Creatures in St. Croix, USVI
Everyone wants to live in America’s Paradise…..Unfortunatley that includes some of God’s creeping creatures. With year round sunshine, and balmy weather, there are a myriad different bugs, spiders, lizards, and frogs. Now, this isn’t all a bad thing. Here are a few of the pros assoicated with their abundance.
The Pro’s
Evening Serenade
Every night just as the sun sets the different fauna of the island truly come alive creating a magical soundscape. It is soothing to listen to the crickets, frogs, and even birds begin their night music. LOVE IT (much more than the Rooster Symphony)
The Food Chain
Now, you may not really appreciate opening your cupboard and having a fairly large lizard scurry away, it can be a bit startling. However, these same lizards eat the mosquitos and ants that think you are the bottom of the food chain!
Snips and Snails/Puppy Dog Tails
These are the things little boys are supposedly made of, so it is no surprise that our boys LOVE the lizards and frogs. They are often out and about trying to catch them and chasing them around. It is so fun to watch them with these fascinating creatures.
The Con’s
Bug Bites
There are more than just mosquitos here. There is a smaller flying bug that the Cruzians call ‘no see-ums’ because you can’t ever really see them but they can certainly see you and thoroughly enjoy human blood! Please see the picture of Sarah’s legs – she will be mortified that I am including it, but what the hay. Let’s get a good look at the bites she got in week one of being here. She had over 50 bites on her left leg and 47 on her right. Of note, she is better now and we are better prepared to not repeat that experience. She does complain about formication though.
Creatures I Question
Now, I am not sure why God made mosquitos, but there are others that I have to question too….including the cockroach. I am familiar with them since I worked at Pleasant Grove High School (no offense…Viking Pride!) and lived in Brasil for a couple of years. However, my good wife Sarah is not familiar with them. Imagine her surprise when a rather large specimen came crawling down our wall. This picture is after it met the bottom of my shoe!
There are also a lot of millipedes known locally as Gongolo. They are slow and unless you decide to snuggle it, it doesn’t really cause much harm. If it secretes its poison on your skin it can cause problems, but it usually just curls up in a ball and we throw it out the front door.
And finally meet the Carribean Centipede – now these things really gross me out and they are FAST! If one of these bites you, you may have a trip to the hospital. Thankfully, I haven’t seen too many of these in the house (three to be exact) and they met a sad demise of Permethrin bug spray.
As you can see the Pros outweigh the cons and we are delighted to be sharing America’s Paradise with the creepy crawlies. Hopefully this hasn’t put you off coming to visit!
Have you ever formicated?
*Please check definition above prior to answering.*
Comments
Haha I love it! Since we’ve moved to Georgia I’m constantly formicating! Haha in the hour that it took to unload our cars and trailer I had 10 mosquito bites on my legs! And I’ve never lived with roaches! Haha getting used to those.
It is good to know that we are in good company! Best wishes to you in Georgia – what a beautiful part of the country!
Call the bug man! I’m sorry about the no see um bites!
Bug man is a great idea! We got some good bug spray and that has helped substantially.
Roaches are the worst. At least the worst I’ve experienced. Chiggers are a close second. I hated living in Florida because of all the creepy crawlies. You get used to them, find tricks to keep them out of everything you value, and it gets better.
The giant roach was just gross and it wouldn’t die. So far we have invested in some good ant killer and that has helped immensely.
Love the pictures except the one of your legs Sarah.
It was pretty awful but I’ve healed. Figuring out the best bug spray has been a life saver!
As my wife are about to join you all on the ame journey moving from Detroit, she attracts mosquitoes like nobody. What is the secret spray?
PS Loved the Pothole story, although can’t imagine it’s any different from riding roads around the Motor city. They are holes to the other side of the planet.
Glad you are moving here! It is fabulous! The thing that worked best for me was Repel 30% Deet wipes. They don’t ship here directly so I have friends or family send them to me. Anything with around 25% or higher deet seemed to work well. I have recently gone almost 2 months without any bug spray and only about 10 bites in that time. I was told when I moved here that the magical number was 1 year and then you don’t get as many bites. Here’s to hoping!
Thank you!!!
We are excited and yet Terrified!!!!
But something we must try.
Do you guys get fire ants? I hate those. In Houston, if you feel something crawling, you swat it. Those little ants pack quite a bite. Some bites have left either scars or a red dot at the bite site that lasted a couple months. So yes, I can’t walk through any grass now without formicating. In fact, I formicate all the time. I hate it. So yes, we are in good company…, oh and yes, cockroaches and even crickets too…. gotta love it. Especially when the cricket decides to chirp randomly at 2 am right next to your window. I could hear its wings vibrating against the glass on top of its normal chirp sound. I was not happy about that one. He didn’t even chirp regularly so I could tune it out. It was so random and not consistent that he kept me up for some time before the pillow over my head helped to tune him out… so not only do I imagine I feel bugs crawling all over me, I also jump at imaginary crickets moving from beneath my feet in the lawn. Awesome. I’m sure I look ridiculous. Welcome to the Greater Houston Area.