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It's been weeks since I last saw a poisonous snake in my toilet. Thankfully one of the large, equally poisonous spiders that inhabits our bathroom, whom I've nicknamed "Octomus Prime," managed to attack and kill the snake. Move on down - I wouldn't worry about such things at all.
We had black snakes, but you want to encourage them if you can ignore them. They eat other vermin and aren't poisonous.
Heh.
I live on a reasonably large and heavily wooded lot, but for the first year had not encountered a single snake while I had lived there. So, late last spring I had fallen asleep on the couch in my living room. When I "woke up" (I'm not a morning person) and got off the couch, I noticed a coil of what looked to my sleepy eyes like black rubber tubing next to my feet, which I knew wasn't there last night. Thinking I might still be asleep, I nudged it with my toe. No reaction, but it felt solid, so I wasn't dreaming. Still half-asleep, I started nudging it again with my toe to move it out of the way, when ITSUNWINDINGTOWARDSMEHOLY$&*#SNAKE!!!!!
Yeah, I woke up pretty quick as I LEAPED back towards the kitchen, while what turned out to be a black snake just as quickly shot under the couch and hid. I eventually trapped it in a big plastic container and literally tossed it out the front door. Then the thing had the nerve to try and slither back towards my house! I had to beat the ground in front of it with a stick several times before it got the message that it needed to stay the hell out of my house.
Sounds crazy, I know, but it did happen. I'm glad it was just a black snake, though I still have no idea how it got in (through the crawlspace, maybe?). I didn't kill it, and I didn't care if it stayed outside, but it had to learn my house is off-limits. Haven't seen a snake on my property since, maybe it passed the warning on to all of its friends.
We have some woods behind our house, so we see a few black snakes every year. They are incredibly shy and turn away as soon as they realize you're coming. Plus, our dogs bark like crazy when they find them, but have never been bitten (so far). Black widows hang out in cool, dark places, like under the water meter cover, so just sweep out any areas before you put your gloved hand inside. I've lived in the Carolinas for 12 years and have seen 1 black widow, so I wouldn't get too wound up over snakes and spiders.
As others have suggested, ticks are the real health issue and Rocky Mountain SPotted fever is a very real threat here. My next door neighbor got infected last year, so I'm getting pretty nervous now that I'm finding them on me and my dogs again. Fire ants are also another concern.
2 years and I haven't seen a single snake. I hike a lot too.
We had a tiny bit of a black widow issue at our old house (Just in the garage in one spot, our neighbor's crawlspace had a ton of them). I found it funny though. I knew where they were hiding and I would let them run around the floor and harass them with a broom stick. They're just tiny spiders. There is hardly anything they can do from even a foot away. They don't purposely run after, and attack humans.
Oh yeah, we've got poisonous and disease-carrying wildlife in NC! I agree with the PPs that ticks are a major concern. They do want to find you and bite you and seek you out while you're not looking! We have tons of them. They carry Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever as well as Lyme disease and STARI (Southern Tick something-or-other something-or-other).
I grew up in NC and have lived here most of my life. I have seen plenty of snakes. Yes, I've seen copperheads in my back yard. I've seen water moccasins (cottonmouths) in SE NC. My spouse has seen rattlesnakes in the mountains. My brother was bitten by a copperhead several years ago and we had another friend who stepped on one while taking out the trash and was bitten as well. Both required hospitalization, but copperhead bites are rarely, if ever, fatal. Have had a lot of black snake encounters in houses over the years. My friend has one who lives in her attic. She's seen it and found its shed skin!
I've known people bitten by black widows and known of people bitten by brown recluses in NC. I've seen quite a few black widows, though probably more snakes. Black widows do like to hang out on firewood and we've brought them in the house that way. There are also brown widows! I have a friend who found one of those in the compost pile.
Hey, you know what? We also have alligators here!! Well, at least in SE NC. Saw a memorable picture in the paper a few years ago of a 15 ft gator crossing the highway near Wilmington.
I'm trembling with fear all the time as are all of my neighbors and most of the 400000 people who live in Raleigh.
What no big black roaches? There should be roach stories to add to the mix. Maybe roaches are only found in the more tropical areas. I hear they nest in palm trees. What critters find their way inside besides snakes? Are ants other than fire ants a problem?
We had the worst infestation of "sugar ants" in the house this year than we have ever had. It took about a month to get rid of them. I think they came in through the windows or came riding in on the newspaper and mail.
In the past, we'd have a few in the kitchen every few years, and they'd be gone in a couple of days after putting down an ant motel. But not this year.
And I've seen one copperhead in 17 years -- at the end of the yard, near the lake.
I've never seen black widow or brown recluse spiders in my ilfe -- except up in western New York.
My friend's dog got bit by a copperhead last week in their yard. They had to rush it to the vet. The dog is fine, thank goodness. The vet said if it had not been a full-grown copperhead (this was three ft. long), that the dog could have ended up dead because baby copperheads cannot control the amount of venom they release.
And oh, yeah, there are big roaches here for sure. Someone asked about that.
Being from Chicago myself, I can tell you it won't be easy adjusting to the negative things here, but there are a lot of good things, too. Personally, after over a decade here, I'm going back up north.
My friend's dog got bit by a copperhead last week in their yard. They had to rush it to the vet. The dog is fine, thank goodness. The vet said if it had not been a full-grown copperhead (this was three ft. long), that the dog could have ended up dead because baby copperheads cannot control the amount of venom they release.
And oh, yeah, there are big roaches here for sure. Someone asked about that.
Being from Chicago myself, I can tell you it won't be easy adjusting to the negative things here, but there are a lot of good things, too. Personally, after over a decade here, I'm going back up north.
best,
toodie
Big roaches? In your house or outside? shuddershuddershudder.......
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I had to beat the ground in front of it with a stick several times before it got the message that it needed to stay the hell out of my house.
