What type of critters live at your elevation?

[mella l]

Do you have centipedes, spiders, or what type of creepy crawlers, poison toads?

Actually what elevation do you live at and what have been your experiences and number of occurances? Just curious if it is scary, prevelant, and often and where on the east side! Just needed something to obsess about!LOL!

mella l

[leilaniguy]

Aloha mella, We're at 940', top of Leilani, have very few centipedes, but have seen both the flat blue kind and the big brown ones too, never been bit(knock on wood). All kinds roaches from 1/4 inch to the B52 bombers. There are cane spiders like a half size tarantula, but rare up here. There is a small black widow type red spider that has a mosquito-like bite. Also several types mosquitos with different "flavored" bites, a tiny flying beetle variously called beer bugs, cocktail bugs or barrel bugs that everyone around here is used to picking out of their drinks in the evening, all kinds of flies, fleas, ticks, moths, butterflies. We have Bufo (poison toad) but the dogs seem to know better, never been a problem. Several kinds of ants. Huge black bumble type bees, even bigger black wasps. Hornets have invaded from the mainland and are getting common around guava. Also several slimey bizarre creatures like slugs of different shapes and sizes, along with mice, rats, mongoose, pigs, feral cats, coqui. Invite the geckos and anoles into your home and you'll have fewer bugs. I've learned to appreciate them, even though they've pooped in my dinnerplate (and on my head) a few times. I read somewhere once that the average American inhales over 70 bugs over a lifetime while sleeping. I probably suck in that many in a week. All part of life in paradise. Welcome to the tropics!




Edited by - leilaniguy on 01/23/2006 04:00:43

[mella l]

Thanks Hutch, On all our our ventures over to the BI we mostly stay at the 1700 ft elevation. I have seen plenty of little gnats, a few mosquitoes and lots of geckos, brown and green. The gnats seem to like the little ripening red fruits. Have seen the mongoose but mostly when we were down by the coast areas. Do you have any chickens? Do you think they help?

mella l

[leilaniguy]

My neighbors up the road brought in a few chicks about 3 years ago to eat coqui, but they still seem to have as many frogs as us, and we get to hear roosters all night along with the frogs. Since chickens are jungle fowl, this is the perfect place for them to multiply. They have spread across several acres on our road. Chickens do eat a lot of bugs and weed sprouts, but are indiscriminate, they also eat geckos and anoles and find prized plants and veggies delicious. I myself don't have chickens, mainly because my 2 dogs and 3 cats think they are so much fun to chase and eat.

[mella l]

Right! Think I'll skip the chickens for now. If I get some I'll get all girls then, but oh no the free range neighbor boys will find them I bet. OK NO chickens. Maybe a dog to go with the kitties!

mella l

[LMMinica]

Aloha- Not that I am a expert on any creatures,but when we visited in aug-05 I was really facinated w/ the Gecko. What a wonderful creature. So elegant,and cute. Now the couple that we rented our cottage from had a little book of "rules" in their home one of which said "If you see a Gecko kill it and flush it down the toliet" I was like-what? They are supposed to be very good for bugs and such.Am I not correct. And I could never bring myself to squash and flush such a cute little thing.One of the first nights we were ther I woke in the early morning to use the restroom and screamed bloodey murder at the site of a pretty large Gecko under the window seal in the restroom. It did it's trademark pose and scurried under the window. Now I think it's must have lived there for some time as big as it was and I don't think many tourists staying in that cottage have the had the heart to flush it. The owners claimed that did not like the poop.OH well poop or cockroaches?? Hummm? I think cleaning tiny droppings over giant ,flying, hovercraft cockroaches is my cup of tea anyday...Lisa

Coming to Hawaii!! Yeah!