One of the differences we have noticed about living in Florida is the types of “critters” we have in our yard. I have yet to see a rabbit. And we rarely see squirrels. Instead we see toads, lizards, and geckos. And a wide variety of insects. Some of them are very beautiful. Check here for list of butterflies that we have in Alachua county Florida.

Unfortunately, not all of the bugs here are nice. We have things called Wood Roaches here. They are the largest, nastiest bugs I have ever seen. Much larger than normal roaches. There was one in our shower this morning.

—Slight exaggeration to follow — The other day there was one in our kitchen. I removed my shoe and tried to kill it but it was so large and strong that it just grabbed my shoe and started hitting me with it. I went out to the garage and got a 2×4 and hit it, but the board just splintered. I wrestled it out into the driveway and tried to run it over with my car, but it simply put a dent in my fender. Finally, laughing hysterically, it crawled away. Down the street it stopped long enough to look back at me and make an inappropriate gesture with one of legs. After popping a couple of the neighbors cats into its mouth like popcorn, it was gone. This is what it looked like, but much bigger. ND