Creepy Crawlies

The death toll rises. This morning after breakfast I fumigated my bed. I'm sure the dust buster is nearly bursting with ant carcasses now. They are seriously everywhere and get into everything. Every time I get dressed I have to thoroughly check my clothing to eliminate any of the flesh eating monsters. I'm not exaggerating when I call them flesh eating. If you kill a bug and leave it on the floor in a very short time there will be hundreds of ants there eating it. One evening there was a dead lizard on our veranda and by morning all that was left of it was a skeleton. I am becoming convinced that these ants are a mutation of God's good creation.

I've been taking pictures of the interesting bugs I've seen since arriving in India and since I just posted about my least favorite insect I thought it would be a good time to share some of the other creepy crawlies that are a part of life here in India. Most of them don't bother me too much unless they have 8 legs. I hate spiders!

I saw this beetle crawling on the ground at the Baptist Guest house one night. He was a good 4 inches long.

I've seen spiders like this one all over the place. The shot below demonstrates their size. Both of these shots were taken at Kalapani.

He's as big as Ghandi's face! ;)

A really big caterpillar out at Kalapani...Jiten was yelling at me to take the picture quickly because it was crawling toward his hand.

This spider was in out hotel bathroom in Shillong. We got one of the hotel employees to kill it for us. So gross!

This one was taken during youth camp out at Kalapani. Shyam bravely put his hand next to it for a size reference. There were two of them in the dining area that night. Earlier there had been one in the room where we slept. The next night we killed one, whether it was the same one or not I'm not sure. To quote Shyam, "They are very poisonous, but only if they bite."


This was also taken at the youth camp. A praying mantis. Apparently those pinchers hurt, I didn't get close enough to find out!

I stole this photo from team "get BENT" A Rhinoceros Beetle. It was also taken at Kalapani.

I know, this is not an insect. I actually think the little geckos are cute but Raysha despises them. This photo is in honor of Raysha. In the category of Creepy Crawly Animals I've also seen numerous toads, both large and tiny, as well as a couple of snakes. Good times!