We talked previously about the mosquitoes in Uruguay. They’re still an ongoing problem, but we’ve been also under attack by other types of bugs in the last few weeks… bugs like we’ve never seen before.
Coming from San Diego, there aren’t too many crazy looking bugs… just your standard garden-variety bugs plus lots of spiders.
These pictures were taken about a week and a half ago. We had several of these bugs in our apartment one night. We have no idea what they are, but they were aggressive. They would try to charge you, but luckily Brian was able to get them out of the apartment.
You can’t see it very clearly in these pictures, but they had pinchers. I’m not sure if they bite or sting, or if they are poisonous, but I’m glad that we didn’t have to find out!
So can anyone tell us what these are?
Debbie Bennett says
These look like little monsters! can’t say what they are… you could kill one and bring it to your local ferreteria or even pharmacy to identify.
We had oval yellow pods sticking to our walls, brought one to the pharmacy and the pharmacist identified it as a moth pod. By the way, pharmacies sell boric acid (ácido bórico), which we found killed the cockroaches effectively, and is a safer alternative to pesticides as well.
Spiders are the main problem we’ve had in our house in MVD. They love to come down from our very high ceilings. The ceilings are aesthetically beautiful, but very impractical to clean!
I must say though, that we were suprised at the small number of bugs and insects here, in the house and on the ground. We had a lot more cockroaches and ants and mosquitos in Atlanta and Florida.
Brian and Chrystal says
Hey Debbie,
That’s a good idea… The next time I see one of those I’ll kill it and take it to the farmacia.
I know why you don’t have many bugs around your house, it’s because of your spiders. I wouldn’t mind us having a few tucked up in the corners of our apt 😉
I’ve been trying to get a picture of one, but the cockroaches here are huge… 2-3″… I see them on the sidewalks in the late evening… But they move faster than I can get the camera up, in focus and a picture taken…
I guess it’s all relative to where you’re from though…
You just made a compelling argument for not living in Atlanta and FL 😉
In San Diego there are tons of ants, spiders, flies and a scorpion here and there… But that’s about it. The mosquitoes there are gnats compared to the ones here and there certainly aren’t any bugs that look like the one in the picture above.
Mimi says
As good as your pictures are, you might try printing them and taking them to the farmacia to see if they can identify the bugs. They look like a mutated mosquito! Boric acid is the base of the brand Roach Pruf but I always just buy the generic boric acid. You might also look for citronella plants and set them on your window ledges or on a table next to the window. Cintronella oil rubbed around the window frames might also help.
Jim says
Looks like a type of grasshopper. Was it flying? The wings look puny. Something next to it for scale would be helpful.
The mosquitoes are crazy today again. March is tough,no?
Cheers,
Jim
Brian and Chrystal says
Hey Mimi…
We’ll look into the citronella plants, with 2 little ones we’ll probably pass on the boric acid for right now…
Jim…
I don’t think it was a type of grasshopper… It didn’t jump… The pictures don’t do the wings justice, it flew just like a wasp… And when I caught one with a paper towel the back section was trying to pinch or sting me…
Yeah… every time it seems the mosquitoes are starting to let up it rains and they’re out in full force.
Franco V says
I’ve never seen a bug like that, and I’ve been living here for 33 years! And I’ve been all over the country, in the city and the countryside…
If you find out what it is, please let us know.
Inga says
I’d agree about crazy bugs here. Here in Canelones, we have lots of fire ants, mosquitos, flies, huge spiders and plenty of bugs I can’t identify. Oh and there was one very scary HUGE centipede that I have no idea where it came from. In addition to all that we have lots of frogs and yesterday I saw a small red and black snake. Does anyone know of a good website that has photos of local snakes – I want to make sure I know that the poisonous ones look like for future reference.