Jamaican critters - good, bad and ugly

[mountaingal]

Re: Jamaican critters - good, bad and ugly

Originally posted by rebel:
[qb]
Ah my little roach buddies [img]/forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img] I took some pictures of those guys last trip but they turned out blurry so I didn't post them. Roaches are a little creepy for sure. [/qb]

i recall a number of types of roaches from Jamaica - the one they call teenager, the ones that fly (seriously creepy), and the ones that are broad and flat and when you step on them, they just sink down under the weight of your foot and then just scurry off when you take your foot off their backs. they had a name for those, but i can't remember it.

i'm gonna go look for spiders.

[rebelgirl]

Re: Jamaican critters - good, bad and ugly

speaking of EEewwww!!!

tailless whip scorpion

[M]

Re: Jamaican critters - good, bad and ugly

MG, all I know is that my husband called them bush rats. The large size (18" and 11 pounds or more) sounds right, but length of the tail is off. The ones I saw had tails about 1 foot long or more - about as long as the body. I know they did not have 2 inch tails.

Since this thread is already pretty creepy, I'll describe that my viewing perspective on these rats was to be lying in bed in the evening and one of them would run across the beam over my head. So it isn't like I had a nice "school portrait view" like the one you posted of the handsome fellow [img]/forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img] . Sometimes the only thing I really saw was the long tail moving past overhead - this is why I am sure it was not a 2 inch tail. The fur also seemed darker than that of the rodent in the photo.

I am sure they were the same kind of Jamaican rat that Anthony Winkler described - I think it was in Going Home to Teach. The kind of rat that scarfed down rat poison like candy and grew fat and glossy on it. [img]/forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

They built a nest under the house, so they were not all that shy.

Can't wait for the spiders. I saw some really strange ones that looked like they had been cut in half, but they were very alive [img]/forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif[/img] .

[dr. bones]

Re: Jamaican critters - good, bad and ugly

Originally posted by mountaingal:
[qb]

Originally posted by dr. bones:
[qb] I hate fortylegs. Had one on my foot when I was in Ja in May. It was big, and ugly, and gross. Just glad the thing didn't bite me.

What about rat bats, and cockroaches [/qb]

i've never seen a rat bat up close in Jamaica, though as a child i used to with my great aunt to clean their droppings out of the church belfry. but i'll try to see if there's a species particular to jamaica and post a pic. i remember doing a radio article once on some bats that canadian scientists recorded in a cave in jamacia.

cockroaches - i figured i'd tackle them after the lizards. cockroaches are another set of things that make me cringe... [/qb]

I saw a rat bat up close last year when we stayed in a villa in Ironshore. It flew in, and hung upside down from the rafters. Funny thing I have seen in a long time was 2 of our friends trying to shoo it out. They were chasing it w/ a broom, running and screaming everytime it would fly by their heads. Chivalry is not dead [img]/forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

[Q3210]

Re: Jamaican critters - good, bad and ugly

MG, the teeny spotted, curling tail critter is called a polly lizzard, now you remember.

[M]

Re: Jamaican critters - good, bad and ugly

Originally posted by mountaingal:
[qb]Also, the John Crow, aka the turkey vulture or turkey buzzard, was covered in this archived thread I did earlier in the year:
http://www.jamaicans.com/ubb/ultimat...;f=22;t=000574 [/qb]

Thanks for the link to this - another great thread. Nice to see the woodpecker. I did not see any of those little green parrots though - it amazed me the first time I saw a flock of them flying all around. I guess I was too used to seeing similar birds in cages [img]/forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img] .

[rebelgirl]

Re: Jamaican critters - good, bad and ugly

Any luck finding spiders MG?

[M]

Re: Jamaican critters - good, bad and ugly

Originally posted by rebel:
[qb] Any luck finding spiders MG? [/qb]

I was also wondering what happened to her. Hope the spiders didn't frighten her away!

It's funny - I don't mind at all looking at the photos of these creatures - it's when they start to MOVE that they scare me!

[DC]

Re: Jamaican critters - good, bad and ugly

A very gross but informative thread [img]/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] ... I hate those creepy, crawly, flying things

I remembered an ant we called pickle mi teeny ant. I think they were really tiny in size and kinda red but their bite is so vicious.. [img]/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] anyone?

[tonirand]

Re: Jamaican critters - good, bad and ugly

Originally posted by mountaingal:
... and the ones that are broad and flat and when you step on them, they just sink down under the weight of your foot and then just scurry off when you take your foot off their backs. they had a name for those, but i can't remember it.

Drummer Roach. Flat, broad, shiny an haad fi ded!

Btw, dis chred is very scary. Faatyleg and di likes

Den dere was di big black and gold spider dem. Dem look like smaddy rub vaseline all ovah dem [img]/forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

[M]

Re: Jamaican critters - good, bad and ugly

Since MG doesn't seem to be reappearing, here is a photo of a spider I found that someone had posted amongst their photos of their vacation in Jamaica. Maybe someone knows the name of the type of spider?

[M]

Re: Jamaican critters - good, bad and ugly

Jamaican fruit eating bat .

[M]

Re: Jamaican critters - good, bad and ugly

double post - once was bad enough!!!

[rebelgirl]

Re: Jamaican critters - good, bad and ugly

Oh the bat is so cute. [img]/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] I loved sitting on the porch watching them snag fruit and then munch it from their perch in the trees. I liked hearing their echo location too. I'm a bat fan. I used to sit out at night here and watch the little bug bats do their thing too, unfortunately the old house they used to roost in burnt down, and the bats have left my neighborhood. [img]/forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img] I'm looking forward to seeing bats again in my new home. I love them, like cute fuzzy mice with wings. Very docile the times I've caught them too. like any wild animal they will bite if you scare them too much but I haven't been bitten yet.

Why are people so frightened of bats anyway? [img]/forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif[/img]

[afer]

Re: Jamaican critters - good, bad and ugly

Originally posted by rebel:
[qb]

Why are people so frightened of bats anyway? [img]/forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif[/img] [/qb]

Superstition.

Like many of other creatures, the bat is beneficial to humans. For instance:

They control the insect pest population, like mosquities and ticks and other desease carrying kinds.

The fruit bats reseed our forests.
The guano of the vampire bats is the most fertile of all fertilizers: natural or manufactured.

On a lighter note; bats are the most religious of all creatures including humans. Besides caves, they made their homes permanently in churches. They live in the steeples, in the eaves, and in the belfrys. All the while, hanging upside-down patiently waiting, so that they can better hear the WORD.

That bat is an angel. It is the only proof we have of a flying mammal [img]/forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]