Watch out for the Takaab!
Everyone will visit the (sitting) toilet several times a day. However, don't just sit down! Since a snake was found in a toilet bowl a few times on Thai television, I first study it thoroughly.
This time I saw a very short movement in the corner of my eye that I did not trust and flushed. One appeared from under the rim Takab (Centipede or Centipede). Quickly grabbed an object and killed the beast.
At the front of the head are poison jaws, which serve to kill and eat the prey (snails, worms). For humans, the bites are very painful, but not fatal. It can only be fatal for people who are allergic to such bites, but that is also the case with a wasp sting. Ibuprofen helps somewhat with the pain. Wikipedia mentioned several methods to reduce swelling and pain. Those methods were not unequivocal!
I have also become more careful in the garden. First knock my boots out for possible vermin and then do some work. A Dutch couple of friends who were visiting asked, somewhat jokingly, if I expected rain. When I explained that there were snakes, Takaab's and other vermin it became quiet. When they left, it was nice to see them anxiously walking in the middle of the path to their car.
When digging into the ground for new plantings, I have come across a Takaab several times in the past, usually no larger than 8 inches. Sturdy gloves are another precaution.
Fortunately I don't live like a scaredy-cat, not even in traffic, but being alert to what's happening around you is recommended.
I was taught by my father when I was young, know your enemies and adjust your behavior accordingly.
Where are the most dangerous beasts? Under rubble and wood
Where do they go out? In the evening and then mainly in the rainy season.
Which beasts are dangerous? The ones that don't run from you.
Indeed cobras and vipers, a hundred leggers and scorpions.
Unfortunately I have to kill a number of animals every year because of small children in the house.
A few years ago I walked into the kitchen and suddenly felt a sharp pain in my right big toe. I thought I had stepped into glass and looked down. A scorpion(little)!. 'I'm going to die', I thought and called my son to say goodbye. He didn't answer. Anyway, check out the internet. There I read that Thai scorpions are not deadly, other species, in Mexico for example, are. After a few hours the pain was over.
Dear Lodewijk Lagemaat,
Another very nice representation of daily life in Thailand.
I've told this before about what happens to rain.
Everything that lives is looking for a dry place and, yes, that is often a home.
Once upon a time 17 years ago my wife and I were sitting on stilts in the parental home.
Under the house we had a hammock where I sometimes slept in the middle of the night
when I woke up from the rain I lay down on the corrugated iron roof.
Then I saw on the edge of the dry really everything that didn't like each other or for dinner
served friendly side by side with agreements made as one in nature
not to declare war on each other (pfff long sentence).
Nicely lined up next to each other and pleasantly waiting for the water abundance to pass.
I've been able to do this a few times.
This is one of the reasons I fell in love with Thailand.
Yours faithfully,
Erwin
The solution for Thailand, flooding Bangkok and torrential rain elsewhere in the country. Hence the rainmaking projects of the late Rama, for peace. 🙂
Dear Erwin,
Politics can learn from that!
Putting red shirts, yellow shirts and the military junta, etc. side by side with rain!
Dear,
Once bitten in my little toe by a little red ant.
This little bitch has left me with a sore that still hurts sometimes
of feel.
Yet I continue to defy these dangers.
Yours faithfully,
Erwin
I was stung three times in one session years ago by the same scorpion and my wife a few hours before, in the middle of the night, when she was sleeping. The bitch was in our bed and later crawled into my pants and stabbed me when I put them on after showering. Luckily I was wearing underpants, otherwise I would have peeped differently. It was painful enough already. And to think that a takaab hurts many times more!
I have already killed a few in the garden, but I have also often just let them run. They don't seek me out. On the contrary, they will run if they can. We are not their prey. They only die in the house, because then you never know where they could be. And that's a place I want my wife to feel safe.
It strikes me that most reactions when seeing all kinds of critters are aimed at killing. What a special point of view, especially for men, I thought they are brave enough to scare away an animal like that or take the broom.