even if frogs are not bugs....no comment
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Showing posts with label bugs. Show all posts
Showing posts with label bugs. Show all posts
centipede
[edit 17 Nov.] Finally found the 2 of them together. This makes the distinguishing process easier:) So the arthropod on the left is a centipede (poisonous and dangerous), the one on the right is a millipede (just annoying but apparently not dangerous). Until someone corrects me.Not that jogging is boring for me or needs to be enriched by other activities, but yesterday as I jogged I decided to count the centipedes I find on my way. We see them so frequently in and around the house that I was curious to figure out if it was our house alone that was a favourite hang out for these deadly worms, or were they uniformly invading the larger terrain. Not sure how many of the ones which were actually on my way I spotted, but I usually find all the coins others walk by, so my eye sight is rather good:) Counted 37 centipedes and jogged for 35 minutes, out of which about 8 minutes was along the beach where they either don't enter - I at least fully believe that and lay on the sand carefree - or I have never seen any there. This gives roughly 37 centipedes in 27 minutes, that's 1.3 centipedes per minute. Is that scary? or is it just me being difficult? According to Wikipedia "Centipede densities have been recorded as high as 600/m2" so I guess I live in a safe environment...
Wikipedia also shows many pictues of centipedes but none quite like the ones we always see, although we were told to watch out by having the precise bug pointed to us. So I am pretty confident what we see are centipedes, but as soon I spot one today I'm posting a picture of it and waiting for the readers to verify whether the red worms are in deed the poisonous ones. I have a hesitation whether waht we're seeing are not millipedes but I'm a city dweller from the north and have very little experience with any bugs other than ants, so for the sake of safety all red worms we see cause a red alert and immediate killing with no direct touching taking place.
Wikipedia also shows many pictues of centipedes but none quite like the ones we always see, although we were told to watch out by having the precise bug pointed to us. So I am pretty confident what we see are centipedes, but as soon I spot one today I'm posting a picture of it and waiting for the readers to verify whether the red worms are in deed the poisonous ones. I have a hesitation whether waht we're seeing are not millipedes but I'm a city dweller from the north and have very little experience with any bugs other than ants, so for the sake of safety all red worms we see cause a red alert and immediate killing with no direct touching taking place.
ziplock bags, cake covers, etc
Since we have moved into our new home, we have discovered that there is plenty of products we can't live without, or new habits we need to strictly observe. Our home was not well kept by previous tenants and when we arrived it was a tropical zoo, lizards, cockroaches, an every now and then mouse, grasshoppers, and all sorts of insects I have not seen before, suddenly were part of our household. We soon discovered that cleanliness is only partly a method of keeping our home just to ourselves. Closed windows help as well. Nevertheless, we are below the tropic of cancer so certain living beings are inevitable. But we have implemented a few rules which help reduce the occurrence of our little friends;)
Since insects and roaches easily enter cupboards and drawers, at first we would wash everything (plates, cutlery, cups) right before using it, even if it was just washed recently and put in place. Soon we realised this habit is cumbersome and difficult to follow a l w a y s . But we do keep our utensils in zip lock bags, a few cups and plates for daily use are stored in a plastic cake cover and basic pots and pans ended up in a large see through click close storage box.
Other habits we had to take on involve never leaving any sort of food out in the open, including unbegun fruit - I personally really dislike eating straight out of the fridge - so fruit I foresee to eat in the next day or 2 are kept in a clay bowl with a lid. Dishes with any food remains (even if it's just bread crumbs) should never be left in the sink. And although I have never liked a full sink, now it's not about aesthetics, now it's a bit of paranoia that any minute food might invite little hungry insects.
The most difficult habit to follow is the closed windows:( we have AC, but a part from it being unhealthy, apparently electricity is very expensive here on the island. Plus it seems so illogical to sit in a closed room, when we live in the Caribbean on a hill with plenty of nice cool wind. In fact, when the windows are open, as they're are on opposite ends of the living room, we can get the house perfectly breezed through with no effort, never feeling the above 30 degree weather outdoors. The minus is, this is how all the little living beings enter. We plan to find out if there's a provider of net doors on the island. As it seems the most logical solution, yet it's a solution I have only seen applied in 1 of the many houses we visited during the house hunt.
But I still like the turquoise views...Since insects and roaches easily enter cupboards and drawers, at first we would wash everything (plates, cutlery, cups) right before using it, even if it was just washed recently and put in place. Soon we realised this habit is cumbersome and difficult to follow a l w a y s . But we do keep our utensils in zip lock bags, a few cups and plates for daily use are stored in a plastic cake cover and basic pots and pans ended up in a large see through click close storage box.
Other habits we had to take on involve never leaving any sort of food out in the open, including unbegun fruit - I personally really dislike eating straight out of the fridge - so fruit I foresee to eat in the next day or 2 are kept in a clay bowl with a lid. Dishes with any food remains (even if it's just bread crumbs) should never be left in the sink. And although I have never liked a full sink, now it's not about aesthetics, now it's a bit of paranoia that any minute food might invite little hungry insects.
The most difficult habit to follow is the closed windows:( we have AC, but a part from it being unhealthy, apparently electricity is very expensive here on the island. Plus it seems so illogical to sit in a closed room, when we live in the Caribbean on a hill with plenty of nice cool wind. In fact, when the windows are open, as they're are on opposite ends of the living room, we can get the house perfectly breezed through with no effort, never feeling the above 30 degree weather outdoors. The minus is, this is how all the little living beings enter. We plan to find out if there's a provider of net doors on the island. As it seems the most logical solution, yet it's a solution I have only seen applied in 1 of the many houses we visited during the house hunt.
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