Critters

So, we've moved to a Caribbean island with a tropical climate. What's going to eat us maybe? Surprisingly, not much. That's not to say there aren't critters here in Puerto Rico, but Texas has WAY more stuff waiting to kill you at every turn.

Let's start with reptiles. Many websites state there are no venomous snakes in PR. We actually have one, the racer, but it's venom is mild and the snake is not considered deadly. PR has an overpopulation of iguanas - they are everywhere! We think they're adorable and make every effort not to hit them as they run across traffic. We also have lots of ground lizards - super cute and not harmful to people. The coqui frog is like the mascot of PR; you can hear them "singing" every night. I should mention we've had pet snakes and lizards - we like reptiles. Your experience may vary if you are not a fan.

We stopped to let this little guy get across the road.

This big frog was hanging out at our AirBnB space our first week in PR.

We saw a beautiful blue lizard at the pool here at our condo complex.

Mammals are boring in PR (that's not a complaint). Bats are endemic, everything else was brought by people. No monkeys (except escaped pets), no jaguars - just dogs, cats, goats, cows and horses. We do have rats here. Mongoose were introduced to control the rat population. We've seen rats, stray horses, stray cats, and far too many stray dogs wandering around Isabela.

We see some weird stuff from our balcony. These cows came out of nowhere one night.

These horses wander around every few days or so.

Insects have been a source of entertainment. Reminder: we leave our double doors wide open for at least 12 hours a day, no screens. Bugs can enter our condo freely. In Texas we have June bugs (aka May beetles), those little tan beetles that fly into walls and lamps. Here in PR those suckers get GINORMOUS. We had smaller (what we thought were normal) sized beetles fly in just after dark and we'd watch them bonk into walls and lamps and furniture and then shoo them back out. One night we were having dinner on the balcony and we heard an intense buzzing sound followed by a huge THUD behind us. Before we knew it a giant brown ball of vibrating terror was headed straight for our legs. We scrambled out of our chairs and the bug hit a table leg and landed on the ground. As we cautiously went in for a closer look to determine what in the hell this was and was it going to kill us, Lucy runs directly to it and just about sticks her nose right on it as I dive in and snatch her up from certain death. Jason then determines, calmly, it's just a June bug... but HUGEMONGOUS! Damn I wish there was video of that. Since then we've had more of the ginormous variety fly into our condo. The noise is outrageous as they bonk into everything like some crazy nightmare pinball machine.

Fruit flies and ants are a nuisance in our condo, but I'm winning the war with apple cider vinegar and lemon juice (effective and won't hurt the dog). When visiting the beach, noseeums (some people call them sand fleas) can tear us up if we don't use bug spray. In Texas we called them chiggers, and you get lots of tiny little bites that itch like crazy but don't show up until hours after you've been bitten. Often I forego bug spray (ah they won't be bad, it's windy) and then still wind up with at least 2 or 3 bites the next day. The bites take about 4 weeks to clear, so my legs have red splotches in various stages of clearing all the time. Attractive, I know. Honestly they only itch for about 24 hours, cortisone helps, and then they're just ugly to look at. Noseeums don't carry West Nile or Zika, so we consider these a nuisance, not a problem. Mosquitos are here, and they do carry all sorts of diseases, but they aren't prevalent in our area (so far). I don't see them much in our condo, and I've only been bitten one time.

Puerto Rico does have brown recluse spiders, giant venomous centipedes, tarantulas, and scorpions, but you really have to go looking for them in the right spots to find them. None of those things will casually wander into our 5th floor condo, nor will we see them on the beach or walking around town.

Compared to Texas, Puerto Rico is practically critter free as far as I'm concerned. I couldn't sit outside on my patio in Dallas because of all the wasps and hornets, we had lots of fancy venomous spiders and scorpions that could easily take up residence in the garage, and I was trained as a child to know the favorite hiding spots of cottonmouths, copperheads, and rattlesnakes. Let's not forget about mountain lions, bears, coyotes, wild hogs, and gators. And yes, I have come across many of these deadly critters in Texas without going to look for them. When it comes to nature trying to kill us, it's Puerto Rico for the win!