Centipede Terrors
As frightening as they appear, house centipedes, like the one I captured above, are just about the most beneficial icky thing that can possibly live in one's house.
Because it's spring, they're are out in full force, looking for adventure. They originally came from more southerly tropical climates, but by the late 1800's they made their way to Canada and now are fairly common, especially in older homes.
These creepy dudes can run alarmingly fast, which adds to their already staggering scariness. I have seen grown men break down in tears, and babbling, incoherent women carried off in straight jackets at the sight of one.
If you are one of the exceptions who love these crawly creatures, you could choose to keep one as a pet, as they live as long as ferrets.
That's right. Seven years.
But do not fear the colassally creepy centipede, for it is a most righteous creature. Ask yourself what you fear more: spiders, silverfish, cockroaches and termites..... or centipedes.
Hungry arthropods feed on all of the above-mentioned horrors that inhabit your homes. As long as centipedes are around, your spider population will be kept under control. Eliminate the centipedes with a KED, and you can expect to have an explosion of 8-legged creatures threatening your sanity instead of 30-legged ones.
Most websites I've visited claim that the maximum length of a centipede is 1 to 1.5 inches. The one I captured was 1.5 inches long and was nowhere near the largest I've ever caught, at over 2 inches.
I don't know what those 2-inchers are eating, but we used to have 3 cats.
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posted by Martini at
10:30 AM
6 Comments:
well, i know that spiders are the good guys on this earth. we wouldn't have agriculture as it is without those spiders eating all the BAD BUGS!
i don't know about these scary creatures. do they hold religious services for them and do scary dances for them like they do snakes? shall i get my oboe out and start playing that minor mode?
6:09:00 PM
EWW I have seen one of those things before and they are quite scary!!!!
3:13:00 PM
My daughter like chasing them around. I don't know if they're scared but you've gotta see those little buggers run. I thought girls were scared of bugs, but then again she's partly me....
7:51:00 AM
Niiice! I love centipedes, they are outstanding things when you watch them go - and as you say, they eat all kinds of other things.
This was a giant centipede I snapped in a pedestrian underpass in rural Japan. It was longer than my hand and I was the only person who would go near it. A group of babbling schoolkids were pointing at it excitedly. Although now I think about it, they might have been pointing at me...
8:30:00 AM
Richard, that is phenomenal! And scary.
Poll results indicate people aren't so afraid. Maybe if they knew that when these house centipedes bite, it hurts just like a bee-sting, they might be more afraid.
It scares the crap out of me when walk into a dark room, turn on a light, and find one of these things an inch away from the lightswitch.
11:19:00 AM
i am a scary cat...don't like bugs and totally freak out..thank goodness my son is always willing to kill, kill for me...good training don't you think?...i totally over react and feel like a total fool but only afterwards and way after i do the dance of joy that one more of them is dead...yes, i know, time to increase my prozac...
3:17:00 AM
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