Gunnar45

IVV & JC3,
Are you living in a highrise?
Just so I know what to expect.....

bakedbean

I'm currently in a high-rise, Gunnar. Though I may move to a lower-rise. Acchhh does that mean I get more bugs

Actually, the more I think about it, and I'm trying not to think about it, I suspect it wasn't a roach that I saw. I didn't see any legs. I now suspect it was a large moth creeping about (though why didn't it fly?).

Admittedly I didn't stay too long in its vicinity but.....

InVinoVeritas

Hi Gunnar, I live in a condo on the 12th floor. In 3 years I have seen one mosquito, one roach and NO termites. A few lizards have made it up here.

Normally my windows are closed and the AC is on which probably helps but even when I go away for a few weeks there are no unwelcome guests dead or alive when I return!

A friend who has been here for many years reckons the 10th floor and above should be the target for avoiding Malaysian wildlife and he is a windows-open, AC-off kind of guy.

Down at ground-level you have half the jungle coming in - and you do get termites down there. Probably if you away for a few weeks, you will find they have eaten everything in your absence

bakedbean

And not always in the jungle vicinity either. Have heard of a few cases of baby Cobras at Straits Quay houses Mind, this was a couple of years ago.

Gunnar45

So for the wildlife we are quite ok on our high floor then.
And I expect the insect experts even if belonging in differing sects aren't physically agressive? (a k a insectarian violence)

InVinoVeritas

Insect experts are just like their subjects, annoying and irritating

InVinoVeritas

Seem they have gecko-eating spiders in the Philippines - and we thought we had problems

http://britishexpats.com/forum/phili.../#post11935441

bakedbean

I've told this story before (I think) but from many years ago. A couple of friends who used to live in one of the more popular expat condos, and their unit was on level 2 or 3 I think. They had the windows open and the front door open (with locked grill of course) and one day they watched a macaque monkey with attitude walk right across their lounge and out through the window, across the balcony, and over it went.

JC3

I don't think living on a high floor makes much difference. Pest control can take care of cockroaches, ants etc. within your unit easily enough, but mosquitoes are much more difficult to control, even with regular fogging of the common property. Not least because of stagnant water, much of which is well hidden from view, or that is located on adjacent land over which you have no control.

For example, a friend living at the Cove Condominium in Tanjung Bungah got dengue (as did some others too I heard). No matter what floor you live on in a condo you still have to go in and out of the building, use the elevator together with the bugs, use the car park etc.

Having lived in two condos in Penang for a short while before moving to a house, I found the biggest pests were the other residents, and their dogs (kept in their condos against the law), not bugs.

JC3

JC3

The size doesn't matter much. Even baby cobras have full strength venom and can defend themselves just like an adult one.

JC3

Davita

The toxin of the rove beetle (tomcats in Indonesia and cari-cari in Malaysia) is considered 12 times more powerful than a cobras.
As someone has attested the beetle doesn't bite but if crushed on the skin emits pederin which is the poison.
I crushed one on my hand some time ago and can attest to its pain...like a 5 degree burn.
Our visitors are advised to never swat anything but blow them away.
If caught out it's best to wash with soapy water as the toxin can be transferred...I made that mistake by crossing my arms under my arm-pits...

SushiFan

Indeed Davita, don't swat but blow them away or otherwise remove without "damaging" the rove beetle. The poison is powerful but apparently is it absorbed only slowly by the skin. This seems to take a few hours. So even if you did swat the beetle, if you wash with soap afterwards you could still be saved from the burn and pain. I have this from hearsay (and Wikipedia), I luckily don't have first-hand experience.

Gunnar45

Last Thursday evening we had a little bat visiting us.
It flew in through the open window but couldn't find its way out again.
And then it found a crevice behind the indoor unit of our A/C to hide in.
It was quite difficult to get it out from there as it was very narrow and awkward to reach. But by gently persuading it with help of a screwdriver (not the drink), I managed to get the now angry bat out and caught it with help of a towel.
And then released it after having had a good look at it, an interesting little creature.
This is actually the second time this happens.

bakedbean

Not actually inside the high rise but, on my constitutional this morning, I saw a black swallowtail moth in the parking area of my condo. Whopping great thing . Maybe six inches across.

I posted a pic on FB as one does and a Chinese friend suggested that in the Chinese culture it would be a past loved one coming back to see you. So. I dunno maybe the late Mr bakedbean was looking for his car

other sites suggest that it is a portent of death. Hope it's not me