I regularly talk about how lovely and wonderful Panama is and why we are so happy that we moved here! Today I have to share with you one of the things I have decided is not so good about Panama. Rainy season is mostly up and going (we still have a few dry days), and with the rains come the bugs. They are out in full force at the moment, but I'm hoping they die down soon!!!
This is an example of a dead June bug that is covered in one of our current problem insects: ants. They come in after the dead bugs if we don't vacuum them up every morning. I have literally seen ants carrying off bug legs and other bug parts. They attack these guys and we sweep them out or suck them up in the vacuum. They have also attacked our pantry or any other food item that is left out on the counter. So annoying!!
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These beetles come out every night. They dive bomb at your head if they can find it. I found one last night crawling up my neck!!! Talk about a creepy feeling. In the states, we call these guys June bugs. Thankfully they are only around for a little while, but as you can see, there are a lot of them. They basically make their way into the house and die.
This is one thing I don't remember experiencing last year. The bugs this year are pretty intense and would drive any sane person to the edge! The other morning, my son took this picture of a fly "eating" his Poptart. Well, that was after the ants had eaten their fill. The flies this year are out by the millions. My husband tries to vacuum them up every morning by pinning them to the window, but hundreds replace the one he just sucked up. A lady today told me it is because of all the manure they use to fertilize the nearby fields! Um, gross.
Bugs, bugs, bugs. They are a part of life here in Panama that is kind of annoying...and I'm not even mentioning the tarantulas, spiders and other bugs we have seen! These are just the bugs that are making their way out at the start of our rainy season. Any advice you have about getting rid of them, feel free to pass it along!!
Three years in, and I still regularly see insects I've never seen before. Some are so freaky looking. We have endless different ants - the tiny sugar ones, fire ants, army ants, leaf cutters. Then the dive bombing beetles, sand flies, mosquitos, dr flies are the worst! Then there's the bot fly larvae. I'll let you decide if you want to look it up. I've had two, and they burrow under your skin.
Still love, love this country. Wouldn't leave it for the world. The army ants will have to carry me out!
Lol - the army ants will have to carry you out. Yikes. I've seen those fly larvae before on a video and that's not something I'd want to experience. I hear that we have them here and in Costa Rica as well, but we haven't gotten them. Maybe in more tropical areas...and we are in the mountains. Endless bugs...such fun. ;)
The only time I ever got them was when I was deep in the bush for several days. It was really wild, but sort of fascinating at the same time. I was only 22 when I had them, so I was maybe more open to such things.
Oh man! So creepy!!! Yeah maybe if you were 22, you thought it was kind of cool. ;)
We get Japanese beetles here and they dive bomb us too.. and eat up all the leaves on our baby cherry trees. They are my enemy, I slay them by the dozens.
I like your graphic at the bottom, very nice! @ironshield
I hit one out of the air the other night. It died when it hit the floor. It was pretty impressive. ;) Thanks, glad you like the new banner thing. :)
It sounds like an entomologist's dream come true. You could have a lot of fun with a macro lens! Do you have fire ants down there? That would be a little worrisome...
There are hormigas that bite, and some say they are fire ants, but not true Texas fire ants I don't believe. These ants just get into the food and leave us alone. I found some earlier in my nutella and peanut butter! Not cool.
Not the Nutella!!! That would be a declaration of war!!! There are supposed to be various species of fire ants throughout the Americas, from the northern part of Cono Sur through the southern USA.
Speaking of hormigas, I heard that entomologists just discovered five new species of "exploding ants." In grotesque display, they can "pop" their abdomens open, spraying an enemy insect with toxic goo. They die in the process. At least you don't have those in your nutella!
Yeah, I just had to dig them out of there. Not sure how they got in - the lid was on... Extra protein if we ended up eating them I guess. ;) That does not sound like a kind of ant I'd like to come into contact with who could spray his stomach goo on me. Yuck!!
Ha! Well, according to the news (just released yesterday), they don't really explode. It's more like they rip themselves open and smear their poisonous innards around before they die. It's still pretty gross!
National Graphic blurb – if you want to read about them! lol
That is totally crazy!!!
Love the footer and you added your man, great touch! the bugs, although i am not fearful of bugs YUCK .. they are everywhere ... great shot tho ... !! LOL
I agree - bugs are no fun! Thanks for the comment on the Panama with the hubs. Prob does look better with the whole family on there. ;) Ha.
oh sure, no probs about the man. LOL
yeah it kinda looks complete :)
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Wow did not know panama got this kind of bugs... in my my place, these types of bugs often found on highland with cooler temperatures.
Yes, we live in the highlands of Panama. Up in the mountains near the base of the volcano. :) It is much cooler here than down toward the ocean. :)
Tarantulas--now that is impressive. My parents here in Florida had a strange ant problem for a few years. It was the same as you describe, they got into everything. They were apparently a South American species that unexpectedly arrived in their backyard and wiped out the fire ants that had been there for years. They tried everything to get rid of them, and then one day they all disappeared. Don't know what caused their demise, but the fire ants were back very quickly :)
Oh man! Fire ants are no fun. Bugs in general... Yuck!
Hey @apanamamama hope you are good! Please let me know if you are on discord and where I can contact you? I want to speak to you about something that has nothing to do with steemit, and we are specifically looking into someone living in Panama.
I had bugs! But I am totally envious of your new footer!!
Thanks! I'm glad you like the Panama pic. :) Bugs are definitely no fun.
I can tolerate almost anything EXCEPT flies :D They are awful, they and mosquitos. I do not know what advice to give you because I do not like to kill them, I just run after them and chase them back outside which is both fun and a good exercise lol
Lol - that would be some good exercise. ;) Yeah, I'm just glad the flies don't bite, but they are annoying. And mosquitoes are bad too. I do not like their bites. We have bugs here called chitras that are worse than mosquito bites - they itch more and for longer!! We had them bad last year. Thankfully not as many so far this year.
I understand what you are going through with the pests. You have inspired me to write about the ants and beetles invading my house. 😞
Enjoyed your post. :) Always fun to see that someone else has a similar problem. ;)
Oh goodness dear friend! I cannot stand bugs and creepy crawlies especially in my pantry. I would have screamed and went crazy if I felt one of those crawling up my neck.
Have you tried using essential oils? The main 3 we use to keep pests away are peppermint, lemongrass and tea tree. You can put drops of them on cotton balls and lay them in the troublesome areas or make a spray adding a little glycerin in there to help it stay longer.
I haven't tried EOs other than citronella in my diffuser to cover the dog smell when we have people over. Not sure if it really helped with the bugs. ;) Ha! We have some lemongrass growing in our neighborhood and someone else suggested that as well. May boil some up and see if that helps to spray it around. I think I have some of the other oils as well. May try a mixture. The beetles, I'm afraid, will be here until their season is up. The flies are just insane during the day..... And I was picking ants out of my nutella and peanut butter in the last few days! Yuck!! Extra protein???
That would be a good idea to boil some and try out a mixture with the other oils!
Oh my 😮...I don’t think I could survive picking ants out of my jar foods!! So annoying!
Lol - it was annoying, but thankfully they hadn't gotten to much of it. I don't think the lids were on tight. I boiled some lemongrass tonight and sprayed it all around outside the house and some inside. Will have to see if it helps some tomorrow. Have a pretty much limitless supply here so I could redo it every day if it works. ;)
Oh good! Please let me know if it worked!! I sure hope it does since you already have it in hand.
Well, there were ants and flies today like normal. Not as many june bugs, but I can hear them hitting the windows now...and perhaps their season is over. I was really hoping the spray would help, but it doesn't look like I did enough or it just didn't. I just sprayed the "tea" I made all around the outside of our glassed in room and where I had seen ants inside.
Oh No!!! I was really hoping it would work. ☹️ Thanks for letting me know. Are you going to try another method?
The May bug is not so harmful as its larva, known as "white grubs". They can can spoil your garden plants by eating their roots (especially strawberry roots) or spoil the harvest of potatoes by damaging the tubers. True evil!
I have seen some of those white grubs!! Not cool. We planted some potatoes and they did NOTHING. Perhaps that was why!! Thanks for letting me know.
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