I am pathetic!
Jun. 13th, 2006 12:00 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
baratronI just went to the bathroom, and on the way, saw a beetle.
irc log from #soc.bi:
astra: ewww, there is a beetle in our house. it is a long, narrow beetle, about 2cm long x 0.7cm wide. it is black. it has 6 legs, like all beetles, which finish fairly far up its body.
astra: do i need to panic? :D
HoopyCat: i bet it's crunchy and yummy
RedWine: astra: dunno. do you have any pets smaller than the beetle?
astra: richard was talking about seeing a beetle shaped like that in the street yesterday, and he thought it was a cockroach - that's why i'm now panicking a bit
astra: but, uh, it doesn't look like the cockroaches in the sims or in animal crossing, so i'm guessing it probably isn't
RedWine: roaches are brown.
RedWine: at least, all the roaches I've seen are brown.
Otterylexa: astra: cockroaches are quite variable.
astra: yeah - in the games, they are brown, and they have long whip-like antennae that come out of their heads and go for most of the length of their bodies
astra: ewww, so it might be a cockroach? eeek!
Otterylexa: I wouldn't worry if it's an isolated incident, but if they become common, that might be a problem
astra: i'm not amazingly bug-phobic, but i just prefer not to have them in the house
SamBC: panicking isn't a good way to deal with roaches
SamBC: it might not be a cockroach, anyway
SamBC: it just might be
astra: (she says, having screamed at the caterpillar on the clothes horse the other day)
astra: it was okay until i saw the legs. *then* it triggered my millipede/centipede phobia
* Rhialto found a cockroach in the toilets at work, recently.
Rhialto: I reported it but there is still no signs of exterminators or even removal of the body.
astra: i just went out with the camera to try to take a photo of it, but it's disappeared. so now, of course, i'm prowling around glaring at all the black fluff on the carpet, in case it moves
and from #cuppajoe:
Cherie: I *don't* like bugs at all.
baratron: but, uh, it doesn't look like the cockroaches in the sims or in animal crossing, so i'm guessing it probably isn't
Cherie: LOL
Cherie: You can always google cockroach images....
Pegasys: in our first house we had cockroaches but my hubby refused to believe that - he said "Oh, they're just waterbugs."
Cherie: I did to find out how to get rid of some. Ewww
Pegasys: http://asl.epfl.ch/research/projects/Leurre/Pictures/HQ/cockroach.jpg
baratron: google cockroach images?! you *have* to be joking!!
baratron: one of my friends posted a photo of _ladybird_ (ladybug) larvae yesterday, and i screamed at them!
Pegasys: ewww
baratron: and adult ladybirds are adorable, and harmless, and useful
baratron: but their larvae are just... like bug larvae
baratron: icky
Pegasys: well, they're bugs, right?
irc log from #soc.bi:
astra: ewww, there is a beetle in our house. it is a long, narrow beetle, about 2cm long x 0.7cm wide. it is black. it has 6 legs, like all beetles, which finish fairly far up its body.
astra: do i need to panic? :D
HoopyCat: i bet it's crunchy and yummy
RedWine: astra: dunno. do you have any pets smaller than the beetle?
astra: richard was talking about seeing a beetle shaped like that in the street yesterday, and he thought it was a cockroach - that's why i'm now panicking a bit
astra: but, uh, it doesn't look like the cockroaches in the sims or in animal crossing, so i'm guessing it probably isn't
RedWine: roaches are brown.
RedWine: at least, all the roaches I've seen are brown.
Otterylexa: astra: cockroaches are quite variable.
astra: yeah - in the games, they are brown, and they have long whip-like antennae that come out of their heads and go for most of the length of their bodies
astra: ewww, so it might be a cockroach? eeek!
Otterylexa: I wouldn't worry if it's an isolated incident, but if they become common, that might be a problem
astra: i'm not amazingly bug-phobic, but i just prefer not to have them in the house
SamBC: panicking isn't a good way to deal with roaches
SamBC: it might not be a cockroach, anyway
SamBC: it just might be
astra: (she says, having screamed at the caterpillar on the clothes horse the other day)
astra: it was okay until i saw the legs. *then* it triggered my millipede/centipede phobia
* Rhialto found a cockroach in the toilets at work, recently.
Rhialto: I reported it but there is still no signs of exterminators or even removal of the body.
astra: i just went out with the camera to try to take a photo of it, but it's disappeared. so now, of course, i'm prowling around glaring at all the black fluff on the carpet, in case it moves
and from #cuppajoe:
Cherie: I *don't* like bugs at all.
baratron: but, uh, it doesn't look like the cockroaches in the sims or in animal crossing, so i'm guessing it probably isn't
Cherie: LOL
Cherie: You can always google cockroach images....
Pegasys: in our first house we had cockroaches but my hubby refused to believe that - he said "Oh, they're just waterbugs."
Cherie: I did to find out how to get rid of some. Ewww
Pegasys: http://asl.epfl.ch/research/projects/Leurre/Pictures/HQ/cockroach.jpg
baratron: google cockroach images?! you *have* to be joking!!
baratron: one of my friends posted a photo of _ladybird_ (ladybug) larvae yesterday, and i screamed at them!
Pegasys: ewww
baratron: and adult ladybirds are adorable, and harmless, and useful
baratron: but their larvae are just... like bug larvae
baratron: icky
Pegasys: well, they're bugs, right?
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no subject
Date: 2006-06-12 11:08 pm (UTC)If it is a cockroach, yes they're annoying, but they aren't going to poison you by biting or stinging. Given your sensitivities, if there's more than just one bug-that-can-be-stomped, if you're concerned about what's in the bug poison baits, you might want to arrange to spend a day or two elsewhere before getting an exterminator in. [I don't know if the companies that sell things with names like "roach motel" publish complete lists of what's in them--it might be considered proprietary information, at least in part.]
no subject
Date: 2006-06-13 08:04 pm (UTC)I think
Why are cockroaches supposed to be disgusting and horrible, anyway? Is it supposedly a sign that your house hasn't been properly cleaned, or something? Aren't they one of these things that, in other parts of the world, are just endemic and you co-exist with them peacefully?
no subject
Date: 2006-06-14 05:29 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-06-12 11:31 pm (UTC)but flying and black together preclude cockroach-ness. flying cockroaches (which are carribean in origin) are mahogany-coloured.
the ones we've had buzzed as well. but perhaps yours escaped before you noticed that?
-m-
no subject
Date: 2006-06-13 02:05 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-06-13 07:16 am (UTC)I seem to remember a piece of folklore about many black beetles meant a wet summer.
no subject
Date: 2006-06-13 07:53 pm (UTC)The diagram was useful though, because it reminded me that just about every beetle I've ever seen has been, uh, (scrabbling for words) - basically the same shape as a ladybird, or an old-style Volkswagen Beetle. Oval. Even a stag beetle is basically the same shape as a ladybird, just a lot bigger and blacker and with the antler-like pincers on the top. This beetle wasn't oval at all - it was rectangular, with slightly rounded corners. Like the shape of a pallisade cell in diagrams of the leaf. I've never seen a rectangular beetle before.
I'm just amused by my own patheticness. I mean, honestly, I'm not particularly scared of arthropods, with the exception of the ones with too many legs or stings. So why did seeing a strange beetle trigger some sort of "oh my God, it must be something sinister, argh, d00m" feeling rather than curiosity? The only thing I can think of is that Richard mentioned seeing what he thought was a cockroach in the street the other day, so the thought of the house being invaded by such beasties was fresh in my mind. Or something.