Found it dead in my dishes

  • 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.

    • n3mo@programming.dev
      ·
      1 year ago

      This pretty well captures things! Insects that eat other insects are worth rooting for, but like you, I’m on team spider.

      • JK1348 [he/him]
        ·
        1 year ago

        That's good enough for me, nuke it's location Xi

    • GnuLinuxDude@lemmy.ml
      ·
      edit-2
      1 year ago

      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.

    • Floey@lemm.ee
      ·
      1 year ago

      Wouldn't it be inhumane to catch centipedes with glue traps if it is with rodents?

  • Haphazard9479@lemm.ee
    ·
    1 year ago

    Thats a house centipede. Looks creepy, but its a nice house pet. It eats all of the other, undesireable, pests in your house.

    • Eudaimonia@lemmy.ml
      hexagon
      ·
      1 year ago

      Ok, thanks! Unfortunatelly this one doesnt qualify anymore as a pet but i am sure there are others around in the garden eg

    • JK1348 [he/him]
      ·
      1 year ago

      It also keeps the house because I can't look at it

  • iesou@lemm.ee
    ·
    1 year ago

    That's a house centipede. They will leave you alone and eat lots of pests.

    • NotErisma
      ·
      edit-2
      1 year ago

      deleted by creator

  • Chefdano3@lemm.ee
    ·
    1 year ago

    I think it's a mindflyer parasite. If you hear it talking to you, make sure not to listen.

  • Mothra@mander.xyz
    ·
    edit-2
    1 year ago

    Looks like a house centipede to me. Something for scale would be useful

    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scutigera_coleoptrata

    • Eudaimonia@lemmy.ml
      hexagon
      ·
      1 year ago

      Hmm yes, could be, thanks! As i read, they do exist here where i live.

      For scale: Small and big spoons..?

      • Mothra@mander.xyz
        ·
        1 year ago

        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)

        • Eudaimonia@lemmy.ml
          hexagon
          ·
          1 year ago

          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

  • Majestic@lemmy.ml
    ·
    1 year ago

    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.

  • Pulptastic@midwest.social
    ·
    1 year ago

    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.

    • Eudaimonia@lemmy.ml
      hexagon
      ·
      edit-2
      1 year ago

      Oh ok thanks, i edited it. and I was wondering, why it doesnt show it (tried to upload it here first but got errors)

  • nickiam2@aussie.zone
    ·
    1 year ago

    Where in the world do these things live? I've never seen anything like it before, and we have some pretty crazy things you can find in a house here in Aus

  • Supanova@lemm.ee
    ·
    1 year ago

    This shit is freaky! I would abandon that house and move to a different country lol