Bugs (Seattle: houses, living in, spider)

[TribalCat]

In SoCal we don't get many bugs in the house, sometimes a silverfish or two, but in the damp weather of Washington, what types of bugs are often seen inside the houses? Are there poisonous spiders there?

[Skytripper]

Here in Western Washington anyway.....we have earwigs, some VERY BIG spiders....sometimes (don't know how poisonous they are) but there ARE some you probably wouldn't want to get bit by!
Giant slugs, snails, etc. moths, skeeters....AND...other critters that are not bugs that would include.....a LOT of RACCOONS, skunks, opossum, deer, coyote, cougars, bears and maybe a Sasquatch or two.

[TribalCat]

Sasquatches and the other critters are cool, it's the buggies that give me the willies

[bmsea]

After living in LA (roaches) and Hawaii (roaches and geckos and centipedes), the thing I love most about Washington is that there are very few bugs. You might get some seasonal mosquitos, which you can control by controlling standing water near your home, but other than that (in the City anyway) we have not had any bug problems.

Spiders come around here and there, mostly in the basement, but haven't been a problem inside.

[TribalCat]

*lol* Yes I remember the bugs in Hawai'i. It made getting up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom an adventure. Not in a good way! I had a centipede crawl up the back of my leg when I was six...they really give me the willies.

[ejmatl]

The only bugs you need to learn to recognise are brown recluse spiders. The are very poisonous - and you don't want to be bitten by one. Other than that, what few bugs you'll find are harmless.

eileen

[xboxmas]

There's also houseflys

[st33lcas3]

Originally Posted by ejmatl

The only bugs you need to learn to recognise are brown recluse spiders. The are very poisonous - and you don't want to be bitten by one. Other than that, what few bugs you'll find are harmless.

eileen

Recluse Spiders aren't poisonuos. They bite and will leave a nasty mark, but you won't die from one.
Recluse spiders aren't that common in this area anyway, it's their cousin the Hobo Spider that people confuse it for.
HOBO SPIDER WEB SITE

[VeronikaW]

I just moved recently from SoCal, and I have to say the bugs we're seeing are crazy.

In our house we've found these things that look like lady bugs, but they're a weird orange color, and not red.

There are some other funky beetle things, too.

There are ants like you wouldn't believe. They are 4-5 times the size of your average CA ant.

We've also found these weird winged ants that are giant. I've killed 4 of those in my house so far.

The houseflies are the size of bumble bees, and are very entertaining to our cats.

We've had a few spiders, but not too many, and none that look that serious.

There seem to be just a lot more bugs here than in CA.

V. =)

[KidBlue]

I checked out the Hobo Spider Web site and they look really terrible! Are they a big problem in all of Western WA or mainly in the Seattle area? This is the only time I've been glad we have giant house spiders (competitor of the Hobo spider) here in rural NorCA.