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Insects/bugs

TravelingJ
#1
Ok, I know that it is the Caribbean and that there are bugs (duh).聽 I know there are mosquitos.....but what other little critters are prevalent on the island?聽 We spend a lot of time in Costa Rica.....just wondering if the bug situation is the same.聽

Are there sand fleas, chiggers, no-seeums????

I am a magnet for all these bugs....and am allergic on top.聽 I am not worried about Zika, as I am sure I have already had it and I am not in the child bearing years any longer.聽

Oh, and before anyone asks.....yes, I wear insect repellant.聽 I have tried everything from garlic, vitamin B, Skin So Soft, dryer sheets in my pockets.聽 I now make my own bug repellent out of clove oil and also use a mixture of lavender, citronella, eucalyptus, etc.聽 I also go inside during feasting hour (sunrise/sunset) and wear long pants or a skirt at night.
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lgustaf
#2
I can only speak for my location (Old Town), but I don't have much of an issue with bugs. I get a nice ocean breeze that blows them away and what's left over, the birds and bats get. I think I've seen one mosquito in my apartment. There are tons of cats roaming the streets, and some lizards so there's not a whole lot of creepy-crawlies on the ground either.

What I do get are ants, teeny-teeny-tiny black ones so small they look like a speck of dirt. They're managable as long as you don't leave dirty dishes around.
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ReyP
#3
Bad question to ask, LOL we have all sorts of critters.
There are all sorts of spiders, ants, all sorts of roaches some fly, Comejen, silverfish, millipedes, snakes (non-poisonous), stay away from stagnant waters (bilharzia and leaches). We have monkey running around in some areas with possible Hepatitis C, all sorts of stuff that lives in forests.

Good news: No lions no bears :D
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suzanne12345
#4
TravelingJ... YES... all of those critters are here. Mosquitos don't bother me but those "sand fleas" eat me alive.聽 There's a FB group called Mommies and Daddies Playgroup that is having a long discussion about this right now.
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adlin20
#5
Ants, they qill get into everything!
1 member reacted to this post
J
#6
I lived lIterally in the jungle here for our first 2.5 years, and rarely encountered any problematic insects besides ants.聽 I can count on my fingers the number of times I've seen a scorpion, tarantula, or centipede.聽
Rats love tropical fruits,聽 especially bananas and avocados, so if you have an abundance of fruit trees you may encounter a lot of rodents, and the rodents may attract snakes which in turn will attract mongoose, so be sure to keep down your rodent population!
Now that we live in civilization and near the coast, the only bothersome critters are ants and mosquitos.. Many people (even in the countryside) seem to be ok without screens on doors and windows, but I would not live here without them.聽
Joy
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Figs81
#7
Along the lines of everyone else - it really depends WHERE on the island.

We're in San Juan proper, on the 7th floor of a condo building. We get the mosquitos, and the ones here are all-day, equal opportunity feeders - so there's not really a safe time of day. We also get a few bees, and tragically for me (who hates bugs) a few of the giant cockroaches. Only two-three so far in 1.5 years, but we're talking the 2-3in flying ones. Shudder!

That's been it so far for us.
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ReyP
#8

Figs81 wrote:

Along the lines of everyone else - it really depends WHERE on the island.

We're in San Juan proper, on the 7th floor of a condo building. We get the mosquitos, and the ones here are all-day, equal opportunity feeders - so there's not really a safe time of day. We also get a few bees, and tragically for me (who hates bugs) a few of the giant cockroaches. Only two-three so far in 1.5 years, but we're talking the 2-3in flying ones. Shudder!

That's been it so far for us.


LOL on equal opportunity feeders.
Depending where you live and the activities. If you camp, go into the woods, go to rivers out of the beaten path, you are going to encounter more of the critters. The flying red 2 inch roaches are my favorite as they smack onto your face or hair.
If you don't remember anything, remember this .... Stay away from stagnant bodies of water. You can end up covered in leaches, including the unmentionables or pickup some nasty debilitating parasites.
Most other stuff are just scary looking or a nuisence.
Stagnant water, watch it.

ReyP
#9
Google bilharzia
TravelingJ
#10
Thanks Rey....yuck. No pond swimming for me. That worm sounds nasty.
ReyP
#11
I been covered in leaches many times and 3 uncles had the bilharzia.
ReyP
#12
Deep pools being fed by a river are usually fine, like the pools formed by the cascades in El Yunque, but shallow (2 feet and under) pools that are not actively feed by the river, tend to have the snails that cary it. The leeches can be anywhere but tend not to like cold rivers. I don't usually worry about either, but I am a native so i am used to it.

OHHH I forgot the Crab infestations close to the coastal areas, but those you can eat.
Crickets are as loud as the Coqui, specially if they get into the house, they hide good and are hard to find even with their black color. Hard to sleep with one or two inside the bedroom. Largartijos (small lizards) will take care of it. Cats eat the lagartijos. It is a food chain.
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Schuttzie
#13
I was reading a friend's fb page and they had a termite infestation last night where they swarmed and left the wings and dead bodies everywhere in their home.

Yikes, Rey, those worms sounds awful!
adlin20
#14
Rey, those are the famous lombrices kids used to get. I remembered when my grandma used to make a nasty tea to give us. That was a nasty drink!!!
ReyP
#15
Adlin, they are not the same, but the lombrices were nasty too, stomach was bulging, they were long round worms, white if I remember right, about 4-5 inches long, easy to spot for the parents when they came out. Many kids would end up with that when we grew up, I think it came from eating with dirty hands because we were always paying in the dirt and many people back them all they had was an outhouse. In the country side fishing and playing in the dirt and rivers, you went were you were. So needless to say everything was contaminated.

The bilharzia are very very tiny about the size of a coma in a document, they hatch from the tiny snails in the water that was contaminated, then they would penetrate the skin of the host so you know they are small, most times enter via the bare feet or wet shoes, they would grow, make more eggs, and the eggs would find themselves in the rivers and the snails infected again, which starts the cycle again.

Most parasites are due to lousy hygiene.
Not as common any more because people have toilets and running water now, but it still happens from time to time.
adlin20
#16
Humm! Both sounds like nasty creatures to have. I think the lombrices are mainly non existing in the island now because of better hygiene existing today days. I never heard of the bilharzia before, I would had assumed it was the same. Thank you for the information.

Btwy, how is the house hunting going? Dis the deal for the land went thru? Did you sold the house in the mainland already? We sold our Texas house and are closing next week.
ReyP
#17
Leaving in a few hours to go back to PR. Tuesday we are closing on the 1.7 acre land lot in Ceiba.

The wife is having knee operation in Aug or Sept, so I have to wait for her to recover (3 months) before we can sell our house in MA. Most likely I will be heading permanently to PR and to start building about this time next year unless I get lucky, not many house in this area are sold during winter months.
adlin20
#18
Hope you wife have an easy recover and everything goes well with her surgery.

Wish you good luck on the land purchase and hopefully you will be able to sell the house quickly.
Schuttzie
#19
Congrats, adlin on the sale of your home!聽 Rey, wishing the best for your wife in recovery and you must be excited to close on the property.

Happy Father's Day!!
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ReyP
#20

adlin20 wrote:

Btwy, how is the house hunting going? Dis the deal for the land went thru? Did you sold the house in the mainland already? We sold our Texas house and are closing next week.


Did you not say you were moving to PR in 2018 after completing the cCalifornia contract?
Either way congrats on selling rhe place, hope you got top dollar

ReyP
#21

Schuttzie wrote:

Congrats, adlin on the sale of your home!聽 Rey, wishing the best for your wife in recovery and you must be excited to close on the property.

Happy Father's Day!!


Thanks Schultzie, we just arrived and stopped to get something to eat on the way to the hotel. Tuesday is the closing. Fathers day, a lot of restaurants are doing well today.

adlin20
#22
Rey, we are on track to retire soon. We are going to be going back and forth for the time being. We sold the house in 24hrs! Got full asking price so we are happy. I tell you, it was a pain to get everything out of the house. We got way too much crap!!
Wife still in Texas with my daughters while I'm in California. I will be back to the island Saturday so we can close on the rental property we just purchased. Hopefully once this contract is over we will be ready for retirement.
ReyP
#23
Wow Adlin, house sold in 24 hours!
Hope all goes well on the property you are buying for rental. Are you putting it for short term AirBnb like or for long term rental to locals 6+ months?
adlin20
#24
I already have a long term renter for the house. We got called from the lawyer that the house tittle is clear so we should be good to close on it fist week of July. So hopefully the house will be generating an income to us by September. We are having some repairs done to it as soon as we close. We may invest on one more properly before we retired, that way at least part of our income will be covered. There is a high demand of rental properties in the island even with the bad economy, we think is a good investment. We will see....
ReyP
#25
Sounds like you will be set then Adlin, make sure both properties are close by your home so checking on the place and servicing the places dont become a major hassle.
adlin20
#26
Yes you are right. The property we are closing in is in the same town we grew up. House is 2 blocks from my wife's dads house. So we will have family right next to it. We are still looking for the second property, with the prices of properties been so low now the ROI is very promising.
ReyP
#27
Well I closed on the property a few hours ago and we celebrated with a nice dinner, i had some fried fish with tostones a couple of Coronas and some Guava Flan.
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davidtx
#28
Congratulations Rey!聽 So happy for you and your family!
adlin20
#29
Congratulaciones!!!!
ReyP
#30
Land is 1.73 cuerdas, it equates to 1.65 acres, 1000 feet above sea level. It has a million dollar view of the rossvelt road base, the bay and part of Vieques island.
In some places the grass at the moment is up to my chest, several 40 foot high trees, there is mango, bread fruit, avocado, bananas, plantain, avocado, and other stuff in the lot. Nice strong breeze to keep us cooler and dry the clothes after washing.
We will be building there a year or so from now.
3 members reacted to this post
Thomas173
#31
Congrats Ray sounds great used to fly in to Rosy Roads a lot its great area.
Schuttzie
#32
Sounds like an awesome piece of property!
mandarjones
#33
the only thing I have ever found to work on sand fleas for me was Avons Skin So Soft. I can't stand the stuff, but it works! and Congrats Rey!!!!
ReyP
#34
Thanks Mandar, a lot of people swear by Avon product. It used to ge good then they changed the formula and it stoped working, they had since changed it again and some people say it works.
Worse case you will smell pretty for the mosquitos before they bite.
Here is a link of a drive from the property to PR 53, it is all down hill, note the view on the right side and at time directly in front. Ondulading road may make you dizzy
Posteb by my wife.
trekrider520
#35
Felicidades Rey!!聽 Wishing you all the best!!
ReyP
#36

Thomas173 wrote:

Congrats Ray sounds great used to fly in to Rosy Roads a lot its great area.


I guess you are a pilot, it used to have a lot of locals working there, when they closed the base the town suffered a lot. There are several efforts to build hotels, and cnew comunities there, but no serious investors yet. Also talks of a possible bridge to Vieques and Culebra but they dont have the money and I am not sure that there is enough return on the investment for a bridge to either island.

ReyP
#37
Well we are back in MA, poorer due to the purchase, but now we own a lot where we are going to build our retirement home.
We hated to leave PR but our dogs missed us and I need to go back to the office on Monday.
meljai97
#38

joysarnelli wrote:

the rodents may attract snakes which in turn will attract mongoose, so be sure to keep down your rodent population!
Joy


馃槷馃槷馃槷 Oh no!聽 I thought I had heard there are no snakes in PR!!??聽 聽The critters that I see the most in my development are the little lizards and the big cockroaches (or "palmetto bugs" as we used to call them in Florida) that somehow find their way inside the house.聽 When we lived near the beach the sand fleas were awful from 4pm-7pm and they are tiny enough to go though the screens and you can't see them. I will never live so close to the beach again!!

ReyP
#39
There are snakes in PR, but no poisonous ones unless the scape from somebody keeping them.
I remember the sand fleas, but mostly in the Loiza area, there may be in other areas, but only remember them there
meljai97
#40
Ahhhh thanks Rey, no POISONOUS snakes...聽 聽That makes more sense. No snakes at all would be too good to be true I guess. 馃槀

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