It’s definitely summer here with temperatures hovering around 80 F, blue skies, perfectly ripe cherries at the market and bugs. Yeah, bugs. But not any old bugs, which I’ve gotten used to. Nope, these GIANT insects that are scary as hell and seemingly come out of nowhere. You see, there are no screens on windows in France so whatever is outside has free reign to walk, er fly, right on in. And twice this week already, one of these kritters has made its way inside…
Get ready to scream!
Insects in France invasion
Let me say upfront that I don’t like bugs but I don’t have a phobia or anything. I hate getting bitten by mosquitoes but the sight of one (or a spider, beetle or fly) doesn’t disgust me. Until now. After two run-ins with the thing below, I think I’m about ready to string up thin sheets and duct tape them to every window in our house. Insects in France are no joke. This beetle/bug/roach/??? FLIES, has a crunchy back like a cockroach and has a HUGE pincer on the front. Worst part is that it is BIG, like 4 inches long or so. Just typing this is giving me the heebie jeebies. Again.
Both times, I asked Tom to deal with it and he was thoroughly disgusted. SO here’s the pic (the one from Monday was actually bigger than this):
WHAT THE HECK IS THIS THING????
After checking out Google, it seems to be a stag beetle and is pretty much harmless. Apparently the stag beetle is quite common and are “more and more threatened, as they require standing dead wood in which they can spend 3-5 years as a larva. As a consequence they are protected in both France and Britain.” Ooops. We killed two.
Holy crap – that is terrifying! If I found one of these in my apartment I think I’d wet myself!
I almost did and ran away! I wouldn’t care if it was the size of my thumbnail but you couldn’t even close your hand all the way around it. They’re that big!! EEEEEeeeeek
That last bit killed me – too funny! I do not miss the rain spiders that frequented my last apartment, anything bigger than a coin with wings and a pincer would freak me the hell out *just saying.
Oh my, no. That is just unacceptable! We do not have those down here but I would be freaking out if I found that in our house. Le sigh…I do get frustrated with the no screens though – so many flies!
Lucky you don’t have any. They really are frightening! And yea the flies are such a pain, especially the big horse flies that bite. Yuck
We just saw one in Mirepoix in Ariège. None (thankfully) in Carcassonne.
Did you see one just resting on a wall or flying? When they fly, they have no sense of direction and are really scary! eek. Glad you don’t have any where you are!
Poor little thing.
Shame on you killing those beautiful high bio-technology self-regenerating (when not too damaged by ugly giant humans) living beings.
Just imagine how tastefull could be one juicy steak out of this beast?
Ok, off I go. I know, this is no fun when one is reaaally scared.
Well, I would have called you to remove one from my kitchen for me but didn’t have your number. Next time I guess!
I grew up on the french countryside and these are indeed totaly harmless (but impressive). We used to catch them as kids. I have always been much more frightened by the little bugs. The smaller the harmfull according to my experience !
Hello! I understand your point about the small ones being the worst but I have to say that these big buggers are really, really scary if you’re not expecting one to clumsily fly into your house. I don’t find them impressive at all! Ick
Oh boy. That would freak me out too. But I guess it is all what you get used to. Where I live in the US, there are huge flying cicadas that stay outside for the most part :-); and a lot of geckos of all sizes. Geckos in the house are a common occurrence. The either die for lack of food, find their way back out, or if you are fast and can catch one, you can throw it back outside.
OMG what a chance you have !!! I live in north of France and we don’t have that fantastic bugs ! It’s totally harmless ! I’ve been in vacations in south and during the night we opened lights to make them come in ! My huz is a insect lover, my kids too. They take those bugs (and many others spiders, amphibians etc..) in there hands, not a problem, trust me ! Moreover, we have to protect them, they a danger on extinction. Our minds have to dominate irrational fears, aren’t we smarter ? But mosquitos ? No mercy, it’s a war, lol.