I talked about some of my visitors in a previous post, but after last night I decided a longer discussion (with pictures) was in order.
Not only have I had a plethora of creepy crawly visitors, but seeing as my house is somewhat centrally located it looks like I may end up with quite a few PCVs (peace corps volunteers) visiting. In the past week I’ve had four PCVs stay over. I really don’t mind, but I’ve decided that I need to make the situation more livable for me and my guests. Having to work around people sleeping on my floor will probably get annoying very soon. So to inhibit any developing frustrations I’ve decided to charge 1,000 cfa per night. This way I can save up and purchase another lit pico (cot) for my living room. Everyone wins: my guests get a bed, I get a couch and people are off the floor. The hotels in the area range from 5,000 – 10,000 cfa, making mon chez moi a great deal. Additionally I have no idea what to expect in terms of an electric bill so it might help defray that cost.
Now for more entertaining visitors (see pictures below). With the exception of the scorpion, all were observed in one evening. The scorpion was my first live scorpion ever! Another volunteer, Christina, had spent the night and in the morning we found it trapped in the silver basin. What luck! At least we didn’t have to catch it and thank goodness Christina was there to help me kill it. I don’t think I’m afraid of scorpions, but they look too much like spiders for my taste! They squish readily though, so I don’t think I’ll have any trouble killing them in the future. My courtyard is covered in rocks, making excellent hiding places for scorpions and the like. A future home improvement task will be to remove all the rocks. Anyone want to come visit? :)
I had something much better than a scorpion fly into my house last night: a praying mantis! The praying mantis has to be the coolest insect on the planet! It was so calm and relaxed and it almost seemed as though he was watching me (benignly). It swayed back and forth slowly, kind of like chameleons, and I found the movement to be very relaxing. It also cleaned its face/eyeballs in a manner reminiscent of a cat cleaning its whiskers. This guy was so cool I considered changing my blog title to “Fainting Praying Mantis”, except I don’t think they’re that fragile. One other thing I observed: praying mantis are fantastic small insect killers. It set up shop beneath my outdoor light and started munching away.
As for all the other insects, there’s too many to get grossed out. I’ve started thinking of them as snowflakes since each one is unique and intricate. The beetles are really colorful and there are some bugs I can’t even classify.
Not only have I had a plethora of creepy crawly visitors, but seeing as my house is somewhat centrally located it looks like I may end up with quite a few PCVs (peace corps volunteers) visiting. In the past week I’ve had four PCVs stay over. I really don’t mind, but I’ve decided that I need to make the situation more livable for me and my guests. Having to work around people sleeping on my floor will probably get annoying very soon. So to inhibit any developing frustrations I’ve decided to charge 1,000 cfa per night. This way I can save up and purchase another lit pico (cot) for my living room. Everyone wins: my guests get a bed, I get a couch and people are off the floor. The hotels in the area range from 5,000 – 10,000 cfa, making mon chez moi a great deal. Additionally I have no idea what to expect in terms of an electric bill so it might help defray that cost.
Now for more entertaining visitors (see pictures below). With the exception of the scorpion, all were observed in one evening. The scorpion was my first live scorpion ever! Another volunteer, Christina, had spent the night and in the morning we found it trapped in the silver basin. What luck! At least we didn’t have to catch it and thank goodness Christina was there to help me kill it. I don’t think I’m afraid of scorpions, but they look too much like spiders for my taste! They squish readily though, so I don’t think I’ll have any trouble killing them in the future. My courtyard is covered in rocks, making excellent hiding places for scorpions and the like. A future home improvement task will be to remove all the rocks. Anyone want to come visit? :)
I had something much better than a scorpion fly into my house last night: a praying mantis! The praying mantis has to be the coolest insect on the planet! It was so calm and relaxed and it almost seemed as though he was watching me (benignly). It swayed back and forth slowly, kind of like chameleons, and I found the movement to be very relaxing. It also cleaned its face/eyeballs in a manner reminiscent of a cat cleaning its whiskers. This guy was so cool I considered changing my blog title to “Fainting Praying Mantis”, except I don’t think they’re that fragile. One other thing I observed: praying mantis are fantastic small insect killers. It set up shop beneath my outdoor light and started munching away.
As for all the other insects, there’s too many to get grossed out. I’ve started thinking of them as snowflakes since each one is unique and intricate. The beetles are really colorful and there are some bugs I can’t even classify.
.
my first scorpion
toad
red beetle thinking about dying...
... because he fell over a few minutes later. Weird!
black beetle
copper beetle
one of about a million crickets 
my super creepy latrine spider - we have an arrangement now: I open my latrine door, he scurries away and I pretend he doesn't exist (except he forgot to scurry away and let me take a picture!)
much bigger than a grasshoper - locust?
pretty moth
boring moth
moth/dragonfly hybrid? 
best insect ever!
washing eyeballs
wish I could climb like this...
eating tiny insects
2 comments:
Hello, I like this blog.
Sorry not write more, but my English is not good.
A hug from Portugal
I have to agree that that the praying mantis has got to be one of the coolest insects EVER! Good idea to charge fellow peace corps for room and board not only to help you out but also them when they visit. Will write soon. Miss you chemistry goddess!! :)
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