Louisiana: Toe Biters!

Gah!

Louisiana toe biter.

The gentleman at the Eunice wings place called this a German cockroach, and when I kept sputtering about the claws, the claws - OK, pincers - he mildly reasserted they were German cockroaches. Eunice sees tourists from all over the world, so he was unfazed by anything I was going on about.

Now that I've looked them up, I see they are "toe biters," also known as GIANT WATER BUGS. Now, in some parts of the US of A, "water bug" is polite speak for roaches (because one does not have roaches in one's house, but one might have water bugs), like "perspiration" is polite for sweat. It appears that in this case, these miniature scary monsters really are water bugs.

Gah! So this wings 'n c-store place had 'em all over the sidewalk in front, some in various forms of juicy-squished and some wholly alert and on the loose like the one I took the pic of above.

I've learned that in Thailand, these are not so different from .... crawfish .... in that they are eaten by the bajillions by the local residents.

Toe biters. Credit: What's That Bug. 

Crawfish.

It's all about branding, right? Crawfish - yum! Toe biters - gah!

Here's a video about a toe biter:

 
And a final pic of toe biter snacks:

Packaged toe biters. Credit: What's That Bug.

Click here for other encounters I've had with insects.