Scorpions, Tarantulas, Snakes, Oh-My (Houston, Austin: HOA fees, house, scorpion)

[madlion7]

Have had all kinds of run-ins with skunks(3 families worth under the very deck we bought the house for), moles (kids swing-set fell into sink-hole), ground-hogs, hedgehogs, chipmunks, (cute, but not 50 in a nest under the hood of your car while driving), even an occassional accidental, squirrel drowning in the pool, maybe even a black bear sighting or two, and LOTS and LOTS of deer! Don't know if we have the stomach for critters of the POISONOUS kind. Do the HOA fees cover any kind of extermination? Are the scorpions poisonous? We have a child that has an epi-phen for bee stings. Will the poisonous critters descend upon us when they smell our northern blood LOL
But seriously, we have young children and need to know how native Austinites, as well as relocatees have dealt with the problem, if at all?

[Zzyzx]

The fire ants are the biggest issue for me at the moment, but a little sprinkle of andro seems to make them go away. I have seen 1 live scorpion in 2 years and last week my cat was batting something in the corner of my front door, it was a dead scorpion. I don't think the scorpions are poisonous.

To tell you the truth, my biggest concern is the animals popping onto the highway, so far I have been pretty lucky, but I see deer, possum and other animals ALL the time scattered about.

It's funny how everyone does different danger research for Austin, mine was tornados and fleas(I have 3 cats)

One thing that we really overlooked is allergies, they are a killer. My wife who has never had allergies before is getting hammered year round.

[madlion7]

Uh-Oh, I knew I would forget to ask about something. I have horrible seasonal allergies that keep getting worse the older I get. No one else in the family has allergies, but you said that you wife has new onset allergies? We have a cat too, for field mice, Ha-Ha-Ha. Wonder if she'll instinctively attack anything that sneaks, sorry, slithers into the house. Should we get a dog? My wife will LOOOVE that! We've been reading that Austin is a pretty dog-friendly place. Which city is worse for allergies and critters; Austin or Houston?

[Austin97]

Originally Posted by madlion7

Have had all kinds of run-ins with skunks(3 families worth under the very deck we bought the house for), moles (kids swing-set fell into sink-hole), ground-hogs, hedgehogs, chipmunks, (cute, but not 50 in a nest under the hood of your car while driving), even an occassional accidental, squirrel drowning in the pool, maybe even a black bear sighting or two, and LOTS and LOTS of deer! Don't know if we have the stomach for critters of the POISONOUS kind. Do the HOA fees cover any kind of extermination? Are the scorpions poisonous? We have a child that has an epi-phen for bee stings. Will the poisonous critters descend upon us when they smell our northern blood LOL
But seriously, we have young children and need to know how native Austinites, as well as relocatees have dealt with the problem, if at all?

We have experimented with the minimum necessary outdoor spraying to eliminate bugs. We have been successful with once every 3 months. Anything less than that and we get bugs.

We use bulwark and they are fine (but most are probably fine). They will put mesh in the weep holes in the outside stone/brick to keep bugs from getting in.

[nwcubsfan]

Only a little light maintenance is needed to control these...

[gigi927]

Okay...THAT deserves a rep point for hilarity!

[Marat]

I would be more worried about fire ants. I see them all the time, but not the other pests you mention. Check out this arm after fire ants.

[TexasGirl@Heart]

Do these fire ants get inside the homes?

[Marat]

Originally Posted by Texanwannabe

Do these fire ants get inside the homes?

Sometimes. If you are persistent in applying ant poison, you'll get rid of them pretty quickly. When we moved in here the fireants would come whenever we left any food around before doing dished. We used spray in the house, cups of pesticide out side on all the big mounds, and spread fire ant prevents to touch up the rest of the year. The touch up also got rid of other ants, fleas, and ticks. All that avialable from Wal-Mart.

I don't mean to scare you wiht the fire ants. After one or two stings, you'll get the rest off of you and you'll never end up like the arm in the picture.

[Trainwreck20]

Fire ants are rarely found in homes. Generally, you will only encounter the sharp end if you step in their mound, or disturb it and remain close by.