Thursday, July 7, 2011

Centipedes, Dipterans, and Spiders OH MY!

So it's been awhile and I"m sure the last thing any of you want to hear about are bugs, but they've been plaguing me this semester! I don't know if it's the rain, the heat or the fact that the universe what's to juxtapose my studies of microscopic bugs (bacteria/viruses/etc) with the really LARGE kind; but I'm a little tired of all these bugs! Since all I ever seem to do anymore is attend classes, study, and sleep the only really interesting adventures I've had of late have involved my encounters with these pests!

So I'll begin my story with the bane of my existence, especially while in class or on campus studying, the FLIES! I'm pretty sure I'm slowly developing fly worry! If you've ever stepped inside the Student Union or sat in one of the classrooms, you've most likely had a fly land on you. Many a lecture I have been sitting taking when all of a sudden the professor starts flailing about because a fly won't mind it's manners. I apologize to those of you who sit next to me because just today I starting convulsing out of control because of the two flies that insisted on landing on/near me. Now I know what your thinking, maybe you should all shower more, just because you work with animals doesn't mean you have to smell like one! Well I'll tell you that no matter how "sweet" you smell the flies will be a nuisance and I'm tired of it.

I know I have posted about centipedes before, but believe me when I tell you that those were all just babies! I'm currently cat sitting for my neighbor and about a week ago I went into her apartment to take care of the cats in the morning. I was running late so I decided to get ready over at her house so I could spend a little extra time with the kitties. Big mistake! I turned on the faucet in her bathroom and  GIANT centipede starts squirming out of the drain. My legs instantly turned to jelly and my heart was racing. I ran into the kitchen, grabbed the broom and started stabbing it with the non-bristle side. After sufficient guts were spilled I took a picture and flushed it down the toilet before the cats (who were patiently waiting for me to leave) ate it. I was wide awake during classes that day! Note the picture I took for size comparison doesn't do this guy justice because he shrank from the water and the dying!


My next adventure begins in my car. I'm driving to school getting ready to take my quiz this morning when through my rear view mirror I see a GIANT spider on my back windshield. I realized it was outside (the only reason my car isn't stuck in a ditch right now and I'm not dead). On my 4 minute drive to school it left my line of sight and I was worried that it was going to come into the driver's side window (since it doesn't roll up all the way). I parked, inspected the car and found it on my back bumper all spread out ready to take over my car! In St. Kitts these are called Banana Spiders because of their yellow coloring, apparently they don't bite but I was still terrified. (Note: picture is representative of the spider I saw, but I was waayyyy to scared to take a picture). I threw a couple of rocks at my car, but I totally missed the spider and it crawled under my car. All day during class I cringed as I thought about getting back into my car to go home and made my friends inspect my car before getting into it. I started to drive off and my friend saw the spider come out from underneath and tried to fling it off using her water bottle. That clearly didn't work because when I went to get gas the attendant told me she saw the spider. I proceeded to drive through every puddle I passed faster than I normally would to try to dislodge this spider from my car. Nothing seemed to work and when I got out my car there he was! I grabbed the hose with the nozzle on it and sprayed the crap out of the back of my car. I didn't see the spider fall but I stopped spraying only to see him crawl out from under my front tire 5 seconds later unharmed. I threw the hose over the fence and sprayed the spider up close this time and he finally fell off my car. Why didn't I just step on him you ask, well because I had flip-flops on and I was too chicken. So I continuously spray him till he's in a tight ball halfway down the street and to my surprise the resilient little bastard is still alive and crawling. I keep spraying him and finally get him near a curb where I smashed him between the curb and a rock! Having spilled his guts I pronounced him dead!




So that's my bug stories...I assure you there are more. For instance only this morning I found a bunch of sugar cane ants (teeny tiny brown ants) in my air-tight sugar container. It's the rainy season but tonight the sky turned an awesome shade of pink and it was really pretty. I tried to get a picture but it just doesn't do it justice. Miss everyone from back home and hope you are enjoying Summer :).