Bugs in southeastern U.S. (hotels, crawl space, universities)
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California is very out of place on that list of "buggiest places."
Total BS what they posted about California. I lived in all parts of it, there's almost no bugs: it's one of the least buggiest places in the US. One should try Upper Midwest or Maine or many other states where the use of bug spray is almost necessary to get out to nature or sit on a porch.... that list was complete utter BS. Shows one should actually visit places instead of asking on the internets, as it draws untruthful answers.
I camped all over CA for many months on end total hardly seeing any nuisance insects, didn't even know bug sprays existed until I traveled outside the West.
OP, mosquitos in the South are nothing - remotely - like they're in Northern Michigan. Same for biting gnats...nothing like Black flies in North MI. You can sleep outside in some places in the South, in summer, without getting a single bite. Ticks are another story and can be quite a few of them in the South, but in the South at least they rarely carry Lyme, though you generally have to keep ricksettsiosis in mind.
What are you talking about? I can count on 1 finger the number of times I’ve been bite by a mosquito in Southern California. Ants and roaches aren’t a problem unless you live in squalor. Termites can be an issue but they don’t bother you and are easy to stay on top of.
We do have those big a$$ **** roaches occasionally. They like wet years. They are just so dang big. Skeeters? Rarely. I know they like lakes.
Total BS what they posted about California. I lived in all parts of it, there's almost no bugs: it's one of the least buggiest places in the US. One should try Upper Midwest or Maine or many other states where the use of bug spray is almost necessary to get out to nature or sit on a porch.... that list was complete utter BS. Shows one should actually visit places instead of asking on the internets, as it draws untruthful answers.
I camped all over CA for many months on end total hardly seeing any nuisance insects, didn't even know bug sprays existed until I traveled outside the West.
OP, mosquitos in the South are nothing - remotely - like they're in Northern Michigan. Same for biting gnats...nothing like Black flies in North MI. You can sleep outside in some places in the South, in summer, without getting a single bite. Ticks are another story and can be quite a few of them in the South, but in the South at least they rarely carry Lyme, though you generally have to keep ricksettsiosis in mind.
Uh, as a native southerner who’s also lived in those northern areas, I honestly can’t say the south is any better for bug bites. The season for bugs is just longer in the south.
Uh, as a native southerner who’s also lived in those northern areas, I honestly can’t say the south is any better for bug bites. The season for bugs is just longer in the south.
Have you camped in Northern Michigan and North Minnesota, or Maine? Where you're eaten alive by clouds of mosquitos and I'm talking July and August. Where you need to put on a bug suit just to pitch a tent.
If you camped there you'd know.
There's a reason people screen porches there. Many can't enjoy their porch at all, if it's not screened.
In Maine you can't sit down on ocean beach in many places without getting a bite even in early September.
I slept outside on rural properties in the various states of the South (from Alabama to Kentucky, to Southern Missouri and VA), in summer with dense woods being right around, not to mention all the sitting on the porch, and hardly been bitten by anything that flies, and I do not use repellents.
Not me. I try to eliminate my exposure to pesticides, especially in the home, for obvious reasons:
“ In the U.S., one of every two men and one of every three women are likely to develop cancer over the course of a lifetime — and pesticides are part of the reason why.”https://www.panna.org/human-health-harms/cancer
Meh. I have relatives in their 80s and 90s living in old homes that I know for a fact have needed exterminators on several occasions, and these people are as fit as anyone else that lives to see their ages. If pesticides are going to be your sole cause for getting cancer, you weren't that healthy anyway.
Meh. I have relatives in their 80s and 90s living in old homes that I know for a fact have needed exterminators on several occasions, and these people are as fit as anyone else that lives to see their ages. If pesticides are going to be your sole cause for getting cancer, you weren't that healthy anyway.
I agree and hey, get this - the death rate for humans is 100 percent anyway.
I'd rather spray occasionally for mosquitoes and be able to sit outside and enjoy my patio nine months out of the year. It's the little things in life that make it worth living!
I have relatives in their 80s and 90s living in old homes that I know for a fact have needed exterminators on several occasions, and these people are as fit as anyone else that lives to see their ages.
My grandmother smoked her whole life and lived to be 92. That doesn’t convince me that I should start smoking.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Frustratedintelligence
If pesticides are going to be your sole cause for getting cancer, you weren't that healthy anyway.
You are clearly not conversant with oncology. Cancer doesn’t hit you because you are unhealthy. There are many cancers in otherwise healthy people that result from exposure to a single substance: asbestos, coal dust, formaldehyde, vinyl chloride, and pesticides such as glyphosate, malathion and diazinon, an insecticide that has been used extensively in the home. This is just a small sample of carcinogens.
If you’d only do a little research into topics you know little about before posting, your intelligence might not be so frustrated.
Quote:
Originally Posted by KathrynAragon
I'd rather spray occasionally for mosquitoes and be able to sit outside and enjoy my patio nine months out of the year. It's the little things in life that make it worth living!
While you’re out on the patio in the Texas heat, just keep in mind that cancer is only one of the possible illnesses that can result from pesticide exposure. Exposure to certain pesticides can cause long-term damage the liver, kidneys, endocrine and nervous systems. Also, Parkinson’s disease, asthma, stillbirths and birth defects are just a few of the long list of health effects arising from pesticide exposure. This is in addition to problems that can crop up from acute exposure including nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and seizures. And that doesn’t even cover the environmental damage that pesticide usage causes. Not a pretty picture, really.
But you and the frustrated poster above go ahead and spray your kitchens where you prepare foods and the bedrooms where you sleep.
Total BS what they posted about California. I lived in all parts of it, there's almost no bugs: it's one of the least buggiest places in the US. One should try Upper Midwest or Maine or many other states where the use of bug spray is almost necessary to get out to nature or sit on a porch.... that list was complete utter BS. Shows one should actually visit places instead of asking on the internets, as it draws untruthful answers.
I camped all over CA for many months on end total hardly seeing any nuisance insects, didn't even know bug sprays existed until I traveled outside the West.
OP, mosquitos in the South are nothing - remotely - like they're in Northern Michigan. Same for biting gnats...nothing like Black flies in North MI. You can sleep outside in some places in the South, in summer, without getting a single bite. Ticks are another story and can be quite a few of them in the South, but in the South at least they rarely carry Lyme, though you generally have to keep ricksettsiosis in mind.
I wonder about this as well. I was raised in CA, left for awhile and have been back for quite awhile. I have lived in Texas and Arizona, and traveled in most of the U.S. I would not have thought of CA being in the top list here except for termites, they are a big issue. Some insects that are plant-based like Aphids are bad here, partly because the growing season is year-round in many places. I have always thought that one of the best things about CA and AZ is the lack of mosquitoes and such. It would be interesting to see more about the data used for this. I wonder if it skewed by the fact that what bugs there are in CA are out all year in most of the state.
I thought I would never see mosquitoes as bad as I had experienced in Michigan, until I spent some time in Minnesota. It is indescribable, much like the plagues described in Exodus.
I wonder about this as well. I was raised in CA, left for awhile and have been back for quite awhile. I have lived in Texas and Arizona, and traveled in most of the U.S. I would not have thought of CA being in the top list here except for termites, they are a big issue. Some insects that are plant-based like Aphids are bad here, partly because the growing season is year-round in many places. I have always thought that one of the best things about CA and AZ is the lack of mosquitoes and such. It would be interesting to see more about the data used for this. I wonder if it skewed by the fact that what bugs there are in CA are out all year in most of the state.
I thought I would never see mosquitoes as bad as I had experienced in Michigan, until I spent some time in Minnesota. It is indescribable, much like the plagues described in Exodus.
There is no data. That garbage list that has California #4 was a phone survey of 675 homeowners sponsored by pest control company 10 years ago.
You are onto something though about the growing season in California. We grow tons of fruits and veggies year round in our yard and we don’t use any chemicals. I’m sure if my wife was one of the 675 people in this country surveyed she’d probably complain because it seems like those little buggers are always up to no good with one plant or another. When the day comes I get bit by a mosquito is the day I’ll complain about bugs.
My grandmother smoked her whole life and lived to be 92. That doesn’t convince me that I should start smoking.
Why would you? I don't think anyone would argue that they extend your lifespan, but it's obviously possible to enjoy them and live a long life.
Quote:
You are clearly not conversant with oncology. Cancer doesn’t hit you because you are unhealthy. There are many cancers in otherwise healthy people that result from exposure to a single substance: asbestos, coal dust, formaldehyde, vinyl chloride, and pesticides such as glyphosate, malathion and diazinon, an insecticide that has been used extensively in the home. This is just a small sample of carcinogens.
Meh. Anyone can Google a bunch of random info on a specific topic and call themselves conversant in it. I never claimed to be a doctor and I certainly never claimed that any and all cancers would only affect an unhealthy individual. My only point was that it is apparently unlikely for occasional pesticide use alone to be truly harmful to a relatively healthy person, and I stated my reason for believing so. Maybe we disagree on what a healthy person is.
But is this really a major factor in you deciding to live in carcinogenic-free Philadelphia? Sorry, but it seems you're really just splitting hairs here.
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