Brer What-the-Sam-Hill-Is-This Beast?!
Written on June 19, 2009 at 5:21 pm, by Amelia
This thing somehow crawled inside our window. I really and truly hurt myself running away from it.
Lain and I debated whether it should meet its maker via shoe, but decided no for two reasons:
- I’m not sure we have enough paper towels to clean up the carcass
- Are you kidding me?! We need to do everything we can to stay on its good side.
Lain safely (and bravely) re-released it into the wild.
I need to go lie down.
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Amber Suitt
Program Director
Lain Shakespeare
Executive Director
14 Comments to Brer What-the-Sam-Hill-Is-This Beast?!
i totally saw that on the outside of the window earlier. i can’t even imagine how much i would’ve flipped if i’d seen it inside.
This looks like a Squash Bug, sometimes called Stinkbug. It can secrete an odor, somewhat like a strong almond oil smell , to protect itself. I’ve been bitten by one and was left with a large painful blister.
How big was it? It’s hard to get a sense of scale from the picture.
I would say somewhere between 3 inches and 2 feet.
In truth, it was not small. Maybe 4 inches including the antennae?
Annie, thanks for the info. While I’m sorry you were attacked, your story does make me feel more confident about following my flight instinct.
Rusty, though our pictures don’t show it, this beast had both a reflection AND A SHADOW, which is absurd. I’m pretty sure you need to like, have ears to earn a shadow or something.
I think Lain’s spot on about it being about 4 inches with antennae. I hope you also noticed it has feet.
Yep, stinkbug. Can’t stand those things.
I visited the Wren’s Nest about 10 years ago and still have my copy of Uncle Remus stories by my bedside. Hard to read, but quite enjoyable! I posted a comment on my blog, dedicated to fun little tourist attractions, this morning about the museum:
http://www.kelleys.org/index.php/the-wrens-nest-joel-chandler-harris-home/
Thanks for keeping his memory alive!
Wow, thanks Doug! Your site looks great, and we very much appreciate the plug.
I will accept the answer that you and Annie have provided. It was the biggest stinkbug I’ve ever seen.
And yeah, Uncle Remus is a bit like Shakespeare — daunting at first, but it’s easier to pick up the lingo after you’ve read it for a little bit.
Definitely a stinkbug. Smart move to not mash it. The odor it would have a released could drop a dung beetle at 50 paces.
That is truly terrifying. I’m freaked out by it and I’m a good long ways away from that thing.
Amelia, there’s a jumper waiting for you in the basement!
I am sending this to Dr. Duane Jackson for an identification. He is the man for bugs at Morehouse College. We need to know what type of bug that is this.
I just threw up in my mouth a little.
I had one of those on our balcony last week. The same balcony, I will point out, that no longer gets used out of fear of said bug.
[...] This is similar to what Rentokil does for us and our pest control, and we all know how much we need that service. [...]