Bugs and insects in Wyoming (Cody, Lander: new house, live in, law)

[RockyMtnr]

No Fleas in Wyoming.
No "natural" cockroaches. They must be imported.

Mosquitoes here and there that will eat your lunch and take your milk money.
Flies. Deer flies. Elk flies. Elkfly bites can be nasty - they're usually only out for a couple of months.

Wyoming freezes hard every winter (almost) - it keeps the bug population low. There are occasional exceptions. There is the occasional mild winter.
Beginning in central Wyoming (let's say ... Riverton) and spreading east to the north and south, there are enormous ant-hills. In the vicinity of Gillette, from the air, you can see them and they look like Devil's Tower only not so tall. They can be several hundred feet in circumference.
Grasshoppers! Now there's a pest - annoying.
Rattlesnakes ... well, depends on whether or not you've ever lived around them before. If you have then you already know how to avoid them. If you haven't ... you need to learn some quick lessons.
Skunks, Badgers, Coyotes, Prickly-Pear cactus, Raccoons in the coop, Moose in the grainery - plenty to learn - but bugs will probably not be your biggest problem.

[emeraldsky]

Originally Posted by RockyMtnr

Beginning in central Wyoming (let's say ... Riverton) and spreading east to the north and south, there are enormous ant-hills. In the vicinity of Gillette, from the air, you can see them and they look like Devil's Tower only not so tall. They can be several hundred feet in circumference.

Are you joking??

Do any of those flies have spotted wings? I saw some odd ones with spotted wings.

[ruggedindividual]

Originally Posted by RockyMtnr

Beginning in central Wyoming (let's say ... Riverton) and spreading east to the north and south, there are enormous ant-hills. In the vicinity of Gillette, from the air, you can see them and they look like Devil's Tower only not so tall. They can be several hundred feet in circumference.
.

Are they fire ants?

[molon labe]

Originally Posted by navyvet79

Are they fire ants?

They are... and they have large talons!

[Clay Lady]

Ya'll are joking - right?

[sterlinggirl]

Its kind of hard to see the talons on this one, but here's what they look like....

[Clay Lady]

Sterlinggirl, that is so cool!!! I can see kids making sculptures like that! Is that a mosquitoe? You must have a good camera.

[Wyoming hunter]

Nice picture - what is this bug?

[HighlandLady]

Originally Posted by Wyoming hunter

Nice picture - what is this bug?

I found something similar to your insect...it was larger than the palm of my hand. I took it to the biologists and was told it was a sub-species of a wolf-spider. Heh?? There are plenty of wolf spiders in WY, and they don't look to have spawned something such as that. This was outside of Newcastle.

I caught another, slightly smaller version, in Casper, WY. I took it to a biologist friend of mine and he stated they are 'camel-spiders'. I had only heard of those from soldiers in Iraq and was a bit skeptical that they could be in Wyoming. Apparently, a sub-species is making its way here. I don't know if it is the truth or no, but was also told there are variants to the camel-spider so they don't all look the same. Either way - makes for a bit of a squirm.

[SkunkApe]

That's a sun scorpion (also called a wind scorpion.) Related to the camel spider. They are not venomous. They eat insects, birds, reptiles, and occasionally small children and slow old drunk guys.

sun scorpion - Google Search

I see them around Casper when I hike sometimes. We also have black widow spiders in our shop here.




Do the chickens have very large talons?