Field Trip to the Kayan River Basin (Revised)

21st October, Wednesday started out as a fine warm day with an ambient temperature of 31'C. A field trip to the Kayan River Basin was the order of the day. We headed up East first as my partner-in-crime (P.I.C.) wanted to visit his parents first. Upon arriving, they were out tending to their rice fields. Rice harvesting has started several days ago. 

Lunch was the next order of the day as we drove into town in search for grub. We headed towards the shops to grab some food to tank up. I, particularly warmed up to the Mee Mamak the first time, cooked by one of the stall operators. 

Unfortunately, the dish tasted different every other next visit. The last meal was quite a disaster as the dish did not resemble Mee Mamak at all, so I’ll be looking for new grub on my next visit.

After lunch, we started heading back towards Kuching and turn into a kampong (village) on the right side, we decided to look around in that area. Pushing our way into the thick undergrowth, we trekked towards the interior until we came across a shallow, clear stream. The temperature difference was immediately noticeable as we entered the jungle canopy as it was cool and comfortable. There were a few persistent mosquitoes determined to make a meal of us. My eyes are now on the lookout for leeches and Assassin bugs, the latter which can cause a really painful bite that last for days.

P.I.C. started sampling and immediately netted a few wild adult Betta ibanorum. This is a common fighting fish in this area. Meanwhile, I had started sampling further upstream. Dipping my net in yielded a few Rasbora caulimaculata, Rasbora einthovenii and Rasbora pauciperforata. Sweeping under the leaves on the sand-bed, there was a small maroon colored fighting fish caught in the net. Betta brownorum but without the greenish-blue spot. I thought unusual to have found this fish in this type of topography. 

Several specimens were caught later, and all fishes lacked spots, which led me to conclude that these could be Betta rutilan. Collecting this fish was time-consuming as they could only be found scattered, almost always singularly. As seen in these photographs, the paler fish is the female as the other fish is the male.

This was a surprising find as I had thought that this specie can only be found in Indonesia. The day was already late so it's time to pack up. There will always be another day. Who knows what one may find next. 

    

 

Ants Carry Death Home

We had problems with ants a few months ago in our premises. Small armies of ants had invaded our workspaces and made several nests in impossible places. Soon, any foodstuff not secured properly attracted these critters and made them unpalatable. Even Bablu, our resident cat had a problem as these ants invaded her food bowl. We had to resort to placing her bowl within a larger bowl filled with water as she has the habit of not finishing her food all at once.

Using contact and aerosol insecticides was out of the question. One potential problem using aerosols means air-borne insecticide will land on the surfaces of the water in the aquariums. Contact insecticides were considered but not used as we were also concerned that toxic fumes given off would be drawn into the air pumps and into the tanks. Personally, I do not react well to aerosol fumes too.

This problem became serious when they invaded the mealworm racks and dented the larvae and pupae populations. We had to do something to eliminate these ants. Keeping the premises as clean as we could had not improved the circumstances. An effective measure had to be found.

We found a very effective solution in the form of a grainy powder in a sachet. Instructions were to place this grainy powder into the path of active ant trials. The powder has nutritional value to the ants but it is laced with slow-action poisons who do not kill the ants immediately. Foraging ants will carry this back to their impossibly out-of reach nests where they will feed it to the rest of the ant community including the queen herself. In a few days, any insects which had consumed this powder will expire and the results can only be seen a few days later but the results are remarkable and long-term. The powder was also not easily blown off as we were concerned that they could land inside the aquariums.

We started by locating several ant trials at arm's level as the powder had to placed out of reach of the cat as well. Various locations were plug-point boxes, window ledges and shelves. We used three sachets for the whole premises and one sachet for the mealworm racks. The disposal bag was emptied and cleaned out, and another sachet with contents poured into the bag. It was that simple. Within a few minutes, ants started to cart death home.

A few days later, results were very encouraging. Most of the grainy powder had disappeared and we could now see a few dead ants outside the impossible-to-reach nest later. A week later, most ant activities were not seen and we had also not seen any cockroaches for quite sometime since we had used this method.

This product works very well. We thought that some of you folks out there might have the same problems we had, and might be looking for an effective and inexpensive methods to overcome insect infestation in your homes or workplaces. This effective product is USD2.95 for six sachets (before postage). Do drop us an email if you do. Otherwise, you can visit http://www.mudah.my/ecologicord (Under 'Home & Garden') to order there.