A Terrifying Insect Encounter
I’ve had some interesting insect encounters recently. A couple of days ago, a barata (cockroach) flew in threw an open window and started running around our house. I found this pretty distressing as I have a deep-seated fear of cockroaches anyway – the realisation that they can fly in at any moment was not a happy one. Then, last night, a cigarra (cicada) flew in. Cicadas are those things you hear chirruping or buzzing in trees at night and, for your information, they are the size of a small bird. It went careering around the living room making a freaky clicking noise as it smashed into the floor, ceiling, walls, lights. It was exciting, but not in a good way (I am using that famous British trait of extreme understatement there).
I have no problem with these guys in the same way that I have no problem with say, helicopters. As long as they stay out of my house, they’re alright by me.
In most circumstances, when one of these beasts comes into our house, I invite my Brazilian wife to deal with them (I usually make this invitation whilst shrieking like a frightened child from the room furthest from our uninvited guest). The way I see it, they are native to her country and so she is naturally best-placed to deal with them. To me they are like terrifying aliens. If we ever move to England, I will be more than happy to return the favour and deal with any hedgehogs, badgers or harvestmice that wander in.
The wild animals of Britain. Terrifying aren’t they? Nonetheless, if necessary I will step up and bravely escort them from the premises.
But some insects are just part of everyday life here in Brazil. The insect that I meet most often (by far) in my day to day life is the ant. Tiny ants. They move incredibly quickly and seem to get everywhere. I can’t speak for everybody, but I gave up in the fight against these ants quite quickly. It isn’t a complete surrender, we are not overrun by them. But there are always a few scouting around some place in the kitchen or the living room and I simply don’t believe that it is possible to completely eradicate them and keep them out permanently.
As I’m sure you all know, ants are big fans of sugar. They love it! And if you don’t have some kind of sugar storage strategy, you will find that your ant situation gets out of control quicker than you can say “Urgh! Let’s just chuck it out and buy some more”. One tactic you commonly see is the sugar bowl in the middle of a tray filled with water. I tried this for a bit but it is kind of a hassle and one single ant somehow got in – to this day I don’t know whether he managed to swim across the water or just abseiled down from the ceiling. Nowadays I favour the glass jar with the lock-down rubber seal and that works well.
Ants eh? They get everywhere… (image: Dair Biroli)
But if you get careless and forget to close the container, even for a few minutes, the ants will get in there quicker than you can shout “Who left the lid off the sugar?!”. In fact ants and sugar are so difficult to keep apart that Brazilian grandmothers tell their grandchildren that a few ants in the sugar will improve the eyesight (good thinking Grandma!).
Personally I have reached a point where I am cool with the little ants. If I see a solid line of them moving with intent, I’m afraid they get sprayed. But the odd one here or there doesn’t really bother me anymore. Occasionally I see one run across the screen of my laptop, or down between the keys of the keyboard, but as far as I can tell they don’t do any harm. And I think fighting anything more than a containment strategy is just like pissing in the wind.
It’s also worth noting that ants can be quite helpful at times. Here you can see some ants I met in Colombia. After I was forced to assassinate a cockroach that had invaded my room (I used that ancient martial art, Havaiana technique), these little guys appeared from nowhere and very quickly took care of the cockroach cadaver. Thanks guys! I, for one, welcome our new insect overlords…
Now Tom the aussie in me wants to say ‘you big wuss – thats not an insect (crocodile dundee style!). But I won’t because to be fair insects in England get about as scary as the ladybird!
Heres one of my fav brazilian songs about an insect – Os Grilos… do you know it?
It should sooth your insect-traumatised day!
bjs,
Rebecca
Ha ha! Rebecca, I totally admit to being a wuss when it comes to bugs! I spent a little time in Australia (my Dad lives in Melbourne) and met some of your delightful creatures – the huntsman spider is just adorable isn’t it?! Even the cute ones look like they’d mess you up – have you seen the claws on the average koala?!
I have to say that the more I see of the world, the more I appreciate how calm and gentle England is! It’s like I grew up in The Shire and then decided to move Mordor! What was I thinking? ;)
OMG – I stumbled across this monstrosity also on Youtube under Os Grilos – Emma Bunton aka Baby Spice has done a ‘cover’…! eghhh..
Oh man! The first one (by Marcela) is just like you said – perfect for soothing the racing heart of someone who is trying to recover from the shock of a marauding cicada attack.
Bunton’s version makes me wish the Cicada would come back and get stuck in her hair!
Since I have moved to my new house, I see on a daily basis this horrendous thing:
http://www.milieucentraal.nl/themas/ongedierte-in-huis-bestrijden/zilver-en-papiervisjes
Do you know this ???
It is called “Paper fish” (papiervis in Dutch). They appear mostly in the stairs going to the attic and can be very quick, like a snake movement. Of course I also use the ancient “Havaiana technique” – I excell on that martial art. Some days none is found. Other evenings I find 3 or 4 or 5. I have read everything I could in every language I master. I try to understand their habits and preferences. I even dream about them in the evening. It seems they can survive up to 100 days without food. But the worst thing is: they are very common in house near to canals. And the back yard of my house ends in a canal. And even if you are successful in eliminating them, if your negihbors also have some, it will come back to you !!!
Give me some cockroaches instead !!
Oh no! I think we call these things Silverfish – yuck! I remember hearing that they like damp areas (this makes sense with your canal). We had them in the disgusting bathroom that I had to share with 8 other guys at university (I have still have nightmares thinking of it).
BUT, I think I would rather have these to cockroaches. As the saying goes: Better the bug (devil) you know… ;)
But my house is very well ventilated and the canal is far away. Yes, silverfish likes damp areas but paper fish not (or not that much). This explains why I have never seen one in the kitchen or bathroom. It seems that you can never get rid of them completely and they love books and papers. And I have a lot of books !! Cn somebody help me ??? Any chemicals advised ???
Oh goodness, I thought they were the same thing. I now see that paperfish are different (but still horrible). I read that you can put infect booked in a sealed bag and put that in the freezer for 3 days.
But if you have a lot, maybe it is time to call the pest control people? Jeez, this whole topic is making me feel a bit itchy!
my problem in london are those disgusting rats! urgh!!! they are everywhere!!
Rats in London? Funny, I remembering hearing that you are never more than 3 metres from a rat in London, but I don’t think I ever saw one! Plenty of mice of course, but never a rat.
I would, however, be perfectly willing to believe that I did see rats but subconsciously repressed the memory to protect my delicate sensibilities ;)
Tom,
Don’t feel bad about your fear of cockroaches and critters. I have it too! Only things that can hurt me are ratlesnakes(!!!!) and black widow spiders(!!!). Actually we have our fair share of dangerous critters here, including giant cockroaches.
In my grandmother’s house, there was a literaly 8 inch long cockroach that climbed out of the sink. She is used to them and drop kicked it. It was quite amusing/horrifying.
And the colombian room service is the stuff of nightmares. Sheesh! I’m glad SP is higher elevation, that must help with less bugs.
Abracos,
Alex
I meant to say “the only things that can hurt me here (meaning in my area).
Oh man, an 8 inch cockroach? Thanks for sharing man – I’ll be having nightmares about that thing. Horrified is definitely how I’d be feeling about that.
The Colombian room service was actually OK (I know it does look a bit creepy with the dodgy camera work). I was freaked out by having to kill (er, I mean assassinate) the cockroach and was feeling generally pretty negative about all insect life. Then those little guys came in and tidied up so I didn’t have to – restored my faith in our 6 legged friends!
Something tells me that, back in Elementary School, you did not audition well for the role of an animal in “The Wind in The Willows”.
No shame there, I myself was a tree ( and what a brilliant tree I was). Plus people that play parts like Badger and Mole grow up wierd, and prone to be affectionate towards creatures like Cicadas , or ” Oh Shush Bugs” as I like to call them. So don’t feel bad, despising insects is absolutely normal, because they really do suck.
Some insects are OK, but yeah, on the whole I’m not a big fan. I go with the whole “my enemy’s enemy is my friend” way of thinking. Geckos and spiders (small ones), birds and frogs are all in the ‘Welcome’ category as far as I’m concerned.
I, too, have come to a peace agreement with the ants. Weirdly, I’ve discovered that if I leave a tray of cake in the oven, they will be all over it… but if I leave it on top of the stove, it goes untouched! Is the top of the stove sacred ground? Or can they just not get up there? I’ll probably never know.
My husband thinks it’s hilarious that I love those little lizard/gecko things, but I hate cockroaches. “They’re both small and skittery!” – he attempts to argue. But the lizards are cute! And they eat mosquitoes! The cockroaches are ugly AND they make a nasty crunch sound when you kill them.
With you 100% there. The geckos are cute. Only issue is that we have to deny the presence (past or present) of any geckos in our house as one of my wife’s friends will not visit the house if she suspects these little reptilian monsters (her words) might make an appearance.
Just goes to show that everyone else’s irrational fears are ridiculous!
Shame on you tom.. with habañeros at home you still are terrified :P remember you asked what to do with those chillies.. Powde and spray on all your creatures you are terrified off :P
I know Vim, I am hanging my head in shame for being such a wimp.
Speaking of the chillis, I’m not sure if I mentioned this, but I tried putting a small amount in some caipirinhas recently and they were delicious! Only problem was that I got some on my fingers when I was chopping them and an hour or two later there was a very strong burning sensation! I found lime juice was a good soothing remedy :)