Japonica

Yup, learned that in our last rental. Being squeamish and new to Aus, we had the garden of the rental house sprayed. It killed off everything, and then the next summer, we had twice to three times as many redbacks (our black widows) as ever before. We should have just left it alone.

Our current house seems to have well defined territories. The redbacks prefer the fence on the west side of the house, the regular black house and garden spiders prefer the east fence and the north one. Weird.

Canadian bugs...mozzies for sure and we used to get those pillbugs/sowbugs all around our house...their favorite place was under the stones by the fence and they'd always be coming into the basement on a regular basis and we'd find them all dried out and dead a few days later. Other than that, nothing. Mmm...maybe tent caterpillars. Yuck.

Seriously, in terms of insects, Canada has got it good. It's a whole new level of creepy crawliness here.

G77

Black Widows can also be found in the extreme SW part of Ontario that we are in, a friend has seen them in their garden.

Snakes are also very common around here, just today I saw one in the back garden of the house we are having built. It didn't seem bothered by me at all, I could have easily picked it up if I had wanted (Garter Snake I think). Have probably seen 40+ snakes in various places in the 3 years we have been here.

honeybunny2011

oh god, snakes???? I had no idea.

Japonica

Years (and years) ago, hubby and I went to Writing-on-Stone provincial park in southern Alberta.

In the parking lot and at odd intervals throughout the trails were these huge signs, "WARNING: RATTLESNAKES!" Hubby wanted to stay in the car. I tried to cheer him up, "well, at least you get the rattle first."

Irony, then he moves to Perth and works out in countryside, surrounded by dugites and tiger snakes.

Dorothy

Black flies. When I lived in far northern Ontario the back of my neck would be caked with blood from them. For some reason they liked to get under my hair and bite the back of my neck.

When we lived north of Vancouver we used to get cougars in the village and skunks in our yard.

honeybunny2011

So getting the house sprayed is not a normal event then! yikes, I had no idea there was so many bugs and the like in canada. Those pictures are gross!!!

curleytops

Have to add my two cents' worth from NW Ontario:

Mosquitoes & blackflies - can be a real pain if the weather's particularly wet, the mozzies have brought up new concern in recent years as they can carry the West Nile virus.
"No-see-em's" - Not sure of the correct term for this little rascal but are called as such because they're so small you can barely see them & don't know they're there until you get bitten. They are more or less harmless as far as I know in the grand scheme of things but are more a nuisance than anything as they can pack quite a wallop and before you know it you've got a huge red bump around the site of the bite. The biggest problem is their size - small enough to get through the holes in fly screen.
Wood ticks - I think they've become an increasing problem over the years. They are a small round crab-like bug that bites and burrows into the skin feeding on blood, when they are satisfied (about 3 or 4 times original size) they will "fall off". Problem is they can carry disease and they are not to be merely "pulled off" the skin as they "leave parts behind" that can cause infection. I've heard numerous methods of removing them some of which are not advised ie burning them with a lit cigarette, covering their bodies with something like vaseline so that they can't breathe & have to withdraw etc. I've heard covering them in dish detergent is supposed to work best but have never had to try it. They are a problem for pets, especially those with long or dark hair & are attracted to the animal's ears, you really have to keep an eye on your pets in hot summer months though I've seen our dogs fall prey before the snow was gone early in the year. They're commonly found in long grass & wooded areas.
Army worms - OMG don't even get me started. They are these ugly looking caterpillars that run in cycles (every 6 or 7 years you'll get an infestation). They will move through an area & completely strip the trees bare, again found in wooded areas. In extreme cases I've seen them cause road hazards because they make the pavement slippery if they are moving across them.
In the category of larger livestock, skunks can be a problem because of the obvious horrible smell - usually someone's unfortunate cat or dog who runs afoul of them & has to pay the price of being ostracized temporarily til the odour's dealt with. Where I lived in a remote community we had bear problems, by the time I left there were certain times of year when I just wouldn't walk outside at night because the bears would come into the town in search of food. Not unusual to see them in the back garden in the middle of the day either in my neck of the woods.

Generally these are things you learn to live with & you learn how to avoid problems with these things just like anywhere else.

If moving to Canada's what you want to do don't let it deter you, you'll just learn to take it all in stride.

Louisecooke

the thing I hate most is June bugs, like flying cockroaches thankfully there aren't around for long. The mozzies and blackflies have been particularly unbearable this year too. We also have LOTS of bitey housefly type things, don't know what they are called. The hanging fly killer bags are great for those though

Monique_in_Canada

dunno wot these are but we get them around the house ocassionally.....they are fast and very scary!!!

G77

It's a house centipede, we get lots of them too, they can bite/sting you, so don't pick them up!

Monique_in_Canada

I have absolutely no intention...they freak me out, altho I can't bring myself to squishing em, they go crunch....cats like playing wiff em tho!!

honeybunny2011

What an eye opener eh! I remember my aunts back garden used to get some visits from bears at night. Thank you all for contributing what you have seen/experienced. This really does help me make a more informed decision and see if Canada really is the place for me. Funny I feel less scared of the thoughts of a bear in my garden than I do about a tiny bug that can bite.

Louisecooke

On a (sort of) related note, I see loads and loads of slugs, but I don't think I've ever seen a snail (on land) does Canada not have them?

Monique_in_Canada

i've seen snails here in southwest Ont....but not so many...so I guess cos of the current economic climate, the snails have had their houses foreclosed!!!

honeybunny2011

Happens to the best of them!

Here in nz we use a robocan which lets off a harmless spray every 30 mins and anything that comes in doesnt last long. Only harmfull spiders we have are whitetails, but I've only ever seen a few of them. Usually when i see daddylonglegs I know we dont have any whitetails.