As much as we love our subtropical weather on the Gulf Coast of Florida, there’s at least one fact that makes it challenging. Humidity. Nothing like a little extra moisture in the air that makes 85-degrees feel like nearly 100. And you can’t avoid it, even in the shade.
But for several insects humidity is a plus. Not only do they enjoy the warmer average temperature year-round, they love the sticky, humid atmosphere.
Wigging Out
If you’ve ever seen strange, irregular holes and patterns cut into leaves in your flower garden, you’ve probably got earwigs. They are mostly an outdoor nuisance – the biggest issue is when they feed on seedlings that don’t have the heartiness yet to survive their midnight munching – but sometimes they get into your house too. Contrary to popular myth, they do not crawl into your ears when you sleep.
Technically, earwigs can live just about anywhere. Except Antarctica. But they prefer the South and Southwest, mostly because of the warmth and humidity. They have wings but are best known for their forceps like pinchers that grab their food while they eat. They’re nocturnal, preferring to hang out in bark, mulch and rotting debris during the day. But sometimes they manage to get into your home where you might spot them trying to squeeze into the corner of your ceiling where it meets the wall.
A Spring in Your Tail
The Springtail is an insect we don’t talk much about. In fact, this may be our first mention of the creatures. Their defining characteristic is… wait for it… their forked “tails,” – a furcula, folded under the abdomen, held in place by a latch or tenaculum. When the tenaculum is released, the furcula straightens suddenly, flipping the animal upward – springing them into action.
Springtails are usually oval shaped, a little chubby, and pale, almost translucent. Some of them have scales similar to silverfish. Most of the time, you might walk right past without seeing them. But when you get a bunch, especially in your sink or bathtub, that gets your attention. They are drawn to the sink because it’s usually damp, which provides their favorite environment.
Like earwigs, they are omnivores but prefer to eat plants and decaying material. They are a nuisance to humans, but not dangerous to us. We know of some 8000 species of Collembola, but there could be up to 50,000 different versions of this arthropod.
Roach Motel
It’s probably no surprise that cockroaches love the warm, damp atmosphere. For years, the military bases in the Sunshine State were populated by far more Blattella germanica than enlisted men. Roaches don’t just enjoy humidity, they thrive on it.
Cockroaches are also some of the most resilient of all insects. They can hold their breath for up to 40 minutes, live for a week – sometimes more – without their heads, and, reportedly, survive a nuclear explosion. They can run up to 3 miles per hour – the equivalent of us sprinting faster than Japan’s Bullet Train. No wonder they’re hard to catch.
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