Household bugs from the west vs bugs from the east

[gaidensensei]

When I lived on the west, the only bugs that ever bothered me were argentine ants and house flies. Both relatively easy to take care of.

When I moved to the east, wtf!

The ants are big and black, 3x larger.

There's these stink bugs that I have no idea where they come from.

And I saw some centipedes crawling around in places and stores. The hotel too when I first came here, it crawled out of an electrical socket..

 

[lxskllr]

Stink bugs are from Asia. They've been a big problem the last couple years. I'm pretty happy with our bugs. Very few are venomous, and they're easy to ignore.

 

[DCal430]

When I lived on the west, the only bugs that ever bothered me were argentine ants and house flies. Both relatively easy to take care of.

When I moved to the east, wtf!

The ants are big and black, 3x larger.

There's these stink bugs that I have no idea where they come from.

And I saw some centipedes crawling around in places and stores. The hotel too when I first came here, it crawled out of an electrical socket..

When I was in SoCal, they had a terrible fire ant problem. Fire ants everywhere.

 

[CPA]

Texas has stink bugs, and fire ants, and huge tree roaches and fireflies (though they are cute) and lovebugs (the only time you see them is when they are humping each other).

 

[DrPizza]

I think I've seen ants in this house twice - both times, found the source of the problem (one was a dying tree next to the house.) We get those ladybug looking things late in the fall. I haven't heard of anyone anywhere in this area getting roaches, centipedes, or any of those other vile creatures. I find houseflies to be incredibly annoying during the summer.

 

[xanis]

We sometimes get ants in the summer, but it's rare. House centipedes are more common.

 

[Udgnim]

north San Diego county area

really just get ants sometimes. they seem to come out of the most random places.

after that are house flies (which I assume everyone deals with) or random insects that fly into the house during the night time due to leaving the door open.

 

[allisolm]

We have palmetto bugs

and lovebugs

 

[ahenkel]

My house is constantly invaded with ladybugss, and box elderbugs. Neither seem to be a huge problem. The only benefit seems to be my dog likes ladybugs and will go around eating them. Other than that we don't have a bad bug problem

 

[mmntech]

We had a cube truck from Alberta return to my store last year that looked just like that. Took us hours and lots of degreaser to clean it.

The big, black ants are carpenter ants. Earwigs have always been a problem. We also used to get swarms of Asian Lady Beetles. They look like orange lady bugs except they bit and release a foul smell when you squish em.

I've been noticing a lot of bumble bees, yellowjackets, and paper wasps around in the summer lately. God I hate wasps.

 

[DCal430]

What is the worst in the east coast though is, every few year they have massive outbreak of these things. Just look at them:

 

[lxskllr]

WTH is that?! It looks like a mutant cicada.

 

[KaOTiK]

What is the worst in the east coast though is, every few year they have massive outbreak of these things. Just look at them:

omg, nuke from orbit

 

[DCal430]

WTH is that?! It looks like a mutant cicada.

Is that not the kind of Cicada you see in the east coast?

 

[lxskllr]

Is that not the kind of Cicada you see in the east coast?

No! Not in MD anyway. Neither the seasonal, nor the 17 year cicadas get that big. The biggest I've seen was maybe 5cm long, and probably about the same for wing span. That's for the 17 year. The seasonal variety is a good bit smaller.

 

[novasatori]

While living on the west coast, I've found two of these in my garage in the past:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devil%27s_Coach-horse_Beetle

I could live with not walking into the garage barefoot and encountering something like that ever again.

The ones in my garage were like 5-6cm long, twice the size the wiki states.

 

[gaidensensei]

Stink bugs are from Asia. They've been a big problem the last couple years. I'm pretty happy with our bugs. Very few are venomous, and they're easy to ignore.

How do you manage yours?
Everyday while I'm not home I leave the windows closed, I come back to find 5-10 of them tacked on each screen. I fear leaving my windows open during the day for this reason alone.

 

[zerocool84]

I thought you people in the east don't use screens on your windows?

 

[vi edit]

In the midwes we get almost any kind of bug you can imagine. But as far as house invading goes, earwigs are probably the worse. They are everywhere. The worse is when you get in the shower and it crawls up the drain and runs across your feet.

UUUUUHGGGGHGHGHGH!

http://agspsrv34.agric.wa.gov.au/ento/pestweb/Images/earwig1.gif

 

[lxskllr]

How do you manage yours?
Everyday while I'm not home I leave the windows closed, I come back to find 5-10 of them tacked on each screen. I fear leaving my windows open during the day for this reason alone.

I don't really. I pick them up, and throw them outside. They kind of amuse me, they're such clumsy fliers :^D

They were hard on fruit crops last year. They've found a parasitic wasp that can take care of them, but I don't know if they've released them in the wild.

 

[vi edit]

I thought you people in the east don't use screens on your windows?

Damn. Do you east coasters not have mosquitos either? I think my wife would die if we left a screenless window open for more than hour over the summer months. She has one worst reactions to mosquito bites that I've ever seen. One bite on her swells up to the size of a quarter. And for some reason they seem to prefer her to me. We can be sitting outside and she'll get bit 10 times before I even have one buzzing around me.

:sneaky:

 

[davmat787]

Here in western WA state, we really don't have any nasty insects that invade homes. At least none I have faced. I would guess the marine climate and mild weather overall keep the nasties in check.

Even the worst state in the US has nothing on Australia. Just watched a show about killer ants and was floored at what some of the species can do, especially the Jack Jumper.

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

When I first moved to Florida, I was sitting in the courtyard of an apartment complex that enclosed the courtyard on three sides. I was admiring the play of light at sunset on the sides of the apartments.

Then I realized the different colors were waves of different bugs chasing each other across the walls. They literally covered the surface of a two story complex from ground to roof along a hundred feet of wall.

 

[vi edit]

Even the worst state in the US has nothing on Australia. Just watched a show about killer ants and was floored at what some of the species can do, especially the Jack Jumper.

Arizona has a terrible problem with scorpions in the southern part of the state. Almost to the point where a house can be invaded to where it's unliveable. Some of the southern states can have simliar issues with brown relcuses.

 

[nageov3t]

I thought you people in the east don't use screens on your windows?

what?

I'm not sure I've ever seen a house without screen windows.

I have perpetual stink bug issues. not so bad, all things considered... I find maybe 1-2/month in my apartment during the warm months. I've gotten good at trapping and flushing them.