Invasion

Thursday, 10 July 2008 06:55 jennifer Life in Mazatlan
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When we woke up this morning, our house had been utterly invaded by great, winged waspy things. Gross. I don't know where they came from, or even what they are, but I do know they were everywhere: hallways, kitchen, dining room, living room, office, even the garage. The only place they hadn't infiltrated was our bedroom, thank god. I'm not sure I could have ever recovered from waking up with giant bugs in my bed.

The bathroom was bad enough. One look inside was enough to convince me I could delay my morning ablutions just this once. I tiptoed upstairs through a maze of creepy crawlers, only to discover the problem was worse up there. Ick! If you aren't squeamish, enlarge the picture.

I kind of stood there for a minute thinking what the...? And the next minute shifted to what am I going to do about them? Reku was pretty freaked out. He thoroughly checked his bed, then laid down and kept wary watch on the critters. Tasha didn't care. She trotted through the house, stepping on the bugs willy nilly. Of course, that didn't really comfort me, because she also wasn't disturbed by the bat.

I really couldn't see myself chasing down and squashing that many bugs. I couldn't stand that many crunches, and I probably would have run out of paper towels. Chuck to the rescue. He noticed that they all seemed to be sluggish and in some stage of dying (well, most of them anyway), so he simply went and got the broom and dustpan and started sweeping them all up. He had to occasionally bang the dustpan to make sure they all stayed in there, but he got almost all of them.

The bugs are about one inch long with a very bulbous thorax and abdomen and tiny head. They have four translucent, amber wings, with the longer set being about 2 inches, that make a very angry sounding buzz when they try to fly. And they have stingers. If anyone has any idea what they might be or why they swarmed in our house, I would love to hear them.

Comments (1)
  • NancyD  - Awful...
    I don't know what they are, but I wonder if one of your neighbors sprayed a nest nearby and they flew into your open windows to die?

    Take a look at this thread at Viva Veracruz and see if maybe it is these critters?

    http://vivaveracruz.ranchocalypso.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=772

    Nancy
  • jennifer  - Awful...
    I emailed pictures to Scott from ProCare Mazatlan, and he swung by to have a look. He said ants. The thing I mistook for a stinger is evidently reproductive related. They are edible (yuck!) leafcutter ant queens. Each hive has several queens and they swarm after big rains. http://www.whatsthatbug.com/ants.html
  • jennifer  - Awful...
    And I just want to add, don't let the word ant fool you. They are 1-2 inches in length I didn't know ants came hat big, and I certainly won't eat them, I don't care who says they are a delicacy.
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