How Are The Bugs Where You Are?

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Do you have any big weird ones? Is there one that you are scared of? Do you have to take up arms against them? Are there any that you think are cute? Spring has sprung!

I've been stomping ants. Plus, we have flying ants! And those big flying cockroaches too. And lots of spiders of course. But I kinda like spiders. I admire their handiwork. The mosquitoes haven't hit yet. But I swear the mosquitoes were more of a hassle in Philadelphia. Or more vicious anyway. All that stagnant water on rooftops bred city monsters. Plus, mosquitoes just like me. Here on fantasy island, they seem smaller and less annoying for some reason. Even though they are everywhere at night in the summer. Plus, in Philly you had the remote possibility of contracting West Nile Virus. Here, you only have to watch out for disease-bearing ticks that can give you crippling Lyme Disease and rabbits that carry fatal Tularimia!

World-wide bug updates please!

― scott seward (scott seward), Friday, 14 May 2004 11:09 (twenty-one years ago)

I have dead bugs in wooden cases hanging in my bathroom. I think it's a pretty fair warning to live bugs that this is not the hotel they've been looking for.

― ipsofacto (ipsofacto), Friday, 14 May 2004 11:11 (twenty-one years ago)

At work we seem to be overun by earwigs (yuk) & ants. It's pretty gross. Outside my window there are these little green beetle type things which live on the rose bushes. They are kinda flat & actually look like the leaves as they have brown bits at the tip of their shell. They're only small, about half an inch, but they freak me out cos I have no idea what they are! Flying cockroaches? I so couldn't live with that!

― Pinkpanther (Pinkpanther), Friday, 14 May 2004 11:15 (twenty-one years ago)

Ipso - What kind of bugs are in the wooden cases? Scarab beetles and butterflies?

― scott seward (scott seward), Friday, 14 May 2004 11:16 (twenty-one years ago)

ummm...lots of different ones from south east asia. I didn't catch them, i just bought em. All the names are in latin, so they don't exactly roll off the tongue. :)

― ipsofacto (ipsofacto), Friday, 14 May 2004 11:17 (twenty-one years ago)

Delicious.

― Prude (Prude), Friday, 14 May 2004 11:18 (twenty-one years ago)

I think the massive flying cockroaches are actually called water bugs, but I could be wrong. In Philly too, we had huuuuuge water bugs that didn't fly, but were really scary all the same. Every once in a while one would get in the apartment and freak you out scuttling across the floor. They lived in the sewers.

― scott seward (scott seward), Friday, 14 May 2004 11:19 (twenty-one years ago)

A friend of mine from South Africa told me about the hissing cockroaches they had which spat out black gunk as a warning. It was a bastard to get the stuff out of the carpet btw!

― Pinkpanther (Pinkpanther), Friday, 14 May 2004 11:20 (twenty-one years ago)

yes they are called water bugs. I have some of them in cases too.

― ipsofacto (ipsofacto), Friday, 14 May 2004 11:21 (twenty-one years ago)

I'll know its really summer when our front steps are covered with snails and slugs! The snail shells are a marvel, but the slugs gotta go. Although they are really huge and groovy looking and sometimes they hump each other right in front of you. They have no shame! (they are slow humpers)

― scott seward (scott seward), Friday, 14 May 2004 11:23 (twenty-one years ago)

There was a millipede in our bath the other day, it was MASSIVE and scary! It made me think, I can't remember seeing a centipede or millipede in ages, like since I was wee...

― smee (smee), Friday, 14 May 2004 11:24 (twenty-one years ago)

Lately we have these hissing, malignant (but cool) cicadas that apparently only come around every seventeen years.

― roxymuzak (roxymuzak), Friday, 14 May 2004 11:25 (twenty-one years ago)

what are they like Roxy? I haven't ever heard of them.

― Pinkpanther (Pinkpanther), Friday, 14 May 2004 11:28 (twenty-one years ago)

Scott, do the lethal rabbits actually attack?!

― Markelby (Mark C), Friday, 14 May 2004 11:31 (twenty-one years ago)

run away, run away...

― smee (smee), Friday, 14 May 2004 11:34 (twenty-one years ago)

No, the tularimia is in their fur and maybe their poop too. Landscapers are at risk cuz they mow lawns where dead rabbits are and get the dust in their lungs. Not too long ago a dog rolled around in rabbit poop or ate a rabbit, one or the other, came in the house, shook himself off, and all the dust that the dog shook off gave the people in the house the disease and one guy died from it. Dogs get covered in ticks here too. Sometimes 100's of them!!

― scott seward (scott seward), Friday, 14 May 2004 11:37 (twenty-one years ago)

I'm looking forward to the June bugs bumping the screen door next month. They're cute and clumsy. The Germans call them May beetles, so they're probably already bumping around over there.

― Maria D., Friday, 14 May 2004 11:42 (twenty-one years ago)

But there haven't been any cases on our part of the island. Our cat brought home two adorable baby rabbits just last week. Well, they were dead, but they were cute. What freaks me out more in the summer is when I'm outside smoking at night and I think that a big cat is coming up to the steps to play and it turns out to be a skunk. Skunks are everywhere around here and they aren't afraid of people. They like it under our house too.

― scott seward (scott seward), Friday, 14 May 2004 11:43 (twenty-one years ago)

scott, where do you live?

― Pinkpanther (Pinkpanther), Friday, 14 May 2004 11:54 (twenty-one years ago)

Martha's Vineyard Island! Where the wild turkeys eat right out of your birdfeeder and the false albacore is always jumping.

― scott seward (scott seward), Friday, 14 May 2004 11:56 (twenty-one years ago)

carpenter ants in the dresser, flies in the screen

in the South there are huge things called palmetto bugs which are basically the GIANT COCKROACHES that can FLY, but 'palmetto bugs' makes 'em sound kinda cute and harmless

― Morley Timmons (Donna Brown), Friday, 14 May 2004 11:59 (twenty-one years ago)

we had huuuuuge water bugs that didn't fly, but were really scary all the same. Every once in a while one would get in the apartment and freak you out scuttling across the floor. They lived in the sewers.

we have plenty of those in new york. there was a 3-inch one hanging out in the bathtub yesterday morning. i almost had a heart attack.

― lauren (laurenp), Friday, 14 May 2004 12:01 (twenty-one years ago)

See, now these are just a few of the reasons why I am so happy I live in England!

― Pinkpanther (Pinkpanther), Friday, 14 May 2004 12:02 (twenty-one years ago)

what are they like Roxy? I haven't ever heard of them.
-- Pinkpanther (pinkpanther4...)

They're kind of big, black, and red-eyed. And very loud! Sounds like a constant alien invasion, or something. I read one article that said there were likely a billion of them in Knoxville at the mo. Apparently they're called the "17-year brood" and come out all over the south, from (I think) Maryland to Georgia.

You can look out in the yard and see the holes they've popped out of, which is sort of neat. It makes me happy to hear them whooping it up and suchlike because I know they've been stuck underground for some time and are enjoying their mating.

Here's what they look like -- doesn't do the red eyes justice, though:

http://wvlt.static.worldnow.com/images/1745926_BG1.jpg

― roxymuzak (roxymuzak), Friday, 14 May 2004 12:34 (twenty-one years ago)

Don't they leave casings - pop out of an old self to be reborn? I seem to remember lots of cicada casings around when I was a wee lass in DC, back in the late sixties. Or was that just dead cicadas lying around after their mass orgy?

― Maria D., Friday, 14 May 2004 13:12 (twenty-one years ago)

*shudders*

― Pinkpanther (Pinkpanther), Friday, 14 May 2004 13:14 (twenty-one years ago)

They do, but there are other types of non-17-year-brood cicadas that do that all the time here. They are less phenomenal and fearsome. We used to stick their casings to our sweaters when we were kids.

― roxymuzak (roxymuzak), Friday, 14 May 2004 13:15 (twenty-one years ago)

I'll never forget the big catepillar attack in Connecticut when I was a kid. They were positively dripping from the trees. Everywhere you walked there were just thousands of them. They got all smooshed all over the roads cuz they would fall out of the trees and the smell was unique.

― scott seward (scott seward), Friday, 14 May 2004 13:19 (twenty-one years ago)

Wow! That sounds like a kind of heaven. Oh wait, I'm thinking of inchworms.

― roxymuzak (roxymuzak), Friday, 14 May 2004 13:19 (twenty-one years ago)

Yeah, I barely remember as a 6 year-old catching the cicadas and putting the casings in inopportune places. Haven't seen them yet, but I know they're just around the corner.

― Vinnie (vprabhu), Friday, 14 May 2004 13:25 (twenty-one years ago)

My workplace is overrun by box-elder bugs, those friendly red-and-black dudes that look like lightning bugs without the glow. They tend to swarm and they get everywhere (the other day I found one dog-paddling in my coffee), but I like having them around. It's an industrial environment with lots of different chemicals around, so I figure if the bugs can survive here, then so can I.

Last summer and fall we were infested with a type of Chinese beetle that looks like an orange-ish lady bug with a green underside. They bite!

― briania (briania), Friday, 14 May 2004 13:26 (twenty-one years ago)

A few years ago here in central KY we had a huge caterpillar overpopulation phenom, which apparently led to, through the caterpillars somehow poisoning the grass(?) or something, a record baby horse mortality rate. I remember being out on my friend's farm and finding at least 3-4 of them on any given arm/leg at any given moment.

The cicada thing isn't in as full effect here yet as I was hoping. I really hope they start kicking soon, I want to sample them and make some cicadacore jamz.

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Friday, 14 May 2004 13:28 (twenty-one years ago)

Those beetles sound pretty! I love beetles. We have some gorgeous blue-green ones about lately.

xpost I didn't know nicka was from KY! I salute you, fellow southeasterner.

― roxymuzak (roxymuzak), Friday, 14 May 2004 13:29 (twenty-one years ago)

cicadacore jamz.

PLease explain. And go slowly.

― scott seward (scott seward), Friday, 14 May 2004 13:30 (twenty-one years ago)

You ppl are just wrong!

― Pinkpanther (Pinkpanther), Friday, 14 May 2004 13:31 (twenty-one years ago)

Cicadacore jamz sounds pretty straightforward, actually.

― Vinnie (vprabhu), Friday, 14 May 2004 13:33 (twenty-one years ago)

Oh music! Oh lord, I totally thought he was talking about making bug preserves. I mean I know they eat some wierd stuff down south...

― scott seward (scott seward), Friday, 14 May 2004 13:34 (twenty-one years ago)

I'm gonna build some pieces of music out of chopped/altered samples of cicadas and nothing else, and it's gonna be HARDCORE.

x-post actually, I have some cicada recipes, I shit you not.

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Friday, 14 May 2004 13:34 (twenty-one years ago)

The first step from one of them is: "marinate cicadas alive in a sealed container in worcheister sauce for a few hours".

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Friday, 14 May 2004 13:35 (twenty-one years ago)

the snow is keeping them down.

― The Huckle-Buck (Horace Mann), Friday, 14 May 2004 13:36 (twenty-one years ago)

I like that idea, nick. Um, about the music that is. I like music like that.

― scott seward (scott seward), Friday, 14 May 2004 13:36 (twenty-one years ago)

I just read some article about how the cicadas are safe for pet consumption.

― roxymuzak (roxymuzak), Friday, 14 May 2004 13:37 (twenty-one years ago)

Cicadas: A Very Special Report

― mookieproof (mookieproof), Friday, 14 May 2004 13:38 (twenty-one years ago)

Excellent, months worth of dog food money saved.

― Vinnie (vprabhu), Friday, 14 May 2004 13:38 (twenty-one years ago)

They're beginning to molt in VA now. With the casings all over the side of the house and the bugs clinging to whatever they can find, it's like there's suddenly twice as many of them overnight. Very cool.

― Evanston Wade (EWW), Friday, 14 May 2004 13:52 (twenty-one years ago)

i miss lightning bugs, or perhaps i miss being 8 yrs old and chasing them around. i would trap them in large mason jars and try to feed them licorice allsorts (no idea why).

― lauren (laurenp), Friday, 14 May 2004 14:33 (twenty-one years ago)

Ever seen a glow worm? I saw one when camping in France once. It looked freaky - a glowing glob in the grass. At least I think that's what it was.

― Maria D., Friday, 14 May 2004 14:57 (twenty-one years ago)

Few bugs for me to worry much about out here, thankfully. Junebugs down in San Diego however were a bit of a problem during My Teenage Years, as my window screen had a little gap at the bottom, so the bastards could crawl inside.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 14 May 2004 15:20 (twenty-one years ago)

this thread is making me itchy.

― stockholm cindy (Jody Beth Rosen), Friday, 14 May 2004 15:26 (twenty-one years ago)

i am sooooooooo squeamish.

― stockholm cindy (Jody Beth Rosen), Friday, 14 May 2004 15:26 (twenty-one years ago)

I've hardly seen any bugs, just the odd fly and tiny weevil-ish things.

― jel -- (jel), Friday, 14 May 2004 15:26 (twenty-one years ago)

i am sooooooooo squeamish.

i am, too, with one exception: lightning bugs. even though they're nasty creepy insects, their bottoms light up! gotta love that.

― lauren (laurenp), Friday, 14 May 2004 15:34 (twenty-one years ago)

this thread is completely disgusting.

except for lightening bugs. love those.

― Ask For Samantha (thatgirl), Friday, 14 May 2004 15:35 (twenty-one years ago)

Next time I'm on the phone with someone far away, I'm not gonna ask about the weather, I'm just gonna say: "So, how are the bugs?"

― scott seward (scott seward), Friday, 14 May 2004 15:38 (twenty-one years ago)

I miss lightning bugs

― Morley Timmons (Donna Brown), Friday, 14 May 2004 15:45 (twenty-one years ago)

For any cicadacore samplers without access to the real thing:

http://insects.ummz.lsa.umich.edu/fauna/Michigan_Cicadas/Michigan/

― scott seward (scott seward), Friday, 14 May 2004 16:14 (twenty-one years ago)

what's that phenomenon called again - when things synchronize naturally? Cicadas get in synch when they're singing.

― Maria D., Friday, 14 May 2004 16:21 (twenty-one years ago)

there's too many bugs where i live. i get spiders in my bedroom frequently. sometimes my cat cathes them.

― latebloomer (latebloomer), Friday, 14 May 2004 16:27 (twenty-one years ago)

AAAAAAAHGS;LDPBORBORBLBL THE FLYING COCKROACHES. one flew into my mothafuckin FACE once. i want to claw my skin off just thinking about it!!! :( on summer nights down here it's not uncommon to see cockroaches swarming the sidewalks, very unnerving. (but nowhere near as bad as hawaii apparently, my friend used to live there and would regale me with stories of reaching for an open bottle of beer and getting a mouthful of ROACH) (lksdghlgdhsoih) (this is why i want to move to alaska). i have a fear of bugs that borders on pathology - i think one of my formative memories wrt this was seeing part of a George Romero movie when i was v. young, where this guy gets swallowed up in a SEA OF COCKROACHES. i had nightmares about it for years. I hate basically anything with antennae - except for catfish - and gazoo - but cockroaches probably inspire the most violent loathing in me. which is weird, since they don't actually do much besides look ugly.

Spiders are alright though, since they eat the things I hate. and fireflies are adowable. ladybugs freak me out ))):

― ARL (Adrian Langston), Friday, 14 May 2004 20:02 (twenty-one years ago)

The place I lived in last year was on the 13th floor so I never saw a bug once. This year's place there has been only these small gnats or just miscilanious smaller than a fly flying bugs. My roommate broke the screen and would fix it, so they come in a lot when the window is open. I've been hitting them with magazines. I saw one spider.

At my house there is occasionally there's house fly problems and sometimes bees. I like spiders too as long as they are on the outside of the window. and tons of ladybugs which I kind of like too. Also There are always some praying manti out front (those are my favorite). And as soon as summer starts there are fireflies.

― A Nairn (moretap), Friday, 14 May 2004 20:22 (twenty-one years ago)

and little orange miscillaneous stink bugs

― A Nairn (moretap), Friday, 14 May 2004 20:23 (twenty-one years ago)

There are so big and move so slow that they can't "get me"
http://craftandfabriclinks.com/arizona_photos/mantis.jpg

― A Nairn (moretap), Friday, 14 May 2004 20:28 (twenty-one years ago)

Last Saturday morning I was in half sleep / half awake mode, just lounging in bed with eyes closed, the best part of waking up, you know. I gradually became aware of a small scratchy sound, so I opened my eyes and looked up - and like 5 inches from my face was one of those HUGE waterbugs that had crawled up my blanket. I could just make out it's long feelers when I shot up in bed and smacked it from underneath. It hit the wall and fell to the floor where I smashed it with my 'The Stand' 2-disc DVD. I was wide awake after that, quite a way to start your day!

― 57 7th (calstars), Friday, 14 May 2004 20:30 (twenty-one years ago)

When I lived in Williamsburg, we had quite a problem with roaches. Whenever the stove was turned on the entire colony would crawl out, covering the knobs and the burners and most of the surface area of the appliance. Nice.

― 57 7th (calstars), Friday, 14 May 2004 20:35 (twenty-one years ago)

and like 5 inches from my face was one of those HUGE waterbugs that had crawled up my blanket.

mother of god. i live in fear of something like that happening. the bathtub incident was bad enough.

― lauren (laurenp), Friday, 14 May 2004 20:37 (twenty-one years ago)

http://www.mises.org/fullarticle.asp?control=417&id=68

― martin m. (mushrush), Friday, 14 May 2004 20:37 (twenty-one years ago)

Yo. There ist loads of midgees here. There was also a green spider. I got bitten by a wasp today. Bitten I said, not stung by the whore. It bled and did not swell up.

― slopsymbolic, Friday, 14 May 2004 20:41 (twenty-one years ago)

they're like this:

http://perso.wanadoo.fr/escaladegemozac/bugs-bunny.jpg

― RJG (RJG), Friday, 14 May 2004 21:04 (twenty-one years ago)

"THIS PLACE CRAWLS!!!"

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Friday, 14 May 2004 21:09 (twenty-one years ago)

i had a similar experience as calstars except it was with a MAMMOTH potato bug that i assume travelled with me from mexico and had resided in my luggage.

http://www.potatobugs.com/articles/images/pbug_parts.jpg

― gygax! (gygax!), Friday, 14 May 2004 21:14 (twenty-one years ago)

i jumped up and it hit the floor with a thud and i smashed it to a pulp with a paperback. the thing looked like a small child, it was the creepiest insect i've ever seen.

― gygax! (gygax!), Friday, 14 May 2004 21:15 (twenty-one years ago)

That thing's CUTE!

xpost MEANIE

― roxymuzak (roxymuzak), Friday, 14 May 2004 21:16 (twenty-one years ago)

Well, now I know more about a potato bug anus than I expected.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 14 May 2004 21:16 (twenty-one years ago)

Roxy is the Jane Goodall of bugs.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 14 May 2004 21:17 (twenty-one years ago)

the body was ~ three inches head to thorax. it was repulsive... all slimy and fleshy.

― gygax! (gygax!), Friday, 14 May 2004 21:17 (twenty-one years ago)

Specist! What did you think it was going to do, punch you? It's a tiny little baby.

― roxymuzak (roxymuzak), Friday, 14 May 2004 21:18 (twenty-one years ago)

what part of "flesh piercing hooks", "flesh ripping barbs", "bit/gnaw regulators" and "ramming plate" do you not understand?

― gygax! (gygax!), Friday, 14 May 2004 21:20 (twenty-one years ago)

I love killer bug movies. There are a lot of them and they are all good, but my fave is entitled BUG starring Bradford Dillman from the 70's. Man, that movie is a really bad bug trip. Poor Bradford goes insaaaane cuzza the bugs.

reminds me of a time in Philly when I was living in a 4th floor apartment and my bedroom window led to the roof and tons of mosquitoes bred up there. I would stay up all night with the light on trying to kill them. One morning I woke up and my entire face had been attacked! My eye was almost swollen shut and my upper lip was all big and puffy. Apparently they go after people with warmer blood/higher body temperatures. I don't know if that's true. Someone told me that. They love me tons.

― scott seward (scott seward), Friday, 14 May 2004 21:21 (twenty-one years ago)

Could have just escorted him out is all I'm saying.

― roxymuzak (roxymuzak), Friday, 14 May 2004 21:22 (twenty-one years ago)

i was hungover and rabid with insect bloodlust. besides, i don't hav the body to be an escort.

― gygax! (gygax!), Friday, 14 May 2004 21:24 (twenty-one years ago)

I only kill ants and mosquitoes. There are so many of them.

― scott seward (scott seward), Friday, 14 May 2004 21:24 (twenty-one years ago)

and cockroaches and water bugs. um, i think that's it.

― scott seward (scott seward), Friday, 14 May 2004 21:25 (twenty-one years ago)

ugh, the tent caterpillars are out in somerville: they're pervasive, disgusting, and hairy. when i was a kid my dad used to freak me out by ripping them in half and letting the green ooze dribble to the ground. perhaps this has contributed to my distate for them.

alternately, i may hate them because my sixth grade teacher (whose sense of humor i'm only recently appreciating) made us count and diagram the number of squashed caterpillers in the schoolyard to map-out traffic patterns.

they're possibly the worst insects in the world; especially after they've been half-ground into the pavement.

http://www.uwex.edu/ces/wihort/Phenology/images/Eastern%20Tent%20Caterpillars.jpg

― x Jeremy (Atila the Honeybun), Friday, 14 May 2004 21:31 (twenty-one years ago)

Mosquitos are getting bad around here, but I've mostly avoided getting bitten. No really large bugs, thank God.

― miloauckerman (miloauckerman), Friday, 14 May 2004 21:40 (twenty-one years ago)

A FUCKING CICADA JUST FLEW INTO MY BEDROOM! AND I LIVE IN ENGLAND!!!

― Markelby (Mark C), Friday, 14 May 2004 21:56 (twenty-one years ago)

They get around.

― scott seward (scott seward), Friday, 14 May 2004 21:57 (twenty-one years ago)

Yay, Markleby! Wish it well, it may not be back for another 17 years :(

― roxymuzak (roxymuzak), Friday, 14 May 2004 22:05 (twenty-one years ago)

I hate hate hate bugs. I was particularly disturbed by the giant cockroaches in this movie

http://www.conelrad.com/conelrad100/images/damnation.gif

― Elvis Telecom (Chris Barrus), Friday, 14 May 2004 22:09 (twenty-one years ago)

http://www.klattu.com.ar/images/them.jpg

― Elvis Telecom (Chris Barrus), Friday, 14 May 2004 22:11 (twenty-one years ago)

i'm sorry did no one notice that on gygax's pic it says OPPOSABLE THUMBS?! OMG RUN NOW ALL YOUR BASE BELONG TO POTATO BUGS!!

― strongo hulkington (dubplatestyle), Friday, 14 May 2004 23:11 (twenty-one years ago)

the better to HUG you with!

― roxymuzak (roxymuzak), Friday, 14 May 2004 23:14 (twenty-one years ago)

We have gypsy moths, which look a lot like the tent caterpillars. They apparently come in cycles, when I was in elementary school you couldn't walk outside without trying to avoid stepping on them (and often failing unless you were very, very careful) and you couldn't put an arm on a railing without touching them. Then they went away for awhile and I only saw a few every summer. Now they're coming back. So thanks to their pervasiveness as a kid, I had this huge phobia of them, which pretty much vanished in time but I just saw that HUGE CATERPILLAR picture and gasped and scrolled away in fear.

― Maria (Maria), Friday, 14 May 2004 23:17 (twenty-one years ago)

"scrolled away in fear" makes me laugh.

― roxymuzak (roxymuzak), Friday, 14 May 2004 23:18 (twenty-one years ago)

Mormon Crickets and Darkling beetles! (The crickets eat everything in their path, but the beetles are gentle if prolific garden creatures and do not bite or fly).

― pepektheassassin (pepektheassassin), Saturday, 15 May 2004 18:21 (twenty-one years ago)

my cat came inside with a slug stuck to his back today. i still don't think hes noticed it

― ARL (Adrian Langston), Saturday, 15 May 2004 20:07 (twenty-one years ago)

there was a giant fucking wasp in our bedroom this afternoon! We freaked out. It got in the curtains and flew around the window and the shadows it cast made me think there were two or even three of them, but when I finally smacked one, it appeared to be the only one. It lay on the carpet dying for an hour while I tried to beat it with a shoe. Finally I just vacuumed it up. And now a fucking spider just ran across my living room wall!

― kyle (akmonday), Monday, 17 May 2004 00:26 (twenty-one years ago)

my cat came inside with a slug stuck to his back today. i still don't think hes noticed it

What's the protocol on this? A leech attaches itself to your pet cat: who's responsibility is it to remove it? The prideful and often self-sufficient cat's or the ostensibly more highly-evolved owner's?

― Evanston Wade (EWW), Monday, 17 May 2004 00:32 (twenty-one years ago)

I'd have to get someone else to do it, I wouldn't touch it!

― Pinkpanther (Pinkpanther), Monday, 17 May 2004 11:26 (twenty-one years ago)

Breaking news (and sad news for UK cicada spotters) - we think the insect the other night may have actually been the wonderfully-named cockchafer.

― Markelby (Mark C), Monday, 17 May 2004 11:31 (twenty-one years ago)

That name is scary enough!!!

― Pinkpanther (Pinkpanther), Monday, 17 May 2004 11:33 (twenty-one years ago)

Now there are these teeny tiny worms that hang from the trees on spidery strings outside our door and everytime I go outside they end up in my hair. Tons of them dropping from the trees like paratroopers.

― scott seward (scott seward), Monday, 24 May 2004 13:58 (twenty-one years ago)

two months pass...

Oh, I saw a massive dragon fly this morning, about 2-3 inches long. And there are also these really pretty butterflies that are jet black with red dots on their wings, and when they fly their wings look bright red. Hanwell is turning into a rural idyll.

Update on the flying ants, when they are flying about they are usually making sweet love, but the males die after copulation :/

― jel -- (jel), Sunday, 1 August 2004 16:30 (twenty-one years ago)

Two flying bugs having sex landed on my arm the other day. I told them to get a room and they flew away.

― scott seward (scott seward), Sunday, 1 August 2004 16:44 (twenty-one years ago)

How agreeable of them!

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Sunday, 1 August 2004 16:46 (twenty-one years ago)

"Update on the flying ants, when they are flying about they are usually making sweet love, but the males die after copulation :/ "

Well, there are worse ways to go.

― latebloomer (latebloomer), Sunday, 1 August 2004 16:51 (twenty-one years ago)

ten months pass...

it sounds like it's raining lightly outside. but it's not. it's just the sound of the crazy inch-worm caterpillars munching all the leaves on the trees!!!! there are millions of them. hanging on threads from trees all over the yard at eye-level. they get all in my hair and all over me. i hate them.

― scott seward (scott seward), Wednesday, 8 June 2005 20:42 (twenty years ago)

They said they're fine, thanks.

― luna (luna.c), Wednesday, 8 June 2005 21:15 (twenty years ago)

four years pass...

western mass bug life completely tolerable! so many birds they must eat them all. that is all.

― scott seward, Sunday, 23 May 2010 21:12 (fifteen years ago)

Was at a friends house the other night and we found out they had termites because the colony decided to swarm. At one point I had 3 crawling around in my shirt, bleeearg!

Florida is pretty cool for bugs. The coolest bug I've seen is a plaster bagworm. They live in your house and collect all your skin, hair, and lint and make a little motor home out of it!
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b74/righteouskate/plasterbagworm.jpg

― peacocks, Monday, 24 May 2010 13:42 (fifteen years ago)

bugs are pretty under control here! we get very big cockroaches though. if you go out walking around 2-3 am, you can see them out and about on the streets, about 2-3 inches long. sometimes one of them will make an appearance in broad daylight, or in a subway station - it's always fun to see the girls shriek and run away in fear.

― Face Book (dyao), Monday, 24 May 2010 13:50 (fifteen years ago)

stink bugs. never heard of em til a couple years ago -- now they're everywhere! apparently an invasive species from asia. they are dumb, slow, small, and silent, but with power of stink... amusing article: http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/bs-md-stink-bugs-arrive-20100509,0,2615765.story

"They seem to come out of the air, somewhere"
"It smells like something you shouldn't be smelling."

http://www.baltimoresun.com/media/photo/2010-05/53683796.jpg

― like a guttenberg, strong with your mane (another al3x), Monday, 24 May 2010 14:08 (fifteen years ago)

So, entomologists have begun to study some Asian parasitic wasps that might make good candidates for biological controls for the stink bugs here.

what could possibly go wrong?

― Face Book (dyao), Monday, 24 May 2010 14:12 (fifteen years ago)

plan is foolproof.

also having a difficult time imagining any species of anything i'd rather replace with fucking wasps...

― like a guttenberg, strong with your mane (another al3x), Monday, 24 May 2010 14:26 (fifteen years ago)

centipede in my sink this morning. helped it out the window. later, dude!

― gnarly sceptre, Monday, 24 May 2010 14:29 (fifteen years ago)

Stinkbugs are magic
They're just there in the air

― ljagljana (kkvgz), Monday, 24 May 2010 14:30 (fifteen years ago)

my garbage has about 10,000 fruit flies in it atm :(

― harbl, Friday, 4 June 2010 10:58 (fifteen years ago)

you always have fruit flies, it's one of your defining characteristics.

― estela, Friday, 4 June 2010 11:51 (fifteen years ago)

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_GTgVJrJ1vUU/SvMouL0qKaI/AAAAAAAABPo/BMYoHu6H-Ts/s320/Pig-Pen.gif

― Eighteen straight. I think that's a record. (kenan), Friday, 4 June 2010 11:57 (fifteen years ago)

In the winter, there are no bugs at all. As per nature. In the summer, I get occasional silverfish and centipedes around the kitchen sink or bathtub drain, but they're no big deal. I sometimes get a spider in the corner, which I welcome. I leave them alone, they eat my other bugs. Fair deal.

― Eighteen straight. I think that's a record. (kenan), Friday, 4 June 2010 12:01 (fifteen years ago)

Never seen a roach in this building, not in the five years I've lived here. And that's impressive, because it's clearly quite an old building. My landlord is the awesomest. He sprays for bugs.

― Eighteen straight. I think that's a record. (kenan), Friday, 4 June 2010 12:03 (fifteen years ago)

sis's house is full of stupid bugs that make me feel creeped out like silverfish and occasional centipedes. spiders i don't mind as much. there are ants outside and yesterday i killed a big, reddish one in the basement (this is new, any previous ants in the house were tiny black ones). i feel less grossed out atm because she is out of town and i've been staying upstairs, but when i'm sleeping in the basement, i feel paranoid ALL the time. i think i killed a stink bug last night? it didn't smell, but the shape was the same as that pic. i also had something attach itself to me when i came in the other night (porch light attracts all kinds of creatures) that was that shape-ish but green and clear and had a weird smell when i killed it. i think some of it can't be helped because of the location of the house (woods, valley, creek nearby) but i keep telling her to call an exterminator. sigh. i lived in 2 cities with nary a roach or bug problem, and now, in the burbs, there are bugs EVERYWHERE.

― tehresa, Friday, 4 June 2010 12:13 (fifteen years ago)

i think i killed a stink bug last night? it didn't smell, but the shape was the same as that pic

Probably just another type of shield bug. There are thousands of species, all pretty harmless to humans.

― Vision Creation Mansun (NickB), Friday, 4 June 2010 12:19 (fifteen years ago)

http://indritours.com/upload/images/gal_mad_shield_bug_01_dms.jpg

^ Amazing shield bug, looks like a painting of Don Quixote.

― Vision Creation Mansun (NickB), Friday, 4 June 2010 12:24 (fifteen years ago)

http://images.whatsthatbug.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/tessartomidae_macedonia.jpg

^ Would make an awesome skateboard for a spider.

― Vision Creation Mansun (NickB), Friday, 4 June 2010 12:27 (fifteen years ago)

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_mmBw3uzPnJI/SWsgU-4qaaI/AAAAAAAAfWA/SMpncyKPdp8/s400/face-bug-2.jpg

^ this guy does Greek tragedies in his spare time

― Vision Creation Mansun (NickB), Friday, 4 June 2010 12:30 (fifteen years ago)

http://bugguide.net/images/cache/WHZR2HHR7HBZLLGZKLEZ5LNZ7LZRGLLRGL9ZILBZEHNZ5LUZPHLR9HLR4L6Z0L8ZZL2Z8HPZKL8ZHL6ZIHCHIHVH5H.jpg

^ is he taking the piss out of my glasses?

― Vision Creation Mansun (NickB), Friday, 4 June 2010 12:33 (fifteen years ago)

0_0

― Eighteen straight. I think that's a record. (kenan), Friday, 4 June 2010 12:33 (fifteen years ago)

lol

― tehresa, Friday, 4 June 2010 12:52 (fifteen years ago)

one month passes...

you always have fruit flies, it's one of your defining characteristics.

― estela, Friday, June 4, 2010 7:51 AM (1 month ago)

i am trying to turn over a new leaf. i left peaches on the counter and it's 100º and i went to pick one up and 40 flies launched from it. i put them all in the fridge and set a fruit fly trap!!!! i've already caught like 5 and more are lining up to see what the commotion is

― the girl with the butt tattoo (harbl), Wednesday, 7 July 2010 01:08 (fifteen years ago)

So glad I left Florida, where these are:

http://3820006.com/images/Florida_Woods_Cockroach,%20Eurycotis%20floridana.jpg

The Florida woods cockroach (Eurycotis floridana) is a large species of cockroach, which usually grows to a length of 1½ inch to 2 inches. It is black in colour, and has a wide, glossy body, and appears at first glance to be wingless, however it does have very short wings just beneath its head, which are useless for flying. The cockroach, when disturbed, often emits a strong, disagreeable odour, somewhat reminiscent of amaretto. The Florida woods roach looks remarkably similar to the female Oriental cockroach, and the two could be mistaken for each other to the casual observer.

What that blurb doesn't tell you is that these fuckers are 2X faster and tougher than plain ol' roaches and that just as you think you've squashed one under a paper towel, you see it skitter off into the corner behind the toilet.

― Ciudad Warez (corey), Wednesday, 7 July 2010 01:16 (fifteen years ago)

two years pass...

not enough rain for mosquitos apparently! i mean they are out at night but not like crazy. global warming thank you! i hate mosquitos more than anything on earth.

― scott seward, Saturday, 14 July 2012 22:48 (thirteen years ago)

We had a very dry June and fewer mosquitoes, but the rain of the past week should start bringing them out.

― Neil Jung (WmC), Saturday, 14 July 2012 23:01 (thirteen years ago)

ffffffleas =(

― visions of kreayshawn with joanna newsom (bernard snowy), Saturday, 14 July 2012 23:55 (thirteen years ago)

wait i hate fleas more than mosqitos mebbe...

― scott seward, Sunday, 15 July 2012 00:26 (thirteen years ago)

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