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

[Pedestrian]

Originally Posted by itom 987

In Edmonton, the #1 pest is Mosquitos followed by wasps and yellow jackets. Canadian Geese can also be a problem . . . .

Blame Canada (geese) . . . .

[CaliNative]

Originally Posted by Capsicum

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.”"

Interesting. Jags in California too? Great grizzly bears once were found throughout the state, except in the desert. Made the state flag, but were hunted to extinction about 100 years ago. A few want to reintroduce grizzlies along with wolves, which were also common in the 19th century. Wolves have been sighted, but only in the extreme northern part of CA. Evidently wandered in from Oregon. California is proud of its wild things, an antidote to the urban present. Even great white sharks have their admirers, those who look out to sea from the beach. Plus they check the swarming seal population.

[JManc]

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

I totally keep that as a pet.



Would need a bigger litter box though.

[Pedestrian]

^^I would not let that roam free in the house at night. It might get hungry. In such cases my domestic longhair just head butts me until I wake up and give her a few "treats". Your pet might snack on a foot or arm.

[mrnyc]

the infamous indians yankees midge game in cleveland

[UnderwoodJasmine]

For example, I had a lot of ants in my garden. They weren't bothering me, but once they started to enter the kitchen, and after two days they were so much that I was terrified.

[hauntedheadnc]

Having moved to South Carolina, I have learned that life requires heat and water and the more heat and water available, the more and bigger life you get. I have never seen roaches so big in my life than what was running loose in our house when we bought it. It had been sitting empty for a year, and it turns out in South Carolina that when anything sits empty, the outdoors comes indoors and there is precious little you can do about it. Most of the houses we looked at, no matter how nice, had at least a roach or two inside, either living or dead. Two visits to our house from the pest control company later though, we haven't seen a roach in months but warm weather is lurking nearby, waiting to attack, and who knows what the situation will be in another month or so?

I was also informed last week that one must never, ever run over a fire ant mound with the lawnmower, because it slings the little fuckers everywhere and they just start building new nests wherever they land. Apparently, fire ants are the kudzu of the entomological set.

[mhays]

Highrise condos are great for this...no bugs unless they came in with the groceries.

[Razor]

the usual. Bed bugs, mosquitos in the summer, ants.

Although, the Gatineau Cougar has been really dangerous .Thankfully there has been a downtick in sightings this past year or so.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDLF9XOQ-E4

[IMBY]

I live in Midtown Tucson, in a 55+ mobile home Co-op, and we've been terrorized the last few months with javelina's, and cougars. We set traps for the javelina's and it doesn't seem to do much good. They take their snouts and bust in the skirting to the trailers, they eat flowers, plants. If this were located out of the city, we'd be allowed to shoot them.

I killed 13 mice in my house a couple months ago, and I thought they were gone for good, and today, my roommate spotted one.

Termites are endemic to AZ, so you definitely need your house appraised and sprayed for termites.

Mosquito's? Only during our monsoon season in summer.

[mousquet]

Originally Posted by JManc

I totally keep that as a pet.



Would need a bigger litter box though.

That guy is a pitiful prick. But some do even worse. Some keep huge tigers locked up in their narrow living rooms... I swear I saw things like that on social media.
Mind you, an adult tiger weighs up to 550 pounds, and you simply can't handle them. Their predator instinct gets over you at some point. These creatures are not like dogs. They have no owner.

So good luck to crazy Arabs in Dubai and Doha keeping big cats in their houses, just to show them off alongside their Lambos.

Poor people have no sense of wildlife. They would ruin nature for their prides, and that's why big cats are usually scared of us.

You can't get close to jaguars in French Guiana. They are scared of humans.

[montréaliste]

Originally Posted by Pedestrian

Blame Canada (geese) . . . .

I'll take Canada Geese, and the lovely sound they make, over the megafarting car drivers, jetski and snowmobile fanatics, and the Harley artillery any time. I would gladly GoFund a SpaceEx mission to rid me of all of them crazy bastards.

[photoLith]

Effing fruit flies inundate our house starting about this time every year and then all summer. Theyre fucking disgusting and seem to love to just levitate in front of your face at all times. They come in through the basement drain, so theres not much to do about it. Little bastards can live through anything, Ive tried everything to kill them, but I would literally have to treat all of this cities drains to get rid of them.

But whats even more annoying than fruit flies is the constant barrage of motorcycles and loud cars that start to inundate the busy street I live on starting this time of year as well. I wish I could find out where these motorcyclists who think its soo cool to rev their engines and be as loud as possible and blare loud motorcycle sounds into their apartment all day and night long and see how they like it. Nobody thinks your cool because your motorcycle can blast out everyones ear drums.

[LosAngelesSportsFan]

Originally Posted by mhays

Highrise condos are great for this...no bugs unless they came in with the groceries.

Unfortunately not always true. I'm on the 30th floor in downtown LA and we have mosquitoes and gnats up here, but we do have a lot of common area trees and plants so that may add to the issue

[dimondpark]

Not really bugs or mosquitos, but we have had a real wild turkey issue for years now, and recently, I have personally seen coyotes at least a few times a week while driving. I wont let my dog out that much anymore.

Aggressive turkeys in the East Bay...
• Video Link

• Video Link

Here's a recent story about coyote attacks...
https://www.kron4.com/news/bay-area/...s-in-east-bay/

We also have opossums, raccoons, skunks(galore) etc.

[harryc]

Originally Posted by LouisVanDerWright

Silverfish eat other insects and are actually good to have around. You should just relocate them outside if you don't like them running around your habitat.

Chicago has a pretty big rat population but the city is constantly poisoning them which works very well for like one rat lifecycle before a settler from a nearby area that wasn't poisoned shows up and spawns a whole new litter of them. They are really annoying less from a santitation problem and more from a property damage perspective. They will gnaw holes in siding or even undermine concrete slabs. My garage is only 10 years old and already has a cracked slab because they dug dens all under one side of it causing it to settle pretty close to 3/4 of an inch. Then a skunk set up shop in the dens and sprayed like 5 neighborhood dogs.

Come to think of it, Chicago has a pretty impressive"wildlife" population. Like skunks which have also become something of a problem in my neighborhood. Same thing happens with skunks as with rats, everyone calls animal control, they come grab the skunk and take it to the forest preserves and no skunks for like six months until another no relocated skunk shows up and births like 12 skunklets.

The good news is that we have seen a boom in predator populations. Particularly in birds of prey (Hawks and Perigrine Falcons) as well as coyotes. My neighborhood used to have a massive pidgeon population until Pergrines set up shop in the church steeple and have two or three hungry mouths to feed each spring. That one breeding pair basically slaughtered all the sky rats on my block in a year. You frequently see pidgeon wings laying on the ground now because that's the only part of the bird the falcons aren't interested in. At the end of the day, the only real way to control these pests is to have ample predator populations to devour them as quickly as they breed.

I don't think our raccoons rise to the level of pest, nor the possums and skunks ( all of which I bump into on early morning dog walks ). Mice and roaches are Chicago's fare, and pigeons, but the falcons have had a real impact on the pigeon population.

I spend 6 mo (?) a year reminding people that it is another mosquito free day in Chicago.

17yr locust ? some are driven mad by the sound - some of us love it.

Spent a season doing the Bug cart at the Field Museum - a very big grand hall - Everyone - from everywhere - recognized the roaches immediately. Madagascar giant hissing roaches, so not what they had at home, but EVERYONE knew at first glance what they were often form 100yrds or more away ( balcony ).

[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.

[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.

[harryc]

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.

Those are centipedes - If you see them they are eating something, something so small you don't notice it, in this area usually silverfish and German roaches. To get rid of these - and spiders - go after their food, otherwise let them do their job.

( b.t.w. extremely venomous, but their little fangs can't pierce your skin )

[harryc]

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.

my mom always warned us of scorpions in you shoes in the morning - from her childhood in El Paso.