Critters and things

As salaamu Alaikum: I decided today I will prepare you for what I like to call the "Critters" of Medina. In America I use to hate mice even the mere thought of them would make my skin crawl. I was told by someone that everyone has field mice you may not know it but they are there. Which was not very comforting to me. Alhumdulilah I have never seen a mouse in Medina and I suspect that is due to the large presence of cats. In Sharkeeyah you will see them everywhere. This area is heavily populated with cats. You will seem them as you stroll the streets of Medina they look for food in the trash dumpsters and make homes near by.

Like so many other things in life there are seasons for breeding for particular animals and insects. You will experience a time called fly season and gnat season. These are times of the year you will be tormented by these pest. The flies and gnats will seem to be everywhere you go in every opening they can get in to: the refrigerator, oven, cabinets and your food driving you insane! My husband installed screens in all the windows and fan vents throughout the house. The local markets sell pesticides and fly zappers to help reduce them in your home. Your landlord may even call in an exterminator. No matter what remedy you choose for about a month in October and a month in March you will have unwelcomed guest. The good news is it will pass. Eventually they will subside and things will go back to normal. Not uncommon here are small lizards and scorpions. I have only seen small, slim lizards that can camouflage into rocks and walls. My first week here we were in a furniture suk and above my head on the ceiling was a lizard crawling the walls. One evening we were leaving school there on the wall in the shadows a lizard moving ever so quickly across the court yard wall. Not yet use to seeing them my daughter and I rushed in the other direction. I have attached pictures from the internet of the types of lizards we see here: source http://www.northwestwildlifeonline.com/Saudi%20Arabian%20Reptiles.htm

Pic#2 taken in a friends house