Tho there have been threads on Bugs, I am hoping to inform (and get feedback) some of you about our island bugs!
When living in the islands, we deal with them every day and thats no lie! The main issue I want to bring up is Flying Termites! What happens is this..... Rain. If we get any substantial amount of rain at all, these little flying creatures come out. The rain soaks the ground and this creates these little guys to leave their homes. By night, they are attracted to light and then try to get into your home. Being that homes are not hermetically sealed, they find the tiniest little spaces to get in! SOLUTION: Turn out your lights!!!!!!! This does not happen often, but DOES happen! When renting a villa, you are in a home, not a hotel!!!! Unfortunately there is nothing anyone can do about it and it happens to everyone whom lives here!!!!!!
Being that I live in a wooden cottage (OK not a shack, but close)!, I have been living with ants, clearing the bush around and fighting these little pests with all we have! What do ants bring? SCORPIONS!!!!! Since I have lived in this cottage for one wonderful year, I have delt with 3 scorpion stings and found about 25 or so, 4 in the last week!
Now mind you, you most likely are not going to deal with these characters on a regular basis, BUT they can show up from time to time, even in the nicest of homes! The scorpions here are nocturnal and not deadly, tho may have an impact on you should you be allergic (don't know too much about that). In-fact, I would rather be stung by a scorpion than a Jack Spaniel, our local wasp that can sting more than once. If you are doing any hiking or walking threw any bush, take a stick along to hit branches ahead of you. This may help to avoid getting stung. Look under Thatch palm leaves, Jack Spaniels love them!
We also have Centipedes here. They are the scariest looking of all and I have rarely encountered them in any of the 23 yrs. living here, tho again they can show up unexpectedly. I did get stung/bit one night by a baby one, he was only about 3 1/2 inches long and they can get to be up to 10 inches long! Called the hospital about that one. They said if I started to have trouble breathing to get there right away. Nothing happened. These I have encountered two different times in my homes.
And yes, spiders. Ground spiders and tarantulas. Again, in all of my time here, I have had maybe 3 get into the homes I have lived in. None in my shack, can you believe it? Oops, I mean cottage!
My point is this: We have critters here, they sometimes get in. Villas are exterminated on a regular basis, but there is no guarantee that one of these little guys won't get in!! I actually had guests leave the villa cause the flying termites came in. These guests were informed that this would most likely happen as we had had a full day and a half of rain! They show up, they then die and then we clean them up. Turn out the lights!!!!! This lessens your chance of them getting in!!!!! They are pretty harmless, tho not a pleasant feeling!
Yes, there are many critters I didn't mention! Noseems, other spiders, red ants, and more!
Anyone care to share?