What was in your pool this morning?

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JoyfulNoise

JoyfulNoise

TFP Expert
Platinum Supporter
May 23, 2015
25,718
Tucson, AZ
Pool Size
16000
Surface
Plaster
Chlorine
Salt Water Generator
SWG Type
Pentair Intellichlor IC-60
57EA017F-E89D-4159-9DAD-69306903C9CB_zpsnj8pxftv.jpg


No, don't freak out, this is not a live extra from the movie "Jurassic World" :p Kreepy Krauly is about 3-1/2 ft below the surface. This "little" guy is a member of the longhorn family of beetles known around these parts as a Palo Verde Root Borer. Their bodies are approximately 3" long from head to rear and their antennae add about another inch onto their length. They are harmless to humans.

So far this season beetles (of all variety) have been a predominant feature of my skimmer collections. I don't know if any other Tucsonans are experiencing a beetle surge this season but this is the fifth one of these I've removed and I skim a few dozen of the smaller varieties (mostly dead) off the water surface every day.

Gotta love the desert wild life....


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northrn said:
:shock:

My list of places to live is quickly dwindling after reading these forums.
Click to expand...

Well, when you live in a place that never a gets a long winter freeze to kill stuff, some "interesting" wildlife develops...I should have kept the picture of the giant millipede I found at the bottom of the pool last year :eek:


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I had a HUGE one of those in my skimmer this week. It looks like there is a dead one today at the bottom of the 8ft deep end. Had a live one yesterday too that we fished out with the net. They are indeed unsightly. I guess better than the rodents we've had in the past.
 
I occasionally find scorpions on the bottom of mine. When I bring them up, they are still alive. I found a bird, a chipmunk, and a number of toads. I move the toads to the pond. Recently I've been relocating a frog. Doesn't seem to be getting the hint, though.
 
northrn said:
:shock:

My list of places to live is quickly dwindling after reading these forums.
Click to expand...
Ah, but Tucson is a place where you can hear a child ask: "Mother, what's a mosquito?" and the water in my pool was 80 degrees in May. Snow is that white stuff we can see up on the mountains, in the distance.

Yes, we have javelina and other strange creatures and it's hot, but you never have to shovel heat off the driveway to get to work in the morning. To each his own.
 
Last year I had a scorpion in my Leaf bag I connect to the automatic pool cleaner.
I saw him in the bag crawling around before I hooked up the vacuum.
I left the cleaner to run (with the scorpion in the bag) for 4 hours..... HOLY COW the lowlife critter survived 4 hours under water in the flow with chlorine. These are Dinosaurs able to survive anything...
The worst thing I had this year was a swarm of flying ants. I wish I had taken a picture because they truly covered 75% of my pool surface. I netted them out and fed them to the chickens. They made a pile 9"X12" by 10" tall. Most were still alive...
 
chiefwej said:
Ah, but Tucson is a place where you can hear a child ask: "Mother, what's a mosquito?" and the water in my pool was 80 degrees in May. Snow is that white stuff we can see up on the mountains, in the distance.

Yes, we have javelina and other strange creatures and it's hot, but you never have to shovel heat off the driveway to get to work in the morning. To each his own.
Click to expand...

THIS! All of this! It speaks to me! Now if I can just get past all the critters....

- - - Updated - - -

HOLY MOTHER OF BABY JESUS!!!!!

:shock: :shock: :shock:

DO NOT Google "giant millipede."

:pale:
 
northrn said:
THIS! All of this! It speaks to me! Now if I can just get past all the critters....

- - - Updated - - -

HOLY MOTHER OF BABY JESUS!!!!!

:shock: :shock: :shock:

DO NOT Google "giant millipede."

:pale:
Click to expand...

That made me laugh. Thank you.

Nothing "interesting" in the pool this morning. All the little buggies must have been tired of swimming last night ;)


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northrn said:
Dear Joyful,

I would love to be your neighbor. But I fear I would die. So sorry.

Best regards,

North

:pale:
Click to expand...

There's a beautiful house for sale in our neighborhood with plenty of backyard space to design and build a fabulous in ground pool. You'd love the climate and the scenery in Tucson is to die for (Tucson is in a valley surrounded by four different mountain ranges). Out on the east side where I live, the nights are dark and the sky is beautiful. The mountains glow with fiery reds, oranges and purples during the setting sun. Mt. Lemmon (9,400 ft) is only an hour drive to the peak and is, what we call around here, a sky-island. The mountain tops have high-alpine climates with beautiful conifer forests and all the snow you want in the winter time.

In all the time I have lived here, I have had exactly one scorpion in the house and it was brought in on a box that was left outside the front door for too long. A monthly pest control service (or do-it-yourself if you prefer) is more than enough to keep any home here free and clear if any pests. Other than that, my biggest pest right now are eliminating the ground squirrels that are tearing up my front yard. I've killed 9 in the last three weeks.

I could go on and on about how wonderful Tucson and the Sonoran Desert is.....


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That's it....go fishing. Set the hook and start reeling her in....then you put pictures like that up. We can't be friends for at least 5 minutes. :rant: (Tucson sounds simply stunning, J!)

JV, now THAT'S my kind of wildlife!
 
Bigger spiders, but I haven't got a single mosquito bite in the ten years I've lived in Tucson. Like JoyfulNoise said, no worry about any critters in the house. In ten years the only thing that got in was one very small lizard. I cought the little guy and put him outside. If you live in the open desert area you have to deal with snakes, scorpions and other critters, but in a subdivision or other developed area, not so much.

I've lived in Michigan, Illinois, and Massachusetts. I'll take heat over snow anytime. Using my pool from May until Thanksgiving is just a bonus.
 
northrn said:
That's it....go fishing. Set the hook and start reeling her in....then you put pictures like that up. We can't be friends for at least 5 minutes. :rant: (Tucson sounds simply stunning, J!)

JV, now THAT'S my kind of wildlife!
Click to expand...

Hahahaha....I missed your reply. Don't worry, like most things I find in my skimmer, he did not survive.

Come visit Tucson anytime and I'm sure you'll enjoy it. We'll be sure to shoo all the critters away so you won't have to worry about them ;)

FYI, I grew up in NY, went to school in Boston and then spent 10 years as a New York City dweller. I had my fill of freezing cold and high population density. Living in Tucson suits me just fine.


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My husband came home from work just this evening and said we were moving to Arizona..... It has rained here all summer and huge storms the last couple of days. Well I guess you can say it's only rained twice. The first time lasted for 45 days and this second time it's lasted 36 days. :crazy: He's worried we are going to wash away :drown:

He said it jokingly :rolleyes: I didn't take it that way:lol:. I've already started looking on zillow for houses. :laughblue:
 

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