Greetings expats community.
Because Boquete is in the tropical zone of the world I understand your concerns about bugs, mosquitos and other plagues. But don’t worry, regardless this is a tropical zone Boquete’s altitude helps against mosquitos.
Never the less there are other bugs to take in consideration. Depending on where you live you can find other animals like toads or even small snakes if you live in a lot full of nature so it is a thing to take in consideration.
Speaking thru my experience, I have found toads, small snakes but nothing to worry about, I’ve lived here for 12 years and It has just happened 2 times with the toads and 1 time with a small and non harmful snake.
What has been a real issue are scorpions. Last year I moved to an apartment which is far from Boquete’s main road and I have found many little and not so little scorpions in my house, at some point it became normal and I didn’t even worry when I found them in the kitchen or crawling around. I decide to fumigate and I had no undesirable visits for a long long time. This year they appeared again and more than I have ever seen before so I decide to call the best fumigation company and there diagnosis was this.
- The scorpions in Panama are not poisonous, their sting does hurts and you will feel pain but you are not going to die or get your limbs amputated. You can get a regular pain killer and an allergy medicine and you will be fine.
- Because my lot limits with a cliff the scorpions are just next to me so I need to fumigate constantly.
- They seek for warm places to hide and my house is literally 15 feet away from the cliff so it is obvious to them to get in my house.
- They get in using the small and narrow spaces between doors and floors, a non sealed window or any small opening so make sure everything is hermetically closed.
- They are more common to see in December to March so that is the best time in the year to fumigate.
- Because I live very close to wild nature and that is their habitat I am the invader in this case, so we are going to be in a constant war between us so I will need to fumigate constantly, but the best thing to do is to get a cat.(Even the fumigation company told us that, so if you already have a cat in the United States make sure to bring it with you.)
I hope that you find this answer helpful and I hope I have not scared you too much. Boquete is still a wonderful place to live in but I also need to be honest with you.
I wish you a good day.
Rommel Hans Troetsch