Insects and Other Guests in the House

Discussion in 'Earth Science' started by Giambattista, May 15, 2009.

?

In my house, I frequently or occasionally encounter:

  1. Spiders

    21 vote(s)
    95.5%
  2. Ants

    13 vote(s)
    59.1%
  3. Termites

    1 vote(s)
    4.5%
  4. Centipedes

    6 vote(s)
    27.3%
  5. Various beetles

    8 vote(s)
    36.4%
  6. Bees/wasps

    12 vote(s)
    54.5%
  7. Flies

    17 vote(s)
    77.3%
  8. Scorpions (!)

    1 vote(s)
    4.5%
  9. Snakes

    0 vote(s)
    0.0%
  10. Rodents

    4 vote(s)
    18.2%
  11. Other

    8 vote(s)
    36.4%
Multiple votes are allowed.
  1. Giambattista sssssssssssssssssssssssss sssss Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    4,878
    I just have to air my petty grievances about crawly things in the house. It isn't really important, but I have to do it.
    :shrug:Maybe you do too?

    What kind of insects or similar critters have you encountered, regularly or incidentally in your abode? Or maybe you have mice and other things?
     
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  3. Roman Banned Banned

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    I really like bugs. They are welcome in my home any time.

    Recently I was picking at an itchy spot on my inner thigh, about an inch from the balls. I thought it was one of those hard zits you get from ingrown hairs, and was pulling it out. It felt sort of big as I was pulling it through the dense hair on my legs, and I thought maybe it was actually a ball of lint. Then I looked at it on my fingers, and noticed it had legs and was actually a tick.

    At least this time I didn't find it fucked to death at the base of my penis as I was taking the condom off after sex. That left an unpleasantly itchy spot on my shaft, and unlike a mosquito bite, I didn't swell up twice as big.
     
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  5. Giambattista sssssssssssssssssssssssss sssss Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    4,878
    Silly poll? Excellent! I thought it might be interesting.

    I would have checked bees/wasps, but that really only happens a few times a year with the occasional lost soul who finds its way in through an open door or something.

    Flies are ubiquitous, really, as well as mosquitoes, which probably could have been on the poll. Lets just pretend they fit into the fly category, okay.

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    Ants seem to appear around spring. Carpenters as well as smaller ones that may or may not belong in the same species. A year or two we had a leaky window that must have rotted the wood and attracted some ants, because we had quite a few hanging around that corner of the house for a while, but the wood was replaced and sealed up, so that's that.
    Overall ants, in my observations, tend to be more prevalent around the kitchen in the spring. At least it seemed like last year they were more scarce as summer set in.

    Spiders are kind of creepy, but they don't really bother me unless they get uncomfortably close or are hovering over my bed while I sleep!

    We have plenty of woodlice in the basement (pill bugs, roly polies).
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woodlouse
    I'm guessing that just about every house has those, and those long, ovular black beetles. Don't know what they're called.
    I guess millipedes make an appearance here and there, but what really creep me out in a MAJOR way are these icky crawlies:
    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scutigera

    Scutigera coleoptrata aka house centipede. If you're squeamish or disturbed by quick moving, spider-eating, long-legged arthropods that could possibly inflict painful stings, maybe it's best not to go looking for any large, high res photos of them.

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    I don't take a whole lot of pictures, but I DID capture a great photo of a house centipede chewing on one of those smaller, red centipedes. I have another close-up of one on my closet door.

    Just a week ago, I heard the sound of something hitting my bed. I was sitting there, and turned around to see a rather large specimen which must have just lost it's hold on the ceiling, and landed right on the edge of my bed.
    CREEPY B*TCH*ES!

    I've never been bit or stung by one that I can recall, but they's so darn icky, I usually don't let em close enough to try. They're pretty skiddish anyway. And my, how that multitude of icky, skinny legs can move! :fright:
     
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  7. Roman Banned Banned

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    House centipedes are major predators of the cockroaches that live in houses. They're quite freaky though, aren't they? I remember when I first found one in my dorm room, I was so excited!
     
  8. Giambattista sssssssssssssssssssssssss sssss Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    4,878
    Only rodents I can remember was one dead, rotting mouse under the kitchen sink when I was very little, and what I can only describe as a phantom mouse I have seen twice running along the base of the wall where it meets the floor. Same exact place. A dark shape.

    Both times I immediately turned on my bright overhead light, and thoroughly rummaged around behind things where it disappeard. There was absolutely nothing anywhere, and I looked really hard. The first time it happened, whatever it was scuttled along the wall and ended up where it would have been behind my stereo cabinet. I flipped the lights on and examined every corner where it could have been hiding.

    Second time, it was the same exact place and route, only this time I had rearranged things so there was a book case there. Same thing. I looked behind the bookcase and that whole area. Nothing.
    They both happened nearly a year apart.

    It's weird because I've never found any mouse droppings I'm aware of, never had any signs of them, and we have TWO mousecatchers (kitties) that would probably not tolerate rodentia residency. It's also weird because there really was no place for it to disappear that fast without me seeing it running.

    It's funny, but I've heard of shadow people, and I've also heard of shadow rodents. I wonder...
     
  9. Giambattista sssssssssssssssssssssssss sssss Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    4,878
    Wow! That story makes me sooo darn horny...

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    Ticks probably wouldn't count as regular residents of homes. They're more opportunistic, parasitic migrants.

    Though I should have added fleas and lice, since they seem to be a little more prevalent.

    Cockroaches should have been on the list. I can't add to polls after they are done though, I don't think.

    Excited isn't quite the word I would use. Not excited in a good way, at least.
     
  10. Giambattista sssssssssssssssssssssssss sssss Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    4,878
    House Centipede interesting info
    They're still creepy.
     
  11. Roman Banned Banned

    Messages:
    11,560
    Guests in the most transient sense.

    And bed bugs!
    I got bit on the lip once while I was asleep by a kissing bug. Woke up with a lip swollen up to about the size of a golf ball.

    I had never seen one before, as I hail from the frigid northern wastes.
     
  12. Enmos Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    43,184
    Watch that spot for two/three weeks. If you get a reddish ring around the spot where it bit you go see the doctor asap.
     
  13. Enmos Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    43,184
    Giambattista, I missed mosquitoes in your poll. I'm assuming they go under 'flies'.
    I get the odd fly, mosquito or spider, but not that many.
     
  14. Orleander OH JOY!!!! Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    25,817
    the 2 that bother me the most are ones that make noise. Mosquitos and crickets. I will get up in the middle of the night, no matter how tired I am, to go cricket hunting. I hate those chirping bastards. They are the squirrels of the bug kingdom.
     
  15. Enmos Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    43,184
    You mean Insect Class

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    But yea, in the summer I sometimes have a cricket on my ceiling. I capture it and put it outside. Mine don't chirp though.
     
  16. Orleander OH JOY!!!! Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    25,817
    no, I said bug kingdom, I meant bug kingdom.

    There are crickets that don't chirp????
     
  17. Enmos Valued Senior Member

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    43,184
    There is no Bug Kingdom though, in that case you might have meant the Bug Family

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    Oh they can chirp, no doubt. But they never do when they're in my house.
    To be honest I've never heard them chirp in my garden either.. :scratchin:
     
  18. Orleander OH JOY!!!! Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    25,817
    No, I didn't mean bug family or insect class. I meant bug kingdom.
     
  19. Japarican Registered Senior Member

    Messages:
    148
    Mostly ants or small spiders
     
  20. Enmos Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    43,184
    Well, that must be an entirely new classification system then..

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  21. Roman Banned Banned

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    Oh, good call. Thanks for the heads up.
     
  22. TFL ʞǝǝƃ ɐ ʇsnɾ Registered Senior Member

    Messages:
    128
    Just a few days ago I found a mass of silverfish in a closet. I've only ever seen one or two in my life, so seeing a little silver army was a bit shocking. I've no clue what they could have been feeding on.

    We also have a huge(for the area, at least) garden spider that lives on the out facing side of a window. Does that count?
     
  23. Norsefire Salam Shalom Salom Registered Senior Member

    Messages:
    11,529
    The occasional fly or mosquito, and unfortunately down here there are some really huge roaches.

    We really need to get rid of these species ASAP.
     

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