Snakes spiders and scorpions in the southwest

[Anonymous]

Tarantulas are friendly (and fuzzy). They are way more afraid of you than you are of them.

Rattlesnakes, on the other hand . . .

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I lived in Arizona for 8 years and had all of those in the house at least once but not often. Some houses have serious scorpion problems though, so have it inspected for that.

This makes it seem like humans should not even be living in those areas. Seriously how can you ever relax with this as a constant possibility?

It's not a constant possibility. It's pretty rare to see them inside your house and rarer to actually see them outside alive. I only find them dead in the pool, that's where most of the wildlife ends up. Most people use a pest service to keep the critters at bay inside. But a lot of things are hiding under rocks or only come out at night.

Every area seems to have something undesirable.

[Anonymous]

Is that you, Moira?

[Anonymous]

I second New England. No venomous snakes or spiders and you will never see a scorpion. Plus no swamp mosquitos. True there are ticks but you don’t have to walk in tall grass.

[Anonymous]

Well this area will soon be overrun with spotted lantern flies.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Live in AZ and see scorpions frequently but a pest service keeps them at bay. Often fish them out of the pool. Rarely see snakes, saw a tarantula in the pool skimmer once. It can depend on the specific area but this isn't really a problem in the home, maybe just the yard. Used to live in TX and scorpions and snakes were there too but not really in the house either.

A friend in TX stopped gardening because the scorpions liked to hang out in the planting beds.

[Anonymous]

What is a pack rat? Literally rats who travel in packs? How big are the packs?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Looking at a vacation home in New Mexico. How serious is the possibility of encountering a snake, scorpion or tarantula in one’s home there? How do people live with this?

Ahem...how do we in the DMV live with out-of-control murder rates?

You learn how to.

[Anonymous]

Grew up in AZ and occasionally saw tarantulas in the yard. Never saw a snake but we weren’t out in the raw desert. Bigger issues was occasional scorpion inside the house - I still shake out my shoes every time I put them in even though I live in DC now. Same with my bath towel - always shake it out before using it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Now we do encounter snakes, tarantulas, scorpions, pack rats, etc. in our yard on a weekly basis.

NP but could you elaborate on this? Like you actually see tarantulas scuttling about ONCE A WEEK?!?

Yes, even find nests!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Grew up in AZ and occasionally saw tarantulas in the yard. Never saw a snake but we weren’t out in the raw desert. Bigger issues was occasional scorpion inside the house - I still shake out my shoes every time I put them in even though I live in DC now. Same with my bath towel - always shake it out before using it.

Yes, shake shoes out before putting them on—-every time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'll take the occasional scorpion over cave crickets any day.

Wtf is a cave cricket and is this a DCA thing?

You've never seen one? They have these huge hind legs. They are everywhere and not just in the mid-Atlantic. Variations are worldwide in many places around the world. They are harmless, except that they are exceptionally loud. You'd know if you had one in your basement based on the noise.

We have camel crickets in our basement, but they don't make any noise at all. They are not like regular crickets and do not chirp.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Grew up in AZ and occasionally saw tarantulas in the yard. Never saw a snake but we weren’t out in the raw desert. Bigger issues was occasional scorpion inside the house - I still shake out my shoes every time I put them in even though I live in DC now. Same with my bath towel - always shake it out before using it.

Yes, shake shoes out before putting them on—-every time.

I could not live this way.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I second New England. No venomous snakes or spiders and you will never see a scorpion. Plus no swamp mosquitos. True there are ticks but you don’t have to walk in tall grass.

Maybe not swamp mosquitos, but plenty of bog ones!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Grew up in AZ and occasionally saw tarantulas in the yard. Never saw a snake but we weren’t out in the raw desert. Bigger issues was occasional scorpion inside the house - I still shake out my shoes every time I put them in even though I live in DC now. Same with my bath towel - always shake it out before using it.

Yes, shake shoes out before putting them on—-every time.

I could not live this way.

I grew up in AZ and never saw a scorpion anywhere, inside or outside.

What got into the house a lot were earwigs, which I haven't seen around here, but they are ugly, creepy little vermin and if you smash them they really stink.