Mosquitoes, lizards, and other creepy crawlers

I am really not squeamish when it comes to insects or other animals that scurry about unexpectedly. I suppose that comes from growing up on a farm where capturing garden spiders from their webs in clam shells and 'rescuing' baby mice from the barn was a childhood past time for my sister and I.

One huge spider in Japan

While living in Japan, I had some run-ins with spiders - or rather, mice with eight very long legs -
that left me a little shaken, sleep deprived and with a twitch in my eye. I think it is a primal reaction with spiders like that as I read somewhere that some spiders adapted their poison specifically to kill primates, so there's that. Thus far, there have been no sizeable spiders in this place to speak of - knock wood! (see end of post!) I did see an injured spider crossing the street in town and its body was half the size of a golf ball...so I know they're out there!

Anywho, whenever you're in a new place, squeamish or not, there are always adjustments to make when it comes to the other living things that you live with - willingly or otherwise. In other words, I've been taking some pictures and getting to know the local wildlife in my house in Kratie, Cambodia.

Just chillin

Firstly, the lizards. They are cute and seem harmless. I'm told they eat mosquitoes (yay!) but they like to linger around my cooking area so methinks they like my cooking as well. There was a little, little lizard that is black and about 2 inches long lingering around a plate of melon today. I have seen two lizards that are about 5 inches long and jump out of the garbage bin from time to time. (I think I need to buy a lid.) One is dark brown and the other, bolder lizard is lighter in colour. I see this guy at least once every day and I don't jump nearly as often as I used to. My VSO colleagues' 6 year old daughter, Fay, has taken to catching them in their house. They are much too fast for me and I have decided to leave them be, even if they do leave mouse-like droppings around the house. I had the chance to get rid of one while he was on the gas burner the other day, but I just didn't have the heart. As Mom said, look at those innocent eyes!

Speaking of mouse-like droppings...I do hope that the rat that ran along the wall in the kitchen about a week ago is not a common visitor. It wasn't huge but it was a rat. I've seen some big ones on the street and hopefully that's where they'll stay. I am making an extra effort to keep the house clean so that they have no reason to come inside. Let's hope I don't see another furry friend again. Annnnd...the rat showed up again in the same place as last time about 15 minutes after writing that I had only seen him once. Drat! On the up side, at least he runs away, right? I have met rats and mice in Halifax that aren't afraid of people in the least.

I now have a rat trap that hasn't caught anything in two weeks. These wooden Khmer houses aren't exactly air tight so I'm not sure what good it's doing, but it's worth a try. 

The rat/mouse traps are pretty intimidating.

Waiting for a rat to appear

Gecko!

I do have a much larger and more predictable house inhabitant - Mrs. Gecko (I will have to think up a more clever name). She is about 20 cm long and likes to stay on a pillar in the front room where she can hide near the wall if I turn on the light. At night she's out eating insects but likes the dark corner of the house during the day. I tried using a broom to coax her out of her spot, but she just moved where I couldn't get her. I guess I'd say I'm happy that her croaking at night hasn't awoken me yet. After some suspicions I have confirmed that there is a second gecko living in the exact opposite corner of the house, in the kitchen....and also in my bedroom. I was reading in bed and dozed off to find a gecko on one of the pillars of my very small room. This gecko is rather skittish, and is of the blue-ish variety. I don't mind the geckos - really! - but they do leave behind droppings that are not fun to clean. And especially not fun to have in the bedroom. I see some staring competitions in my future.

Gecko in my bedroom! He's shy.

I am told I should be happy about the geckos by my program officer as Cambodians believe they are lucky to have in your house. People even catch geckos and put them in their home to increase their luck in life, but the stubborn gecko won't stay - they are creatures of habit. I am doubly lucky, or my program officer is very good at calming my mind :)

Of all of these critters, the mosquitoes are definitely the worst. I've always been the most appealing snack in the room when with family, and the mosquitoes also enjoy my tasty self here. I'm wearing socks and long pants in the house and don't want to think about the amount of deet my body has been absorbing  in the past few weeks. I still get bitten quite badly and my 'office' is filled with them. I've seen several cockroaches in the kitchen at the 'office'. Cockroaches are old hat having lived with the flying kind in Japan. I find the odd dead one in my house, but have no need for traps.

My bedroom malaria net

It's been an adjustment, but I have to say that I am getting used to my house. It is still too dirty and I need a cleaner - or a smaller house! I have my malaria net up and it is a physical and mental barrier against the creepy crawlers. Mind you, I can't say I've had a hard time sleeping. Except for the occasional dog fight outside my window or thunderstorm, I sleep peacefully. I had a one week convalescence in Phnom Penh (for a plugged ear and then a virus/food poisoning/parasite) and the mosquitoes aren't as bad in my house since I returned to Kratie. Did they leave because they no longer had a warm body to harass? Are they building up their numbers for the final attack? Mosquitoes are the worst. And I haven't even had dengue yet to really, really hate them...

Oh, and by the way, I have had a large spider (size of the palm of my hand) in my house and saw a rat (no way to doubt it - it ran around the perimeter below the ceiling in my kitchen one night) again. I accidentally stepped on the spider and killed it the following morning as it ran across my feet and I screamed and stomped. Luckily I was wearing my house sandals! So, the insects and furry critters will continue to visit and the gecko has been making itself comfortable in my bedroom. It's unavoidable, I think. My malaria net allows me to sleep...and I bought a can of Raid at the market today to use in times of...panic? disgust? homesickness? I'll have to think about that one some more...

Happily inside my malaria net