Info on creepy crawlies???

The USVI has lots of cockroaches, mosquitoes and centipedes. Millipedes too! They all vary by location and weather conditions (and maybe by food conditions, in the case of cockroaches).

dont forget the ants and those wormy looking crunchy things

Hire an exterminator to treat your home every month. That's what we do and rarely have any "creepy crawlies" inside our home.

Here's a great recent thread on centipedes and millipedes

https://www.vimovingcenter.com/talk/read.php?4,180211

Are they huge cockroaches like in Asia? I'm assuming you mean fire ants, we have them here as well but can be controlled with chemicals and scalding water.

My main concern is the mosquito's. When we walk into our yard without spray, we will literally be covered just like the guy who sticks his arm in a tank full of them on the commercial. The county says they spray but I think they're using an extremely diluted mix or just kidding. It probably doesn't help that he's going about 35MPH down the street whilst spraying.

It's to the point that I have stopped gardening, one of my passions, because I can't stand being coated with greasy poison when it's approaching 100F and 90% humidity. Not my idea of a good way to commit suicide.

I've lived with the huge cockroaches but I am terrified of them. No insect should be able to follow you with it's eyes and you can see it!!!

Also, the site said something about frogs being a danger to the dogs, anybody have more info on that? They didn't say what kind or why. I would like to know so we can watch for them.

We have all kinds of bugs and insects. Also rodents.
We have ground spiders, tarantulas, brown recluse spiders just to name a few, scorpions, centipedes, millipedes, all kinds of varieties of ants big and small, black, white and large red ones (love bugs) various sized roaches but luckily not the size of the Madagascar hissing roaches, we have mosquitoes, no-seeums, all types of lizards which eat mosquito's and roaches so they are good to have in house and
no bother, there are bees, wasps, jackspanniers. Iguanas roam and eat flowers off your trees and shrubs. Lizards come and go. If people are worried about bugs they may reconsider living in tropical climates. I have lived here all my life and continue to find various bugs that I have never seen before and have no clue as to what they are. There is no escape, tho a good exterminator comes in handy but can't protect you from it all. Bugs usually win out.

I moved to st croix from south carolina. I think the bugs are worse in south carolina. There seems to be more lizards in the vi.. which may keepthe insects at bay.I rarely see spiders. One really good thing, no snakes. (Except some kind of harmless tiny blind snake that lives in the ground). The centipedes are my biggest concern as far as creepy crawlies but an improvement for me over all the poisonous snakes in south carolina.

Thank you Sheiba!!!

I was born and raised in Washington State and there are relatively few harmful insects just rattlesnakes. Living in Asia brought the roaches, fire ants, centipedes and rodents in abundance. Had a rat that was much bigger than my cat run across my foot in the back yard one day. No problem except the bugger got between me and the door and had a stare down with me. The maid finally noticed me missing and came out with a butcher knife and chased the thing all over the yard.

We moved to SE Texas 5 years ago and I swear, never seen so many bugs in my life! We have the bug guy in every 3 months and in the interim if we need him but there is NOTHING he can do about the mosquito's outside. I now understand exactly what living on the bayou entails. I want no part of it. We can't even have coffee outside on our deck unless we have the industrial fan blowing on us to keep them off. The brown recluse and the black widows aren't too friendly either.

All the poison we have been wearing (the dogs as well) for this amount of time can't be good for us.

My husband is really excited about the VI because he is deathly afraid of snakes. Since we've been here I have killed 2 copperheads and probably a dozen coral snakes. The neighbor across the street takes his gun outside with him, he's bagged several water moccasins in his yard.

I am willing to live with insects and rodents but I want to be fully informed about what is around. Nasty surprises can be dangerous.

You guys are awesome letting me in on all of it. Thank you.

Anybody familiar with the frogs I mentioned earlier?

there are frogs, that if are bitten by animals can kill them, from what i am told.

We do have some harmless little "grass snakes" here which have proliferated since a virus wiped out a large segment of the mongoose population (their natural predators) a few years ago and I've been rescuing them from the cats for quite a while now. They're long, skinny and totally harmless so if you do come across them just leave them alone and curb any instincts to pound on them! Now that the mongoose population is rising their numbers will be diminishing again!

The "frogs" you're hearing about are the Bufo toads. They're large critters who secrete a nasty toxin in their skins which can be lethal to a small dog who's dumb enough to wrap it's mouth around one ... They're found in swampy areas but one can live here for years never seeing one so, generally speaking, they're not something you really have to worry about too much.

The mosquitos are ever-present and annoying at times after a heavy rainfall but you won't have the problem with them here to the extent that you've been plagued. As has been mentioned earlier, cherish the lizards who take up residence with you as they love to gobble them up, as do the bats who swoop around at night feeding on them! You'll find after a while that your body becomes acclimatized to them and although initially you may well be bitten a lot you'll eventually find that their bites are just annoying but won't result in your skin raising up in welts.

Wolf spiders are often mistaken for tarantulas but they're timid things and like all spiders won't bite unless provoked. The worst spider is the brown recluse mentioned earlier whose bite is highly toxic and can result in a very nasty sepsis. They can generally be found living in wood piles so if you just happen for some reason to be digging around a pile of old stacked lumber just be careful.

I've only seen a scorpion three times in almost 30 years here. The one I didn't see was the one which bit me on my bum when I sat down on a sofa where he'd obviously decided to rest up. Wow, that bite hurt and for a few weeks afterwards I had a nasty, red weeping spot on my rear end.

I think you'll find way less problems with critters here than you've been used to!

We have different varieties of frogs as well, most are harmless but 1 variety that I am aware of are known locally as Crappos (don't ask me why and your island veterinarian can more readily adress this) but their skin is toxic and can be the cause of convulsions and death in dogs and cats that attempt to eat them.

I am feeling really comfortable about all this thanks to you! That was so informative OldTart and Alana and I sincerely appreciate it. Lizards and I will get along fine. My major yard art here are big metal lizards. I don't mind them in the house at all, I find them endearing. We have them here as well but they are overfed and a little lazy. I think the dragonflies eat more than they do.

We'll be coming in the spring for our pre relocation visit. I would love to meet some of you when we do.

Tami

we have a ton of bugs. no see ums, mosquitos, you name it. it's constant, but when your blod thins and you get local, they'll be done with ya.

likewise if you relocate to STT,
Just be aware that life is different in the tropics.
Its good to be prepare but many do not last long when it gets down to daily living.
I am hopeful you shall be one of the sucessfull ones or know when to flee!

We have different varieties of frogs as well, most are harmless but 1 variety that I am aware of are known locally as Crappos (don't ask me why and your island veterinarian can more readily adress this) but their skin is toxic and can be the cause of convulsions and death in dogs and cats that attempt to eat them.

Crappos is a good name for them. We had a few living in a fish pond and they would come out at night and Crappo on the deck and gallery:D

Crappos is a good name for them. We had a few living in a fish pond and they would come out at night and Crappo on the deck and gallery:D

"Crapaud" is French for "toad" and thus came about the local "crapo" name for them. 😀

PS: Despite the name, not all crapos are toxic but here's a good link if you think your dog might have been exposed to the Bufo - symptoms, treatment, etc.

http://www.healthyhomesforkidsandpets.com/articles/bufo.html

Very much appreciated old tart. I bookmarked the page.

I have a pit bull mix who can not resist picking up a cane toad when she sees one. She got her first one when she was still a 25 pound puppy and the symptoms were foaming at the mouth and head shaking for almost an hour. We rinsed her mouth out at the time but it did not seem to make much difference. She picked up her most recent one about a month ago as a 60 pound 7 year old with pretty much the same symptoms. She drops the toad after a few seconds but that is all it takes. I take her out on a leash now at night just to try to avoid the cane toad issue. They only come out at night and when I see one in the yard I try to catch it in a bucket and throw it across the street in the bush. We also have a Yorkie and she has never shown any interest in them, other than running over to see what it is. So, from my experience, a medium or large size dog will survive an encounter with a cane toad. However, I have heard of small dogs not fairing so well...

I think your pit bull mix is a prime candidate for counseling sessions with a qualified canine psychologist who may be able to determine why she can't or won't figure out that she's going to feel very sick after picking up one a dem t'ing. 😀

Also the ubiquitous Cuban tree frogs should be mentioned. They are not as poisonous as the crappauds but they secrete an irritant which can be harmful to pets.

You are extremely lucky that your pup has survived so many encounters.
Not all dogs do, regardless of size.
A vet should be contacted immediately if your pet starts foaming at the mouth or seizing.
I thought my beautiful 125 lb. lab/retriever mix, Shadow, had eaten one of the toxic frogs when she went into convulsions at the age of 3.
Turns out, she had epilepsy. However, while I was freaking out thinking she'd eaten a toad (she had never displayed any prior symtoms and never in my wildest dreams would I have considered epilepsy as the cause) and before I could get her to the vet, he recommend getting milk or pepto-bismol into her system to help detoxify her. This was 6 years ago so may not have that right. Check with your vet first before attempting any sort of home treatment and immediately take your pet to your vet.

Unfortunately our dog gives us all too many clues every day on why she can't resist the lure of the cane toad. A good dog? Yes! Impulsive? Yes! Smart? Not so much.....

Unfortunately our dog gives us all too many clues every day on why she can't resist the lure of the cane toad. A good dog? Yes! Impulsive? Yes! Smart? Not so much.....

This is one of the funniest things I've ever read and I have a sneaking suspicion that your dog fits right in here:

http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/2010/11/dogs-dont-understand-basic-concepts.html

Are there Fire Ants on St. Croix? The ones that bite and swarm in giant hills. We have those in North Florida and my sons are allergic. It would be nice not to have to worry about it.

Its official-
moving on island in August- SOOO excited!