Post #791165 by Prikli Pear on Thu, Nov 15, 2018 6:02 PM

Thanks, Skip. Man, I am always worried about bedbugs hitching a ride home whenever I stay in a hotel. I always keep the suitcases closed up and elevated. Yuck!

We don't have chipmunks in Texas, at least none of the parts I've spent time in. I've always wondered why. Plenty of grey squirrels and occasional ground squirrels around our part of the state, although our beagles and cats keep them at bay. Opossums and armadillos don't generally fare so well, either, come to think of it. The biggest critter problem I've encountered thus far are barn swallows trying to build their nests under the patio roof (cool birds, but too messy to coexist with a tiki bar) and paper wasps that want to build everywhere else. Gotta stay on top of those--I've learned the hard way that a nest can go from zero to sixty in just a few days. Ouch!

Oh! We had roof rats in our palm trees, and later, under the patio. The infestation developed while the house was vacant and on the market for an extended period. The landscaping was so overgrown it gave them tons of cover. We couldn't bait them because of our pets. Took two years of clearing out brush, trapping and cat predation to finally wipe 'em out. For a while, the cats' favorite game was "catch and release" in the house. Hilarity ensued, as I'm sure you can imagine.