What in the living HECK is this thing?!

I have a friend that has a giant centipede like these as a pet. Very vicious! They are psychotic! Not a very good pet unless you are an experienced invertebrate keeper. Myself... I'll just stick with collecting tarantulas...

I don't mind spiders and beetles and a few other biting insects like mosquitos, black flys, deer flys, horse flys , black spruce beetles ect ect. , The centipede and the millipede has got to be one of the grossest, I can't stand them!
I'd freak if one of those things crawled on me.

reply to post by 12m8keall2c

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Heaven's to Betsy pictures like that should come with warnings!
EEEEEEEK!

Kind'a a cute lil face though.

They are simply called house centipedes. They like damp areas. So check for a leak in the house somewhere.

And yes, they are Horrifying! and they can get HUGE. One of ours made a grown man jump and scream like a girl.


I am sorry you have them.

Like cockroaches, if you have one, your gonna have more. Like I said, check for something leaking. I have found home defense reduces their numbers.

Now someone has said they are harmless, I have read they sting like bees. So I need to research them again.

NO kidding. Me trying to kill one usually turns into a running, stomping, and smashing event through the house. That usualy results in someone asking: what are you doing?


And they like to duck and cover.

[edit on 2-7-2009 by nixie_nox]

by the way 12m, you really should of given a warning on that huge up close and personal photo.

Now I have the heebie jeebies.

Looks like the bug in that Outer Limits episode "The Zanti Misfits"

reply to post by ADMIN X

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Nah, silverfish is something completely different mate, i have loads in my bathroom, this is the little buggers......... en.wikipedia.org...

EDIT: i should have read page 2 before posting this, lol.

[edit on 3/7/09 by woogleuk]

It is mind-blowing how fast house centipedes move - like lightning - and they are carnivorous! This is my least favorite bug in the world. If you have ever seen one in person, then you know firsthand how freaky they are.

[edit on 3-7-2009 by OuttaHere]

hmmmm i would guess its a species of cockroach probably new species or not that i know of i say it might be new species beacause of the legs and its not centaped cause o the head its like a centapede/cockroach a centaroach thats what i wil call it

Centipede.

I'm not a fan, personally.

For God's sake, kill it with fire.

Hey, if they'll kill spiders and ants and maggots, they're my friend!

I hate spiders. I cannot forgive them as I got bitten by one in my sleep years ago.

reply to post by Majestic23

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Nah, we're more frightful than that thing will ever be...

We have huge mouths a powerful crushing tongue, a stomach full of hydrocloric acid, huge teeth, can emit powerful wind from our lungs, have predatory prey tracking eyesight, make extremely loud noises, weigh 1000's of tons, have incredible speed and accuracy, have supernatural strength, have horrific intelligence, have terrible tools... and some of us are even more ugly than that thing... Should I continue?

If that thing needs a health bar, then we're the BOSS...

once in a while i see one of those in my house roaming around.

Just to clear a few things up... This is a Scutigera Coleoptrata, or Common House Centipede. It is NOT a silverfish. They dine primarily on arachnids. Just because you have one does not mean you have thousands. In fact, they bear only 1 offspring each year and can live for several years. They prefer cool, moist places as this is where their prey congregates. They WILL bite and they do inject a very mild venom when they do but it is less severe than a bee sting. Finally, these things are faster than you can imagine.

That's it! Not big deal... just another link in the food chain.

This is a kind of wood centepede. Some similar species have a nasy bite. They tend to live in the plumbing pipes and come up to wet areas in houses, and they are common in wood piles. I've caught them in Australia and Asia, I think they are everywhere. And yes, they are fast.

Never seen one of those. But the one in the second link I have come face to face with a few times the last 5 or 6 years here in south central Texas, usually crawling up someone's rock fireplace. They are NASTY ugly. Spiders, snakes, bugs and such don't faze me, but these things make my blood run cold! The smallest one I have seen was about 4", dead and gave me the creeps. Nearly jumped out of my skin when I saw one about 8" making it's way up my friend's rock fireplace.

The first one I ever saw I was in the 1st grade and it was crawling up the cinder block school. It stretched the length of two horizontal cinderblocks. I ran screaming to get the teacher. Scared the living daylights out of me!
Didn't see another one until about 5 years ago. They aren't real common around here, but when we're in a drought, they do come out, esp. in rock houses.