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

[Buckeye Native 001]

Yeah, I've only ever heard that the stings are extremely painful but not fatal.

This thread kind of makes it seem like Arizona is Australia, where the local flora and fauna is always trying to kill you...except that most of Arizona's fauna just want to be left alone

[mousquet]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

serious question: how painful is a scorpion sting?

Some African and Australian species are lethal. I forget, but those of desert regions of North America may be bad too.

Scorpions are most likely the worst kind of arachnids. They are wild...
I believe even experts cautiously handle them.

[toddguy]

Damn feral cats. From when idiot neighbors have ten of them (of course none of them spayed or neutered) and then move, but leave the damn cats to fend for themselves. Not much of a rat or mouse problem though. Also damn angry birds that seem to not realize that the movie "The Birds" was just a movie. And no matter where I park my car, they find it and shit all over it.

Not to mention the squirrels, which love to get to fruit trees when the fruit is just about ripe and then merrily run though the trees, taking just one or two bites out of every single fruit, ruining them all.

[CaliNative]

Originally Posted by Pedestrian

I'd like to see you try that on the apex predator where I live:

El Tigre (this specimen photographed in southern AZ and named "El Jefe")

https://www.azcentral.com/story/news...zona/79775680/


https://population-dynamics-of-jagua...on-growth.html

Odd that jaguars in prehistoric times didn't move around the gulf coast into Florida. Florida, at least central & southern seems like it would have been prime habitat. Cougars are pussycats next to a jaguar.

[Sun Belt]

Good thing we have animal control in this country. Many nations have a problem with cats and dogs all over the streets that roam in packs, eating trash and drinking questionable pools of water in the streets.

[Doug]

Originally Posted by Buckeye Native 001

Yeah, I've only ever heard that the stings are extremely painful but not fatal.

This thread kind of makes it seem like Arizona is Australia, where the local flora and fauna is always trying to kill you...except that most of Arizona's fauna just want to be left alone

The native fauna in Australia mostly wants to be left alone, especially the snakes. No one has died of a spider bite since the late 70's and the number of snake bite related fatalities is thirtysome since 2000. I usually sleep on the deck at night and have never encountered anything dangerous. I have found snakes in the yard as we have a large orchard and vegetable garden. They have always been coiled up in the shade, so it is easy to slowly back away. Jellyfish are the biggest risk in Australia but they are mostly in the NT and North Queensland. I've been stung many times by blue bottles - moderately painful but it a big deal.

I was bitten by a recluse spider in the US. It didn't hurt, but swelled up to a tennis ball sized welt and left a scar.

I saw a guy in Arizona successfully pick up a diamondhead and kill it with an are. My neighbor in Perth grew up on a ranch and is skilled at snake removal using nothing more than a shovel.

[CaliNative]

Originally Posted by Doug

The native fauna in Australia mostly wants to be left alone, especially the snakes. No one has died of a spider bite since the late 70's and the number of snake bite related fatalities is thirtysome since 2000. I usually sleep on the deck at night and have never encountered anything dangerous. I have found snakes in the yard as we have a large orchard and vegetable garden. They have always been coiled up in the shade, so it is easy to slowly back away. Jellyfish are the biggest risk in Australia but they are mostly in the NT and North Queensland. I've been stung many times by blue bottles - moderately painful but it a big deal.

I was bitten by a recluse spider in the US. It didn't hurt, but swelled up to a tennis ball sized welt and left a scar.

I saw a guy in Arizona successfully pick up a diamondhead and kill it with an are. My neighbor in Perth grew up on a ranch and is skilled at snake removal using nothing more than a shovel.

I hear all that, but finding a big funnel web spider in your house must be scary. Some of the youtube videos make it seem like a common occurance around Sydney. Probably a gross exaggeration. If I look around my garage, I'll probably find a black widow spider or two in a dark corner, but those are easy to deal with, and they rarely enter the living areas. Funnel webs look bigger and really aggressive. Ever since "Jaws" came out, I still think twice about swimming in the ocean, even though the risk of a great white attack is tiny. But it does happen. As far as the "yuckiness" factor goes, nothing can top bedbugs in my opinion.

[Buckeye Native 001]

Does Australia have an equivalent to gila monsters?

[Pedestrian]

Originally Posted by Buckeye Native 001

Does Australia have an equivalent to gila monsters?

Have you ever seen one outside a zoo or animal park? I've been spending about half my time in AZ for 17 years now and I never have (and don't want to--those and trantulas even though tarantulas are supposedly far less threatening than their rep based on appearance).

[JAYNYC]

Not sure what's happening in NYC, but I see far fewer rats in Manhattan than 5-10 years ago. They used to be frequently visible from the subway platform scurrying (or even slowly crawling) down tracks, but this has become an increasingly rare sight.

Now, as for that video that recently surfaced of rats overtaking the streets of Paris after torrential rains - WOW.

[Centropolis]

Originally Posted by Buckeye Native 001

Yeah, I've only ever heard that the stings are extremely painful but not fatal.

This thread kind of makes it seem like Arizona is Australia, where the local flora and fauna is always trying to kill you...except that most of Arizona's fauna just want to be left alone

yes, the desert southwest is nothing like the lowland deep south and low country southeast... (or lower midwest for that matter which also has rattlesnakes, venomous spiders and other snakes, except more of them per square mile than the desert).

[Pedestrian]

Originally Posted by JAYNYC

Not sure what's happening in NYC, but I see far fewer rats in Manhattan than 5-10 years ago. They used to be frequently visible from the subway platform scurrying (or even slowly crawling) down tracks, but this has become an increasingly rare sight.

Credit to The Strain:

• Video Link

[Doug]

Originally Posted by Pedestrian

Have you ever seen one outside a zoo or animal park? I've been spending about half my time in AZ for 17 years now and I never have (and don't want to--those and trantulas even though tarantulas are supposedly far less threatening than their rep based on appearance).

I saw one near St George, UT.

[JAYNYC]

Originally Posted by Pedestrian

Credit to The Strain:

• Video Link

Were those two clips staged (part of a coordinated film production)?

What city were they filmed in (assuming NYC based on the scenery and American accents)?

What year were they filmed?

I've never seen that kind of massive rat infestation anywhere in NYC.

[Pedestrian]

Originally Posted by JAYNYC

Were those two clips staged (part of a coordinated film production)?

What city were they filmed in (assuming NYC based on the scenery and American accents)?

What year were they filmed?

I've never seen that kind of massive rat infestation anywhere in NYC.

Yes, I'm sure it was staged. Like I said, it's from a promo clip from the TV series "The Strain" in which one of the leading roles is that of a NY City rat exterminator (who also happens to be good at exterminating vampires).

[10023]

Not in my neighborhood. We have lots of foxes - they eat the vermin.

And the UK doesn’t really have mosquitos.

[Centropolis]

Originally Posted by 10023

Not in my neighborhood. We have lots of foxes - they eat the vermin.

And the UK doesn’t really have mosquitos.

historically the low-lying southeast of england was rife with malaria and mosquitos.

[Capsicum]

Originally Posted by CaliNative

Odd that jaguars in prehistoric times didn't move around the gulf coast into Florida. Florida, at least central & southern seems like it would have been prime habitat. Cougars are pussycats next to a jaguar.

There's historical evidence some claim for jaguars farther north and east.

https://thejaguarandallies.com/2015/...states-part-1/

"During historical times (late 1500s onward), jaguars have been reported in much of the southern United States. Their accepted range included parts of California, New Mexico, Arizona, Texas, and Louisiana (Alanen, 2015; USFWS, 2012).

However, there are anecdotal references that place jaguars far outside this range. Rufus B. Sage (1857) told of an 1843 encounter with a spotted cat in Colorado. While there is some uncertainty over this creature’s identity, many reviewers believe it was a jaguar (Brown & Lopez-Gonzalez, 2001; Rabinowitz, 2014). I have also come across evidence of bounties offered for “tygers” in Natchez, Mississippi (Holmes, 1961). This is significant because during the 1700s, jaguars were sometimes referred to as tygers."


https://markgelbart.wordpress.com/20...north-america/

"John Lawson, an early naturalist explorer (See https://markgelbart.wordpress.com/20...ina-1700-1711/ ), did write that he saw a “tyger” once. He never went west of North Carolina, and he knew the difference between a cougar and a jaguar, so I regard this as probable evidence of a jaguar in North Carolina between 1700-1711. They were rare but present. Here’s his account:

“Tygers are never met withal in the Settlement; but are more to the Westward, and are not numerous on this Side the Chain of Mountains. I once saw one, that was larger than a Panther and seem’d to be a very bold Creature. The Indians that hunt in those Quarters, say, they are seldom met withal. It seems to differe from the Tyger of Asia and Africa.”"

[10023]

Originally Posted by Centropolis

historically the low-lying southeast of england was rife with malaria and mosquitos.

Right. Until the swamps we’re drained hundreds of years ago.

[itom 987]

In Edmonton, the #1 pest is Mosquitos followed by wasps and yellow jackets. Canadian Geese can also be a problem since they like to gather around parks that have a pond or a lake. Those birds leave poop everywhere and aren't afraid of attacking people.


Source: http://thethriftyquilter.blogspot.ca...ada-goose.html