Pests and Vermin?

We have many corners of the world repesented here, so I thought there might be some interesting perspectives on your local pests.
I thought of this because it's been that kind of week here. This morning I heard something crashing around in the basement, and I found a six foot Fox snake going into the crawlspace. I wasn't gonna mess with it if it doesn't mess with me, so I just told it to keep to the basement and take care of the mice.
This week I also had two Wood ticks under my skin. I pulled them out carefully, but gotta keep an eye out for fever or Lymes disease after getting bit.
So what do you people have? Any encounters with Gila Monsters, Tarantulas, Platapusses, Cockroaches, or Swedes?

Fire Ants (I paid through the nose, but had every last one of them destroyed in my yard. Now my family can go outside without those pests bothering us)

Scorpions - more rare, but not unheard of.

Rattlesnakes - again, not super abundant in neighborhoods, but one will occassionaly get lost. They must die.

Brown Recluse - Rarely seen...in 9 years I've only seen a few....thankfully. These are the real deal if you get bit.

Black Widow - See these more often in the wood pile, in the attic, etc....but they are also very reclusive and shy. You have to actually handle one or somehow physically bother one to get bit.


Those are the worst ones.

How big are those spiders? We have them here in theory, but I'd like to get a handle on what they look like because I don't wanna get bit. I understand it's worse than getting shot by a gun.

Here it's cottonmouths, rattlers, brown recluses and the usual roaches, ants and my favorite "pill bugs" (aka "roly polys"). Southern MO has scorpions too.

I minimize the incursion of these pests by having my foundation sprayed periodically. I also go nuts with the Raid in the unfinished part of my basement. I only occasionally see bugs in the finished part and very, very rarely in the upstairs at all.

Brown recluses are fairly big but have kind of skinny bodies and are recognizable because they have what looks like a fiddle on the back of their abdomens. In fact, in TN, they were called "fiddlebacks".

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How big are those spiders?

Good description of the Recluse. It's elongated.

The Black Widow looks exactly like the stereotypical little spider. It has a perfectly symmetrical little body. Kind of a fat-ish body with proportioned legs. It's really a good looking spider. They are small, though. Maybe dime-size legs and all. The hourglass underneath though is gorgeous and completely obvious.


I love spiders, but kill any in the house (or scoop and throw if Momma isn't looking!). Better safe than sorry with kiddos around. The jumping/hunter spiders have that unique look so I leave them alone. They are all harmless to humans and really rather fascinating to watch.

I hate spiders with a passion; I'm a definite arachnaphobe. I kill them whenever and wherever I find them. It's weird because most "vermin" don't bother me at all. Roaches, mice, snakes, rats...meh.

But spiders must DIE!!!!!!

scottmitchell74 wrote:

Black Widow - See these more often in the wood pile, in the attic, etc....but they are also very reclusive and shy. You have to actually handle one or somehow physically bother one to get bit.

Got bit by one of these in Arkansas. That sucked ass! Haha. I didn't even realize I'd been bitten by a spider; I thought I'd pricked my finger on the metal edge of my trash barrell. Nope! A short while later I was in the hospital, three IVs hooked up to me, and my entire midsection feeling like it was on fire and about to explode. The muscles were clenched so tight that I seriously thought they'd snap.

But a few hours later, I was okay enough to go home. Definitely sucks, though.

Around here, we don't have much outside of bees and wasps. Those suck, too. As a kid, I unfortunately pissed off two nests. One while looking for salamanders. These were bees, and I got stung a lot, but was smart enough to run home—fast! I was younger, then.

When I was older, around 12 or so, I was fishing with my father and stepped on the opening to a mud wasps' nest. Bad stuff! I was stung immediately just by wasps that couldn't get into the hole. Then when I stepped back, the entire ground began to buzz. Talk about a frightening sound; it still gives me chills thinking about it. In a few seconds I was covered. I did nothing but scream. It was that bad. I couldn't even think enough to run. Luckily my father was there and he grabbed me, ran me to the car, jumped inside and locked the door, and then basically beat the living crap out of me. He wasn't trying to beat me, he was just killing the wasps—which aren't like bees, mind you, and can sting repeatedly. So the beating was a side-effect. I almost died with that incident. I'd been stung over a thousand times—in my eyes, my mouth, all over. It was horrible.

The odd thing is that my father only got stung a few times. The wasps were that fixated on me.

I got bears! Every so often they knock over my trash cans when I put them out to the curb for pickup.

During the summer we also get these scary-lookin' bugs called "Cave Crickets" in the basement. They're pretty big, and their bodies ALL legs and antenna. If you try to step on'em they hop away, really fast. And BOY can they hop high! Yeesh, they freak me out.

[quote="scottmitchell74"]

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The Black Widow looks exactly like the stereotypical little spider. It has a perfectly symmetrical little body. Kind of a fat-ish body with proportioned legs. It's really a good looking spider. They are small, though. Maybe dime-size legs and all. The hourglass underneath though is gorgeous.


I love spiders, fascinating to watch.

It almost sounds like you get a little wood when you see a spider

Eyesore wrote:

I almost died with that incident. I'd been stung over a thousand times—in my eyes, my mouth, all over. It was horrible.

How long did it take to recover from that? Wow.

When I lived in Maryland we had quite the population of copperheads that lived in a near-by woodpile. Those snakes are the most angry/hostile creatures. I'm amazed that I never got bit (had one close call mowing the lawn).

Now in Arizona, I've yet to see a scorpion or rattler. Probably a good thing. Love the jumping spiders and night lizards. But truly hate the roadrunners that feed on both.

SAHB Healer wrote:

Eyesore wrote:

I almost died with that incident. I'd been stung over a thousand times—in my eyes, my mouth, all over. It was horrible.

How long did it take to recover from that? Wow.

Couple of weeks. I was swollen like a microwaved hot dog. When you're stung by that many bees/wasps, that's when you find out that they're poisonous! They don't really tell you that until you almost die from it. Haha.

Eyesore wrote:

SAHB Healer wrote:

Eyesore wrote:

I almost died with that incident. I'd been stung over a thousand times—in my eyes, my mouth, all over. It was horrible.

How long did it take to recover from that? Wow.

Couple of weeks. I was swollen like a microwaved hot dog. When you're stung by that many bees/wasps, that's when you find out that they're poisonous! They don't really tell you that until you almost die from it. Haha.

When I was in college, I took a weekend job moving beehives. This guy "leased" his bees out to farmers for a certain period of time then collected them.

At about 4am, I climbed into the back of a box truck with about 100 pounds of ice. We went to the first farmer's field, picked up this old, wooden beehives and put them in the back of the truck.

This went on for several stops. As we're picking up the beehives, we're wearing thick coveralls and hoods with netting in the face.

We get to the second to last stop. My roommate and I pick up one of these old, wooden beehives and the damn thing breaks. A whole hive of pissed off bees started swarming us. One bee got under my hood and started crawling on my face. In my panic, I reached under my hood to get the bee out and accidentally removed the hood entirely. All the bees saw fresh meat!

Last thing I remember is my roommate putting me in the truck. The next thing I remember is standing in the shower at my dorm and washing dead bees out of my hair. We found out later the beekeeper shoud have had a lot more ice in the truck to keep the bees dormant.

Hardest $25 I've ever earned.

We have mice at work (probably rats too, although I've never seen 'em) and in the hot summer months, we get infested with fruit flies. At our old building, we've had problems with squirrels. One time they chewed through all the wiring in our audio room along with a few seat cushions.

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At our old building, we've had problems with squirrels. One time they chewed through all the wiring in our audio room along with a few seat cushions.

That reminds me of a squirrel story. One day years ago there was a power outage and an "explosion" (so called by the folks nearby). Well, we were called to the scene to figure out why (not our role, but when 911 is dialed we have little choice in going). After looking around for a while I found a poor nearly decapitated little squirrel. The little guy bit the wrong wire. His head looked like the sad remains of the guys' head in Scanners. In the end they are simply rodents. Cuter, cuddlier, but rodents who like to chew.

We have Brown Recluses and Black Widows here in KY.I've found several Black Widows around the house.I didnt realize they were that common around here.The recluse or "brown fiddler" as we call it here is less common.The Black widow usually has a large rounded abdomen and they are glossy black with the red hourglass. The eastern part of the state has Rattlesnakes but they're not too common around here.We do have copperheads here though.Those are sneaky little devils.They'll hide under something and bite you when you walk over it.I've always heard you can smell when they are around because they put off a scent similar to a cucumber.

Cool thread.

Being from Northern Ontario (about 45 minutes north of the Ontario/Minnesota border) we don't get any of the venomous snakes, spiders or other insects (the winter makes sure of that), so the pests around here are fairly run-of-the mill (mice, bees, wasps, skunks, non toxic spiders and ants etc.). Once you get away from the cities into the bush, you get a whack of blood-drinking insects like blackflies, horseflies, spruce bugs, and of course, mosquitos that can be very annoying, but hardly lethal.

While not a "pest," moose that wonder out onto the highways (particularly at night) can completely total your vehicle - that often is lethal.

We've got black widows all over the place, but brown recluses only rarely. Lots of tarantulas, though. I've killed several in the yard, and we kept one tarantule that we found walking on the road in a terrarium for awhile until momma finally put her foot down.

Snakes are fairly common, but most harmless with the exception of the Crotalus Atrox (Western Diamondback Rattler). I've seen several "out there", but one time I got a call at work from our town's animal control officer. Seems that UPS had tried to deliver a package to our doorstep, only to find a five foot Western Diamondback curled up taking a siesta. He had already killed it by the time I found out, otherwise I would have tried to capture the poor guy and take him out in the boonies somewhere.

HellRaiser wrote:

While not a "pest," moose that wonder out onto the highways (particularly at night) can completely total your vehicle - that often is lethal.

I've had that experience with a massive elk.

tohostudios wrote:

Last thing I remember is my roommate putting me in the truck. The next thing I remember is standing in the shower at my dorm and washing dead bees out of my hair. We found out later the beekeeper shoud have had a lot more ice in the truck to keep the bees dormant.

Hardest $25 I've ever earned.

It's amazing how little it takes for your brain to disconnect from reality, huh? Haha. Last time I got stung was in Little Rock at an ATM on base. I was just about to pull away, felt something on the back of my neck, and instinctively swatted at it. It disappeared. Then I felt it buzzing about halfway down my back. My brain is like, "Aaaaagh! Bee! Beeeeeeee!" Haha. So I tried to smoosh it against my the back of my seat.

At some point, I'd taken my foot off the brake pedal. So here I am, slowly coasting through the BX parking lot, trying to kill a bee. Luckily it stung me! I say that only because as soon as it did, I slammed on the brakes, put it in park, and jump out of the car. The bee was on the ground at my feet, still half alive. But I'd coasted about 100 feet. I could have run someone over and I wouldn't even have stopped the car. Haha! Brain disconnect.

And one of my favorite fishing spots—which just happens to be across the street from the pond I stepped on the mud wasps' nest—is behind a cranberry bog. In the summer, there's always a bunch of those wooden crates with the beehives in them out there by the bogs. Good thing the pond isn't right there or I'd be a bit scared.

scottmitchell74 wrote:

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At our old building, we've had problems with squirrels. One time they chewed through all the wiring in our audio room along with a few seat cushions.

That reminds me of a squirrel story. One day years ago there was a power outage and an "explosion" (so called by the folks nearby). Well, we were called to the scene to figure out why (not our role, but when 911 is dialed we have little choice in going). After looking around for a while I found a poor nearly decapitated little squirrel. The little guy bit the wrong wire. His head looked like the sad remains of the guys' head in Scanners. In the end they are simply rodents. Cuter, cuddlier, but rodents who like to chew.

I saw something pretty cool while fishing last year. There's a pond in Foxboro that has a bunch of island. I was fishing one of the channels between two islands, and I saw something moving across the water. It looked almost motorized; it was just moving in a straight line from one island to another. I thought it may have been a turtle, but it was moving too fast. I knew it wasn't a beaver or a snake or anything, nothing above the water was moving.

So I quickly paddled over to it, and there was a damn squirrel swimming across the channel! Haha. In all my days fishing, I've never seen that before! It was pretty cool.

scottmitchell74 wrote:

Brown Recluse - Rarely seen...in 9 years I've only seen a few....thankfully. These are the real deal if you get bit.

Right around fall, there seem to be about a million of these suckers around. It really sucks as an arachniphobist, when I walk down the street, I will usually walk in the bike lane, to avoid webs.

There's also a lot of Illegal Mexicans around here. White people are a minority now!

Eyesore!! That's a great picture! I love it when animals do things that are out of the ordinary for their kind.

Eyesore and Toho:


Well, I'm glad you're still with us! I remember making a 911 some years ago. I fella got into a bee hive accidently. I lost track counting the stingers I was plucking/scraping off him in the low 100's. This was before we carried Epinephrine or Benedryl so we just had to keep a close eye on the dude before the ambulance came. I was nervous as heck. Luckily, the guy was still on his feet when the ambulance arrived. He was fine after that.

I feel fortunate. My worst stinging incidents have been maybe 4-6 at once. That's bad enough!

Toho - We carry bee hoods with us as we sometimes have to deal with bees and sometimes they are Africanized. Let me tell you, walking through a cloud of bees and yet not getting stung is sort of a dreamy/surreal experience. You surely earned your $25!!! This family had a swarm take up residence in the outside wall of their house. Two dogs stirred them up and got stung, one to death and one was having vary labored breathing when animal control showed up. Two big, strong Rotwiellers reduced to nothing. The family was stung a little but were trapped in their house. This swarm was simply massive and the air was full of them buzzing around. They were angry and looking to sting. Hard to tell if they were Africanized. Once you mess with them it's basically the same difference anyhow, just the Africanized ones take little-to-nothing to get wound up.


Creepy. I hate "bee calls". Either someone is hurt or we end up killing bees that otherwise aren't causing a problem.

I know I got stung over 100 times. Heck of a time to find if I was allergic or not.

But the beer I got with that $25 was the best tasting beer...