traumatized by vermin

weetziebat · Jul 9, 2006

Oh my goodness.........I lived in Tucson and Phoenix a long time ago and only for a short while. Never saw any vermin indoors, or outdoors now that I think about it.

But from y'all's postings, I'm gonna be like Marla and stay right here in the water-logged Northwest. Gives me goosebumps just thinking about chasing after the critters. Did enough of that is Saudi Arabia to last a lifetime.

Yeah, think I'd go with the exterminator - at least outside, around the perimeter of your house. Good luck!!

Multicollinearity, BSN, RN · Jul 9, 2006

I do have an exterminator for outside. I just don't do inside, I"m not comfortable having pesticide in the house. Next week I'm calling someone out to put better weather stripping around the doors and windows. I think most are coming in by my patio door. Little buggers homes have been flooded by the monsoon and they want my home! Eeek.

I'm thinking about the various part of Tucson that I have lived in, and the Northeast area by the national forest land just out-bugs them all. I didn't have any of these problems in central or northwest Tucson.

I went to see a movie last night, United 93. That movie gave me perspective about what to get really upset about. I was shaking watching the movie (surprised me) and when I got home I was like "spiders? Who cares. That's not really important." I saw a tarantula on my sidewalk and I didn't even care.

Multicollinearity, BSN, RN · Jul 9, 2006

I picked up a couple of stray kittens a few years back and they are the best protection for vermin! They have 'street' in them, so even though they are indoors, they still destroy any poor soul who happens to stroll into our living room. They even work as a team! Every now and then I will find only a roach leg in the tub. That's how good they are!
Maybe it's because of all the new construction out where you live?
I've never seen a scorpion in my house, but we have had a few bobcats in the alley, lots of geckos, a raccoon or two, a few coyotes, even a brown recluse! I live in the middle of the city, so the wildlife I see makes me kinda sad, because I know that it means they have no food or water where they live.

Stray kittens...good idea! My little feline friend has decided that roaches don't taste good. The last time I saw him hunt and munch on a roach he walked around with his lower jaw hanging open and his face all scrunched up funny. I'm not kidding. Ever since, if he sees one he just howls to let me know. Too funny.

It's so beautiful here, it's just hard to balance with all the vermin at this time of the year.

tencat · Jul 9, 2006

Snakes are so-so. BIG spiders are definitely YUCK. Ditto for scorpions. But what's wrong with bobcats and javalinas? I'd love to see those!

Multicollinearity, BSN, RN · Jul 9, 2006

Snakes are so-so. BIG spiders are definitely YUCK. Ditto for scorpions. But what's wrong with bobcats and javalinas? I'd love to see those!

Nothing's wrong with the outdoor wildlife. In fact, I like it when the javelinas come by because my cat loves to talk to them through the window and it's so cute. I guess because of my trauma with the spiders in the house, I just blabbed about all the wildlife. Although one night a few years ago I couldn't get in to my house because a group of javelina (including their babies) had gathered by my front door. They wouldn't move! I wouldn't try to get them to move, or challenge them because they had their babies with them, and we know how mothers are about their babies. But yes, I understand that I am in their territory. It's just the large indoor spiders that make me lose my mind.

Multicollinearity, BSN, RN · Jul 9, 2006

I was afraid that the spider-animal was a brown recluse spider. Here's why:

http://brown-recluse-spider.ascendedhealth.com/img/brown-recluse-spider-bite-pictures/img_BRS_thumb_day_10.jpg

Warning, the photo of the person recovering from a bite is graphic.

indigo girl · Jul 10, 2006

I live in Tucson. I'm on the far northeast side. I've lived here for a few years. The vermin are traumatizing me. I just had an encounter with the BIGGEST SPIDER I HAVE EVER SEEN INSIDE. I'm still shaking. I realized after I saw it that it was too big to kill with a shoe. Long story short, it has left this world and its corpse is on my patio.
I am moving to Phoenix for nursing school soon, when my pre-reqs are done. I know that the newly developed areas have the most insects indoors, but still? Are certain areas worse than others? Does Phoenix have as many 'vermin' as Tucson? Here's what I experience outside: tarantulas on my sidewalk last week, bobcat by trash can a few days ago, a snake by my drive a few weeks ago, and javelina come by my bedroom window at night. Indoors: spiders, roaches, and the occasional scorpion. I have been stung by a scorpion. It actually wasn't too bad. A little nausea, cramps, rapid heart beat, and numbness. (((It's the large spiders that I cannot handle.)))

Thanks for this post. I haven't laughed so hard in a long time!!! I guess it

reminded me of coming home to my apartment one night in Korea. I could hear something LARGE moving on my kitchen counter. I turned on the light to see a HUGE roach. I could see the hairs on its legs!!! I knew just hitting with a magazine was not going to work. Lucky for me, I went and got the Army sergeant, who lived across the hall that I did not know. He looked at it and said, " I can see why you came and got me" before he dispatched it. It was as big as my hand. This was 1976, and I lived in a not very modern area close to the DMZ.

cardiacRN2006, ADN, RN · Jul 10, 2006

Because I'm a sucker for hungry animals, I feed a stray cat who lives in my garage. I worry that she might make a fine meal for a bobcat. The racoon I saw was pretty cool! I love to see all these animals, but I want to feed them, and around here feeding wildlife is a no-no (maybe even illegal?).

The spider I saw was definately a brown recluse because I clearly saw his violin on his belly!

madwife2002, BSN, RN · Jul 10, 2006

OMG:lol_hitti I live in AZ and I am petrified of meeting the VERMIN. I have my house bug sprayed every 2 months without fail and if I find anything living then I contact the bug man to come out sooner. We went to view a house in the wilds and we were really interested in buying till we thought about the bugs and rattlesnakes that could be lurking in the garden, especially when the real estate person said that they were nature lovers who lived in the house and didnt belive in pesticides. Apparently though they kept cats and they will keep away a lot of nasties:uhoh3:

LoriAlabamaRN · Jul 10, 2006

The violin-belly are black widows...

I actually had to have surgery following a brown recluse bite, the resulting necrosis was terrifying, and now I have a huge scar on my ankle.

Multicollinearity, BSN, RN · Jul 10, 2006

The violin-belly are black widows...
I actually had to have surgery following a brown recluse bite, the resulting necrosis was terrifying, and now I have a huge scar on my ankle.

Lori, that is awful!!! I am so sorry to hear that you had to go thru that. I hope you don't mind me asking, how were you bit? Indoors? Outdoors? How did it happen?

cardiacRN2006, ADN, RN · Jul 10, 2006

the violin-belly are black widows...
i actually had to have surgery following a brown recluse bite, the resulting necrosis was terrifying, and now i have a huge scar on my ankle.

no no no. i know what a black widow looks like and what a brown recluse looks like! the black widow is an hourglass.

http://www.tandjenterprises.com/images/hobo%20kit%20brown%20recluse%20big.jpg ..................violin (brown)

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/images/ency/fullsize/19582.jpg

....hourglass (black)