Mar 26, 2015
The flying termites are back!
Difficult to take photos of swarming insects.
Just as it got dark last evening we noticed many insects swarming around the outside lights. If you are a new reader you must read how we were attacked last year. Most interesting is that it was exactly a year ago last night. You can read about the attack here. At certain times of the year, mostly in the spring, the termites swarm and come through. Usually it only lasts an hour or less. In Mazatlan you can be sitting at a restaurant and get swarmed and notice that the next restaurant over is not being bothered.
We were preparing dinner last year when we were attacked. Our outdoor lites were on and as well as many inside the RV. We now know that this attracts the termites, they swarm to the light. Our windows and vents were open. As I was standing in the kitchen I felt things falling on my head and shoulders. They were coming in through the vents and all of the RV orifices. It was horrific. If you read my post from last year you will see how bad it was. Our entire bed was covered in insects. So what did we do? We kept killing them and more and more came. They were everywhere. Very little sleep that night.
This is how they look when they fly and often loose their wings once they come inside and look like crawling ants. Photo taken from Google.
What should we have done? Turn off all the lights and close the windows. Once Colin found several in the kitchen last evening, he and I quickly started shutting the windows and turned on the A/C and turned all of our lights off. We could see the termites swarming all the lights outside.
It was dinner time and we were hungry so we packed the girls and ourselves into the car. First stop was to go tell Rae what was happening and then went to the local wee restaurant that is open at night. Yes there were swarms there also but not as bad as we had near the ocean. We sat away from the lights and by the time the food was ready most of the termites had disappeared. They usually pass within 30 minutes. Sorry but in the rush to leave we forgot the camera.
So we now consider ourselves locals and in the know on how to deal with these swarms of termites. Our first four years here were termite free and last year made up for it. But this year we survived. We had about a dozen to kill last night and I did kill one more on the bed this morning. We found out today that some RVers had gone out to dinner and left windows open and lights on and came home to a bunch of crawling bugs. One fellow took a can of Raid and sprayed the inside of his RV in an attempt to kill them. Tonight we had a few and just sat in the dark in our closed in RV with the A/C on. They have passed on and now I am free to post.
Meanwhile we are packing up. This is the start of a pile that we will put into storage here.
Just before sunset and the onset of the termites we had a cruise ship leave.
In fact we had two large ships in yesterday. The beach has been very busy all week. Evidence of spring break.
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I appreciated the warning yesterday! The termites don’t seem to be interested in me, though.
A lot of bugs are attracted to light. If you’ve got a fly buzzing around your bed at night, make sure all other lights are off and then open your tablet or phone. The fly will be attracted to the glow and then you can swat it!
Sad to see you packing. Feels like you just unfinished packing. So much work for so little time. 🙁
Good to know about attracting a single bug. I think you are far enough off the path and I also noticed that your windows seemed dark. You are lucky, so far.
At least you made it through the invasion again.
But this year it was ever so much easier. They came again last night but passed within 30 minutes. The trick is to monitor the sky at dusk.
Glad to hear that you didn’t have the mess you went through last year. Quick action on both your parts.
All I can say is live and learn but honestly I don’t think I could go thru what we dis last last year.
YIKES!! So glad you out-witted them this year! That encounter of Biblical proportions last year was frightening!
Must be getting smarter in our old age…not fun to deal with these critters.
I never ever want to go through anything like that again which is why we are so vigilant. One little bugger got in last night but he is no longer in this world.
Hi Contessa:
We have had three or four night with them this last month. Somebody told me it was due to us having more rain this year. So glad it wasn’t the horror show of last year for you!!
Never heard about the rain affecting them. We have had a few over the last few nights but nothing horrific like last year.