The Wildlife

 

The first thing I noticed after moving in was the unusual (to me) wildlife. In my yard I have seen foxes, egrets or herons, sand hill cranes (3 or 4 feet tall), hundreds of geckos, squirrels, fire ants, and everyone tells me there are armadillos, which I haven't seen yet. I had something dig 2 holes under my home so I had to block them with bricks and dirt. My neighbor told me he caught 2 armadillos in a trap that week, so I'm thinking they may have been the culprits since I haven't had that problem again - yet. A neighbor across the street who's property is at the edge of a pond, has an alligator that comes into his yard occassionally. I hope it doesn't decide to cross the road!  (Geckos above, Sand Hill Cranes below.)

Worse of all are the oh no! cockroaches. The cockroaches are 2 or 3 inches long and you have to keep up with spraying to keep them at bay. At first, I called Orkin to come and exterminate them. They came every 2 months and sprayed inside and out for $72. They did an excellent job. They were polite and friendly. The price was just too high for me. I asked my neighbor how they controlled the cockroaches and she told me they use Ortho Home Defense Max. She said to spray every 2 or 3 months. I've been following her advice and now it costs me just $10 for almost a year of spraying and I rarely see a cockroach at all. Two or three times I've seen dead ones. The only good cockroach is a dead cockroach! Ugh!