Tucson Newcomers Guide

Those Pesky Varmints!

How to Peacefully Coexist with Critters that Call the Desert Southwest Home

by Lauray Yule
illustrations by Harry Briggs

Crossing the threshold into the Sonoran Desert can be an extreme experience. Tucson and its environs have more wildlife habitat than most metropolitan areas: Animals—from tiny bugs to large mammals—thrive here, and coexisting with them can run from awe-inspiring to downright scary. Here are a few creepy-crawlies and varmints you may encounter in a personal showdown. And always keep in mind, use common sense, and watch where you step and reach.

BARK SCORPIONS

These straw-colored beasties grow to about two inches long and have crablike claws, a flat belly, and a segmented tail with a stinger. Outdoors they live in woodpiles, plant debris, or cracks in masonry. Indoors they like sinks, cabinets, or floor drains. New homes can attract scorpions—fresh concrete and plaster create a tempting, moist environment for them.

Scorpions sting humans in defense. All scorpions will hide in clothing, shoes, gloves, or bedding, so it's a good idea to shake out these items before use. Although reactions to the venom vary, a bark scorpion sting is never pleasant. If you get stung, call your doctor or Arizona Poison Control (626-6016) for advice.

SPIDERS

(black widow, Arizona brown spider, tarantula)

Black widows tend to choose garages, electrical power boxes, areas around outdoor faucets, woodpiles, lawn furniture, or dark closets for homes. Ms. Widow is black and sports a red hourglass on her big belly. She creates a messy, crackly web. Males are brown, much smaller, and not poisonous. The female spider's venom causes increased heart rate, elevated blood pressure, cramps, vomiting, and other unpleasantness. Call a doctor or Arizona Poison Control if you are bitten. The best deterrent for a black widow is a flyswatter. On spring evenings, with a flyswatter and flashlight in hand, check near outdoor faucets and potted plants. Also consider cutting back vegetation crowding a house or building to minimize spider encounters.

Arizona brown spiders have a 3/8-inch bulbous body with long, spindly legs. They live in the same places as black widows and hide where scorpions do. Bites often occur when a spider is “squeezed” in clothing as it's put on: A blister forms, turning into a bull's-eye ulcer that takes weeks to heal. If you think you've been bitten, seek medical attention. Precautions? Generally the same as for black widows.

Desert tarantulas live alone in burrows. Full-grown specimens can have a six-inch leg span stretching out from a buff to dark brown hairy, bulbous body. Males are skinnier. The only time you'll see them—mostly males—is during summer when they seek mates. Tarantula venom causes a bee-stinglike reaction. The best precaution against a bite is simply leaving the spider alone.

SUBTERRANEAN TERMITES

Subterranean termites, sometimes called white ants (though not related to ants) invade buildings, devouring wood and cellulose on a round-the-clock schedule. Signs of termites may appear in stored paper or wooden objects or along garage expansion joints, where termite mud tubes rise from the foundation. Fine sawdust piles falling from a ceiling or cabinet are also clues.

The best precaution? Hire a pest control company for annual termite inspections, and if needed, sign up for a control program.

PACK RATS

(a.k.a. wood rats)

These critters will move into your carport, laundry room, or even a parked car left unattended for a couple of weeks, shredding wiring as they build their midden. They'll devour your landscape cactus and other plants. To prevent pack rat trouble, eliminate middens within 100 yards of a building.

WESTERN DIAMONDBACK RATTLESNAKES

The Western diamondback is the most common rattlesnake around Tucson. Adult diamondbacks can reach five feet long, with color variations from brown to gray. Rhomboid “diamondback” patterns camouflage their backs, and white-on-black rings precede the tail rattle.

If you're out hiking or playing golf, watch where you step and reach. Carports, garages, woodpiles, pool decks—even large potted plants—make great diamondback homes. If you encounter one, give the snake a wide berth and don't try to move it. Call your local fire department for removal if the snake poses a threat. Rattlesnake bites need immediate medical attention. Call 911 for help, or transport the victim to the nearest medical facility.

GROUND SQUIRRELS

Three ground squirrels thrive in the Tucson area: Harris' antelope ground squirrels (a chipmunk look-alike), round-tailed ground squirrels (which resemble baby prairie dogs), and rock squirrels (often mistaken for tree-dwelling gray squirrels).

Of the three, Harris' antelope ground squirrels are the least bothersome, creating few problems. Round-tailed ground squirrels can cause aesthetic damage by eating landscape plants, burrowing, and building mounds. Plugging den entrances and raking down mounds may help to discourage them. Rock squirrels live in rocky areas and use a trilling whistle to mark territories. Trouble arises when they burrow under foundations and tear up landscaping. They'll even gnaw pool covers and lawn furniture. Don't feed any of these critters, as they will bite if they feel threatened. And though diseases such as the hanta virus, plague, and rabies are rare among them, the risk does exist.

GIANT DESERT CENTIPEDES

A giant desert centipede has a flat, orange-yellow body with a dark brown to black head and tail. An adult can reach eight inches long. Centipedes inflict a painful pinch—usually when stepped on. Treat it like a wasp sting.

Don't confuse centipedes with millipedes, a harmless multilegged desert crawly. These reddish brown to black wormlike insects can be six inches long. They curl up and emit a smelly liquid if threatened.

JAVELINA

No, they're not pigs—they're collared peccaries, also known as javelina. These 40- to 50-pound bristly critters generally travel in herds from five or six up to as many as 30. Living in a world of smell and sound (they have poor eyesight), a peccary herd uses a group scent to stick together. It's a nasty perfume you'll smell long before you see the javelina.

Collared peccaries become a nuisance when they eat your landscaping or tear out irrigation systems to create wallows. They often tip trash cans to rummage through the contents. To stay peccary-free, don't feed them. Javelinas have sharp, twoinch-long canine teeth, and will bite or charge if frightened. Also, use garbage containers with tightfitting lids. Build a fence or construct walls around the areas you want protected: A sturdy 31/ 2-foot structure discourages peccaries. Baby javelina don't make good pets. As cute as the bunny-sized piglets are, they grow to be as large as Labrador retrievers—without the friendly disposition.

COYOTES

Coyotes live in many areas across the continent, and you'll likely hear their yips, yaps, screams, and howls at night here in the Southwest. Local coyotes weigh between 20 and 30 pounds and resemble a lanky German shepherd or huskytype dog. Pelts vary from gray to reddish-brown, with white highlights. Clannish omnivores, coyotes hunt between dusk and dawn. Coyotes eat almost anything, including garbage. An urbanized coyote sometimes decides that your pet's food—or your pet—will make a fine meal. To keep coyotes at bay never feed them, keep garbage in secure containers, and don't leave pet food or pets outdoors at night.

MOUNTAIN LIONS

Usually weighing in at more than 100 pounds, mountain lions—tawny-tan and handsome—take the cake for our largest feline predators, and have been known to wander into residential areas from their mountain haunts.

Although usually shy, a starving, thirsty lion becomes dangerous. If you see one and feel the animal is a threat, contact the Arizona Game & Fish Department (628-5376).

BOBCATS

Desert bobcats (wildcats) have reddish-brown coats, which are spotted and striped for camouflage. Measuring more than 20 inches tall, they're sometimes mistaken for a big domestic tabby. The short bobtail—white underneath with a black tip—gives the wildcat away.

Wildcats are common in Tucson's suburban areas. If a bobcat visits your yard, simply leave it alone. Each cat roams a territory of between 5 and 50 miles, so it usually won't hang around for long. If you feel the cat poses a threat to you and yours, contact the Arizona Game & Fish Department (628-5376).

WOODPECKERS

Northern flickers and ladderbacked and Gila woodpeckers drill into wood siding and trim, stucco, and cement block. They're responsible for the holes you see in saguaros, where they nest.

Both Gila and ladder-backed woodpeckers are “zebra-backed,” banded black and white. Northern flickers have a barred cinnamonbrown back and a red crescent running from beak to both cheeks. These birds, besides drilling, thrum on resonating metal cooling and heating units and ducts on rooftop to mark territories. Most destruction and metalbanging occurs in the spring, when adults seek mates and raise babies.

How to solve woodpecker problems? Hanging a windsock within a bird's project area unnerves it. Suspending half-inch chicken-wire or plastic sheeting over a favored spot, or treating wood or stucco with a bad-tasting product such as Ropel, while less attractive, are also effective measures. In the end patience may be your best defense.

Tucson freelance writer Lauray Yule has been a natural history writer, editor, and columnist for more than 30 years.

THERE'S A BOBCAT IN MY BACKYARD!
Has a pack rat found its way into the vent of your clothes dryer and decided to call it home? The Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum's book, There's a Bobcat in My Backyard: Living with and Enjoying Urban Wildlife, provides readers with helpful tips on effectively coexisting with urban wildlife. Written by naturalist Jonathan Hanson and printed by the University of Arizona Press, this book educates readers on the natural habits of wildlife and how to behave during encounters with desert critters. He also provides tips on how to turn your backyard into a miniature wildlife refuge in order to reach a happy medium while residing in the desert.

There's a Bobcat in My Backyard: Living with and Enjoying Urban Wildlife, by Jonathan Hanson, published by the University of Arizona Press. Available at local bookstores or online at www.uapress.arizona.edu. $16.95