• Hello!

    Either you have not registered on this site yet, or you are registered but have not logged in. In either case, you will not be able to use the full functionality of this site until you have registered, and then logged in after your registration has been approved.

    Registration is FREE, so please register so you can participate instead of remaining a lurker....

    Please be certain that the location field is correctly filled out when you register. All registrations that appear to be bogus will be rejected. Which means that if your location field does NOT match the actual location of your registration IP address, then your registration will be rejected.

    Sorry about the strictness of this requirement, but it is necessary to block spammers and scammers at the door as much as possible.

Pests Not Pets!

Pal-O-Mine

Pal-O-Mine

New member
The past two years, my area has been besieged by Asian stink bugs. Apparently they hitched a ride on shipments of fruit from Asia. There are peach growers here that are really being badly plagued by them and I found out last year that they LOVE pumpkins! They also LOVE my house! I think they're climbing in through the chimneys. They wintered over by sleeping underneath my snake tanks and now I've got even more of them! UGH! They don't bite or sting and are not venemous. But if you stress them out or crunch them, they stink! And they seem to be impervious to any bug spray you can use on them. I've been vacuuming them up every chance I get but there are always MORE!

And yet I know I'm not alone. Make me feel better about my bug problem!

What bugs pester you where you live? I've heard Florida has these things called "love bugs"????? And apparently Montana has really scary spiders and some people out west can't get rid of their house scorpions and there are these things called camel spiders in the Middle East that look like a mutant hybrid of spider/scorpion. So let me know that I'm not alone! PLEASE!

Devon
 
OMG. The thing that drives me crazy is not love bugs, "palmetto bugs," (giant flying roaches) or even fire ants. It's Asian cockroaches. Or is that German Cockroaches? Can't tell unless you have a gas chromatograph!! They have been driving me INSANE this year...

The Asian cockroach is a rural and suburban pest that mainly infests single-family, suburban houses and yards. It is abundant outdoors, where populations of 30,000 to 250,000 per acre have been found. The adults are strong fliers and readily enter the houses.

The Asian cockroach is a strong flier, and is both a feral (wild) and peridomestic species. Adults take flight even during the day if disturbed; they are readily seen in an infested lawn, because their flight is similar to that of moths and leafhoppers. At dusk there is a frenzy of activity; adults are very active in the grass and mulch. They climb to the tips of grass and leaves and take flight. They are attracted to light-colored surfaces or brightly lit surfaces, where they alight. Numerous adults have been seen at all heights on single- and two-story homes.

Asian cockroaches will invade any opening in a house, such as a lighted doorway or window. Once inside, they will crawl on an illuminated television screen and on walls while the lights are on during the evening. Because the peak activity period of Asian roaches coincides with our leisure time, the presence of the cockroach is obvious.

The Asian cockroach is very susceptible to all pesticides. However, acceptable control of the Asian cockroach is difficult. Toxic baits applied to infested areas outdoors have provided the most reliable control. Cockroach baits have been registered for use outdoors. Because the Asian cockroach can fly 120 feet or more in a single flight, large areas around a home require treatment. Even so, cockroaches in surrounding untreated areas may result in reinfestation.

Residual sprays around the perimeter of structures are usually ineffective because there are numerous infested areas in lawns, mulch, and wooded areas. Adults enter homes through windows and doorways, and immediately fly to walls, avoiding baseboards and typical German cockroach harborages which are normally treated with pesticides.
 
Lovebugs bug me too, though. Isn't it nice that the place I work is blamed for creating them??? I swallowed one once when I was doing a 200k bike ride. I almost vomited. They make driving and mowing a PITA when it's love bug season. Twice a year...

Folklore

Urban legend holds that lovebugs are synthetic—the result of a University of Florida genetics experiment gone wrong.[3]

Much speculation about the lovebug still thrives. This is partly because the immature stage (maggot) of this insect is seldom seen, as it lives and feeds in the thatch of grasses for most of the year. As a result, most scientists are not as concerned with the details of this insect's life cycle, biology, and other facets of its existence as they are with more serious pests. While various fungi are known or suspected of being natural controls for this species,[2] time and funding do not allow for more study, except as a side interest.

Research of L. L. Buschman showed that migration explained the introduction of the lovebug into Florida and other southeastern states, contrary to the urban myth that the University of Florida created them by manipulating DNA to control mosquito populations.[3]
 
There were a few episodes of "Billy the Exterminator" that I watched that involved cockroaches. Mounds and mounds and MOUNDS of them! I've never seen that many bugs outside of a horror show! But I guess warm and humid climates most of the year is not just good for the reptiles but the invertebrates too.

Devon
 
These

RoachYuck.gif
 
In the house that I just moved out of, yay, we would get a twice yearly influx of hobo spiders. They supposedly don't climb much and while it's true that they stayed mainly in the basement and sometimes in the floor level of the house, never on the second level, they would occasionally hang out at over head height on the walls. We had a kind of scary unfinished basement that had the washer and dryer down there. It's since been mostly finished off, which has helped greatly. But for the first few years it was pretty scary twice a year. I remember one particular load of towels I was putting in the washer that had been on the floor for too long down there. Had to pick up each piece and shake it out before putting in the dryer, I killed 13 hobos and missed almost as many more of them in that one batch. I'm a bit arachnophobic, especially after watching that horror movie, Arachnophobia, and hobos look way too much like the spiders they used in that movie! Luckily though, no one in my immediate family has ever been bit by one of them except me, and it was a dry bite.
 
Oh god, love bugs. EVERYWHERE. When I was in high school I remember walking through the bus loop and being swarmed by them. In fact, I can see a swarm of them on my living room window now. Of course, I'm in Florida and we have a billion swarm of various bugs, but love bugs are the worst. I wash the little things off the front of my car all the time and they even start is warp the paint ><
 
Most of our bugs stay outside, but we do get a fair amount of scorpions in the house in the warmer weather. We also get the occasional black widow, but I've yet to see one inside the house.

We also have crickets, which aren't horrible or anything, but they're really annoying when they start chirping and you can't find out where it's coming from. They are also the food of both scorpions and black widows, so I don't really want them in the house.
 
You guys are making me happy that I don't live where you are. ;) I HATE cockroaches. Had an apartment once that had them and I almost went crazy until they got another exterminator in that actually got rid of them. Filthy little things...so fast, it's hard to kill them. I used to look for the egg sacs and trash 'em. Ugh. Did you know you can be allergic to cockroaches and, of course!, I am.
 
This is my nemesis, the lily beetle, Lillioceris lillii. An invasive specis with no natural enemies here, these are the reason I can't grow lilies at all unless I buy them ready to bloom and regard them as disposable bedding. Asiatic lilies, longiflorums, lily of the valley and fritillaries all murdered by these evil beasts when I've tried to grow them. The only way I could succeed is with heavy spraying of chemicals that I don't use in my little container garden. To add insult to injury the larvae cover themselves in a jacket of their own poop as camoflage so you can't even hand-pick them off with any success, as they just look like bird poo
 

Attachments

  • lilybeetle.jpg
    lilybeetle.jpg
    11.5 KB · Views: 42
Mosquitos are starting early and terrible this year, but the worst right now are deer ticks! I can't take my poor dog out without finding the bloody things crawling all over him. Thankfully none have bitten thanks to his monthly spot-on, but they're driving me crazy!
 
Growing up in De. salt marsh, the bloodsucking flying devils started in May and didn't let up until late Sept. We had mosquitos, sheep flies, deer flies, greenheads and horse flies. All would bite anything with blood, human or animal and all would descend on you in large CLOUDS! I've seen people and horses driven nuts by them! At a stable I used to work for, we called the horseflies "bombers". I didn't know why until I heard one fly close to my ear. They literally sound like WWII bomber jets!

Pa. has much the same bugs but they do not exist in the huge hoards that they do in the De. marshlands.


And Dave, I really didn't need a LARGE PICTURE of the bloody thing! They're disgusting enough in their normal size!

Devon
 
A couple years ago, the people who lived above the basement suite I was in brought bedbugs into the house somehow.

We all agreed that the infestation started in their bedroom, so I'm not blaming them out of hand. :p

Anyway, that was brutal. Five exterminator visits. Five. Suckers are resilient.

Last summer I moved up here to Yellowknife and live on the third floor of an apartment. Totally the polar opposite - I almost never see bugs at all. It's great. :D
 
Lol camel spiders are a type of arachnid called a solifugid, it's neither spider, nor scorpion. They really can't do any harm at all, even if they look dangerous lol

I just hate roaches, and house centipedes ick
 
"They really can't do any harm at all, even if they look dangerous lol."

Yeah, but when they bolt for you because you make this great big shadow they can take shelter in, well, it kinda freaks people out a bit!

Devon
 
my harrison got bit on the face by a hobo spider and it was horribly swollen and painful...hobos die on sight now...unless they are outside minding their own business...earwigs are also a big GUH-ROSS!!!! i hate messing around in the flower bed out front because they just come out in droves....waves of ear wigs of all sizes...they also die on sight...i'm dreading going through my crap in the garage at some point...i'm SURE there are spiders in there >.<
 
You know, my cousin seems to draw the hobos, she gets bit by them fairly often. First time she woke up with 3 bites on her face that swelled up to dinner plate size. Her mom rushed her off to the ER where they told her they were hobo bites but that there was nothing they could do for her and to go home and put some ice on it. So my Aunt got out her natural remedies book and tried what it suggested, which was oil of oregano and it took the swelling down fast. Supposedly it draws the venom out of the bites. Now everyone keeps some on hand in case she or anyone else gets bit.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top