This has to be the most interesting bug I have found in Mexico. During certain seasons they can be more abundant even than the hated cockroach. Although much easier to keep out of the house they still get in sometimes. For sure everything out side is covered in them. Including the cloths on the line, you have to shake all your cloths really good this time of year and you might still miss a few like I did yesterday. At the grocery stores there are always some hiding in the clothing and on the shelves this time of year. Yesterday I saw the biggest one Iv ever seen ( which inspired me to write about them). His little pincer actually looked like it might cut my skin, just maybe. For the most part these little guys cant even try to pinch your skin and though they supposedly have some venom its so little that they are harmless. They are nocturnal and actually move quite slowly during the day. But man they sure are creepy looking when they raise their little scissor butts at you. Last year I frantically searched for information on them because I was afraid they would bite us or make us sick. Neither happened and apparently wont happen. They come around twice a year it seems right before winter and right after. I suppose the weather needs to be just right for them. If anyone has any other information on them Id like that. But really they are just cool looking innocent bugs from all I can tell. This is the best picture I could find but the ones here in Tepa have little yellow strips on their backs they are kinda pretty. But man they freak me out when I see them unexpectedly.
Because I can't figure out how else to get this picture on here I placed a link that went to a picture of on. Really I should just take a picture of one as many as we see everyday.
http://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:sK3WZN_JKzqTOM:http://maximinadefe.eresmas.net/tijereta.jpg
In Jalisco, those bugs are called tijerillas. (Earwigs in English.) I don't like them, especially after the stories my hubby has shared.
ReplyDeleteHis advice is to kill each and everyone. They can and like to crawl into people's ears. Ewwww!!! I get chills just thinking about that!
Amanda,
ReplyDeletethey are completely harmless and so I probably shouldn't tell you about Rod Serling's show "Night Gallery" from about 1970 that had a fictional episode where an earwig (tijerilla) entered someone's ear and ate its way through their brain and came out the other side and so I won't tell you any more except that the earwig laid eggs while it was tunneling through :)
I fixted the title. ;) Bob the funny thing is I just knew someone would bring that up. When I first visited my husband down here he told me that the little bitty lizards did that and I believed him. Until one day his aunt saw one and shivered and I said "Yeah I know, Issac told me how they crawl in your ear." She laughed and laughed and then explained they tell kids that but its not true. So Leslie I have a feeling either your hubbies having a laugh with you or his mom still is with him. lol
ReplyDeleteHey we have these here in WA. Sometimes i see them in the bathroom. I grew up with them so they dont bother me much.
ReplyDeleteAmanda, its not just a story to scare kids. The entire family freaks when they see an earwig because an earwig actually crawled into one of my brother's-in-law's ears when he was younger. He was in excruciating pain for about 2 weeks. The doctors here prescribed different medicines, but nothing helped. One weekend, when the uncles (who are doctors) came to visit from Guadalajara. They checked his ear and discovered the earwig!
ReplyDeleteAmanda,
ReplyDeleteI admire you for fighting for your family. My husband is from Mexico too. We just completed the immigration process last summer and now I'm a member at https://americanfamiliesunited.org/
fighting to get the laws changed that force families to either separate or move out of the country from which they are a citizen.
Okay Leslie, now you're freaking ME out :)
ReplyDeleteAmanda - GAAAAAAHHHHHHH those things have always freaked me the heck out! I find them in the bathroom here - must like the water? But that's only a few days a week and only like ONE - YOU'VE GOT THEM EVERYWHERE!?? EEEEEEEEEE!! You BRAVE woman you! AAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!! OMlord, just. Oh lordy no.
ReplyDeleteLeslie - OH. MY. GAWD. I thought that was just a myth. Oh. MY. GAAAAAAAAHHHHH