I could barely bring myself to post a picture here. This creature truly terrifies me like no other. I'd like to think I'm pretty immune to being scared by household pests. The occasional spider or pill bug doesn't freak me out. But something about the look of the house centipede catches me off guard every time. It's like it crawled out of some portal to another world that's hidden somewhere in my house. I'd like to say that learning about these creatures has taken the edge off, but it hasn't. Each one can lay around 100 eggs. Which means if you don't kill one when you see it, you could have a hundred little larva somewhere in your home (and you probably already do). They like cool dark places like basements and bathrooms but they can live anywhere as long as they get enough moisture. As they grow, the centipede molts and gains a new set of legs each time. They start off with 2 pairs then somewhere along the way grow another pair but it's stuck inside their skin until they molt and the legs become free. How disgusting is that? And they grow to be pretty large as far has Northeastern American pests go, 15 sets of legs and around 1 to 2 inches. I killed one when I was a kid and it's legs became detached but they were still twitching. Seriously, this thing is horrifying. They're insectivores and eat other insects (even some nasty ones like cockroaches and bedbugs). Although I appreciate spiders for taking care of my pest problem, the image of this monster grasping another bug and devouring it with all it's legs just creeps me out even more. The only thing I could find to like about it is that it has the nickname the "mustache bug" which is kind of cute and appropriate. But then I think about it crawling on my face and I'm back to disgusted. I think it tops my list of most horrifying creatures.
24 comments:
ugh, I hate them. Got one the other night actually, he was slow and seemed confused.
Hello,
I happened to see a link to your blog on Boris Vallejo's blog. The silver fish(house centipede)caught my eye. I get freaked out by those things also. I have a snake, I've had a tarantula, lizards, and I've been around many bugs. Its something about those damn centipedes that creep my out... maybe its the legs
Hey Karinzo, thanks for reading. They really are the creepiest things aren't they?
It's a nice creature!
Home Centipede
sorry, if it is repeated, something goes wrong
I just finished having one almost jump on my hand at work and came to figure out what this creature was. Your blog entry showed up as the first link when I googled "centipede like bugs".
I agree with all your sentiments. I can handle all sorts of other creepy crawlies but this one gets my heart beating each time. Fortunately I've only seen three or four in my life.
I'm glad I didn't kill it, I just ushered it into a better hiding place.
Those things creep me out too. My cats get them and the bug stings their nose and my poor cat sneeze forever. Nasty creeper bug. I think the fact that they move so fast is the worst. They also blend in with hard wood floors so even worse I can picture myself stepping on one barefoot. Blahhhh!!
Oh and on top of my above comment, I'm a home health nurse and I had one run threw my patients room. Ucky. Hence me ending up here :)
And they move differently than other bugs, too. They can walk backwards, and move with too much coordination for my peace of mind. One actually turned to look at me as I stumbled upon it, which was particularly horrifying.
I'm not giving up on the alien theory about them just yet...
I agree with pretty much every comment here! They're alien, creepy, and gross in my opinion. I was just filling our coffee pot and one crawled around in the sink! I almost dropped the coffee pot! What a way to start the morning!
I'm not afraid of bugs, but this guy sure creeps me the heck out. Spiders I usually can handle, but this one I can hardly catch and afraid of touching it. Fast little suckers. It is like they are from a whole new world or came from a dark hole. I never seen them before until I moved into our new apt. I had one the other day come up the bathtub drain as I was giving my son a bath. I almost didn't know how to go about and get it. I tried killing it with soapy water, but it didn't work. It just played dead for about 5 min. then started moving again.
Some spiders and the Scutigera coleoptrata are a useful bugs.
They hunt for home insects, like cockroach, bed bugs, and many invisible tiny bugs.
I can wholeheartedly say.. I HATE BUGS!!!
But yes, especially these creepy crawlys. Though, I still hate spiders, even more!
As a matter of fact, I just killed one of these ugly little @*&@$& a minute ago.
I never see them until it starts to rain hard. And suddenly, at least 1 magically appears mid-way crawling up one of my walls.
I think you're right. They are from another world or dimension. How else could they appear like magic when it rains?
I got these things all over my goddamn house...See a handful every year. They gross me out too.
My sister has these in her basement - they are awful little beasties. We call them prehistoric bugs, cause we find the (i guess molted) skin like some kind of fossil. Hers get pretty big too, and its the only bug that will make me scream and call for hubby to deal with lol.
What a creepy creature!
This species appears to be poisonous.
OMG!! I just saw one on the wall by the ceiling and about had a heart attack! I usually have no problem catching spiders, etc with a glass jar and sliding the jar until they fall in and whipping the lid on really fast. This thing was bigger than the jar width and they are lightning fast!! I missed it but caught it half way so it started to squish it with the rim of the jar. I yelled for my son to get me another jar and finally caught it. It was HUGE!! I'm still shaking like a leaf as I write this! I have the jar in front of me, to see what it was, and it's still wiggling... squished in half!! I think it's too scorpion like for me!! I hate to think there's more here, help me God :/
One of these things just landed on my poor little girl's head!!! -She'll be sleeping with me tonight. I'll have one eye open and a can of bug spray in hand...no sleep for me.
I just found one in my sink and it was a little creepy, I thought it looked like a daddy long leg and earwig had a one night stand. Mine has about 28 legs all together so about how old is that?
> Mine has about 28 legs all together so about how old is that?
The house centipede has 15 pairs of legs. But 2 the most rear legs look like antennae. When at rest, it is not easy to tell its front from its back.
Wiki
the bug legs
Do they bite?
House centipede runs away, like a cockroach does. They not bite.
Bed-bugs bite.
However, if you hold the centipede in hand, it may try to sting you. Not sure you feel that bite because the skin on hand is quite thick.
If thin skin -
The sting resembles bee's one.
As I was walking around in my apt. one of these things saw me before I saw it because it took off running up my bedskirt and I thought it was a huge spider so I'm trying to find it b/c there's no way I was going to sleep with a huge spider, but I couldn't find it and about 10mins later I see this creature running across the floor again and then it stopped and I crushed it and its legs kept moving. So I go to sleep with goosebumps and chills and the next morning I pick up my shoe to put it on and all of a sudden another one of those creatures went running across the floor...ICK now I'm super paranoid and keep looking around to make sure I don't see any more. Now I regret looking them up b/c now I learned they sting/bite and they lay about 100 eggs, and they're not as uncommon as I thought which means there's a possiblity I may see these things again ugh.
I have never seen any thing like this in my life and I am old. I just don't know if these bugs bite.
If any one knows that for sure please let me know. The one I found in my tub is about one inch and have no idea how it could have got there. I keep the drain closed and never use the tub. I shower.....
Thank you for posting that horrifying picture, yet, giving me chills again - lol! I first came across one by the sink in my home about 3 months ago. I was washing dishes and the thing was sitting right next to the faucet. I just about peed my pants! I hurried up and smashed it with a piece of paper, but the chills on my body lasted what seemed like forever. I was horrified. I had NO clue what the heck this thing was. Then, about 2 nights ago, I was walking up my staircase in the hall and looked over and spotted another one on the wall! I hurried up and grabbed my flip flop and smashed it. Its legs were still wiggling around even though it was in a total of 4 pieces. I've never been so grossed out or freaked out in all of my 32 years alive. The chills just don't want to go away and then, I see this picture! Yikes!
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