is it true?

[triciari]

OMG I would rather see 6 rats than 1 roach. I'm only ever going in Jan maybe there are no bugs that time of year. Certainly this past Jan was too cold for roaches, RIGHT

I am so with you on this!!! Rats are gross, but cockroaches are gross and nearly indetectible!!

 

[bumbershoot]

All Star Music?? We checked on that spider every trip to our room - it was huge! My son has a pic, I'll have to look for it.

Oh please don't post it please don't post it please don't post it....

I was about to be all "don't be afraid of rats or mice, there's no reason" blah blah blah, and then came the post you replied to and THEN came your post and "threat" (that's how I take it not how you meant it) of a picture...so I decided not to post anything about how rats and mice aren't scary, b/c many others don't have the same paralysis when it comes to things with 8 legs.

I, on the other hand, have a phobia of them.....so much so that I've considered hypnosys therapy/counseling/you name it, but I live in a small area that doesn't off these services! It truly would ruin my trip if I saw one because I'd have a panic attack and then start thinking about where they were EVERY WHERE we went!!!!!

I do hope you can get some help for that level of fear. I am petrified of and by things with 8 legs (I can't even *type* the words for them) but if I actually encounter one I can generally dispatch it if needed (and if it's in my house, it's needed). There's actually one in our condo's parking garage that I'm able to deal with...it's just sitting there catching bugs, away from where I need to be, and doesn't really move much, so it's like a science observation (and tremendous progress from how I used to be)

Anyway, I get all cold and scared and don't move easily when I encounter them...but if I had panic attacks, I hope I'd be able to find some help.

 

[Bouncin-Tigger]

While sitting on a bench between splash mountain and tom sawyers island around 830pm saw 3 rats peeking out and finally making their move to run across the walk way which caused an older woman almost go into cardiac arrest. A passing CM told us with the amount of people and dropped food and garbage there are numerous kinds of critters in around the parks. Dont like rats but when standing at a bus stop at saratoga springs and my 2 yr old daughter says why is that belt moving and shows you a 6 foot long black snake that is scary.

 

[cmcinc]

I have never seen one in all the time I/we have been, but I am sure they are there.

 

[Ladybugsy]

I've never seen one at Disney and if I do, well...it may kill some of the magic for me.

Dear Mickey,
Please keep all your less than cuddly relatives AWAY from my Utopia.

 

[Ladybugsy]

OMG I would rather see 6 rats than 1 roach. I'm only ever going in Jan maybe there are no bugs that time of year. Certainly this past Jan was too cold for roaches, RIGHT

As a Floridian since birth, and someone who hates them too, you will be lucky NOT to see one. But there are differences between common roaches and Palmetto bugs. Palmetto bugs are the ones that are as long as your finger and sometimes FLY!!!! There is no way to keep them out. Roaches are the little ones, the ones that find a home and stay and breed. There the ones you "almost" see, the FLASH that happens when you turn on the light...ick...gives me the heebie jeebies just thinking about it. A palmetto bug, I can understand, but if I see roaches, I am OUT OF THERE!

 

[DisGirl23]

All Star Music?? We checked on that spider every trip to our room - it was huge! My son has a pic, I'll have to look for it.

Rats at WDW? YES. Rats are (almost) everywhere, and certainly everywhere in the 48 states; it's just a fact of life.

YES!!! I looked at your dates... we were 9/25 - 10/2. So, you remember that one I was talking about? The one by the pool? I almost went paralyzed the first time I saw it. I would seriously get goosebumps every time we would walk past it! Still creeps me out just thinking about it!

 

[kimgg]

These rat posts remind me of Charlotte's Web and Templeton the rat's adventures at the fair eating candy, lol!

I too have a phobia of roaches. When I see one I involuntarily scream. I have also had to jump out of my car (after pulling over of course) when one came in to my car when driving through a field.

The funniest thing I ever saw was a talk show (maury or Jerry Springer, can't remember) about phobias, and there were people afraid of all kinds of things - cotton balls, santa, spiders, etc.. It was SO funny as I could totally identify with the way they were cringing just at the thought of the things they were afraid of. Then they brought out whatever it was they were each afraid of and the people ran of stage screaming and they chased them with the stuff! I am totally the same way w/ roaches. I HATE those things! And I live in south TX where they are, and grew up around them, and still can't stand the very thought of them. And wouldn't you know it, on my honeymoon, there was one in the bathtub in our honeymoon suite hotel room the night of our wedding (huge pricey room - they said it was where Tiger Woods had just stayed, lol, this was many years ago). Anyway, that kind of ruined that night!

Please don't let us see any in our room at Disney!

 

[thumperjr9]

You're both very lucky to not have a fear of them!!!! I WISH I could tolerate them enough to have one as a pet!!!! So does my DD! She LOVES them! LOL I, on the other hand, have a phobia of them.....so much so that I've considered hypnosys therapy/counseling/you name it, but I live in a small area that doesn't off these services! It truly would ruin my trip if I saw one because I'd have a panic attack and then start thinking about where they were EVERY WHERE we went!!!!!

I will do on this trip how I do when we go four-wheeling where there's snakes -- promise myselft NOT to LOOK for any rodents/snakes and pray to God that I don't see any by accident!!!!!!!!

I wasn't sure about them for pets at first...it's something about the tails and the thought of them scurrying around your feet that I think bother most people. I quickly got over that when I realize how sweet and intelligent they are (of course I doubt the wild ones are very sweet).

I'm sorry you have such a phobia, that's not fun I'm guessing that Epcots 3D HISTA is not your favorite attraction

 

[PictureJumpr]

The very fact that no one reads these:

...is a lot of why there are such aggressive squirrels and not-afraid-of-humans critters at WDW.

I live in Texas, where there are huge flying roaches (we don't call 'em palmettos, they're just 'tree roaches' ) and an abundance of things like snakes, armadillos, gators, raccoons (those are the nastiest ones, to me), you name it. None of them really scares me or freaks me out, but my mom on the other hand has a coronary over some critter all the time.

I've seen all kinds of things at WDW - rats and snakes, rabbits and squirrels, gators - but never been terribly inconvenienced by one. We do repeatedly remind children traveling with us to stay out of the flowerbeds and bushes, though.

 

[DizzDoll]

I have a friend who, many years ago, got a hotdog down near FOTLK, and before she even got the mustard on it a seagull came swooping down and grabbed the hotdog right out of her hand!!! Seagulls are not scary (unless they drop the "load" on your head) but that was a funny story to visualize!!!

 

[brandylouwho]

WHY did I read this post?????? I know rats/mice are everywhere and we just don't see them a great deal of the time, but I'm truly terrified of mice/rats!!!!! Not the kind of girly scared that makes you scream when you see something that gives you the willies either!!!!! I'd have a full-on panic attack if I saw one with my own eyes!!!!!!!!!! It would seriously ruin my trip if I saw one myself!!!!!!!!! Oh, how I wish I hadn't read this entire post!!!! LOL Espeically since we're staying at CBR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm going to be praying for MAJOR pixie dust on our trip in October to not see any that are around me!!!!!!

That is how I feel, only about snakes. Now I can't go to AK or AKL without being on the lookout for snakes. For some reason I don't worry about them as much at other locations. Maybe ti is due to the vegetaion. But I have this vision of sitting in a hot tub at AKL and having a snake slither up next to me.

 

[MeanestMomEver]

I saw one several years ago in a store at DHS. Not sure if it was a rat or a big mouse, LOL. It was roughly the size of a baseball. The manager had it trapped under a plastic container in the middle of the store and they were waiting for someone from animal control or horticulture (I think that's what she said) to come take it away.

My daughter, then about 12, asked if she could take a photo of it. The manager said, "Oh, please don't."

She didn't.

 

[Mickey1Fan]

I have had a seagull swoop down and steal a french fry out of my dish in Toronto. It was so fast we didn't know what to do.

On another note, I am entirely blaming everyone who has posted and read this thread. I live in a condominium building in Toronto and when I was leaving for work this morning there was a large dead rat in our parking garage! Of course as soon as I arrived at work I called to report it to our property manager.

Horrible, just horrible. Our building is adjacent to train tracks and I know there are mice and garter snakes, there are also houses being built on the other side of the tracks. It was all grassy area so I guess the rats are forced to find a new place to live or die as it were.

 

[Planogirl]

I have a friend who, many years ago, got a hotdog down near FOTLK, and before she even got the mustard on it a seagull came swooping down and grabbed the hotdog right out of her hand!!! Seagulls are not scary (unless they drop the "load" on your head) but that was a funny story to visualize!!!

I had a bird swoop down and pop me on the top of the head in Epcot one time. I knew that my hair was dry but apparently it looked like straw to one nest builder.

 

[mommy2paisley]

I wasn't sure about them for pets at first...it's something about the tails and the thought of them scurrying around your feet that I think bother most people. I quickly got over that when I realize how sweet and intelligent they are (of course I doubt the wild ones are very sweet).

I'm sorry you have such a phobia, that's not fun I'm guessing that Epcots 3D HISTA is not your favorite attraction

We only went to Akershus last year at Epcot. So, please tell me, what is 3D HISTA????? Apparently I need to be sure and stay away?! LOL

That is how I feel, only about snakes. Now I can't go to AK or AKL without being on the lookout for snakes. For some reason I don't worry about them as much at other locations. Maybe ti is due to the vegetaion. But I have this vision of sitting in a hot tub at AKL and having a snake slither up next to me.

What's bad, I'm the same way with snakes as I am mice, too!!!! I felt the same way you do last year while at AK!!!!! I couldn't figure out why I felt that way, but I was really jumpy every time someone got close to me! LOL I have this thing with zoos anyway because when I was a young child, the zoo keeper at the Evansville zoo had a HUGE snake out, wrapped around his neck, for people to touch/get pics with. I was stuck at the end of one of the exhibits with him at the other end! It has made me weary of zoos ever since! I'm constantly looking for that elusive zoo keeper with the snake out....even at other zoos!!!!! I think that's probably why, with all the animals at AK, I just KNOW there's going to be snakes there, too!!!!!

 

[tiki23]

YES!!! I looked at your dates... we were 9/25 - 10/2. So, you remember that one I was talking about? The one by the pool? I almost went paralyzed the first time I saw it. I would seriously get goosebumps every time we would walk past it! Still creeps me out just thinking about it!

Yep! That's the one. One morning the web was gone and we thought the spider would move on or someone had killed it but by the time we got back from the parks that day, the whole web was back up!

Oh please don't post it please don't post it please don't post it....

I was about to be all "don't be afraid of rats or mice, there's no reason" blah blah blah, and then came the post you replied to and THEN came your post and "threat" (that's how I take it not how you meant it) of a picture...so I decided not to post anything about how rats and mice aren't scary, b/c many others don't have the same paralysis when it comes to things with 8 legs.

 

[Doc CW]

Never seen one in WDW, but at home I saw a frozen dead one on the pathway I USED to take to walk to school I cant even go near that area anymore it was about as big as a cat. I did see a big possum (sp?) running on the savannah at KV on our last stay.

My brother a couple years ago was chasd by a Crane bird while the bird was going for his food. I also getting off the boat had a crane bird snap at me a couple times jsut for walking to close to it I guess, but I was as far away from it as the path would allow me.

Personally I hate rats and anything that can chew through steel and swim up my toilet for days without dying, but other than that I'm fine with critters.

 

[eeyorethegreat]

I see rats everyday. We have 2 fancy rats as pets. They make much better pets than hampsters.
Although I will agree those really huge ones, just smaller than a cat, can give you a scare when they come jumping out of the bushes.
Actually, rats are very clean animals. They groom themselves all the time, simular to cats. Now where wild rats eat, it is very dirty. Rats are suppose to only eat plants and seeds but who can resist discarded french fries, half eaten ice cream, and thrown away candy. Can't blame them. Blame all the people who waste food and can't pick up after themselves.

We have rats too! Actually only one now as one is "waiting on the Rainbow Bridge" for us. we named the Remy and Emile! I agree rats make great pets, they are very intelligent! We adopted ours from the Humane Society and one can find a reputable rescue near them by doing a google.

You are right on about wild rats. They are oportunistic and really can any one expect them to turn down a free meal?

 

[tiki23]

We have rats too! Actually only one now as one is "waiting on the Rainbow Bridge" for us.

Awww... our "Stuart" is waiting there, too.