Ants are the worst. Once a nest gets established, it’s almost impossible to permanently drive them out, even after several visits from a professional exterminator. Thankfully, I’ve lived in recent places where they haven’t been a problem, but they were an eternal nightmare while growing up.
Crickets freak me right out – I hate how they squirm in my fingers when I pick them up with a tissue & crush 'em. (Sorry insect lovers, but once a pest enters my domain, it’s an immediate application of Darwin’s Natural Selection.) My ex-roommate was even more of a pussy, he would cry to his mother like a scared little boy whenever crickets got inside the house.
I don’t mind spiders, respect snakes, have no roaches (though in college in Philadelphia they were an issue); what creeps me out are rats. Mice are not allowed on counters and die in my old fashioned guillotine traps. I had to get a cat to deal with a major rat infestaion. Rattus norvegicus, here, and a few native roof rats. The difference is in the tail length. I was scared at age five by a rat in my bed, and wet the bed after for four years. The recent rats didn’t make me wet the bed, but they really pissed me off when they ate my houseplants;). Mrs Cat, a rescue from a feral cat spay and neuter program, took care of them to a faretheewell. She’s not very nice, but she still leaves me occasional gifts. (this can include non rat items like squirrels and snakes, but I don’t discourage her from any but birds, and then we have a Conversation).
I don’t like possums either, or raccoons. A boar coon damn near killed my hound pup, and out in the here and now they eat my stone fruits. The coyotes retreat from a few shots in their general direction. Plus my gelding tries to stomp them. That’s about it.
PS echo the moderator. No anti Semitism, racism, or any other human related ism, or you will receive very bad karma, and your carburetors will inexplicably fail. Also, it’s wrong. Very, very wrong.
Mice. Our place has a really bad field mouse infestation. We’ve caught at least 20 of them with sticky traps in the past six months, and for each one we kill, it seems two more take its place.
I’m not 100% sure what, exactly, “qualifies” as “vermin” but I’m no fan of wasps (or hornets). As I’ve grown older I seem to have grown to appreciate (almost) all forms of life (something that I can’t honestly say of myself when I was younger) but to this day I’m not real big on wasps. I understand that they play some role in the ecosystem but I’d prefer it if they’d play that role as far removed from me as possible.
To folks who cite cockroaches - I have no direct experience with them but when I was a student, I applied for housing in a large shared coop place. The landlords were vegetarian and they acknowledged there were cockroaches in the oven of all places. These cockroaches were tolerated. No one was allowed to kill them. As I said, I have no experience with these bugs, but I’m glad my application was turned down, and I still wonder what happened when other tenants in that house met the cockroaches.
I totally agree cockroaches are among the worst. I put down rodents, as these did infest my house once.
Where I live now, raccoons are a real problem, because they carry a roundworm that can be fatal in humans. Our dogs constantly bark at them behind our house, and we have to be vigilant that the raccoons don’t defecate in our yard.
Spiders I’m fine with, as long as they stay on their side of the room. House Centipedes are the devil’s minions and I go full 1950’s housewife on them, standing on the couch panicked while my husband kills them.
Fucking Oath. I’m currently running a hostel for the bastards in my roof space. Worst thing is, not only can’t I kill them because it’s illegal and they’re protected, if I trap them they have to be released within 50 metres of where I caught them. WTF?
I’m going to have to cave shortly and get someone round to possum proof the roof. This involves the delicate surgical extraction of a large amount of money from my account which is why I’ve been putting it off.:mad:
Out of curiousity, where is are opossums a protected species? Around here (Georgia) they are ubiquitous. One literally can’t go more than a day or two without seeing one (alive or as road kill). In fact, so many are run over on the roads that it probably saves the D.O.T. millions of dollars in repaving fees. They just add to the road thickness.
