose.

I'm sure this sounds awfully silly to most of you, but it's a real concern for us. Any feedback? Thanks SO MUCH!
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Old 05-05-2008, 05:16 AM
 
Location: Virginia (again)
2,697 posts, read 8,665,901 times
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Put your dogs on Frontline Plus or K9 Advantage and you really shouldn't have a problem. I'm very nervous about ticks because I had Lyme disease twice growing up (in CT) and we have two dogs and a wooded lot in Cary but I've never seen a tick or fleas on them. We actually did have a flea problem in FL, but we had our pest control company spray our yard and that seemed to take care of it.
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Old 05-05-2008, 06:33 AM
 
5,728 posts, read 17,533,574 times
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Both of our dogs are inside dogs. They're inside most of the day during the week, and we take them for walks on the greenways on the weekend. I "bombed" our yard with double shot of insect killer early this spring. Both of our dogs are on Heartguard and Frontline. Even still, I pulled a nice big fat dog tick off of one of them on Friday. Big as a raisin.

We have a wooded area behind our house and my wife went back there yesterday, only once, to dispose of some shrub clippings. When she came back she had 2 ticks on her shoe.

Last week I had to have her pull a tick off of my lower back.

I've never seen a chigger.

Did anyone tell you about fire ants yet?
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Old 05-05-2008, 06:35 AM
 
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I don't give any of them much thought. Put Frontline Plus on the dogs every month and have never seen a flea or tick on them...or any other dog I've had.
...and I go barefoot as much as possible.
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Old 05-05-2008, 07:04 AM
 
Location: Piedmont NC
4,596 posts, read 11,414,280 times
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Default Don't let the bedbugs bite. . .

I don't lose sleep over them. In my 40 years of living in NC, I have had maybe three chigger bites, a handful of ticks, and fleas have never gotten me unless I moved into a place previously occupied by cats.

We keep the dogs on flea/tick lotion stuff -- applied once a month on the back just above the shoulder blades, and bathe them regularly (more for dirt than anything else). They do fine. Occasionally, if my husband has taken the bigger one walking in the woods, I will give them both a good once- or twice-over.

The large ticks are dog ticks, and they are fairly easy to deal with. It's those little teeny ones that come off deer and jump on you in the woods that'll get ya. My husband did contract RMSF this past Fall, but even the incidence of that is not too great if you are conscientious about putting some OFF! on your legs when you head to the woods. He hadn't been.
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Old 05-06-2008, 04:57 AM
 
147 posts, read 470,087 times
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You didn't even ask about the Brown Recluses, Water Moccasins or staying inside in the AC all summer because it is HOT. And if someone grew up in NC and only got three chiggers their whole life. Then they did not spend much time walking around outside barefoot. And yes, to kill a chigger (not a bite, they burrow into your flesh) you put some clear nail polish on there to suffocate them and then you drive to the beach. Nothing heals like some good sea water. But the idea that in order to kill a chigger you must suffocate them and then absorb them into your skin is just downright nasty.
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Old 05-06-2008, 05:18 AM
 
Location: Northern California
42 posts, read 167,054 times
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Smile Thanks Everyone!

I appreciate the feedback from all of you (especially the gal who PM'd me to let me know she moved from CA to NC and was getting the heck out of NC due to the insects eating her alive!). We're coming back out for another visit mid-June, so we'll see how things go. Thanks once again!
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Old 05-06-2008, 08:16 AM
 
Location: Piedmont NC
4,596 posts, read 11,414,280 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by memorytheatre View Post
You didn't even ask about the Brown Recluses, Water Moccasins or staying inside in the AC all summer because it is HOT. And if someone grew up in NC and only got three chiggers their whole life. Then they did not spend much time walking around outside barefoot. And yes, to kill a chigger (not a bite, they burrow into your flesh) you put some clear nail polish on there to suffocate them and then you drive to the beach. Nothing heals like some good sea water. But the idea that in order to kill a chigger you must suffocate them and then absorb them into your skin is just downright nasty.

But, yes! Three chiggers as best I can recall. You only know you have been bitten by a chigger/red bug because they itch like mad -- the things are so tiny until you are hard-pressed to see them, even if you disturb them in pine straw, which I am not often likely to do. Perhaps when I am mulching the beds around the house.

And in the event I have the misfortune to get one, I'd much rather paint over the spot with nail polish, and let it die, than itch like mad for weeks. I don't see much difference in the body absorbing it than say stitches from surgery. A chigger seems less invasive than say, a bacteria, or a virus.

As for the spider, the brown recluse, you are not likely to encounter one unless you are working in a wood pile, or are under the house for some reason. Much like the black widow spider, they are not out in the open, nor are they searching you out. The bite of a brown recluse can be serious, fatal even, but if you are out working where you may encounter one, hopefully you are mindful of the fact.

Does one take precautions when one climbs a ladder?

The likelihood of encountering a water moccasin, or cottonmouth, is relatively slim, too, unless you are in a swampy area, large lake, or pond, with tall grasses along the bank, and trees that provide an overhang. They are generally more common closer to the NC coast.

Which brings me to. . . all of the wonderful 'what if's' there. You may be pinched by a crab at the water's edge, step on the barb of a skate, get stung by a jelly fish, or worse yet a Portuguese man-o-war, encounter a sand shark or worse variety, be nibbled on by feeding schools of fish. I am well aware of those unfortunate mishaps, too, yet in all of the years of living a few miles from the coast, and going to the beach every possible day of the summer months, I was only pinched by a crab once, and while I may have seen jellyfish, man-o-war, sharks, and any number of other sea life, I fortunately never had a personal encounter with any of them. My daughter surfs almost daily, and she had more trouble from sea lice.

I'm not going to try to persuade you to stay here in NC, however. Just be mindful that these are not necessarily every day encounters, and I did not exaggerate about the three chiggers. I am one who is outdoors all of the time, barefoot, no less.

Camping in the NC mountains, I have more problems with the little Black bears than chiggers.
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Old 05-06-2008, 08:40 AM
 
Location: Wake Forest
2,835 posts, read 7,319,565 times
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Here is my view from a NE transplant to NC about 5 years now. searching back into the moving paperwork...WOW almost 5 years now. Hard to believe. Anyway back to insects and reptiles. Let me begin by saying I am spider and snake intolerant. What I mean by that is if I see one its only once because I book the opposite direction faster than a chicken on a gator farm. I do like the outdoors from a standpoint of walking and fishing. I have uncounted spiders, snakes, and ants (fire ones that is). When we first moved into our home I was out back playing catch in sandals and felt something but just thought it was the grass. It was not till that evening I saw my ankles were red and blistering. Went to the doctors the next day and he said it was fire ants and I put some medication on the ankles and it cleared up in about a week but it sure looked nasty. Back to chiggers, I can't say I ever encountered one of those but can't be sure. I would be on the look out for them but if one can't see them I'm not sure I will know unless I itch.

I did encounter a few black widows from a distance. I try to use the don't look can't be there theory of insects and snakes. One I encountered was guarding the door in our storage unit when we moved down here. Needless to say it was a temporary job for the spider, he was quickly relieved of his duties once I needed to get in the unit.

I see snakes along the banks of Falls Lake, swimming merrily along the banks. I never really get close enough to see what variety they are other than to say they squirm, are long and slender, and scare the dickens out of me. All I need to say about that.

But other than the Black Widows and Recruse spiders and fire ants I can say all the above about NE where I came from. Hopefully the above will help give you a perspective on my experience with the area from a insect and snake viewpoint. However, please take into account my biases I stated above. Good luck with your decision!

May you be chigger free and snake immune no matter where your digs maybe!
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Old 05-06-2008, 09:28 PM
 
Location: Clayton, NC
850 posts, read 3,618,592 times
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Well...coming from NJ, the bugs do seem to be bigger and more annoying here. And I do NOT like bugs..at all (I get freaked out). BUT for all the joking around we do about the bugs here, I wouldn't leave if you paid me to live somewhere with no bugs.

We're seeing alot more ticks this year than last (maybe the drought?) but even last year, we were pulling more ticks off the kids than in NJ. BUT we are also in the woods more (we have a wooded backyard). Dont' bother with the nailpolish for ticks (did I read that right?) Ticks will crawl around on you a few hours to find their primo spot. THEN they dig in AND they actually glue themselves to you - which is why its so hard to get them off in one piece (you do not want to pull off a tick and leave its head inside you). Anyhow, use rubbing alcohol on the tick all over...keep rubbing it all around the ticks head with a cotton ball and within about 5 minutes, the glue dissolves and you can pull out the little bugger.

Anyhow...if you don't have much in the way of woods, you will def have less ticks. Chiggers are hard to spot...but if you get a handful of bites all in the same area and they itch like mad (more so than mosquito bites) then yep, you've got em. Only had them once.

Lauren
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