Found it dead in my dishes
I think that’s the bug they put in Neo in the first Matrix film
Stomach bug
There’s one going around, I hear.
Jesus Christ that thing is real!!!
Everyone is saying they’re harmless, but we read house centipedes cam leave painful bites. I’ve never been bitten, that I know of, but when plagued with centipedes, I’d sometimes wake up with one of two types of mysterious bug bites: itchy, and painful. I know from prior experience that most North American spider bites are only ever itchy, so I always put the painful ones down to house centipedes. I can’t prove it, though. Here are the facts I do know about house centipedes, from empiricle evidence:
- They like damp. You’ll find them in damp spots, drains, around toilets, around damp areas in basements, etc. Not exclusively, but predominantly.
- They wage a secret war with spiders. Sometimes the spider wins, but usually the centipede does unless it gets trapped by a web.
- Alive, they move like the wind. Shockingly, alarmingly fast.
- When smacked, they explode into air and legs. So many legs, and not much else.
- Despite reports that they control other bugs, they are useless against real nuisance bugs like soldier and stink bugs. And for fly control, spiders do a better job. The only real thing we ever saw centipedes hunting were spiders.
- Small glue traps work really well at controlling them. I caution against large glue traps, as they might catch small rodentia, and if you want to know true horror, find a YouTube video of a mouse caught in a glue trap.
I’m team spider.
This pretty well captures things! Insects that eat other insects are worth rooting for, but like you, I’m on team spider.
I was bitten by one in my sleep as a kid, my foot swelled and it was pretty painful.
Generally bug bites are more often from beetles than centipedes or spiders, meaning centipedes and spiders generally lower how many bug bites you’d be getting.
Dude, what kind of beetles do you have around you‽ Where I live, I’m pretty confident there are no biting beetles - at least, none that can do any harm to humans.
You have way more beetles than you think you do, and far more beetles than you believe can bite. If you can find a spider, there are dozens of beetles that it’s feeding on, in an over simplified way.
Oh, I know we have tons of beetles. They invade our house every fall. I’ve never encountered a biting one, though.
I’ve been bitten in the ass by centipede… twice. Took a few weeks until the bite mark disappear.
Your bullet points sound like an RTS (real time strategy) game’s description of a unit. I would prefer neither around me, let them wage war (or set up home) elsewhere preferably.
Wouldn’t it be inhumane to catch centipedes with glue traps if it is with rodents?
Alive, they move like the wind. Shockingly, alarmingly fast.
This is true. It was both shocking and alarming how fast it moved when I first spotted one in my room after moving to the east coast.
Thats a house centipede. Looks creepy, but its a nice house pet. It eats all of the other, undesireable, pests in your house.
Ok, thanks! Unfortunatelly this one doesnt qualify anymore as a pet but i am sure there are others around in the garden eg
Yep, they are pretty cool ! Until there is no other pests left…
This is centipede propaganda, long live the spider queen, death to the centipedes!
That’s a house centipede. They will leave you alone and eat lots of pests.
yeah it’s just zoomed in, discolored, and wet/squished. Poor thing. Theyre unnerving at first but once you get used to them you can think of them as eyelashes gliding around the floor.
that visualization doesn’t help, at all
Theyre just winking at you across the floor ;)
I wish I had a few of those instead of a multitude of disgusting silverfish }:
But silverfish are not bad either? They don’t carry disease.
Silverfish eat the glue that’s used to bind books. So they’re a pest to someone with a personal library.
Huh. So that’s why they’re found in Minecraft strongholds.
They only have six legs, so very uncool. Also, they’re jumpscare experts. Chillin’ on the frickin’ ceiling, in packs of toilet paper, my dirty laundry bin… I despise them for it.
Forbidden shrimp
For the love of God could you not?
It really looks like a shrimp 🦐
Slimy yet satisfying
I think it’s a mindflyer parasite. If you hear it talking to you, make sure not to listen.
Don’t let it near your eye holes
- intensely_human ( @intensely_human@lemm.ee ) 25•1 year ago
Oh that’s no problem. Don’t worry about it.
Looks like a house centipede to me. Something for scale would be useful
Hmm yes, could be, thanks! As i read, they do exist here where i live.
For scale: Small and big spoons…?
Banana for scale. This isnt the dark ages
Gee! I didn’t notice the spoons until you mentioned it, sorry! Must be a very small centipede then. Fully grown ones are about 10cm long, and they are very, very, very very fast. (But harmless)
Ah ok! havent seen them around here alive anywhere, maybe cause they re nightactive, as i read… The spoons are not too obvious in the pic, so understandable. Thank you again for all the info
Neither did i, thought i was looking at a giant bug i hadn’t seen before!
Welp time to burn down the house
The only sensible answer.
a good ol’ centipede. they like crawling out of drains and usually completely harmless (they can bite afaik, but never happened to me, even though i liked to rip their legs off as a kid for some reason… also depends on the species)
this one is super chonky tho and has less legs then regular ones I’ve seen before…probably American one/seven though i liked to rip their legs off as a kid for some reason
How many people have you killed? Be honest
Guy my sister used to like apparently used to, as a VERY small child … maim/decapitate chicks. He has no memory of doing this but it freaked his mother out. I was told that he earnestly avowed “But I don’t do that ANY MORE!”
He ended up becoming a butcher, I’m dead serious. Apparently a really calm and protective and caring guy?
This is the kind of stuff that contributed to my decision to never have kids. Way too big of a risk 😬
Do what I did and weld your house out of 20mm steel plate and have tightly controlled, thoroughly monitored and analyzed airflow, with a single two-stage entry hallway for washing off and inspecting your terran exploration suit and all acquisitions before entering your home.
I can pull a serious vacuum on this bitch, nothing’s getting in unless I want it in.
proceeds to leave door open in summer days to keep the temps down
I’m not an expert but it looks like a dead bug.
Nah, bugs have sucking mouthparts, and are insects. those aren’t sucking mouthparts. Those things chew. And too many legs to be an insect, or a bug.
Ok, as I said I’m not an expert. What is it then? A monster?
Honestly hadd to say. Looks to me like an arthropod, and perhaps even an insect. Just maybe those extra legs are pseuodopods (like the fake legs of a caterpillar) of a nymph (juvenile). It could be a dragonfly larva? There is no indication of size, but seems like baby dragonfly that I have seen in the past. If small though, it could be a silverfish. Those aren’t insects, just arthropods, they are related to slaters.
I stayed a night in a dorm room before a bike race. I saw one of these before I went to sleep but couldn’t catch/kill it. I still slept like a baby.
House centipede. They eat other bugs and while scary looking are harmless. They like spiders appear from time to time without anything being wrong. They’re just looking for other bugs to eat.