Now for a little change of pace from my previous few blog posts…I have an unwanted visitor (or three or four) to my house in Monterrey. I first encountered this visitor when I was in my kitchen, and I turned and saw a GIANT cockroach sitting on the window curtain. He was the biggest cockroach I have ever seen, at least 3 ½ inches long, with antennae about four inches long. I reacted quickly and was able to push him back through the window (most of which don’t have screens) and shut the glass pane quickly. Phew!
But then a few days later I was sitting in my living room
and saw a dark shape moving in the middle of my kitchen floor. I went over and
it was the giant cockroach again, this time flipped over on his back trying to
right himself and scurry away. He REALLY creeped me out. I can deal with
spiders, bees, wasps, snakes, mice, whatever, but for some reason the big
cockroaches just creep me out. The weird thing is that I think they are kind of
cute, and I know they can’t do any harm to you. I just can’t get over their
size and how they are able to fly, but really erratically, and run really fast.
Despite my horror at this giant cockroach being in my house (mere meters from
my bedroom!) I just couldn’t bring myself to squash him. I’m usually not one to
kill things in my house, although I have gotten desensitized to killing the
smaller cockroaches that are very numerous in my house here (and when at home
in the US I’m fine with others killing the bigger cockroaches, as long as I
don’t have to see it). However, with Cocky (as Tom later called him) I think
his bigger size prevented me from squashing him. I think it’s partially a
squeamish thing (that would be a lot of guts to clean up!) but also somehow the
bigger the thing is the more “sentient” it appears to me. Completely
irrational, I know, but I just couldn’t kill him. Which left me with one
choice: catch him and release him outside.
I got a large Tupperware and put it over him before he could
right himself, and slid a piece of paper under it to collect him. I took him to
the front door to let him go. I knew I should take him far from the house, but
I could feel him scampering around inside the Tupperware and I was afraid he
was going to get out and crawl on me, so once I got outside I just opened the
lid and threw him as far as I could. Which turned out to be a few meters from
my front door. I slammed my front door and hoped “Out of sight, out of mind”
would hold true.
However, I think Cocky went and told a few of his buddies
about the nice house I have, because over the next couple weeks I’ve been
seeing a cockroach hanging out on the outside wall of the house next door,
right across from my bedroom window upstairs. I don’t think it’s Cocky (this
one’s too small) so he has been dubbed Cocky Junior. I also went to the
bathroom one night and there was yet another one in the hallway just outside my
bedroom door. This one also looked different from the other two, so he has been
named Cocky the Third. And finally, the night before I had to get up early for
my first field trip, one of them paid me a visit in my bedroom and I had to
chase him around my room until I caught him. But this time I made sure to walk
down the street and around the corner before letting him go…
I think these guys are just waiting for their chance to get
back in, because every night before bed I check the walls outside my bedroom
and one of them is almost always there, just biding his time. It’s crazy hot and
stuffy in my bedroom, but most nights the thought of having one of them get
into my bedroom and crawl on me while I’m sleeping keeps me from opening my
windows. I do have a floor fan after all...
So that’s the story of Cocky, Cocky Junior, and Cocky the Third.
I’m hoping our story continues for my remaining five weeks with just an uneasy
truce and no more home invasions, but something tells me that the encounters
aren’t over yet…
Me every time I try to catch one of the Cockies...
No comments :
Post a Comment