Critters 3 -- The Rove Beetle vs Jonathan

We had a frustrating mystery in our house about a month ago when Jonathan sustained an injury of unknown cause to his chest.  Here is an excerpt from the e-mail I sent to our parents about it:

"First big frustration is on Monday Jonathan complained of pain on his chest area.  I saw a faint rash and thought perhaps he had rubbed himself on a raw surface of bamboo on the play structure (which can leave miniature slivers in the skin -- although the workmen had sanded it all clean, I thought they might have missed some spots).  On Tuesday the rash was HORRIBLE, it looked like a serious burn injury.  It looked like he had been splattered with a chemical and the surrounding areas looked scalded.  I tried all kinds of different creams and medicines ....no relief and he was cranky all day, on a very short temper, and seemed to be having pain spasms.  That night he woke up screaming 4 times.   Finally Wednesday morning I decided to try some generic burn cream from a friend....it worked.  After that the rash didn't hurt anymore and has been healing since then.  But I am so frustrated because we have NO IDEA what caused it!  I was right by his side or close by all of his waking hours!  And except for a short time around bath time, he was always wearing a shirt.  He wasn't even separated from me to go play with his daddy at school because Dave home with a cold that weekend!  The only time he wasn't right with me was Sunday School, and they had 3 teachers for about 8 kids that day, so he was closely supervised.  For all of the protection Dave and I give this child, how could this injury have happened?  We asked him all kinds of questions if he had gotten into anything or played with any bottles (chemicals) or seen any big bugs (maybe he got sprayed with a vinegar scorpion?) ...and he thought about it and answered slowly "I don't think so."  I believe him.  Have no idea what happened ....but at least it is healing.  I'm going to attach a picture of the rash, taken on Tuesday so you can see why I'm so frustrated and confused! "

Ouch

Fortunately the following week, his skin healed and now only a faint shadow of the inflamed area is left.  Finally last week another teacher at school had a similar lesion on her neck and she told us it was from a "Tomcat Bug."  Internet searches soon gave us enough information to confirm, although we never saw the creature, that this is what caused Jonathan's horrible rash.  To this day, I still haven't seen a Rove beetle (as they are known officially) around our house, but I've been told they have been on campus and in the dormitories.  I've also found several Indonesian newspaper articles reporting of severe infestations on this island even last year, with up to 300 people going to the hospital for care.   The bugs live in rice paddies or forest areas, but often are disrupted by new construction projects.   If you only knew how many new construction projects have been started in our neighborhood these last few months. 

Of interest about rove beetles:
1.)  They don't bite.  When threatened they emit a fluid from their bodies which is poisonous.  Thus it looked to me like Jonathan had been splashed or scalded with a caustic substance.
2.)  Initial symptoms include reddening of the skin and a burning sensation.
3.)  After 2-4 days symptoms develop to painful skin irritation, pustules and blisters.
4.)  Affected areas are symptomatic for 10 days or so.
4.)  If a rove beetle lands on you, don't smack.  Try to blow it off in some way.
5.)  Treatment is to wash with soapy water.  Things that may help are antihistamines, hydrocortisone, aloe vera.  I ended up using a burn ointment that worked quite well.  

I hope you never get to meet one!

Critters 2

 I've been adding photos to this post for several months as I collect them.  Time to publish!  This "critter" trumps all of the rest.  He looked pretty scary when we found him in our back bathroom.  We have found 2 others in our house at other times.  He was painstakingly captured in our new "bug box," photographed and then put to death in our freezer.  Come to find out, he's harmless and you can buy one for $30 on the internet.  He's a pretty interesting critter actually, known as a whip scorpion or Vinegaroon.   As we captured him, we noticed an odd smell, but couldn't identify it.  Turns out these arachnids produce acetic acid (pure undiluted vinegar) and emit the substance when threatened!  Now that we know they are harmless, we might keep the next one we find as a pet ...at least for a little while. 

I usually can't get a successful photo of a butterfly, but here is an exception. 

Fuzzy caterpillars that show up on our front porch from time to time.  Don't touch them because their hairs will come off and be very itchy.

Now the cicak ....our friends who chirp, who poop on our walls, and who actually do eat the mosquitoes in our house.  To describe them, I give you this quote from one of our favorite books about our host country

"Cicak are house lizards that occupy a space in every self-respecting ....home.  Bashful creatures they most certainly are, preferring to stick about on walls, behind pictures and in corners.  Cicak are everywhere -- they don't care where they stick.  While there might appear to be less cicak in a well-off, tightly air-conditioned home than in say, a Padang restaurant, al lyou need to do is look behind a picture frame and there they all are, hoping for a bite to eat.  Cicak are wonderful because they eat mosquitoes.

...They are not big, seldom more than four inches, nose to tail.  They move in zigzag directions and make clicking sounds to each other.  If you startle a cicak, they are prone, as a shock tactic, to release their tail, which then wriggles about disturbingly on its own for a while.  One of the few drawbacks with these domestic lizards, apart from little birdlike droppings everywhere, is when they die behind a wardrobe without telling you and start making decomposing smells.  Not nice." 

 

Jonathan actually was inspired to learn counting when he became aware of the cicaks on our walls. 

 

This one lost his tail once....see where it is growing back skinny?

Sigh ...sometimes cicak loose their toe suction and fall.  Usually they just run away, but for some reason they can't get their grip on the sink walls.  Finding a cicak in my sink is not my favorite way to start the day.  They are not that easy to get out ...but Jonathan is usually entertained. 

Giant grasshopper on our gate ....this is what inspired me to finally buy a bug box so we can catch and keep a guy like this for a half day and study him. 

This is a little snake that showed up on our back door handle several weeks ago.  Inside the house.  No idea how he got there.  Dave was just checking the door to make sure it was locked and ....surprise! 

Critters

Help my house is being invaded by giant caterpillars driving a John Deere tractor!  I walked into the living room the other day and THIS is what I found! 

Well, we do live in the tropics and bugs and critters are abundant ...although here in our small city they are mostly on the smaller side and quite common .....lots of ants and mosquito.   Occasionally we hear of friends who have some real excitement.  For instance last year a 6 foot python was found on the school track (and was was adopted and later released back into the wild by some friends.)  Even more scary, last week a friend reported of a "white tipped viper" invading her daughters' bedroom.  It had been disturbed out of it's rock pile home by some new construction. (That one was NOT adopted, as it was quite poisonous.)  I don't hear snake stories very often though.   Today I'd like to share some photos of some of the critters I have managed to catch on camera. 

 

 He looks awful and he is indeed huge...about half as long as my pinky finger and as big around too.   He is indeed a kind of bee and what you see here is just his skin, actually.  I'm not sure if his insides have been eaten or if he just moved out because he grew.  His exoskeleton has been attached there to our tree for a good month now.....weathering quite a few hard rain storms.  These guys buzz loudly around our passionfruit vines quite a bit.

This guy is a chameleon of sorts ...when I first saw him he was brown, and then he turned green when he scurried off the fence into the hibiscus bush.  Jonathan and I played hide-and-seek with him for about half and hour before he found a better hiding place.

 

We do have butterflies come through every day, but they don't land and I can't photo them.  The moths tend to land more and rest a while.  Jonathan was excited to find this guy on our porch yesterday.

 Here's another guy who stopped on our porch last month when my mom was visiting.

Now to tell you about some of the critters who come INSIDE our house.  The lines of ants who patrol the kitchen each evening are just something we live with....but I had to put my foot down when a colony decided to try building a sandy anthill in our bedroom!  Here Jonathan and I are sweeping up a good 1/2 cup of sand that were brought up through holes in the tile/wall junction.  The holes have now been cemented over and no more ants in the bedroom.  Unfortunately they have moved into back bathroom....

What you see here are "termite tunnels."  A few months ago we bought a lovely new desk.  We live in an older house, but I've never seen termites in any of the rooms.  Then last week, I discovered they had bored through the floor and had made "tunnels" all around the bottom of the new desk!  I was so sad I felt nauseated...God's lesson to me not to be too attached to possessions. In the picture, the tunnels you see were built overnight after we had cleaned away the previous ones.   Now those holes have been cemented over too and the desk is still out being repaired.

What is a "termite tunnel" you ask?  The termites have fragile bodies, so they bring dirt and mud (and bug feces) and build mounded tunnels so they can move to and from and around their food sources more safely.  YUCK! 

So that completes this episode of critters around our home!  For the next episode, tune in again to see cecaks, tokeks, massive ant nests hiding inside a blender, cockroaches, and much, much more!