Bug News

Texas swats the No. 2 spot on list of states most friendly to bugs

Why must you exist, mosquito, why why.

Here's a survey with some shocking news: Texas is at the top of the list of pest-friendly states.

Thanks to its bug-friendly combination of climate, population, and environment, Texas is the No. 3 state most hospitable to pests, putting out the welcome mat specifically to roaches, mosquitoes, and rats.

The Lone Star State comes in behind Florida and California, which took the No. 1 spot.

The survey, which was conducted by, surprise surprise, a pest company called Excel Pest Services, ranked the 50 states based on data such as restaurant waste, number of landfills, and how many fruit farms each state has.

It factored in Yearly Average Temperature, number of landfills per state, percentage of households owning a pet, and number of pest control companies.

Drumroll, please for the states most likely to host pests overall:

California
Florida
Texas
Washington
Kentucky
North Carolina
Virginia
New Jersey
Tennessee
Illinois

The survey breaks down the rankings pest by pest, and Texas scores highly in three out of four:

Texas is No. 2 on the list of states most friendly to mosquitoes (California is No. 1), thanks to its mosquito-friendly climate and access to water.
Texas is the No. 2 state most likely to be home to rats, determined by its excess of landfills, high restaurant waste access, and lots of Google searches for "how to remove rats".
Texas is the No. 2 second best state for cockroaches. They love our climate, with the average temperature giving them optimum survival conditions.

The survey doesn't include other vile critters like stink bugs and fire ants, but we don't need a survey to know that Texas rules on those fronts, as well.

There is a tidbit of good news at the end: Texas doesn't even make the list of states most likely to have ticks.

pets

Turkey Day news

Dallas eats up top-5 rank on list of best cities for Thanksgiving

Photo courtesy of Razzoo's

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Dallas is sitting at the head of the table as one of the best places in the country to celebrate Thanksgiving this year, a new study has revealed.

Dallas ranked No. 5 out of 100 of the largest U.S. cities in WalletHub's annual "Best Places to Go for Thanksgiving" report, published November 12. The city made a huge leap over its 2023 ranking as No. 17, and remains the highest-ranking Texas city.

The study analyzed each city based on 18 metrics to determine the best places for Thanksgiving, such as the number of pumpkin patches per capita, the average cost of a Thanksgiving dinner, the number of volunteer opportunities, the average weather forecast, and more. The metrics were then organized into five overall categories to determine the rankings.

The category that Dallas ranked the highest in was the number of celebrations and traditions (No. 2), and the average weather forecast during the holiday period (No. 9), while the lowest-ranked category was for safety and accessibility (No. 82). Other categories that determined Dallas' overall ranking were affordability (No. 60), and a "giving thanks" rank (No. 26).

Dallas restaurants are getting prepared for their big Turkey Day feasts, and CultureMap has rounded up a thorough list of all of the local restaurants hosting holiday feasts, from brunch to dinner.

"The best cities for celebrating Thanksgiving all have an abundance of high-quality restaurants and places to buy festive decorations, and their residents get very excited for the holiday based on their Google search history," said WalletHub analyst Chip Lupo.

By Thanksgiving on November 28, Dallas will be fully decked for the December holidays. Dallasites who will have extended family in town during Thanksgiving weekend can take in of all the marvelous Christmas lights brightening the city. Dallas-Fort Worth goes all out for the most wonderful time of year.

Across North Texas, three Dallas-area cities also made big improvements from their 2023 rankings. Irving moved up 10 spots to claim No. 19 this year, and Garland jumped up 21 spots on the list as No. 34. Arlington made the biggest improvement in the region, moving from No. 78 last year to No. 55 this year.

Meanwhile, Plano and Fort Worth slipped in the rankings, falling into No. 44 and No. 45 in 2024, respectively. Plano previously ranked No. 38 in 2023, and Fort Worth was No. 36.

San Diego, California (No. 1) topped the overall list of best places to go for Thanksgiving this year, followed by its Golden State neighbors San Francisco (No. 3) and San Jose (No. 4). Atlanta, Georgia (No. 2) rounds out the top five.

dallas fort worth thanksgiving wallethub rankings