Creepy Crawlies

                                    Ok, it had to be done.  I didn't want to write about "bugs and such",

                                  but when you think of Africa, you know you're thinking about all the

 *CREEPY CRAWLIES*

 

First, MOSQUITOS!  I've been told that the mosquitos with black and white striped legs are the ones that carry malaria.  But, I tend not to trust any mosquitos. 

 

Our house is swarming with them.  Probably because we leave our doors wide open all day. 

But, it's hot, and we want a breeze.  So, we live with the mosquitos.  We spray bug spray around the living room at night and such, but the real way to avoid malaria is to use a net when you sleep.

(This isn't really about disease prevention, but we don't take anti-malaria medication, although we do HIGHLY recommend all visitors to take it.  There are too many reason to go into here, I'll write another post about that.)

 

 

This is a silverfish.

 

Another bug I'm used to seeing is silverfish.  I usually find these in my pots or pans, or bookshelves.  They are harmless, and easy to kill.

 

 

Flying ant



Whenever it rains, there are swarms of flying ants that come out and start flying all over the place, looking for places to make a new colony, I'm told.
They somehow make their way into our house.
 (The doors and windows aren't exactly airtight, and have space all around them). 
They are just annoying and die by morning.



Nairobi eye

This little bug is a Nairobi eye or Nairobi fly.  It is tiny, about the size of an ant, but has red and black stripes.  It is very harmful though. If the bug gets squished on your skin, you will can a nasty chemical burn that looks like a bad rash that is very uncomfortable.
For this reason, we always look before we swat anything we feel on our skin. 
Our kids, even Jonathan, all know how to deal with Nairobi eye.
Take a piece of tissue paper, and carefully pick it up and flush down the toilet.

Besides these, we usually have ants in the house.  Also, our neighbor has a bee hive in their roof so we sometimes have bees in the house but that often. 

These are bugs that we deal with on a daily basis, but we just get used to it.
Since I grew up in the woods, it really doesn't bother me at all.

Ok, one more, that does kind of freak me out- weevils.
Whenever I open a can of popcorn, or bag of pasta, etc. I always have to check for weevils.

I have found weevils in a newly opened bag of pasta, and in a can of popcorn I just opened.
So, I always look for bugs before I cook.