That reminds me of the bug I fear/hate. Beetles. Not tiny normal beetles. I have no problem with them. However, in my area exists a extremely large species of beetle. I could swear the largest of them had way more than six limbs. No clue what they eat, but the bastards attack my windows at night. By ramming.
As someone who gets insomnia every once in a while, this can turn to a waking paranoia horror show. I know the loud knocks against the glass about a foot away from me and hidden by blinds are just damn beetles, but when I can't sleep for hours, my own mind ends up my enemy.
What, cicadas or palmetto bugs?
It's that time of year where you start to find cicada molts clinging to the side of the house, and it gets godawful loud outside at night. Although this year is nothing. NEXT year Brood XIX should hatch, and it's going to be louder than hell around here. Not to mention you'll be dodging 3-inch long bug carcasses everywhere.
EDIT: For those unfamiliar with periodic cicadas, they're rather large insects which spend most of their life as "nymphs" buried a foot or two underground. They are somehow "synchronized" so that every 13 to 17 years (depending on species), they all emerge within a few days of each other, go through a quick metamorphosis to adult, mate like crazy, lay eggs, then die
en masse.
And by "all", I mean several hundred thousand per acre. Densities as high as 1.5 million per acre have been observed (>370 per square meter). And they're loud. Individually, it's like a loud vibrating-clicking noise. When you're talking hundreds of thousands of them at the same time, it's like walking *through* a jet engine. I'll have to remember to post some video and audio next year.
A palmetto bug, on the other hand, is basically just a big cockroach. That flies. And runs really, really fast. And likes to hide on the ceiling. Friend of mine (who already had an insect phobia) was sitting watching TV and eating popcorn in a bowl. Palmetto bug apparently had been walking overhead and either lost its grip or smelled the popcorn and decided to relocate itself. Either way, it fell right on top of the popcorn bowl. Hilarity ensued. Suffice it to say, the police arrived because the neighbors thought someone was being brutally murdered, based on the screaming, cursing, pounding and things breaking.
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Topic: What are your fears/phobias? (Read 20841 times)