The Wild & Dangerous Side

Danger lurks despite the paradise-like setting of Dogwood Ranch. The “Big Three Dangers” wild and dangerous forces on Dogwood Ranch are: 1) Africanized honey bees; 2) fire ants; and, 3) poison ivy. If you have encountered any one of the Big Three, you know that prevention truly is the best medicine!

In addition to the Big Three Dangers, Dogwood Ranch hosts other dangerous or annoying plants and critters such as copperhead snakes, scorpions, biting flies, thistle and chiggers. On occasion during warm weather, we will find a copperhead (Agkistrodon spp) in a woodpile or hiding curled-up under a board or log. Just this month, I (carelessly and knowing better) stooped down and with my bare hand and picked up a board used as a ramp for the truck to drive over. Lying underneath was a foot-long copperhead snake. I flicked over the rest of the boards with my foot or used another board to upturn them to see what was underneath before stooping down to pick it up. The poisonous snake has bitten no one at Dogwood Ranch. We used to kill the copperheads but now just use a shovel and toss them out of the way. For more information about copperheads, photos, their habitat and harm their bites can cause see http://www.copperhead-snake.com/.   The photo I’ve used here is from this site.

Cooperhead Snake

The same is true with the tiny scorpions; no one at the ranch has suffered a sting. These black striped scorpions (Centruroides vittatus) are between an inch and two inches long from head to tip of the tail. We see them in the barn and find them under logs, boards and around the fire ring. For more information about the Texas black striped scorpion, visit the Texas Agricultural Extension Service at Texas A&M University http://insects.tamu.edu/extension/bulletins/l-1678.html  and AgriLife Extension at http://insects.tamu.edu/fieldguide/cimg364.html. 

Black Striped Scorpion

Due to the presence of these poisonous critters, we keep a first aid kit handy and have the telephone number to the Trinity Hospital in Brenham nearby.

Biting flies made a first obnoxious appearance this spring. We believe they were some breed of deer fly. They buzzed around our face, bit our foreheads and ears which would then itch for days. Although they only swarmed for about two weeks, they were annoying enough to even drive us away from Dogwood Ranch a while.

Chiggers, not dangerous to my knowledge, are an extremely annoying pest. Chiggers (Trombicula (Eutrombicula) alfreddugesi (Oudemans) and T. splendens Ewing) are microscopic mites that hangout on the tips of tall grass and in brush and trees. When you pass by, they jump on to hitch a ride, while biting you to feed on your blood. Unfortunately, you will not know that you’ve gotten chiggers until a day or two later when the itchy red bumps pop-up. By then, there is not much you can do other than tolerate the itch. Chiggers’ preferred feeding ground on humans are places where clothes fit tightly around the waistline, elastic legs and waists of undergarments and under socks, or where the flesh is thin, tender or wrinkled like around the ankles, armpits, back of the knees, in front of the elbow and groin area.

After we acquired Dogwood, it was several weeks before we were able to get a mower and cut down the tall grass in the “civilized” area of the property. Many itchy chigger infestations later, we gave Dogwood a nickname – Chiggerville! Even now, 7 years later, we refer to areas of the property with tall grass and weeds in summer as Chiggerville. To avoid chiggers, we found these methods work best: 1) bug spray with DEET; 2) wear loose fitting clothes with long sleeves and pants if you must go into Chiggerville; and, the best advice, 3) don’t go into Chiggerville from spring to fall. For more official information about chiggers and how to avoid them to the Texas AgriLife Extension site run by Texas A&M http://insects.tamu.edu/fieldguide/chiggers.html.

Although some of these critters are poisonous and a bite or sting can have serious health consequences to a human if prompt and proper medical care is not sought, we must remember that Dogwood Ranch is, partially anyway, a Texas native wild environment. These creatures are part of Dogwood Ranch as much as the dogwood trees, the barred owls and the red-shouldered hawks. If shown the proper respect by us and our guests we can co-exist with the copperhead, black striped scorpions and biting flies and put up with chiggers.

Conversely, with fire ants, Africanized honeybees and poison ivy, peaceful co-existence gave way to a declaration of all out war. My next few posts will consist of briefings from the trenches about our battles with these wild and dangerous forces.