Ants, Mosquitoes, and Spiders, Oh My!

Team work 

Ants: I have an issue with ants. This issue goes back to when I lived in the States. There’s something about seeing ants in the kitchen that really gets to me. Unfortunately for me, ants are EVERYWHERE in Samoa. And I mean everywhere. I understand they’re trying to find food to support their armies, or take back to the queen ant, or whatever. In all honestly, I don’t care what their motive is. They’re invading my space, and I don’t like it. I got upset when I first moved to Savai’i because I didn’t have food containers yet, so I put an open bag of crackers in a zip lock bag. It kept the ants out for a few days. Then one morning, I woke up, and the ants ate through the bag! I was so angry because one, they ATE THROUGH THE BAG, and two, they messed up my morning routine of eating crackers with PB&J. I’m not at the point where I’ll eat ant-infested food, although I hear that many PCVs get to that point.

I now have food containers. A few days ago, I woke up to find ants all over one of the them. As you’ve probably guessed, I got upset. What did I do? I put the container in my shower, turned on the water, and drowned the ants. Then I said a prayer, in hopes that the ants weren’t inside the container, attacking my food. What do you think? Did the ants get inside? NO THEY DIDN’T! I was so excited by this! Geeze, I realize that this section makes me sound like a crazy person! Ha.

It’s taking some time, but I’m getting used to the ants. When I see one now, I don’t bother to kill it (unless I see several in one area, or the ant is on my bed). Why don’t I kill the solo ant? It’s pointless to kill it because minutes later, another ant will appear, to take the dead ant (cannibalism?). I suppose it’s pointless to kill the group of ants, too. But for now, I can’t help it.

My PST village in Upolu had ants, of course, but they weren’t this bad. It may be because I didn’t have food in my room since my host family cooked for me.

Mosquitoes: The other night I sprayed Mortein (insect killer) to rid the ants. Seconds later, 200+

Mosquitoes dropped to the floor, hopping a few times, and then dying. It was a mosquito apocalypse. I know it sounds like an exaggeration, but it’s not. I have a picture to prove it. The strange thing is, I had no idea there were so many mosquitoes in my house. What’s scary to think about is they would have attacked my mosquito net, plotting a way to get in. And plenty get in. The nets aren’t mosquito proof. And yes, I am tucking my net under my mattress. Believe it or not, the mosquitoes can go through the net easily. I’ve witnessed it. Anyway, I swept the dead mosquitoes into a pile, and took a photo. During this time, I was barefoot. Of course there were smashed mosquitoes on the bottom of my feet. I took a photo of that, too, but it’s gross, so I’ll spare the readers.

There seems to be more mosquitoes in Savai’i, compared to Upolu. Maybe it has to do with the fact that my fale is so close to the water (it’s on the sea wall). In Upolu, my PST village was near water too, about a one-minute walk to the sea.

I even have mosquitoes wiring on my windows. But they get in. And they bite me. I’ve had about 30 mosquito bites at once. It’s difficult to get used to because I come from New Mexico, where I get bite once, maybe twice a year. Here, I’m getting bit several times a day. And yes, I’m putting on insect repellent, yet am still getting bit.

Dead mosquitoes

Spiders: I won’t go on a crazy rant about spiders like I did with ants and mosquitoes. All I will say is that there are plenty of spiders here. Since I’ve moved to Savai’i, I have found several small spiders, and three LARGE ones that were scary looking. They were about the size of a .50 piece. The latest one I found was larger.

It was a lot bigger in person