Bugs in Chicagoland in the Summer

[Curly Q. Bobalink]

Originally Posted by flamadiddle

The one big pest missed so far are termites. Very few if any termites in Northern Illinois. Down south they will eventually eat your house unless you treat annually, here no one even bothers to treat for them.

A friend's sister, who lives in Hickory Hills, had a problem with termites. The exterminator told her it was because of her proximity to the tollway; supposedly, when they built the Tri-State, a lot of the dirt used for it (it is elevated in most places where it crosses other roads) was imported from down south. Beats me as to the truth of this, all I know is I donated an afternoon to tear out the drywall from her basement, and yeah, we found all kinds of termite larvae. Also, termite exterminators used to provide "lifetime warrantees" on their work, but no more, due to environmental restrictions on pesticides. This was maybe fifteen years ago, BTW.

Illinois, being in the Midwest, has its fair share of bugs, anyone who drives on the interstate in the summer through farmland will spend an hour cleaning the bugs off their car after a trip. More than a lot of the western states, which are much more arid and have colder and earlier winters - but I've never seen "swarms" of bugs anywhere except for the brine flies at the Great Salt Lake. Mosquitos can get intense in the Forest Preserves, especially at dusk, invest in a can of Cutters or Off. I've seen a lot more spiders around my yard in the last couple of years (constantly walking into webs built overnight between the car and garage, for instance), not sure why. But bites are rare, they're looking for flies, which are also common around my house due to the dog doo-doo, picking that up seems like a full-time job. Bottom line, bugs shouldn't provide a problem for the OP around Chicago, especially if you use repellent.

[Chicago_Person]

Okay. So I've been to California. You guys have no bugs. Barely any bugs.

If you live in a place near water like the Humbold park lagoons, forest preserves, etc.
you will have Blood sucking mosquitoes up the A**

Everyone downplaying Mosquitos is just being dumb.

[MSchemist80]

Yea I once was on a bike ride on the trail through Sterne's Woods in Crystal Lake and got a flat. There was such a cloud of mosquitos I could not fix it there and had to pick my bike up and run out of the woods with it.

Or just this past June after all the spring rains I went to sleep with my window open and foot exposed. My foot was red with hundreds of bites by morning I literally thought I had bed bugs or fleas from the dogs or something. They got right through the window screen.

[BIG CATS]

I only had an issue with mosquitos in IL when I lived there, and it was only in areas, too. Some places we lived were plagued with them, other areas had virtually none. Bees and wasps would build small nests from time to time, but never were really a nuisance. Ticks could be bad if you were into forest and prairie hiking, but use of bug spray kept them at bay. I find bugs here in AZ to be much worse, odd as that may sound.

[2008user]

Originally Posted by jmgg

You definitely have a phobia about bugs. I just read the same post by you on the Minneapolis/St. Paul forum.

Other than cockroaches, bugs in most northern big cities are not an issue. Too much pavement along with most municipalities and suburbs spraying for mosquitoes. Most fly issues revolve around garbage, fecal waste, and dead things. Unless you live in San Francisco or other such "enlightened" cities I think these things are usually kept under control. I think you'll find yellow jackets most everywhere though.

It's the rural areas where you will encounter more insects. Even termites tend to not be in large numbers in the northern parts of the country due to weather.

There are definitely geographic cut offs from where you do encounter some insects. An example being that my son lives 200 miles south of where I live (Omaha area) and he is always dealing with black widow spiders. I have seen a black widow spider where I'm at only 3 times in my life. We also hardly have any black biting flies. Go 250 miles northeast of where we live into the beginning of the woods of north central Minnesota and they'll drive you insane.

Wasps and those damn yellow jackets are everywhere in my area.

Well is the bug situation the same there? I have read a post on the denver forum saying that mosquitos can be a problem. Everywhere, the bug situation is different, it just depends on the species that belong there.