Carolina tales: Enjoy the season, but guard against the hazards
When we say, “The bugs are back,” we aren’t talking about the Charlotte Hornets who had such a great season. Spring reminds us the Carolinas are home to bees and wasps, snakes and mammal-type varmints.
However, there is no need to live in such fear that we fail to enjoy our wonderful weather. We just need to learn to identify threats and take simple precautions.
This year, most of the concern seems to center around copperhead snakes. Several residents writing to the Nextdoor Neighbor publication in River Hills Plantation indicate they have been alarmed by the presence of many of these reptiles.
Actually the copperhead is often mistaken because of its similar appearance to other snakes, but you probably don’t want to get close enough to see the pitted head that signifies a poisonous one. A few years ago a neighbor was walking past my house. She started yelling for me to come do something about a snake in the street in front of her. Only when I noticed that it was dead did I also notice it lacked the pits along its head that would indicate a poisonous reptile.
If you had to choose among venomous snakes, you likely would choose the copperhead. A few years ago a youth minister at a local church was bitten while on a hike, but recovered in due time. Experts say this snake has a painful bite, and it even may cause scarring and loss of use, but its bite is not normally fatal.
N.C. State University experts say, “For the most part, if you let snakes alone, they’ll leave you alone.” Experts do say you should seek immediate treatment for bites. Hikers and others using the outdoors should be alert and avoid copperheads, because they tend to strike out when threatened.
Fortunately, the more venomous reptiles, the rattlesnakes, are mostly confined to the high mountains of far Western North Carolina. When I was a teenager, I used to climb Double Top Mountain in Macon County with my widowed grandmother and my uncles as we took cows to high pastures. She had a faithful dog, Rusty, who accompanied us and warned us when he heard the rattle of a snake. The cottonmouth is primarily found in the waterways of the eastern counties of the Carolinas.
About those bees: The worst offender is the yellow jacket, which actually is a type of wasp rather than a bee. If a colony is disturbed, members of the nest will attack with vengeance. I was mowing my lawn one summer when I disturbed a yellow jacket nest. I ran first, called for help and then took Benedryl and iced the rapidly swelling arm.
Yellow jacket nests may be controlled with a pyrethrum aerosol. Protection is provided by long-sleeve shirts and long pants when mowing grass and weeds.
Another pesky resident of the Lake Wylie area is the carpenter bee, perhaps because of the presence of many wood-sided homes. These bees are often mistaken for bumble bees, but rarely sting. What the bee does is to burrow long tunnels in wood. Control is obtained by using a wood filler to close the tunnels. Painting wood siding discourages burrowing.
Always annoying, mosquitoes are particularly worrisome this year because of the Zika virus, which causes deformities in unborn babies. It is not yet known how widespread the virus is in the mosquitoes that prevail in the Carolinas. The usual precautions include draining standing water and spraying ponds to prevent hatching of larvae.
Should those cute little animals that have recently proliferated in Lake Wylie even be mentioned? Yes, the deer are cute as they nibble away on shrubs and vegetables, but they are discouraging to homeowners and gardeners. Control suggestions are to “plant what deer don’t like,” to put out repellants, such as rotten eggs and garlic (if you can tolerate them), or to keep dogs or a noisemaker. High fences will work, but you might not like one high enough to deter deer.
Oh, yes, don’t forget to protect against the beautiful rays of the Carolina sun. Long after my teenage sunburns I have to see my dermatologist regularly for repairs to my skin. Now, may I suggest, after taking all of these precautions, go out and enjoy yourselves.
Ken Sanford has lived in River Hills for 14 years. He may not look like an outdoorsman, but over the years he has climbed several of the higher NC peaks, rafted the Nantahala, went swimming in the Pigeon and Little Tennessee Rivers and camped on the Outer Banks, swatting mosquitoes all the way.
This story was originally published May 16, 2016 at 11:58 AM with the headline "Carolina tales: Enjoy the season, but guard against the hazards."