insects in Thai proverbs

    don't look for fleas on others to get them on your own head  (mind your own business)

    an ant watching over a bunch of mangoes    (worrying about something you will not get any benefit from)

  alternatively an ant guarding a mango (used about a boy who is careful not to let other boys near his girl-friend)

  riding an elephant to catch grasshoppers    (using a sledge hammer to crack a nut)

  as different as an elephant and a mosquito  (chalk and cheese)

  where there are dogs there are fleas  (where there is smoke there is fire)

  you don't teach a cricket to jump (or your grandmother to suck eggs)

  like an ant next to sugar, who can be happy (ants symbolise the male, sugar the female)

  to be as small as a vinegar fly and want to shit like an elephant (too big for your boots)

  don't feed a silkworm that's sleeping (let sleeping dogs lie)

   don't turn over the rubbish to look for a centipede  (let sleeping dogs lie)

    when the water rises the fish eat the ants, when the water falls the ants eat the fish

    temple dogs are always looking for a place with no fleas, not realising they are carrying them with them as they go

  the mosquito is more dangerous than the tiger

   it's easier to catch flies with honey than with vinegar

   flying termites fly into the fire [to act on impulse]

   Diligent as an ant

Some colloquial terms and their equivalents

Butterfly of the night   'lady of the night'

Water bug                    gigolo, pimp

Thai folk tale: why cicadas have no entrails               (reprinted from Chiang Mai Newsletter)

 

Have a look at the Royal Thai Forest Department page on Insects in Thai Culture