weird creature I saw last night...

[赫杰]

Hi!

Okay....I was hanging out with my friend last night when she saw some creature attached to my screen window, I live on the 7th floor. Upon first glance I really did not know what it was, it was very dark, judging by it's size my friend first suggested in was a bat...all I know is something was protruding out from underneath it, like a tongue or something and I started to get a really bad feeling in my stomach.

So I went to close the curtains and it started to move, thats when I saw all the legs, six I think. Can't be a bat. After my friend went home, I tried closing the sliding glass window behind it, see if I could knock it off or squash it or something, no good, all I did was trap it. So I re-opened the glass window and and started to beat on the screen window, trying to knock it off, no dice, thing was on there for good. So again I just ignored it thinking it would fly away or something...that's when I started to hear the crunching of the screening...I was like hell no. Luckily my balcony has a good view to my room, I went outside to look at my adversary, while making my way to the balcony, the crunching of the screening becoming more rapid and louder, then I could have sworn I heard something fall to the ground. I thought terrific, this is an assassin mutant bug. Just what I needed.

On the balcony I got a much clearer look at what I was dealing with. From what I remember, with its legs spread out it had to be about as big as my hand, it had a very large outer shell like a beetle, perhaps the size of my palm. It looked like it had something like a crescent shaped horn or something on his head, again it was very dark, but something was attached to its head, looking at the window from the outside it did indeed tear a good size hole in the screening, but not large enough for it to have gotten through, I grabbed a pole and took a few stabs at it, eventually I was able to brush it off, and it just flew away....

I am from Georgia and live in southern Georgia at that, seen and dealt with my fair share of roaches and spiders, big and small, quite used to them you could say. But this is something I have never seen. Some bug that eats through window screening, I was unable to find it on google. Anyone else seen this thing in their stay in China? Just curious.

Thanks.

HJ

Edit: Grasshoppers....just a big grasshopper I think....I just read that grasshoppers can eat through heavy screen windows. But I thought those were some noisy things at night, this guy did not make a sound. Anyone else have some China bug stories to share?

[imron]

Just remember that if it comes back again tonight, we want pictures

[zhwj]

I see you're in Wuhan, but I think I'll still be sleeping with my windows closed tonight here in Beijing.

[anonymoose]

Maybe just too much 白酒 perhaps? Whatever it was, I don't see how anyone could mistake a bat for a beetle or vice-versa.

[Lu]

I believe it. I've confused a mouse with a cockroach once. (It was a small mouse, but just getting back to Holland from Taiwan I first thought it was a Taiwan-sized cockroach when I saw it from the corner of my eye.)

[roddy]

We definitely need photos, preferably close ups.

Don't know what yours was, but I used to get these big, really dumb, beetle things that would spend hours crawling up a wall then jump off, unaware they couldn't fly.

In the meantime, 赫杰, if you could just check in every 24 hours or so, just to let us know you're ok . . .

[gato]

Did it look like this?

http://www.treknature.com/gallery/Central_America/Costa_Rica/photo15581.htm

[muyongshi]

I don't know if what she saw looks like that but I had a roommate once that kind of resembled it....

[赫杰]

@anonymoose: lol, nope, I don't drink except for on special occasions. But damn I wish was drunk last night, maybe I would not have been so tripped out by it. My friend suggested it was a bat on first glance just looking at the sheer size of the thing. It was at night and very dark, so only when it started moving did we notice the legs, I still get chills just thinking about it. But yeah...a bat attached to a screen window...kinda stupid...

@Roddy: Will do and I'm not dead...yet ~_~ Your beetle description sounds more on. Can you find a pic somewhere on the web for me? A beetle was what I thought it was at first, but I looked on the web and found no beetle that could eat through screen windows. When I say that he flew away after I poked at it, it is true he actually just kind of jumped off, BUT, I heard the rapid buzzing of wings, like a big fly.

@Gato: Thanks for that. But no...it really looked like a beetle from a backside...with like a dome-shaped back...plus I don't think it had antenas, but some kind of weird horn thingy, not long and thin like antenas. I still think that it was some kind of mutated wuhan grasshopper haha, because those are the only things I found on the web that possess powerful enough mandibles to cut screening.

Sorry guys, taking a picture of that damn thing was the last thing on my mind at the time. I am keeping my window closed now, thus blocking access to the screen window from the outside. I am going back home this Wed, and have only temporarily been living in this dorm for like a week. There are some weird insects here. For instance, the 蚊子 here, which are just crazy in Wuhan, if bitten, can cause puffiness and inflamation of the skin...also they are really small and don't make a lot of noise. A lot different from my previous experiences. heh heh, I just thought of my post in this forum last summer, the one about all the different ways to kill the mosqitos, haha. In this aspect, home will be a welcome change.

[HashiriKata]

Was it like this, a stag beetle?

[chenpv]

Or could be this beetle.... Male ones are quite allergic to external stimulations and make short harsh puffing sounds. I am not sure whether it bites or not, but back in 2003 on a field research in Shengnongjia, northwest of Hubei Province, one such thing, almost half the size of a palm, kissed one of our team members on the neck. In return, we treated it with ether and crucified it on a board.

[Xiao Kui]

I first thought it was a Taiwan-sized cockroach when I saw it from the corner of my eye.)

Forget 赫杰 's mystery guest - I'm dying to see a cockroach the size of Taiwan!

[赫杰]

哈哈不愧是chenpv! My friend, yes that is it! It was funny, when you sent me the 短信 last night and told me it was a 独角仙, I showed it to my teacher who happened to be taking me out to eat, she was like wtf is that? Then I had to recount my horror tale to her. haha, if only we could all be biology majors:)

That was the crescent shaped horn thingy I was talking about. hmmm, does not look so bad in the light, now that I know what it is exactly I feel much much better. Interesting. However, this one was abnormally large and can indeed tear through window screening (as I look up at the hole it left)

所以多栖居于树木的朽心、锯末木屑堆、肥料堆和垃圾堆，乃至草房的屋顶间

Fits. Lots of trees and trash in this area. And this building is very old and 朽 itself...plus I live on the highest floor, it would not surprise me if a lot of this things live on top.

独角仙除可作观赏外，还可入药疗疾。入药者为其雄虫，夏季捕捉，用开水烫死后晾干或烘干备用。中药名独角螂虫，有镇惊、破瘀止痛、攻毒及通便等功能。

Well, I know what I'm doing the next time I see one.

[Lu]

Forget 赫杰 's mystery guest - I'm dying to see a cockroach the size of Taiwan!

I have seen this one coming ever since I made the post :-p Cut a non-native speaker some slack, you knew what I meant, right? So how am I supposed to say that anyway?