As someone who likes and appreciates insects, I will definitely admit that scolopendromorphs give me the fucking heebie jeebies bigtime
Engrossed saying that they eat other bugs is completely missing the fact that these things only show up if there are other bugs to eat.
If you spot one of these mfers it means you have a pest problem you’re completely unaware of. It’s the same with a lot of house spiders too. If you see a bug predator that means you have a lot of bug prey
it can also just mean that you have a bunch of holes in your house, allowing anything to just waltz right in if it catches their fancy
these fuckin house centipedes keep coming in through the electrical socket or the gap next to the closet, then getting lost in my bedroom until i vacuum them up. istg there are 5 or 6 of them every day, i can see them wandering around outside my windowsill and two minutes later they’re running around on my ceiling
have you considered using expanding foam?
that would work on some of the holes, but some of them are a bit more fundamental (for example, the window+door frames don’t have a rubber seal, and there’s not enough space to add one retroactively without keeping them from closing - but there is enough space for things to squeeze through the gaps)
i have had two exterminators come by and they both basically laughed and said the only real solution would be to completely tear down the walls and roof and rebuild, it’s just the shittiest engineered house of all time. unfortunately there’s no chance of anything improving, the landlord is unable to comprehend that anything could possibly be wrong with the house because “it’s the way her father built it” and is therefore perfect
(╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻
House centipedes will eat any intruders in your house, even spiders.
They do not leave noticeable poop either, so they are very clean. They may leave less tasty parts of their prey if they are full, tho.
They prefer darker and damper places than spiders, so if you keep dark and damp corner spots near the floor, like plant pots with humid soil in a corner, or a cool basement, you can reduce the chances of them eating your house spiders that prefer higher locations.
That way, your spiders will be safer, letting them eat the moths, flies, and mosquitoes that house centipedes have a harder time catching, while house centipedes will be more likely to stick to to silverfish, cockroaches, ants, termites, and the like.Put it gently in a jar and release it outside. Mass insect death is real.
That’s probably the last of its kin.
Which is fortunate.
I accidentally picked one up once. I had just stepped into the shower, naturally didn’t have my glasses on, and saw a piece of what I thought was lint. I picked up the lint to put it in the garbage, saw that it was squirming then threw it against the shower door so hard it splattered.
In India I bent over to pick up a sock from the floor in the shower but it was a butterfly with one half of its wing chewed off.
Thing was big as two palms.
(I never found the sock)
Hand palms or tree palms
You know what I just decided palm fronds like off those really big palm trees
How did you survive?
It’s a butterfly. Unless you are liquid, it won’t be able to do much about you even if it is huge. At least I think their mouths are straws, maybe I’m way off on that.
I died.
House centipedes are creepy looking things, but they are nocturnal so you don’t really seem them while they’re going about their job of taking out the other creepy crawlies.
These guys give me a fright whenever I see them - especially out of the corner of my eye. I never kill them, though, because they are totally harmless to people and they kill actually nasty bugs.
They’ve been around for 300 million years. They’ll be fine looooooooong after we’re gone.
I let house centipedes and the spiders around my door live. Those spiders catch so many gnats and small bugs its insane. And I have a lot of springtails and small ants in my area which I figure the house centipedes probably help with.
i am fine with anything except cockroaches. Those get genocided
What about bed bugs?
They’re just special ops cockroaches.
just below cockroaches. I am taking bed bugs
They usually don’t move in on their own, only with a moving crew
Yeah, those bugs are scary, but they eat other bugs. They are still scary though
I ate a cricket once.
You’re very scary too
If bugs stay out of my way i let them live. When they get in my way i can’t overcome my level of creeped out and things go wrong.
I try, i really do.
you’re helping them evolve. you kill the ones you see, while the smart ones hide until you are asleep and then crawl over your body at night.
How do I unread what I just read. YELP!
They do crawl over your body but it’s just because they’re tucking you in and giving you some good night smooches.
I consent 🙂↕️
How fortunate.
House centipedes are always welcome in my house. They usually stay out of sight, eat other bugs, and can’t really harm humans. Win, win, win as far as I’m concerned.
It also depends on the species of centipede. In Hawaii they get big (6-14 inches) and can absolutely pierce your skin, and they are FAST. Like, when you try to stomp them they scurry out of the way and attack your foot sort of fast.
Those are hawaiian toes fo sho
this image made me recoil in abject terror so hard i practically threw my phone at the guy sitting across from me in the train, thanks
I have never found any centipede in any house looking like that. Centipedes here are an inch long and scurry away when you turn on the light.
That one looks like it hitched a ride on an asteroid and is about to burrow into someone’s skull as food source for its spawn to eat when they hatch
I got a lot of respect for any animal that tries to go toe to toe with humans.
That’s not a house centipede. That’s a Fuck You Centipede.
and the stings hurt substantially more than bee stings, if you have ever felt those-- and those are bad.
Toxicognaths!
Gesundheit
Plus very nutritious, as part of a balanced diet of the dozen or so bugs you eat in your sleep every year.
^(don’t worry, this is a myth)
You can eat roly polys. Did you know that roly polys are over 300 million years old?
You have to fry them first though, because otherwise they are toxic. But they are perfectly edible!
It’s a myth on a technicality, because it doesn’t count as “eating” them if they crawl down your esophagus without you actively swallowing them.
It also doesn’t count as eating if they crawl into your sinuses and lay eggs.
I’ve had house centipedes in my bed. I appreciate their hard work but I stomp them when possible.
Those eat bed-bugs
Ungodly fast things. But I have no problem with them in the basement, it’s everywhere else that bothers me.
Well they don’t have any problem with you outside of the basement so just don’t go down into the basement! Ever. They do basement stuff down there. It’s better that you don’t know.
I live in an attic. There are lots of creepy crawlies. House centipedes are fren despite lack of fren-shape; I pet.
Assume that for every one house centipede you see, there are a hundred other nasties they eat living in your walls. Go my fren: munch!
Into the vacuum they go!
They are good, they eat spiders and other bugs
The spiders go into the vacuum too! They can eat them there.
Wait, spider bro keeps away other bugs too.
Vacuum. Bugs go in the vacuum.
Be a lot cooler if you put em outside instead
yeeeeessssss, bugs go in the vacuum!
You’re just training the to hide better.
Great? Sounds perfect.
Thanks for the good laugh.
Bugs you can SEE go in the vacuum. You have to train the rest to hide better.
