Hello SedonaAz,
Congratulations on selecting the most beautiful area of Arizona in
which to build your home! It is so gorgeous and seemingly peaceful.
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Insects
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It has been my experience that there are numerous insects in
Sedona, especially around the Red Rock and desert areas. In a
residential area, you will find fewer problems however. Scorpions,
ants, cicadas, and some snakes and tarantulas may invade your patio
and home regardless if it has a screened patio or not! Mosquitoes can
be a problem, more so in light of the recent floods in Sedona. The
mosquito problem will vary of course, depending on your proximity to
water. You will find an abundance of lizards, which I love seeing in
my yard, daily. They often make their way into my sunroom and even
kitchen. We scoop them up and take them back to the yard.
?Not much problem with fleas, ticks, or mosquitoes (the source of the
nasty heart worm), but some.?
http://www.sedona-realestate.com/xGRIMM-DogsAndCats.htm
?Sedona is a relatively unspoiled environment with an abundance of
specialized animals, birds, reptiles and insects. In addition to
native wildlife, the area features a zoo in nearby Prescott, the
Heritage Park Zoo. Visitors to the region can see some of the more
interesting native animals, such as the javelina and pronghorn, first
hand.?
http://www.sedonawebcam.com/sedona2.htm
?Tiger beetles in Arizona grow from 10 to 25 millimeters long. Most
are brown or green with stripes. Most are active during the day. Some
are large and black and active only at night. The best time of year to
see tiger beetles depends on where you look.
The insects are active from February to April in Sedona and along the
Mogollon Rim near Payson. In July, they can be found in the White
Mountains. In southern Arizona, tiger beetles are active at the start
of the summer monsoons.?
http://chainreaction.asu.edu/desert/digin/tigerbeetle.htm
Scorpions
http://www.arizonahighways.com/custom.cfm?name=c_nature.cfm&secid=32&id=129
Tarantulas
http://www.arizonahighways.com/custom.cfm?name=c_nature.cfm&secid=32&id=130
Scroll down to ?Golden Huntsman Spider?
?This spider was outside on a glass window in Sedona Arizona on 10/7/04.?
http://www.whatsthatbug.com/spiders3.html
This page links to ?Bugs of Sedona?
http://users.sedona.net/~wah/
http://users.sedona.net/~wah/insects.html
Moths of Sedona
http://users.sedona.net/~wah/moths.html
Scroll down to ?AZ Insects?.
http://thenaturalamerican.com/plants,_animals_and_insects.htm
Other Sedona + Insect sites
http://www.sedonaretreats.com/Sedona.html
Arizona Bugs
http://p206.ezboard.com/freptilesofarizonafrm1.showMessage?topicID=1303.topic
Kingdom of the Spiders
http://www.kensforce.com/Kingdom_of_the_Spiders_1977.html
Other critters of Arizona
http://gocalifornia.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?site=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.edu-source.com%2Fwildlife%2Fto_watch.html
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Patios/Porches
==============
I live just over an hour away from Sedona, and visit often. I have
seen few homes with screened patios, and the ones I saw were
overlooking the Oak Creek.
See some patios here:
http://casadeamore.com/
http://redrockrealty.net/vvview.html
http://www.sedonahideaway.us/
http://www.roamsweethomes.com/UpperLevel_I.html
Tlaquepaque is an open shopping center, modeled after an artist colony
in Guadalajara, Mexico. It?s a charming and lovely area. I have
visited it often, and do not recall any mosquitoes there.
http://www.tlaq.com/
http://www.rene-sedona.com/
Consider a sunroom/solarium! The builder can adapt the architecture to
blend with Sedona?s style, although Sedona may have a strict building
code.
We added a sunroom to the back of our home, built of all glass, except
for the heavily insulated roof. It has screens and windows, both of
which can be lifted out. With French doors, we can really open up to
the back yard when we want to. The glass is tinted to block out the
hot Arizona sun, and we have shades to roll down in the summer.
http://www.four-seasons-sunrooms.com/
http://www.four-seasons-sunrooms.com/Products/category.aspx?ShapeID=CA
http://www.conservatoriesonline.com/style.htm
http://www.conservatoriesonline.com/gallery.htm
http://www.lindal.com/sunrooms/index.cfm
http://www.sunporch.com/Content.aspx?pageid=Photo1
http://www.tanglewoodconservatories.com/conservatory/copper-clad.htm
Retractable Screens
http://www.dreamscreens.com/porch/porch.html
http://www.dreamscreens.com/portico/portico.html
http://www.retractablesolarscreens.com/PhotoGallery.html
http://www.retractablesolarscreens.com/SlidingScreens.html
http://www.retractablesolarscreens.com/RetractablePatioAwnings.html
http://www.sunsetter.com/screenroom.asp
These seem to be an ideal solution! Screens ON, Screens OFF!!
http://www.lasvegassolarscreens.com/gallery.html
http://www.lasvegassolarscreens.com/images/newimages/rollshadebig11.jpg
You could also try your first year with an uncovered patio, to see how
many bugs you have in your location. (Add an outdoor ceiling fan or
two, for comfort and to help keep away small flying insects.) This
will give you time to choose a screened in patio, sunroom, or leave
your patio au natural! You may find that dust is more prevalent than
insects! Note too that small creatures like lizards and scorpions like
to hide in patio furniture cushions!
One good thing about hosing down patio screens in Arizona is that they
will be dry is no time!
Hope this helps you remain ?unbugged?in Sedona , and that you enjoy
living in Arizona! Please request an Answer Clarification, before
rating, if any part of my answer is unclear.
Regards,
crabcakes
Search Terms
prevalence mosquitoes + sedona Arizona
flora fauna + sedona Arizona
insects Sedona Arizona
Sunrooms Arizona
Screened patios
Retractable screens |
Request for Answer Clarification by
sedonaaz-ga
on
18 Jan 2005 06:11 PST
Thanks for the information. I'm mostly concerned about the nuisance
insects that bother you while you are reading or eating. Do you know
if nats, mosquitos, etc. are only a problem for certain weeks of the
year, if so, how many weeks? Our lot is close to to Verde Valley
School, not by any water or creek. Thanks.
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Request for Answer Clarification by
sedonaaz-ga
on
18 Jan 2005 06:14 PST
As noted on the above answer, are the nats, mosquitos only a nuisance
for a few weeks out of the year?
In regards to the sunroom, where do you store the windows/screens when
you take them off? We would have nowhere to put them. Also, that
sounds expensive...do you have any idea the cost involved? It sounds
like a lot of trouble to take out the windows and screens and put them
back. Any thoughts?
Thanks.
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Clarification of Answer by
crabcakes-ga
on
18 Jan 2005 07:37 PST
Hello sedonaaz,
Thank you for the clarification. Now that I know better the location
where you will be living, I will further investigate Verde Valley
School area gnats and mosquitoes. Do you have an amount you would like
to spend on the patio? Are you looking for the most economical way to
enclose your patio? Sunrooms run anywhere from $14,000 to hundreds of
thousands of dollars, depending on the size, shape and elaborateness.
My sunroom is small, 12x12, but opening the French doors makes the
room seem much larger! Although the windows can be lifted out, we do
not do so, just sliding the windows open.
I'll respond later in the afternoon with my "Bug Report".
Regards,
crabcakes
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Request for Answer Clarification by
sedonaaz-ga
on
18 Jan 2005 09:25 PST
Thanks for the additional info. Our lot is passed Oak Creek Village
off 179. The area is called Highland Estates.
As we haven't the plans yet for the house, I'm not sure about the size
or cost for the sunroom/screened in porch. I would assume 12x12 would
be nice. I have been told that having windows opened is not like
being outside. I think I would prefer to have a large covered porch
without windows to get the feeling of the outside. I guess that was
the question whether to screen in an area if gnats or mosquitos were a
problem for many weeks in the year. If they are a problem for only 6
weeks out of the year, we probably could tolerate that! We love the
outside and think we would enjoy eating and sitting outside in this
beautiful area. Your information has been very helpful. Looking
forward to hearing your next finding! Thanks.
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Clarification of Answer by
crabcakes-ga
on
18 Jan 2005 11:50 PST
Hello SedonaAZ,
Here I am again, bugging you!
I have been unable to locate online, the exact information you want,
so I made two phone calls. I avoided calling business that may give me
a biased answer.
Call Number One went to the Sedona Chamber of Commerce, where two
employees told me you would not have a problem with gnats or
mosquitoes in the area of Verde Valley school. You may encounter both
gnats and mosquitoes should you hike near the river or forest however.
Sedona Chamber of Commerce
928-204-1123
http://www.visitsedona.com/index.php?action=article&id=82
The scond call went to the Sedona Medical Center, where a very
friendly woman told me that sitting on an unscreened patio, near the
Verde Valley School area, morning, noon or night will not present a
problem. Occasionally, she said, there will be SOME gnats and
mosquitoes, but she handles it with a citronella candle. What she said
MAY be a problem are flies, and not on the patio. She said flies
prefer the indoors, and do whatever they can to sneak in. Bring a
flyswatter!
Many people in Arizona hang feeders to attract hummingbirds, who do
eat gnats! There is a large variety of hummingbirds in the state of
Arizona, and they are fascinating to watch.
?For protein, hummingbirds eat spiders and strain gnats from mid-air.
They will pull insects out of spider webs including the spider
itself.?
http://www.trentwebdesign.com/public_html/cis224/
Relocating to Sedona
http://www.visitsedona.com/index.php?action=article&id=46&PHPSESSID=b8d25889dd172acd8746292baabc6acf
So, while you may have to swat an occasional bug, it seems you will
be relatively free of insect infestation. Besides, you will be too
busy enjoying the wonderful weather, hummingbirds, lizards, and
butterflies and the red rocks! Hang a hummingbird feeder or two, light
the citronella candle, and enjoy your open-air patio!
Regards,
crabcakes
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Request for Answer Clarification by
sedonaaz-ga
on
18 Jan 2005 17:59 PST
You are wonderful and have helped me tremendously!! Many, many thanks.
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Clarification of Answer by
crabcakes-ga
on
18 Jan 2005 18:14 PST
You're more than welcome!
Thank you for the stars and generous tip! You'll love living in
Sedona... I certainly love visiting the Red Rock country!
Sincerely, crabcakes
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