Does your city have a pest problem-spiders, roaches, bed bugs, mosquitos, rats etc.?

[ChiMIchael]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

Fortunately, I've never had to deal with roaches in chicago, but every non-highrise home I've lived in has had these creepy little monsters. Not only are they ugly AF, they are spooky fast to boot.


Source: wikipedia


At our current home, every fall when the weather turns cooler and we get our first overnight freezes, they invade en masse. Last fall I probably killed about 4 dozen of them. Thankfully they're somewhat rare the rest of the year.

You haven't? I've been in Edgewater for about 6 years and German cockroaches have been a big issue for me.

Also, I wish some of those falcons come the to Daley Plaza. The pidgeons have really taken over.

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by ChiMIchael

You haven't? I've been in Edgewater for about 6 years and German cockroaches have been a big issue for me.

I'm sorry to hear that.

Over the decades, I've had 8 different chicago residences, from little italy up to rogers park, and everywhere in between

The two downtown highrise condos I lived in never had any pest issues at all.

My other 6 homes (including my current one) have all been pre-war brick 3-flats/6-flats. None of them had roaches. All of them had/have centipedes.

Between the two, I'd definitely take the centipedes because they are nowhere close to being a constant nuisance like roach infestations. As I said earlier, I have to deal with around 50 or so centipedes for about 2 months every fall, and then they largely go away for the other 10 months, except for a very occasional sighting. It's very noticeably seasonal; I think they just don't like cold weather, so they all come crawling in looking for warmth every fall.

[badrunner]

Anyone get potato bugs where you live? These aren't exactly a common pest around here, but I occasionally see one chilling in my driveway.


wikipedia

[badrunner]

Also, I don't know what the hell you guys thinking. Birds aren't pests. Birds are good people.

[SIGSEGV]

apparently potato bug can refer to 3 very diffferent bugs: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potato_bug

One pest I remember seeing in New Mexico was the vinagaroon

(wikipedia)

[badrunner]

The one that terrifies me the most is the brown recluse spider which thankfully aren't found in this part of the country. We do get black widows here though.

[bossabreezes]

New York has more rats than people, roaches everywhere, and those giant waterbugs are everywhere in the summer.

[Camelback]

Originally Posted by bossabreezes

New York has more rats than people, roaches everywhere, and those giant waterbugs are everywhere in the summer.

Are waterbugs the same thing as silver fish?

[Buckeye Native 001]

Brood X cicadas are coming...

[LosAngelesSportsFan]

Originally Posted by badrunner

Anyone get potato bugs where you live? These aren't exactly a common pest around here, but I occasionally see one chilling in my driveway.


wikipedia

Ah yes, these are very common in the LA suburbs.. Gnarly bugs

[hauntedheadnc]

When do we get to talk about pest plants? Apparently, kudzu and wisteria are locked in some kind of eternal gang warfare here in Upstate South Carolina. It's to the point that any time you start researching what to put in your garden here, you are begged not to plant any kind of wisteria that isn't native to the Americas. On the drive between my house and downtown Greenville right now you are presented with the sight, several times, of vast tangles of purple blossoms that have consumed entire groves of trees. In researching it some, I've learned that wisteria has a tendency, once it reached the top of a tree, to send out tendrils that latch onto the crowns of other trees and start growing across and down the next tree, then the next, then the next, and so on. You end up with groves of tree tied together at the top, so if one falls, they all bear the weight and can go down with it. Up in Asheville, wisteria wasn't an issue. The winters got cold enough to keep wisteria in check and at most, you'd see it having only taken over one tree, and only then if it had had decades to grow.

[Centropolis]

Originally Posted by badrunner

The one that terrifies me the most is the brown recluse spider which thankfully aren't found in this part of the country. We do get black widows here though.

i’ve had the pleasure of living in a house around kansas city with Arachnophobia levels of brown recluses. a recliner was filled with so many baby spiders that i chucked it out a window.

i have had necrosis on my foot bad enough that the doctor drew a circle around the decayed tissue to monitor spread but fortunately it did not get too large. i’ve had at least two fairly bad bites.

[Centropolis]

Originally Posted by hauntedheadnc

When do we get to talk about pest plants? Apparently, kudzu and wisteria are locked in some kind of eternal gang warfare here in Upstate South Carolina.

ive seen kudzu growing into the road in upland south carolina, definitely bad there.

we have it in river valleys up to st. louis. i had an old rail siding covered in it once on a site - we had to bring in heavy duty clearing equipment and it all created like a foot thick layer of mulch or more.

[Centropolis]

heres the brown recluse range:


https://i1.wp.com/entomologytoday.or...00%2C686&ssl=1

tarantula range in missouri, the us maps are vague through this area but apparently arent common north of the missouri valley.

mdc.mo

its fun opening up a shed in the ozarks and finding a sofball sized spider on the ceiling.

scorpion range...again pretty much starts in missouri where glades present a desert-like environment.


osu.edu


fineartamerica.com

[Centropolis]

conversely - places that dont have lots of venomous spiders in the midwest do have lyme disease...


cdc.gov

[202_Cyclist]

DC is expected to have a cicada infestation again this year!

https://twitter.com/Drubaru/status/1380260457622208512

[photoLith]

Some of you guys dont like tarantulas? Whenever I saw them chilling on the side of the roads in Arkansas, I always stopped my car and picked them up and put them far away from the road. Sometimes at Mt. Nebo State Park (where loads of tarantulas live) I would just pick them up and let them crawl all over my hands, theyre super cool.

However, I dont know how I would react if I were asleep and a giant tarantula were to crawl on my at night or if I woke up and saw one chilling on the ceiling. I def wouldnt kill it, but I wouldnt like it.

[harryc]

Originally Posted by 202_Cyclist

DC is expected to have a cicada infestation again this year!

https://twitter.com/Drubaru/status/1380260457622208512

A blessed concert - looking forward to our next big brood.

Originally Posted by photoLith

Some of you guys dont like tarantulas? Whenever I saw them chilling on the side of the roads in Arkansas, I always stopped my car and picked them up and put them far away from the road. Sometimes at Mt. Nebo State Park (where loads of tarantulas live) I would just pick them up and let them crawl all over my hands, theyre super cool.

However, I dont know how I would react if I were asleep and a giant tarantula were to crawl on my at night or if I woke up and saw one chilling on the ceiling. I def wouldnt kill it, but I wouldnt like it.

My mom would describe the sound of Tarantulas popping as her dad would back out of the driveway.

[202_Cyclist]

Originally Posted by harryc

A blessed concert - looking forward to our next big brood.

Welcome back, friends!

[Centropolis]

Originally Posted by Camelback

Scorpions. They come out at night. Always good to wear some slippers or sandals indoors if you get up to use the restroom or walk across the tile floor in the evenings.

i was always warned about copperheads in the grass at night in the ozarks. i’m pretty sure i’ve seen scorpions in missouri but they are pretty limited to glades and rocky areas. species endemic to places further sw exist in islands - the missouri climate was more like the southwest at various points during the holicene.