Insects and Bites On PEI
 

Hi All

Just a quick 1! I have recent seen a lot of threads on the bugs and spiders (not that it worries me but the wife is starting to wonder). Can anyone tell me how things are in regards to gnats & midgies in the Prince Edward Island?

We are looking to move and setup B&B and have been looking at property near lakes. Which I'm sure will have gnats and midgies around it but wondered if anyone could tell us if it is any worse than other country's.

Anyone else have B&B on the Island? let us know how business is going and if you have problems with English softies moaning about midgies. :D

Re: Insects and Bites On PEI
 

Well if you are planning to come in live in Canada anywhere, PEI no excluded! You may as well face up to the fact that there are bugs here, WE have mosquitos black flies..bees wasps...all kinds of biting insects. You just prepare for them and put of repelant...If you like Prince Edward Island then don't worry about the bugs...Canadians are used to them. As for having a bed and breakfast there, well PEI gets alot of visitors ao I suppose it would do very well,depending upon the area where you go to. Maybe you could come up with some unique idea for yours and gain a reputation like that.
Just a thought!

Re: Insects and Bites On PEI
 

My wife and I have a home that is a licensed (NB Tourism/Canada Select) B&B in NB.

Tourism is DEAD before June and after September in Atlantic Canada.
If one is in a city, one can gain custom from reps` etc through the winter.
My wife and I go out to work aswell.

The BUGS -

1) The No-see-ums - tiny almost microscopic flys that are around in warm dry air mainly just before dusk - their bite is similar to a nettle sting and lasts an hour.

2) The Black Flys - a standard size - they dart around and love to get in ya hair and bite, bite, bite! A boil then grows on ya head, you feel inclined to want to pick it, as it itches like `ell for a couple of DAYS!

3) The Mossies - 3 times the size of the ones found in Southern Europe.
They are drawn to mammals by the exhaling of Carbon-Dioxide.
It`s only the females that bite (that`s irony for ya!), they are aggressive and will home in on ya from yards away.
Some people have no reaction to their bite - others - it can be a nightmare - their bite does not reveal itself for a day - then lasts a couple of days.
They appear on humid hot/warm days - they disappear if it is a dry hot/warm day and then re-appear at dusk.
They stay on the ground in the shade on grass if it gets to dry and hot in the air for them.
They breed on still water - you will see TV commercials in the Summer months - stating that one should prevent still (non-running) water forming outside in ya yard!
A film of an oily substance on still water in the Spring, will stop them getting up for the Summer, before they mature and fly-off, they have to erect a breathing tube from below the surface to finally develop, if they can`t erect this tube - they die!
One can purchase for the yard - Propane Gas powered free standing units - that emit Carbon-Dioxide - to draw the little darlings into a one way trap (removable basket).
Mossies remain in the same general area - so the theory goes that if you run these devices in your yard for three summers or so, one destroys the population (females) in your general area, thus reducing the discomfort of the experience over the following years!

Hope I have not put you off - But, as I always say - Tell it like it is! :D

Re: Insects and Bites On PEI
 

Thanks for that not that of putting about the bugs for me (but the wife is not so happy). We have a large garden here in the UK and if we sit out there early evening then normally we would each get 1 0r 2 bites is this the same sort of ratio for when you sit out the garden? or is it more like some of the horror stories you hear that you cant go out after dusk :scared:

More worrying for me is the fact that B&B will only be good for 3-4 months!! We have also thought about maybe a similar business in Nova Scotia near one of the ski resorts. Do people take winter holidays at these resorts or is it mainly for locals?

Thanks for the information so far


teeoffchris

Re: Insects and Bites On PEI
 

I can only think of 2 ski resorts in NS - Martock and Wentworth. Neither are particularly large (resorts or ski hills). I haven't been to either for a few years but don't think they would be places people would go for, say, a week-long vacation. You might get people staying there overnight, but as you say it would mainly be locals. The largest ski resort in Atlantic Canada is Marble Mountain, NL. If you are really interested in pursuing the ski resort idea you may want to look at it.

Regarding the bugs, something to keep in mind is that some more inland areas of Atlantic Canada are particularly bad for black flies and the like. PEI, with its strong ocean winds, is less likely to have as many black flies as inland NB. You will still get a fair number of mosquitos, though.

Re: Insects and Bites On PEI
 

What about deer and horse flies, do you not get them down there?

Re: Insects and Bites On PEI
 

I don't think so, but couldn't say for sure. The most I could say is I don't recall ever hearing about them or considering them a problem. Maybe steve of 5-0 would know more?

Re: Insects and Bites On PEI
 

Well we get them in Nova Scotia mainly in wooded areas, same as black flies, I doubt you will see them in cities, well maybe the odd one! I assume yu would get all the same bugs in PEI as in NS and NB...

Re: Insects and Bites On PEI
 

We own 15 acres with our home - the house stands in an area of two acres cleared - the other 13 we have never been into - the bugs in there are buggers. Our woods are dense Douglas Fir and Cedar.

Re: Insects and Bites On PEI
 

:eek: :eek: We've just bought some treed land in NS so I guess we better get prepared to be eaten! We thought being on the oceanfront it might be breezier and so less biters?

Re: Insects and Bites On PEI
 

You will always have an ocean breeze to blow the buggers away!

Re: Insects and Bites On PEI
 

The good news for you is that the nearer you are to the sea the less black fly you will get.Apparently they do not like the salty air and prefer to stay inland.I think we'll be walking the dogs on the beach in the summer.

Re: Insects and Bites On PEI
 

I think it is the winds they don't like...since they are so small they get blown away. When we get a nice breeze off the lake they don't bother us but as soon as there is no breeze.......yikes! One nice theing is they aren't around all summer...they usually last about 6 weeks and then you may get the odd one or two late June. But the deer flys..........they are very annoying! Invest in a bug jacket!

Re: Insects and Bites On PEI
 

Hi!
i dont know about PEI, but i can tell you that ontario (mississauga, to be precise) is absolutely alive with mice!
i remember one day i decided to put some trash in a black bag outside, to make it easier to take it out to the front of the house in the morning.
well, lo and behold!! that was a fatal mistake, as when i went to pick the bag up in't morning, about 10 000 mice decided to jump out of it! me being a sadistic old sod, i managed to kill 4 or 5 with an old broom, but the rest just disappeared.
and then one day, while i was watching tv, i saw a mouse casually walking along the skirting, not a least bit afraid that we were there! we nicknamed him "Elvis", as he had a kind of a sway to his walk! needless to say, we set up a few mousetraps that night, and in the morning, we had Elvis trapped!
but seriously-i think the mice are in mississauga due to that big hill near Britannia/Creditview, which used to be a refuse tip, until they covered it up and made it into a golf course!! but just imagine whats still going on underneath it....yuck!

Re: Insects and Bites On PEI
 

In the garden of the house in Mississauga we have mice, rabbits, foxes, raccoons and squirrels. Every day the cat brings something home. Here, in Toronto, we have all of the above + rats and skunks, which may be why every house has a dog and one, or more, cats.