Critters in the villa - our experience - was it normal?

alw1977 · Post by **alw1977** » Mon Oct 13, 2008 1:06 pm

I live in the Southern US, so I am accustomed to all manner and type of creepy-crawly things. On our trip to St. John last week, our villa seemed to have quite a few bugs around. I'm not sure if this is typical given the time of year and the fact that the island has had much rain over the past month. We had all of the following: palmetto bugs, scorpions, millipedes, mosquitos (duh), spiders, and numerous unnamed little bugs. I'm wondering if this is fairly normal or if it's worth mentioning to the rental agency?

BeachMan · Post by **BeachMan** » Mon Oct 13, 2008 1:30 pm

We had the same experience in our villa last week when we were there. It was def. worse then when we were in St. John in Oct. 2003 but we weren't sure if it was the villa, location or weather???

SarahD · Post by **SarahD** » Mon Oct 13, 2008 1:32 pm

We didn't have anything....or rather I didn't notice anything... but mosquitos in our villa last week. Oh, and a dead lizard in the closet. Guess there wasn't enough food for it in the house?

We have stayed in villas where the small ants were a problem, but other than a spider or two we haven't seen anything else (knock wood!). I would let the rental agency know. It may not usually be that buggy in the house and maybe they need to have an exterminator come by for a visit.

jdw · Post by **jdw** » Mon Oct 13, 2008 1:37 pm

alw1977 wrote:I live in the Southern US, so I am accustomed to all manner and type of creepy-crawly things. On our trip to St. John last week, our villa seemed to have quite a few bugs around. I'm not sure if this is typical given the time of year and the fact that the island has had much rain over the past month. We had all of the following: palmetto bugs, scorpions, millipedes, mosquitos (duh), spiders, and numerous unnamed little bugs. I'm wondering if this is fairly normal or if it's worth mentioning to the rental agency?

But what about donkeys????

alw1977 · Post by **alw1977** » Mon Oct 13, 2008 1:44 pm

Ah, the donkeys. Patience, my friend. The trip report soon come.

piscesgirl0314 · Post by **piscesgirl0314** » Mon Oct 13, 2008 1:52 pm

Scorpions????????????????? Good greif...We've had some ants in the kitchen and of course mosquitos. There was a baby lizard that kept showing up in our shower...our daughter was thrilled...but never a scorpion...thats a little creepy....

Knolmom · Post by **Knolmom** » Mon Oct 13, 2008 1:53 pm

Over the years we have noticed, particularly during our fall visits in October and early November, that extensive rainfall, change in temperature and proximity to either new construction or the National Park brings out( actually in) more critters than we see during the winter or even May. We love the north shore villas in Catherineberg, but rarely have our villas not included a scorpion or tarantula hiding somewhere. We have also learned that new construction or even excavation nearby puts us on the lookout for rodents both outside and in. This we really dont care for so we tend to avoid any areas where there is NEW construction, meaning recent excavation, for more reasons than the noise.
The mosquitos--well the higher and the breezier, the fever problems we have experienced.
During both of our our trips last year, in August above Rendevous Bay and in November in Skytop at Fish Bay, we had a hard time finding a mosquito to bite us, even sitting outside at sunset.

PA Girl · Post by **PA Girl** » Mon Oct 13, 2008 2:15 pm

We had a scorpion in 2006. My mom took care of it without too much fuss. Normally she would have totally freaked out but she said she battled them all the time when we lived in TX.

We were overrun with little ants our first villa trip. My friend wasn't as careful as maybe she should have been with some crumbs on the kitchen counter and the ants swarmed in.

We shared our shower all week with a nice size lizard in 2007.

liamsaunt · Post by **liamsaunt** » Mon Oct 13, 2008 3:15 pm

We usually find bugs in the house, but haven't been overrun, except for the first house we rented. That place was a bug magnet! Last trip I found two scorpions--one in each of the houses we rented. The second house had baby tarantulas outside.

I've never seen rodents in the house. One place had a rat that would come and try and get into the grill every night around 8 PM, but that's it for rat sightings.

piscesgirl0314 · Post by **piscesgirl0314** » Mon Oct 13, 2008 3:53 pm

Baby trantula's...where was this villa...I will make sure I stay away...I would freak out if I saw that...seriously...we stayed at Grandview in 2003, stayed at Villa Sea Cay June 07 and reserved it again for 10 days in June 09. I haven't seen anything but some ants and lizards...I'd like to keep it that way...

lazylane · Post by **lazylane** » Mon Oct 13, 2008 4:01 pm

We have had bats, spiders & lizards! Don't think it's too uncommon to find a few critters!

pipanale · Post by **pipanale** » Mon Oct 13, 2008 4:12 pm

Pfff...get back to me when the termites attack.

(Shudders at the thought of what the friends went through)

MLS · Post by **MLS** » Mon Oct 13, 2008 6:57 pm

I have found that where you are on STJ has an enormous effect on insects. There are certain spots on the south side that are subject to almost constant wind. Villa reviews may show complaints about the wind. Those villas, assuming they have reasonable roach treatments, can be absolutely bug free.

I stayed many times in Fort Miles, now called Avalon, and can remember one good size spider, a fruit spider I think-and I don't consider that a bad insect. Some reviewers hate the house for its wind tunnel effect-that is actually how the site was chosen.

Many villas on Maria Bluff, Contant, Monte, Klein, Cocolobo, and Fish bay have similar exposures. They are also more likely to be damaged in hurricanes. Houses in the dry eastern side will be relatively bug free the more desert like the surroundings.

Anything low near a beach, say less than 80 ft, can also be buggy. Worst house I ever stayed in for insects was were Sussman is building at the mouth of Great Cruz Bay-low, wind sheltered. Yet the house just above on Maria Bluff are much windier, ie. less buggy.

If you love Catherineburg, get used to the bugs. You're on the sheltered side, above the "rain forest," such as it is on STJ.

Pickle · Post by **Pickle** » Mon Oct 13, 2008 7:50 pm

We have stayed in the areas of Klein Bay, Point Rendezvous, Hart Bay, Maria Bluff, and Upper Carolina and have never had a bad bug experience (it's probably not just about the locations, but also how well villas are exterminated, I believe). Sure, there were mosquitoes, ants, roaches, and spiders here and there but nothing bad at all. We normally stay higher up rather than right on or near the beach, though.

The villa we saw absolutely NO bugs inside except "two" mosquitoes (which I killed) was Sea Stone. We usually expect some critters in a villa on St. John but not seeing any was pretty amazing. Of course, Sea Stone has other creatures outside (iguanas) but they are harmless.

We will be staying in Catherineberg next year and are wondering if we'll encounter more critters inside the villa - I assume we will, right, MLS? Personally, I don't freak out when I see spiders or even scorpions, but I really don't care for roaches and have quite a phobia for grasshoppers (no kidding).

verjoy · Post by **verjoy** » Mon Oct 13, 2008 8:58 pm

My grandson (12 yrs old)came upon a scorpion while taking a shower in the guest house when we were on STJ in June. He called the main house to ask what he should do-his grandpa told him to "give it some soap".

Our son went down and killed it. The villa rep called and we told her about it. She offered to send exterminator immediately but we were leaving in 2 days so we told her to wait until we vacated. That was our only inside "visitor". Outside we had a lot of geckos, a few biting ants, and very rarely a mosquito.

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