No mosquitoes up here in our mountains, although they do have them down in the valleys near the Rio Grande.

Flies and horseflies. Gosh I hate flies!

Tarantulas, but we usually only see them in August and September. I'm not afraid of spiders, except for Black Widows and Brown Recluse. I've never had either in my house here, though.
I actually like Tarantulas, and never kill them. Occasionally one will somehow get inside the house here. When I find one, I'll bring my hands slowly together from each side of it and it will crawl right up. They're really gentle little giants and very docile. I carry them out to my gardens and let them go there where they can be safe.

On the other hand, I HATE centipedes with a passion and kill any that get on the porches or inside the house. We must have built this house on a centipede resort, as they're a real problem here . . . especially after a rain. Many are 5-7" long and as wide as my thumb! One crawled into DS's bed when we first moved in here. He was 9 at the time. It was 7" long and bit him twice on his temple. DD was bitten in her sandbox and I was bitten sitting on my porch. After that we've had someone spray here monthly, just along the outside wall of the house and across every door opening. It was that bad! The spray stops them dead in their tracks.

It's ~ thankfully~ much better these days! I'd say only 15 - 20 a year make it inside the house alive now, instead of about 10 a week! . Did I mention that I hate, hate, hate centipedes??
Lynn

I hate our Mosquitos. We have Black Widow Spiders but I don't hate them. I hate snakes with a passion. I'm grateful we don't have snakes that climb trees, etc. Once I was struck by a rattlesnake. Thank goodness I was rock hopping and higher then it could strike.

Reptiles of any kind are creepy to me. Oh, wait. This thread is not about reptiles. Sorry for the high jack.

We seem to have every bug on the planet. I hate them all, except for bumblebees. I even dislike the butterflies--- we have extremely aggressive butterflies that light on people and will not be shooed away. It's creepy.

We have some truly awful large --- and I mean 6 inches long by an inch wide--- bright green segmented caterpillar looking things that have these horn looking things on their mouths. I have actually had NIGHTMARES about these bugs. They are horrible.

Currently my house is infiltrated by the stinky black ants. I usually have to deal with them for a few weeks then they disappear, but this year its gone on for months..

SLUGS. this year not so bad (too dry? Thats why the ants?)

I dont mind spiders, we usually get lots of big brown house spiders-theyre scary looking but harmless, but I havent seen many of them either.

Then your basic aphids and flies. And of course the DREADED moth. SHUDDER. Oh, and boxelder bugs...almost as bad as moths. Not quite, but almost.

So fun and creepy reading all your posts!

We have had a few scorpions in the house this year. Not exactly bugs, but one of them had horrible little black lobster-like claws! I can't quite stop thinking about that.

The mosquitoes are terrible here, but the bug I hate most is the scorpion. Our middle son was stung twice in his bed when he was a toddler, and I got stung removing laundry from the washer one time. Boy, do they hurt and they are just creepy. We see fewer and fewer over time since we have a good pest control company,

We also have fire ants, but I have never had them in my house. I did accidentally step in a mound one time. Ouch!

This is very timely, as my pinky fingernail is in the process of coming off .... thanks to a Brown Recluse spider. I have pics, but I won't gross everyone out. It bit the middle of my pinky (I was getting something out of a box in the garage), and the venom is so potent, it moved down to my fingernail.

I was bit last year by another one, on my thigh. It made me sick all over, and took weeks to heal.

So spiders are #1 on my most hated list. Fire Ants are #2.

ETA: I'm in Texas, and ready to move to a state with no Brown Recluses!

This post was edited by Miz_M on Wed, Aug 21, 13 at 20:19

OMG. If I found a scorpion in my house, I wouldn't sleep for weeks.

We live in New England so we don't have anything too exotic. I do hate mosquitoes because they seem to LOVE me. I can be sitting outside with the rest of the family and while they get no bites, I'll get several.

My fire ant story: when we were vacationing on Sanibel Island one spring, I set my beach back down on the ground by the pool. When I picked up the bag to head back to the hotel room, it was covered with fire ants but I didn't notice. Within a few steps, the ants were all over me, mostly my bare legs. I have never run so fast -- up to the hotel and directly into the shower to rinse the ants off me! Man, those bites hurt! It's a funny family story now ("remember when mom was running across the grass covered in fire ants? hahaha!") but it was awful at the time.

Fire ants and scorpions. Our scorpions are fewer every year but once I pulled out a mixing bowl from the upper cabinet and there was a scorpion resting in it. That has stayed with me ever since.

Yuck! Especially to Lynn's centipedes and kswl's caterpillars, which sound like tomato horn worms. I used to see those in my father's garden and they ARE gross!

We don't have anything poisonous here, but we have a fly like a horse fly that hurts so much when it bites that I have screamed. We have mosquitoes, (hate 'em, and they love my O neg. blood) black flies in the spring, earwigs and the occasional June bug. I don't mind spiders at all, but I'm sure I would if we have poisonous ones!

Like golddust, reptiles (and amphibians) are things I like to avoid.

Here is a link that might be useful: Be warned - images of tomato horn worms

No one mentioned ticks. I hate ticks, especially since they carry disease...we think lyme disease killed my FIL...it was very early on when the disease barely had a name and very little familiarity. Later on we realized his symptoms were aligned with the disease. Later on my dad had it twice and I had it as well. Especially since the lyme disease ticks are so small, like a piece of ground pepper. And now there are other diseases even worse that they carry.

Not good.

yowser! ... I thought it was bad in the Chicago suburbs... but after reading all the above posts I am realizing we are pretty darn lucky we only have mosquitoes ... oh, & now that I think about it I guess we have a few other devils... like earwigs (ewwhh), and slugs (dbl.ewwhh) ... oh, and the Japanese beetles!! ... but I don't think they are comparable to something like a scorpion ...

mythreedogs ... I just read your post ... you mean my O.neg blood is the reason for my current itching (153 approximately) bites?? The pharmacist suggested Cortaid, a hydrocortisone anti-itch cream. I bought it yesterday and I honestly think it is working!

I generally like bugs: including centipedes, tarantulas, spiders, scorps, blackflies, mosquitos, wasps, flies, ants, earwigs, aphids, praying mantises, tomato hornworms, etc. They are extremely fascinatng to me. I rarely ever kill one intentionally, for any reason.

(I like slugs, too, but they're not bugs.)

But, lately I've taken against varroa mites, because they're bugging my pet bugs (honey bees). I can squish varroa mites with positive pleasure when I see one.

And I'm getting kind of fed up with deer ticks. I just removed the 59th one of this season from my hide this morning. Right now I'm not getting any nymphs or adults which at least have the grace of being clearly visible. No, what I'm pulling off, at least once a day right now, are larval ticks that are so small that even seeing one to take it off requires a magnifier. Reportedly even though they are only the second stage (after eggs), they are capable of transmiting diseases, including Lyme which they can acquire congenitally..

Feh..

L.

Ticks because I'm paranoid of getting Lyme disease and carpenter ants because I'm paranoid they'll chew my house down. The joys of living in the woods....,

Here is a picture of the Hickory Horned Devil:

Crickets! Oh how they creep me out when they are in the house. I am not a fan of most bugs, but I operate on the live and let live philosophy (well, not for ticks) if I can get them outside easily. Crickets, however, get whomped with anything I can throw on top of them- rather like your pile of newspapers, blfenton! I have to hit them the first time, though, or they come after me. Ack. Hate that.

Not too many slugs this year.

Have seen a few dead cicadas.

DH does not like spiders. He is fearful of brown recluse. Spiders do not bother me.

We get these very large camelback crickets that have long spider-like legs. I think they are harmless though. They are mostly in the storage shed.

We have a boxelder tree, so we get boxelder bugs, but they're harmless.

I do not like the "palmetto" bug, and I think earwigs are gross.

OHMYGARWD! That thing is HIDEOUS KSWL. I really, really hate big, squishy things like that (and the tomato worms). Crickets and ESPECIALLY grasshoppers make me want to run and hide.

I utterly dislike the slugs because they're slimey. I don't mind most other bugs-and spiders don't bug (haha) me at all. But anything that looks squishy or looks like it could jump into your hair will freak me out.

No ticks in my backyard area-but I do have to look out for them when I'm out in the woods. I tend to forget about that-they're not so prevalent up here (too wet?) as they are down in the southern region of the state.

Pesky, isn't it the worst??? It almost made me ill to post it!

We had ticks in abundance last year and our dogs were suffering, so I had our spray guy kill every one , which took about three passes, in the fenced part of the yard, about three acres. He said that, living in the country as we do, there are just a certain number of pests we will have to put up with. I told him my phobia is his job security.

This year stink bugs have been especially bad at our lake home. They haven't invaded our home, but they are prolific by our deck and dock. I can't stand them. Our one dog evidently thinks they are tasty and will try to catch and eat them. The command leave it works, if we catch him in time. If not, the smell this emits is awful!

kswl WINS! I thought the tomato horn worms were gross, but THAT THING would be at the top of my list, right up there with snakes.

lefleur1, YES; it's our blood type. I always wondered why people around me would not be getting bitten, and there were clouds of them after me. I was out separating day lilies last night, and I had sprayed bug repellant everywhere but my head. That is where they decided to attack.

Read the article I've linked below -

Here is a link that might be useful: Why some people are more prone to mosquito bites than others

We have mosquitoes, clouds of biting gnats, fire ants, horse flies, roaches, black widow spiders, scorpions, silver fish, ad nauseam.

I hate gnats because you can't see them, they are relentless and the bites hurt.

I HATE roaches. Oh wait, I mean "palmetto bugs". I especially hate that they are so bad around here that they require continuous professional treatment. I tried to do the natural route for a while and our evenings were often interrupted by screeching girls calling for Dad to rescue them from the bugs.

I do like the big garden spiders that build the spectacular webs.

We have a large mosquito farm near by they call it a lake but I think it is only a foot deep. My dad says they are humming birds to try and trick me but I think attack helecopters are more like it. If I get a hole in my screens at night I can hear them planning their attack..................terrifying. I think there is some scientific research going on on how to harvest the blood from them to fill the bloodbanks.

Deee, I also hate that we have to use Orkin treatments, but it's a necessary evil around here. Also found out recently the treatments do not work on spiders.

I think it has to do with being surprised. I don't mind a lot of bugs and snakes and things so long as I see them first. It's when I don't see them that they bother me.

Like that wasp that stung the bottom of my foot when I was walking on my deck...must've been in the slot between the boards. Never saw her, but Ow! that hurt!

But I do hate slugs...I don't think I could ever eat escargot. I don't care if they have shells or not...they're slugs.

Bugs in general don't usually bother me. Snake either, as long as I know where it is - now finding one hidden would bother me! I need to keep my eye on them and I certainly don't want one touching me.

I have several mosquito bites right now. We've had a wet summer, which has been nice in some ways (we usually have drought conditions), but after several rainy days last week, the mosquito population has been up. We spend time each evening outside and apparently that is a popular time for mosquitos too! I like the benedryl spray for bug bites. We do have black widows and brown recluse spiders in the area, but I have seen neither around our home. Ticks are something that creep me out!

tina

I am terrified of horse flies or any kind of biting fly. I sometimes think one is watching the backdoor because when I walk out into the yard it dive bombs me. I watched a boy get bit by one. They were in a swimming pool and the darn thing landed on his back. It went under water with him and the kid came up bleeding and screaming.

kswl- When my sons were younger they were fascinated with bugs and snakes. Always looking for a container to put something into. They definitely would have brought home that hickory horned devil to watch what kind of moth it turned into. I had to look it up- turns into a regal moth. They once found a cercropia moth caterpillar-another green "beauty" with blue, yellow and red bumps and spines. It turned into a large beautiful moth and when they let it go on a vine outside the back door it attracted a mate within a few hours. Thank goodness we don't have scorpions here, they would have brought those home with them for sure!

I don't mind most bugs, my front garden is planted to attract bees and butterflies, but I don't like deer flies (painful bites) and lubbers (damage to plants).
I detest roaches! Detest! I will not spray poisons around my home so after much trial and error I found a bait that has completely eradicated them. We have not seen a roach, or their poop, for years! We could not rid our boat of them but even there they are completely gone without trace! The bait is easy to use, unobtrusive, and lasts for 6 months. I'll be happy to provide details if anyone is interested.

Living in the woods in the southeast has its drawbacks. These include:

Palmetto bugs
Carpenter Ants
Carpenter Bees
Mosquitos
Ticks

We also have fire ants for good measure.

The lightning bugs try to make up for it all, and they do a pretty good job.

Fleas are bad this year, and most flea products aren't working anymore as fleas are becoming immune..Have one in house no one is mentioning-- silverfish! neighbor has them and looks like they are migrating over here..found them on the stairway and closet floor..

CLBlakey, you should put some frogs in that lake to eat the mosquitoes. My family has an abandoned swimming pool that should be mosquito heaven but the frogs eat them all. I love the sound the frogs make.

We have all kinds of bugs. Mosquitos, spiders, ants, japanese beetles, etc. I had an ant invasion in the spring and finally had to call an exterminator as nothing else helped. I found a trail of them going into my kitchen cupboard where they'd found a jar of honey.

Now I am waging a personal battle with clothes moths. I can't believe the damage they have done to my wool clothes. I've thrown away half my sweaters. I did a major clean out of my master closet. Totally emptied it, vacuumed obsessively, scrubbed it and sprayed every nook and cranny.

I took the oriental rug from my bedroom and put it in the garage It's wool and I thought maybe the moths came from there, although I don't see any damage.

I washed or dry cleaned all the clothes (or tossed) before putting them back. Wouldn't you know two moths immediately landed on sweater? I squished both. I freaked out not from fear but from disbelief and anger.

Now I have two moth traps in there. They have pheromones that attract male moths, then the moth gets stuck to it. I caught one as soon as I put them in there, but no more. I also added moth repellent sachets. My closet smells like herbal tea.

If I have to burn the house down to get rid of these things, I will! I hate clothes moths.

ms thrifty, I know what you mean about fleas. I'm not happy to hear about them becoming immune! As for the silverfish- they are so gross- the way they move- shudder!

dedtired, I noticed you didn't try mothballs- are they considered too toxic now?

I dreamed about bugs last night- I hope I didn't cause any of you to by starting this thread!

I don't mind insects as long as they are not on me!

I was just talking to dh who is at the store today while I take a day off. He says "I don't know if you want to know this or not but I feel I should tell you". I'm like "*gulp*, go ahead."

He said he was in the back room and saw a HUGE and FAST spider. He tried to catch it and put it outside but it disappeared. He is worried I am going to move a rack or something heavy in the back room tomorrow and then drop it on my head and hurt myself if the spider jumps out at me. I's kind of funny but it's not ....

You are absolutely right Annie, it is the surprise that's going to scare me, not the spider. I hope he catches it before he gets home tonight.

This post was edited by deedee99 on Thu, Aug 22, 13 at 20:13

I mostly have silverfish and house centipedes. I'd rather not have them, but they don't bother me that much. I just flush them.

When I lived in Texas, I hated those large roaches that we called water bugs. Those things could move dishes, they were so huge. They fly, they jump, they crawl...yuk!!! I used to call my neighbor if I saw one and he would come and deal with it.

kswl, that is some scary creature! And it's BIG!

There was a scorpion on our bedroom floor last night. It was "only" about 3" from end to end. The "only" comment came from DH.

The Bug Guy says that, living in the country, we should expect to see these things in the house from time to time. I do not agree. I am Darwin with poison spray, bugs!

My parents' house used to have silverfish all the time. Gross! I'd come home late or use the bathroom in the night and see one.

Yes, mothballs are toxic and also they stink.

Years ago we had a bad flea infestation (thanks, Scruffy). We walked in the house after vacation and the fleas were waiting for a meal. They jumped on our legs and it looked like we were wearing black socks. AAAAACK!

I just love these little guys. NOT!

Just love reading all of this ! creepy..

ded..those moths in your sweaters are originating in your food ! You need to start in the kitchen and go through every single box, bag and closed container. I used to run a food coop out of my home . When I would get moths in my dried oatmeal or flour then they would find their way in to the laundry area where I hung drip dry clothes and eat holes in the cotton shirts ! Then they would get in to the wools. sigh..I too have had to toss things.

I have only had them here one time in this house. They chewed a very expensive sweater and .....I took it to a friend and for $20 she mended every single tiny hole !! Yep...I was not going to toss that sweater.

So get you into the kitchen and find the culprits...they came home from the grocery store.

We don't have any bugs in our house. We have had it sprayed once a month since we have lived here...11 yrs. We have had the large roaches in the past and roof rats ....shudder...but Cooks has dealt with it and we have no more. c

I can deal with most of the bugs we have around here as they are only a minor annoyance except MOSQUITOS!

They make it virtually impossible to enjoy a summer evening outdoors here. Trying to garden on a humid day is a nightmare. Standing outside talking to neighbors can get really annoying. There is no way to really get rid of them w/o using nasty pesticides or sprays that I don't really want to put on my body nor my kids!

Of course, we have other bugs that can be a pain. We have occasional issues with ants, but none that are bad. This summer though, for the first time, we had them in our kitchen, which really grossed me out. Fortunately, an ant trap took care of it so it was over rather quickly.

I also had pantry moths once and that was a total nightmare. Had to throw pretty much everything in my fully loaded pantry away and discovered them while making dinner so had to stop everything and immediately start binging as I was so grossed out. I had one or two minor outbreaks after that but with traps and putting everything that attracts them in airtight containers, I've had no problems since.

But mosquitos....just no way to safely get rid of those unfortunately!

I don't have them but my terror is cockroaches. I have snails and slugs and and am happy to pick them up and toss them.

Trail, their is a difference between pantry moths and clothes moths. They aren't the same. The pantry moths eat grains and the clothes moths eat wool, silk and feathers.

I've gotten rid of pantry moths in the past but the clothes moths are making me nuts, although I may have eradicated most of them now.

Some of these creepier bugs really gross me out!

Well my pantry moths ate clothes ! Guess they were desperate...but I know they came from the food and as far as looks they were exactly the same. Can't hurt to do a "pantry check"...beats tossing a lot of clothes !

Well my pantry moths ate clothes ! Guess they were desperate...but I know they came from the food and as far as looks they were exactly the same. Can't hurt to do a "pantry check"...beats tossing a lot of clothes !

I guess you never know. I had the kitchen remodeled a few years ago and have not seen pantry moths in there since that time, but I will be on the lookout.

I love lightning bugs. I don't consider summer to officially start until I catch and release one.

hhireno, me too. I get silly excited each year when they turn up. Sadly, there are far fewer now than when I was a kid due to the use of pesticides. I also love the sound of crickets in the summer. They always start around mid-July here. I don't like it when they get in the house, though. When they jump, I jump too.

We had a lot of fireflies/lightning bugs this year compared to past. Maybe it was the rain. ??? Pretty cool to watch them.