Quote: Original post by Antheus

Quote: Original post by Obscure
Spent the next four hours standing in the hall with a raid can in each hand spraying them as they came around/under the door.

Spawn camping noob!!!111

Quote: The eggs hatch and then the larvae eat the internals of the tarantulas (saving the vital organs for last) before finally bursting forth like a FRICKIN ALIEN!!!

Don't they even affect the neural system and cause the host to become zombie like, still moving around but not doing any useful function until they die of hunger or something similar?

">I couldn't resist

Quote: Original post by capn_midnight

Quote: Original post by X Abstract X
I know that the majority of people here are not Canadian but I figured I would still ask this question. Right now I live in northern Ontario and I've never seen a cockroach in my life. I have a phobia of large insects, I can't even look at pictures of them on the internet. Anyway, I'm moving to Ottawa next year and I'm wondering if there's any cockroaches there? If there is, how bad are they? Are they everywhere? Are they common in large Canadian cities? Even if you don't know Ottawa, feel free to share information about your location and the cockroach situation there.

I guess this probably sounds rediculous if you don't have a fear of insects but I'm being serious.

Even when I lived in Florida, the only time cockroaches were an issue was when you went to a particularly unkempt house. Keep your place clean and you won't have a problem.

I dunno about that since the cockroaches in Florida seemed kinda brave to me. I mean I never cockroaches just hanging about on the walls with no fear of humans and pretty large ones at that!
The only other time I ever saw that many cockroaches out in the open, is on my trips to the orient where they sell them out in the open for people to eat like the pic Washu posted LOL.
You would think there would be less in Canada due to the weather since everyone knows insects are cold blooded but apparently that doesn't matter:
The Oriental cockroach can tolerate cool environments and people have even found it surviving freezing outdoor weather.

[Edited by - daviangel on April 17, 2010 6:17:39 PM]

I think you guys scared the op away from this thread. =/

No worse than the deer/moose ticks oot and aboot Northern Ontario that where crawling around your undies as a child! In fact if you are from anywhere in Northern Ontario you've probably faced far worse with the likes of termites, deer/horse flies and dragon flies. I've only ever seen roaches no bigger than a common ant in Ontario.... the once was however an infestation at an certain well known international meat suppliers slaughter/butching house(in Ontario.) I'll call my cousin and have them do a sweep of the city before your arrival. :P

Quote: Original post by BeanDog
My mother had a VERY close encounter with one of these Tarantula Hawks a few years back in New Mexico. The buzzing from this largest of all wasps woke my mom up in the middle of the night. She turned on the lights and screamed for someone to come in and get rid of it.

Yeah, here in NM shit gets pretty crazy... I remember standing in the driveway talking to my sister when one landed on her head (it was about the size of the one in the picture). To her credit, she just stood still and about 7 seconds later it flew away. I'll have to tell her about the most painful sting thing...

Randomly, they are testing a UAV named after them at White Sands Missile Range, which is right near where I live (all the wiki pictures were taken there).

Regarding the fear of large land-based arthropods, don't live in New Mexico.

Quote: Original post by Prinz Eugn
Randomly, they are testing a UAV named after them at White Sands Missile Range, which is right near where I live (all the wiki pictures were taken there).

Should have made it like Jigabachi.

Quote: Original post by capn_midnightEven when I lived in Florida, the only time cockroaches were an issue was when you went to a particularly unkempt house. Keep your place clean and you won't have a problem.

This is largely true but I have lived in Florida for most of my life and am a total neat-freak and still get a roach every now and then. You can never totally keep them out, especially if you live in an at all wooded area or have neighbors who aren't as neat as you are.

I do plumbing and concrete work for a living. The other day, I was doing a simple bath-tub replacement and repair of a broken P-trap under the tub. The trap had been broken for, oh, I dunno, going on fifty bajillion years so the dirty arm was just massively clogged with dirt and the assorted detritus of a thousand sewer-line backups. No problem, thought I, I'll just plug in my trusty old shop-vac, hold the nozzle to the end of the dirty arm, and....

OH MY GOD! COCKROACH INVASION!!

I must have sucked up about two dozen of the little baggers, and when I pulled the hose away, about three dozen more came boiling out of the end of the pipe and scattered across the bathroom, up the walls, under the crack of the door, up my legs, across my arms, one even (god help me) made it to my face before my panicked flailing dislodged him.

I have a switch in my reptile brain. I call it "screamy little girl switch". I think that thing is still stuck partly on, and it's been a couple days. I almost quit my job.

Damned cockroaches.

Someon post the story about the spider! (it should be a sticky)

If you treat your place like a slum you may get roaches in Ottawa. They do live here.

If you move into a largely student filled apartment complex (such as the Prince Of Wales apartments, close to Carleton University), someone in the building is going to get a roach problem, and it will affect neighboring units. POW tends to spray at least every few years from what I hear, and I'm sure it's not just because feel like it. I'm not sure I've seen a roach in Ottawa aside from the POW apartments, but I'm betting all large student filled complexes have roach issues.

You can move into a house in the suburbs, like Kanata, then all you have to deal with is skunks (stinky), raccoons(tip your garbage, wash their prey in your kids pool), chipmunks(shred things in your shed for bedding), bunnies(eat your flowers), endangered turtles(blocking development in Kanata north), and squirrels(also eat your flowers, and any seed you leave for birds). Though we have an occasional bear wander into town, and we have had deer on our lawn, that's not normal... they tend to stick to the fields in the greenbelt, which for Kanata, is fairly close by.