100 Species #68: House centipede

[urbpan]

House centipedes Scutigera coleoptrata were one of the first species we found in the house, and we find them relatively frequently; this one trapped itself in our kitchen sink.

Can it really have been 14 months since I last posted about house centipedes? Actually, looking at my house centipede tag, it looks like I post about them about once a year. They are a recurring subject because they are fairly common in buildings, but lots of people never get used to them. I guess I kind of like how freaked out people are by this relatively harmless and beneficial animal. As you know, I am a pest control manager at a zoo, and when the staff complains about house centipedes, I tell them "that's not a pest, that's an ally."

In one of my old posts about this animal, I expressed skepticism that they were capable of biting a human. That post accumulates a few new comments every year, testimonials from unlucky souls that somehow got themselves "bitten" by this little creature. (It's not really a bite--their venom is in modified forelegs rather than mouthparts.) I was crawling around under my porch trying to catch one of three that my bug-foraging guests found hunting (uncharacteristically) outdoors, and even the bug-lovers thought I was nuts for trying to touch one. I'm going to cross-post this picture on facebook, and then I'll share the horrified comments that I collect there.

Comments

[calypso72]

One of my FB friends posted just a couple days ago that she was bitten in the middle of the night in bed by a Scutigera. The thought of it gave me the willies.

[uneko.livejournal.com]

I grew up around Scolopendra subspinipes.... those things are intimidating. o_o I don't know how often they bite or how bad it is in the centipede scale of horror, but I do kinda have to laugh at mister house centipede after dealing with 'granddaddy centipedes'.

[stephbg.livejournal.com]

Interesting. It doesn't press my OMG That Thing Will Bite Me buttons, but it sure as hell presses my Run Screaming button. Husband agrees that he would indeed scream like a girl if he found it crawling on his skin. FYI we live in Australia.

[urbpan.livejournal.com]

Okay, so the comments over there haven't been as entertaining as I thought, I think because someone confused the works with a "human centipede" joke. I hadn't thought of it, but that association will probably haunt chilopods for a few years yet.

BUT I did have one person (A ZOOKEEPER! Well, a former intern) say "I absolutely hate those things, how do I get rid of them?"

And another zoo employee (membership office) say "This is one of the only bugs I will kill on sight, with no reservations."

And an old roommate of mine commented on the album instead of the picture, as often happens on Facebook, and said "Oh Man! One of those things!!"

So not as many extreme reactions as I expected, but still the job of educating people about this species is not done.

We'll be back next year.

[heavenscalyx.livejournal.com]

We don't kill them in this house, though we used to in the house we were renting in Somerville (they trapped themselves in our bathtub and none of us could bring ourselves to rescue them, so we would toss our hunter cat in there for five minutes and afterward wash the legs down the drain). I've only seen them twice here, but it's a 130-year-old house -- I expect they're just better at hiding than the ones in Somerville. We're in the middle of our yearly attack of those horrible Austrian cockroaches -- we literally see them walking up the front walk, and liberally blame the apartment building across the street (we never see them any other part of the year; this year is worse than usual, as they've set up shop in the yard more aggressively than usual) -- and I was heartened to see one of these things trireming its way across the living room. Go git 'em, buddy!