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When I was a teenager living in the Poconos, I heard a noise on the front steps of my house. So I went and opened up the door, and there was a blackbear standing in front of me face to face. Our faces were about 2 feet apart, and was separated by only a screen. We stared at each other for about 20 seconds (he was apparently as shocked as I was), and then the bear slowly turned around and walked away.
It was a surreal experience staring into the eyes of a black bear.
I can't even imagine. My 10 year when he was 4 years old at the time, was pressing faces with a bear cub through our sliding glass doors. Not even the slightest afraid of the animal, my son said 'RRAAHH", and the cub took off! Actually was quite amusing. Prior to that, the cub swam in our pool to cool off, chewing on the floaty devices. I've heard it said that the bears that run from any kind of loud noise, are the ones you don't have to fear, but the ones that stay around even after a loud noise, like an airhorn, those are the ones to stay clear of.
Oh wow....you do not want to be living in North Carolina without recognizing fire ants. They're nasty little things....they'll swarm all over you if you disturb their mounds. Look up information on them in Wikipedia. I'm scared to death about letting my daughter play in our yard because of them.
What you want to look out for are mounds in your lawn that look like this...
Typically, they're about basket-ball sized mounds. I've successfully eradicated them several times using fire ant bait from hardware stores, but after a few months, they migrate back onto my property. Wake County is currently at the northern border of their range, and the southern part of the county is infested with them. If you drive down US-64 towards Pittsboro, you can see mounds all along the highway every 5 to 10 feet or so. They're everywhere.
Oh wow....you do not want to be living in North Carolina without recognizing fire ants. They're nasty little things....they'll swarm all over you if you disturb their mounds. Look up information on them in Wikipedia. I'm scared to death about letting my daughter play in our yard because of them.
What you want to look out for are mounds in your lawn that look like this...
Typically, they're about basket-ball sized mounds. I've successfully eradicated them several times using fire ant bait from hardware stores, but after a few months, they migrate back onto my property. Wake County is currently at the northern border of their range, and the southern part of the county is infested with them. If you drive down US-64 towards Pittsboro, you can see mounds all along the highway every 5 to 10 feet or so. They're everywhere.
They sound nasty. Can they be kept under control with yearly visits from the exterminator? Kind of the way termites are handled?
They sound nasty. Can they be kept under control with yearly visits from the exterminator? Kind of the way termites are handled?
I'm not an exterminator, so take my information with a grain of salt....
I've had an exterminator come out and treat the mounds before, and the treatment didn't do anything.
But I've been able to get rid of them very successfully using AMDRO file ant bait (which they carry back into the nest) and somewhat successfully using fire ant poison granules (which seems to kill most of them, but also seems to cause the hive to migrate too).
Unfortunately, I can't go through everyone's lawn in my neighborhood and treat every mound I see. So the fire ants eventually return after a couple of months.
UG. fireants. pesty lil buggers. Thankfully we do not have hoards of them here like we used to near the coast.
We have snakes, frogs, turtles, fish in the pond, 1 pair of wood ducks, deer, a doe that comes everyday and she bought her baby with her yesterday (cutie pie), bats, squirrels, raccoons, opposums, owls, bats, fox, tons of songbirds and hummingbirds, vultures, red tail hawk, coopers hawk (took out a mourning dove the other day, ) and I am sure I am missing somebody, lol. Oh yeah and my neighbors cat, sheesh she is a pest going in my flower beds.
Oh Jeannie....fire ants you want to stay away from. Their bite is like a bee sting and they can bite over and over again. Some are very allergic (my father is) and they tend to swarm and are aggressive if they feel threatened (like if some 8 year old whacks the top off their mound while his mom is screaming at him to stop). ;0
Anyhow, we use the bait stuff someone was talking about AMDRO (dh buys it so am not up on the name) but it works. One problem living in our area is that everytime they clear a new lot, the population of fire ants and ticks seems to increase in OUR yard.
We've seen lots of frogs, turtles and lizards. We see fox, deer, snakes (not often), rabbits, owls (hear them mostly). I've been told there might be bobcat around as we live next to this tract of swamp like land that goes for miles but I've never seen them.
We've also been attacked by tent caterpillars but I seem to be the only one bothered by the hundreds of caterpillars descending on my front porch (I was out there 3 times a day squirting them all away with the hose)
Lauren
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