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

[CaliNative]

I live in San Diego area, and the pest populations (rodents, flies, ants) seem to be on the upswing in recent years. I was in Sydney once, and was told they have some massive poisonous spiders at times of the year that sometimes get into houses (funnel webs etc.) but I never saw any. Other cities are said to have infestations of bed bugs & roaches. The roaches in some southern cities are of impressive size. Saw some as big as a mouse. Saw a video of a rat carry away a pizza slice in NYC on youtube ("pizza rat"). Does your city have bug & vermin problems? Are there any cities free of bugs & other irritating creepy crawlies?

Sydney Funnel Web Spiders in action: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ooWF0PeLWcw

Indoor giant roach hunt in Houston house: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1WAFSqV-Ez8

[BG918]

Denver with its dry climate and high elevation is probably one of the least hospitable cities for bugs in the U.S. There are bugs but they don’t seem to be as big of a problem as many other cities. You do have to be careful when you’re on trails in the foothills though due to rattlesnakes mainly in the spring and summer.

[mousquet]

Rats came up from the massive sewer network here in Paris, because of (moderate) flooding some weeks ago.
That caused a little controversy about the sanitation of the central city, in particular. It's true that it's been somewhat dirty here and there.
I guess the local left wing has been ruling the central city for too long. It's about time to clean up the streets a little bit.

I wouldn't mind having a left-wing mayor in my conservative suburb for once, though.
You don't have to be faithful to any political party... Change is healthy in that matter.

Having a moderately sizable population of rats would nonetheless be helpful, cause rats eat lots of disgusting things.
They're not so ugly. Their paws and tails creepy, but their heads are actually kinda cute.

All animals are useful to my knowledge. Except for mosquitoes that are truly a useless pain, real parasites.

[Boisebro]

Originally Posted by BG918

Denver with its dry climate and high elevation is probably one of the least hospitable cities for bugs in the U.S. There are bugs but they don’t seem to be as big of a problem as many other cities. You do have to be careful when you’re on trails in the foothills though due to rattlesnakes mainly in the spring and summer.

Boise's pretty much the same. people who live in or near the foothills have to deal with rattlers and black widows, but that's about it.

and thankfully the Wisconsin State Bird is not an issue in the city -- if you want to see mosquitos you need to head to the rivers or reservoirs in the mountains.

[CaliNative]

Originally Posted by Boisebro

Boise's pretty much the same. people who live in or near the foothills have to deal with rattlers and black widows, but that's about it.

and thankfully the Wisconsin State Bird is not an issue in the city -- if you want to see mosquitos you need to head to the rivers or reservoirs in the mountains.

Places like Boise, Helena, Great Falls, Pocatello, Denver, Calgary etc. at fairly high altitudes & somewat dry climates with cold winters seem to be the best places to live to avoid bugs. Hot, humid climates with mild winters are the worst, generally. Places like Florida and southeastern Texas have their good points for sure , but they are bug paradise.

[Buckeye Native 001]

It's about time for all the skunks to start becoming more active in Flagstaff as the weather gets warmer...

[Steely Dan]

Too many fucking packers fans.

Oh shit, I married one of them.

[xzmattzx]

Stink bugs. I bet a lot of cities in the Mid-Atlantic will also claim this, as it's a region-wide thing.

[pdxtex]

you betcha. portland has a feral human problem! we dont have normal hobos that sit on benches and drink wine. we have mentally deranged urban hoarders sleeping in tents and derelict rvs! as far a the more ranger rick variety, we have lots of other. rats! lots of rats, urban coyotes, giant raccoons, chinese beetles, invasive sea lions (really) and some other stuff to. we dont have alot of bitey bugs tho so summer evenings are nice.

[The ATX]

Originally Posted by pdxtex

you betcha. portland has a feral human problem! we dont have normal hobos that sit on benches and drink wine. we have mentally deranged urban hoarders sleeping in tents and derelict rvs!

Same in Austin. They don't seem to multiply - at least I don't see pregnant ones. But their numbers continue to increase significantly.

[austin242]

As well Austin has more Bats than average. Back in high school our theater had 1000's of bats in it. I remember finding a couple in the theater myself.
http://batspecialist.com/cave-notes/...at-akins-high/

I love the bats though because it helps with our mosquito problem in the summer. We also have huge amounts of fire ants.

[dave8721]

You name them, we got em. Spiders (giant ones), ants, roaches (giant flying ones), mosquitos (zika is always fun). At least we don't get Lyme disease like up north. The golden orb weaver spiders are huge but harmless (see pic below). The worst are the giant whitish spiders that make their giant webs at night and during the day like to hide in places like my car and come out and nearly cause fatal accidents, at least to me they do.

These guys are the size of your hand (or larger):

[Centropolis]

Originally Posted by austin242

As well Austin has more Bats than average. Back in high school our theater had 1000's of bats in it. I remember finding a couple in the theater myself.
http://batspecialist.com/cave-notes/...at-akins-high/

I love the bats though because it helps with our mosquito problem in the summer. We also have huge amounts of fire ants.

we have a lot of bats in st. louis, too. there were caves all along the river in the karst topography and being at the northeast toe of the ozark uplift which is loaded with caves (we still have problems with ponds dewatering in city parks through the cave system...hence missouri is the cave state), and i guess the bats also took up in the many voids in old infrastructure and buildings. you can see them swooping in at dusk, as in austin, controlling the mosquito population.

armadillos have moved into the area, which are fairly disgusting i guess since they carry leprosy...

southern flora and fauna is generally moving in, like kudzu, etc. i had a jobsite that was completely covered in it down by the river north of downtown, inside the city limits of st. louis. this photo is from just south of the city:


stltoday.com

asian carp have invaded suburban lakes around st. louis that have canals connected to the missouri or mississippi river system (this photo is from a culling a few weeks ago):

stltoday.com

[James Bond Agent 007]

Do 3am thunderstorms that wake you up in the middle of the night count as pests?

Anyway, when I lived in Seattle it was pretty low on summer bugs because summer is the dry season. Here in KC we've got the usual mosquitoes and other stuff. Plus I've got moles in my backyard.

[Xelebes]

Moose, coyotes, mosquitos, sea gulls, pigeons. Moose is relatively new as they adapting to take advantage of farmland that is seeing a lot less people working them then it used to be. There are also no predators (bears and wolves) as there use to be and coyotes have no hope of picking off any.

[mrnyc]

in cleveland what would be best known are the infamous midges that come in a swarm off lake erie a couple times per season:

http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2007..._help_cle.html

however, in the past swarms of the midges bigger cousin, the mayflies, were common. i remember relatives telling me about cities in the region driving scoop construction vehicles and sanitation staff with shovels around scooping them up at night as they tend to flock around streetlight posts.

the mayfly population has declined over the decades and the midges are more common these days.

i can certainly see how these two kinds of bug swarms would freak out visitors, but ne ohio residents take them and the swarm events in stride. they only live briefly, just to mate, are completely harmless and are a sign of a healthy lake erie. the worst that happens is they get in your nose if you are in a swarm of them and they are a mess to clean up. as a kid i was always fascinated with the midges, they look like fuzzy zebra bugs. and the mayflies are quite beautiful as far as bugs go.

a third bug event we would get would be cicada swarms every few years. they are also completely harmless, but they buzz and make quite a racket when they swarm to attract their mates. the shells end up stuck on trees and all over the place. cicadas are pretty cool big bugs actually. very prehistoric looking, yet friendly as bugs go if you can believe it. you can pick them up and look at them if you are curious. our cat put one in his mouth once and it buzzed and his cat cheeks were buzzing. he didnt know what to do! he finally spit it out in front of us and he just stared at it. it was pretty funny.

[bobdreamz]

Well tonight I was sitting in my brother's bedroom as he just discovered the band CHVRCHES and watching a video when this creature just crawled unto our backyard patio and just sat there looking in through the patio doors & staring at us for a few minutes:


https://www.news-gazette.com/sites/a.../06/possum.jpg

The backyard is fenced so I don't know how it got in and realized it was also limping.
It's kind of hard to believe some people in the south eat this critter.

[CaliNative]

Originally Posted by bobdreamz

Well tonight I was sitting in my brother's bedroom as he just discovered the band CHVRCHES and watching a video when this creature just crawled unto our backyard patio and just sat there looking in through the patio doors & staring at us for a few minutes:


https://www.news-gazette.com/sites/a.../06/possum.jpg

The backyard is fenced so I don't know how it got in and realized it was also limping.
It's kind of hard to believe some people in the south eat this critter.

We used to have lots of possums in a suburban/rural area north of San Diego (lived near a creek). But in the last 10 years or so, they have dwindled to almost nothing. Lots were run over by cars. They cross the road slowly, and when they see a car coming they just sit there ("play possum"). The drought in recent years has also taken a toll, not only on the possums but other critters. They never really bothered me, but they did eat the cat food so the cat was annoyed. They have lots of sharp teeth so you leave them alone.

[CaliNative]

Whenever I check into a motel or hotel in an unfamiliar city, I ask the front desk clerk if they have checked their rooms for bed bugs. If they look shifty and uncomfortable with the question, I get concerned. Bed bugs are widespread in many cities. They also tend to hitch rides in luggage, so you can bring them home. Bed bugs are totally disgusting pests.

[pdxtex]

Originally Posted by CaliNative

Whenever I check into a motel or hotel in an unfamiliar city, I ask the front desk clerk if they have checked their rooms for bed bugs. If they look shifty and uncomfortable with the question, I get concerned. Bed bugs are widespread in many cities. They also tend to hitch rides in luggage, so you can bring them home. Bed bugs are totally disgusting pests.

id be more worried about your airplane. how often do you think they actually clean the cabin? most commercial jetliners are like a flying motel 6 or truck stop. nnnnomp. and airlines that do treat their planes are basically fumigating them with low level pesticides! but yeah, gross. i do a load of laundry as soon i get in the door after a trip. and that suitcase lives in the garage.