House Critters

House Critters

It’s time to introduce the critters that show up in my house in Thailand.  I’ll start with the regulars – the geckos – then move on to some less frequent visitors, with a short excursion into the culinary realm.  Read on!

These little lizards, called jing-jok in Thai, are in everyone’s house here, as far as I can tell.  They are small – some only a little more than an inch long from nose to tip of tail, others up to about three inches. The name gecko supposedly comes from their chirping call (chek chek chek), which sounds almost bird-like. Also known as house lizards, they are tolerated indoors because they eat so many mosquitos and other insects.  When I saw them at my first host family’s home, they looked so cute skittering up and down the walls after bugs, in and out of the kitchen, that I couldn’t help laughing. My host would just shake his head and say “dirty.”  And they are – you learn to watch out for their droppings. I don’t laugh all that often during my daily round of sweeping up gecko poop.  As far as I know, they can’t be trained to use a litter box!  Snails also get into the house every so often and leave poop to clean up, but I rarely see them. Geckos are there every day.

The bigger house lizards, which may grow to a length of nearly two feet, are called tokay; these are the ones whose call most resembles the name “gecko.” To me, it sounds like “eckk – ohh” repeated several times, a mournful sound, supposedly to attract a mate.  I haven’t haven’t seen one since moving into my rental house, but they’re here. I often hear them above me at night, so they must be on or in the roof somewhere.  I’m glad for high ceilings in this house!  If you don’t bother them, they don’t bother you. For a picture of the tokay, follow this link: http://www.naturephoto-cz.com/tokay-gecko-photo-1753.html

 

I found this guy, or gal, who knows, unfortunately already deceased, during my morning rounds with the broom recently. At first I thought it was a leaf, but quickly realized it was a big insect, and that it was doubtless the cause of the noise on the roof the night before. My first guess had been that the noise was related to the raucous party next door, but when I looked out, the revelers were all indoors, so that theory had to be scrapped.  The roof is tin, so the thrashing about of an insect this large could create the scrabbling, scraping noises I heard. It must have jumped or fallen from a tree to the roof and then got stuck.  After I posted the photo on Facebook, a friend sent me the scientific name, Pseudophyllus Titan, a nocturnal insect. Here is the link to more information in English and Thai, if you are interested. http://www.malaeng.com/blog/?paged=37

The insect brings to mind the frequently asked question: Do people in Northeastern Thailand eat insects?  -- Yes, they do, as well as other, um, alternative sources of protein that I’ve avoided by being a vegetarian.  Every so often a bowlful of bugs shows up on the lunch table in the teachers’ room at school. Some colleagues use a fork and spoon to eat them. Others take a small handful of sticky rice (another specialty of the region, always eaten with the fingers) and use a pinch of rice to pick up a morsel from the plate of bugs.  Insects are only a small part of people’s diet in this region. Look for more about food in a future post. Meanwhile, here’s a link to a post about different kinds of edible insects: http://voices.yahoo.com/which-fried-insects-eat-where-bangkok-thailand-6844082.html?cat=16

Toads and frogs also get into the house every so often. If you’re on Facebook, you probably saw a post in August about a toad in my bed. It was early on a Sunday morning, I was drinking coffee and reading news online, and while waiting for a web site to load (slow internet), decided to shake out my bedding.  When I picked up my blanket, there was the toad, a good-sized one, about as big as my fist, right next to the pillow. It had apparently come in under a door that doesn’t fit closely to the floor. The landlord fixed the problem by stuffing cardboard in the crack.  -- I didn’t think to take a picture of my unwanted visitor, just grabbed rubber gloves, picked up the toad, and took it outside. This photo from Wikimedia Commons is a good enough likeness.

Snakes:  I’m happy to say I’ve seen no snakes in the house yet, but it’s probably only a matter of time.  Every so often the morning news has videos of plumbers or pest control services having been called to extract a snake from the plumbing in someone’s house.  Stay tuned!