Mende

“Cockroach”

I was over at the girls’ dorm the other night just to hang out and use the wireless connection they have when I heard a bunch of them in the hall freaking out about something. I stepped out to see what the commotion was about and there was a bunch of ants parading down their hallway carrying a cockroach carcass. I checked their progress a little later and they were carrying the thing into the bathroom and maybe into the wall, not totally sure. I thought it was pretty cool but most of the girls were really grossed out or bothered by it. Their dorm definitely has more wildlife in it. Or so I thought.

A day or two later I woke up before class to go through my morning routine. I can’t remember if this was Monday or Tuesday but I might have gotten up early to do laundry or something so my suitcase that I keep my dirty laundry was moved from where it normally is. I didn’t notice until maybe 15 minutes before I was going to leave for breakfast that there was a dead cockroach laying on its back next to my desk where I usually have my suitcase/dirty laundry hamper. I thought it was pretty gross because it was maybe 2.5” long with antennae that had to stretch at least 4”. I took some pictures of it on my digital camera and continued with my morning for a bit just to delay the dreaded picking-up-and-carrying-to-the-wastebasket. When that time finally did come though, I tore off some toilet paper to grab it with, but when I reached down to wrap it up, the thing started kicking and scrambling. Apparently it had just fallen from somewhere onto its back and, very turtle-like, couldn’t get right itself.

After taking care of all other things I had to do before breakfast, it was time to face the music and dispose of this thing. I don’t really like to senselessly end the lives of any animals or insects so I had to think of a way to just get it out of my room (also, imagine the sort of spatter and stench of crushing the life out of a bug of the size… no thanks.) The solution I arrived at was to just finish the six liter disposable water bottle I had and somehow scoot it in there. The mouth wasn’t significantly larger than the cockroach, especially with its legs kicking around, but it was the only option I really had. I invited Dylan from next door to come watch and I set my camera on the floor because I might as well film this with my video setting. Cutting to the chase, I was successful in getting it in the jug without it flipping over to run around (or maybe fly; can they do that?) and it was time to leave and eat.

I wasn’t able to come back to my room for maybe three to five hours later in the day and I kept forgetting and remembering throughout the day that I have a cockroach in a water jug sitting on my desk… not pleasant to come home too. I ended up just setting it by the trash can on our floor and it’s gone now, but unfortunately it wasn’t the only thing to go. I guess I forgot to put my memory card back in my camera so the video definitely did not save. There is a very small amount of internal memory in the camera so some of the pictures I took are still alive but I can’t figure out how to get them off of my camera. I’m kind of bummed because I feel like visuals would help you understand what I was talking about here. Sorry.

One last thing that is sort of off topic is that I generally get back to my room after dark because the sun sets here before dinner time and I’ll often hang out with the other people over at their dorm. When I got back last week, there was a little gecko under my window that I tried to shoo away towards the window, but ended up chasing behind my bed, right where I keep the other suitcase I traveled with. Last night after I got back, I had to remake my bed and re-tuck the mosquito net, including the area at the foot of my bed where that suitcase is. This time when I got near that spot, a bigger gecko came running out dashing up the wall towards the window. As far as animals around here, I like these lizards the most because I’m pretty sure they eat the bugs like flies and mosquitoes which are more pests to me than the geckos are. This one escaped, though I don’t know how because the window has a screen. I wish he would have stayed to eat some bugs but I guess I’m just not that fortunate.

Some closing thoughts/issues from these stories:
- I don’t know how these bugs get in or where they live but these are definitely not rare or isolated cases.
- There was only one cockroach that I saw. I don’t know how it got there, why it was laying on its back, if there are others, etc.
- The biggest lizard I’ve seen here so far was able to sneak out my window and around the screen somehow. These screens must not be very effective.