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
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      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.

        • Thisfox@sopuli.xyz
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          1 year ago

          They are arthropods, just like lobsters and insects, but no, they are not insects. Spiders are arachnids.

        • PR3CiSiON@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          Centepides actually only have 6 legs. You can see the six real legs if you look closely at a picture. The other “legs” work like legs, but are not actually legs.

    • soloner@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Dumb question but I thought centipedes had like… 95 legs or something.

      The one in the op doesn’t have that many. Why are people thinking it’s a centipede?

    • Umbrias@beehaw.org
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      1 year ago

      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.

    • Wooki@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      You’re team spider unless you live in Australia and like all animals in Australia the spiders are no exception.Spiders kill, spiders eat burbs, spiders fly. Yup they fly, it’s nightmare material.

      I’ve also been bitten by a centipede in bed while sleeping and woken up in so much pain I threw up(#australiathings). How did I know it was a centipede? It was still in the bed. They are not nice. But I’m still all for them eating the spiders.

    • Floey@lemm.ee
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      1 year ago

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

    • orbitz@lemmy.ca
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      1 year ago

      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.

    • GnuLinuxDude@lemmy.ml
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      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.

  • Haphazard9479@lemm.ee
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    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.mlOP
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      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

      • Agent641@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        People love to say that they are harmless. But then why give it the most harmful sounding name imaginable?

        HUNTS

        MAN

      • InputZero@lemmy.ml
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        1 year ago

        When I was younger and I had roommates I hated it when they killed the house spiders. It was the reason we had so many other bugs. Once that roommate moved out, the rest of us stopped killing the spiders and after a burst of spiders the rest of the bugs were gone. House bugs are very creepy but they keep the bad house bugs away. Like bedbugs. Fuck bedbugs and the evolutionary niche they’ve crawled out from.

        • qdJzXuisAndVQb2@lemm.ee
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          1 year ago

          Does it come as good news that cockroaches are bedbug predators? Some real “pick your poison” shit, huh?

          • InputZero@lemmy.ml
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            1 year ago

            Honestly yeah, actually the building I previously moved out of had both. So I just kept very tidy by keeping everything they’d be attracted to sealed and away and left the cockroaches alone. It was a lot though, every night throw out all the garbage. Seal and put away all the food, if food can not be easily sealed put it in the fridge. Clean up all the crumbs and any drops of water on the floors, counters shelfs, ect. Lightly Borax the sinks, toilet, tubs. Then wake up, collect the ones that died overnight, clean up and go about my day. Oh and make sure you take apart then make your bed every morning and night to make sure nothing else crawled in there. They were never more than a small nuisance and I never had bedbugs compared to my neighbors. Yay adorable housing… So glad to be outta there.

      • scorpionix@feddit.de
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        1 year ago

        You see, I think spiders are incredibly interesting animals. But I really can’t look at them. I guess my Mum screaming every time something with more than 4 legs appeared had a lasting impact on me. So having one next to me while I sleep is nightmare stuff to me.

        • DarkThoughts@kbin.social
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          1 year ago

          Depends on the spider. I would not want something like a huntsman spider, but I don’t mind the small ones that just sit in their corner webbing.

            • Mom Nom Mom@nom.mom
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              1 year ago

              That’s the spider’s way of paying rent, in our household. If they come out into the spaces where we are, it goes against the rental agreement, and they are …evicted.

    • khalic@beehaw.org
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      1 year ago

      This is centipede propaganda, long live the spider queen, death to the centipedes!

  • iesou@lemm.ee
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    1 year ago

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

    • flambonkscious@sh.itjust.works
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      1 year ago

      Thanks for taking the useful approach, rather than parroting the usual drivel

      Edit It turns out they feed on bed bugs - surely that should sway a few people.

      …And they can detach their legs? I want one!

      • Fosheze@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Just so people who see them aren’t worried, they don’t just eat bed bugs. They will eat basically any insect that is smaller than they are up to and including spiders. I even saw one eating a yellowjacket once. So having house centipedes in your home doesn’t mean that you have bedbugs.

          • ours@lemmy.film
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            1 year ago

            This advice may not apply to Australia but in general, it’s true.

              • Gerbler@lemmy.ml
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                1 year ago

                Actually Huntsman’s don’t! They’re the big hairy brown ones that you’ve seen carrying mice on social media. They’re non-venemous and their whole schtick is that they run to catch their prey. They’re incredibly creepy but when I see one I cup+paper it and put it outside. It’ll probably find it’s way back in eventually but not before taking out a few insects in the process.

      • MystikIncarnate@lemmy.ca
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        1 year ago

        I want one!

        Don’t worry, you already have more than one, probably hiding in the walls.

        Unless you live in a high rise building…

        • Turun@feddit.de
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          1 year ago

          They probably have two, regardless of where they live. Unless they are in a wheelchair.

          • MystikIncarnate@lemmy.ca
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            1 year ago

            When I lived in a concrete high-rise, I never saw any centipedes. Now that I reside in a mostly wood/drywall house, I’ve seen at least three.

            I lived in that high-rise for ~4 years, I’ve lived in this house for ~1 year.

            I do what I can to leave the centipedes alone so they can do their thing. We also have spiders, which are all considered bro’s in our home.

            • Turun@feddit.de
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              1 year ago

              It was a joke on

              …And they can detach their legs? I want one!

              The “one” can refer to both a leg, as well as a complete centipede.

              I realize the joke didn’t land at all. Oh well!

        • iesou@lemm.ee
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          1 year ago

          Silverfish eat the glue that’s used to bind books. So they’re a pest to someone with a personal library.

        • jabathekek@sopuli.xyz
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          1 year ago

          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.

        • Aganim@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          I’ve got regular silverfish in the bathroom, but gray silverfish (or paperfish as they are called here) in the rest of the house. Those things are larger and much more destructive, some found their way in my collection of sheet music… They literally eat their way through paper and even damage untreated wood, nasty critters. And worse, where ventilating your house helps against silverfish, it only seems to create even better living conditions for those buggers. I’d trade for house centipedes happily.

    • lemillionsocks@beehaw.org
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      1 year ago

      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.

    • ddonuts4@lemmy.world
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      House centipedes may look like some prehistoric creature from the depths of hell, but really they’re like spiders, they’re your friends - they kill and eat bugs. You just don’t see them as often because they’re terrified of humans and zoom away at light speed when they see you.

    • Eudaimonia@lemmy.mlOP
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      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
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        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.mlOP
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          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

        • Bloodwoodsrisen
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          1 year ago

          Neither did i, thought i was looking at a giant bug i hadn’t seen before!

  • RalphFurley@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Whenever I hear my wife scream, I know it’s another house centipede I need to trap and throw outside (or smash and kill if I’m pressed on time)

    • Spaz@lemmy.world
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      Might as well kill it then as they don’t survive well outside if at all. They are a good beneficial insect that will hunt and kill bad insects in and around your home.

      • derpgon@programming.dev
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        1 year ago

        Spiders are okay, at least they hang around the ceiling. But this thing is giant and crawls on the floor and walls. No thanks.

          • prole@sh.itjust.works
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            1 year ago

            I’ve had multiple occasions where I was watching TV, and a goddamn spider slowly lowered itself (from the ceiling) to like 1ft in front of my face. Was real tiny, so very hard to see except at some angles where the backdrop provided enough contrast to see it and the single strand of web it dangled by. So it startled the shit out of me when I did see it.

            This was always only when I was still living with my parents, and always in the living room. I’m all about letting certain spider-bros roam my place, eating up other insects, but only if I don’t have to: look at them, get close to them, touch them, or get stuck in their web.

            You start pushing it, and slowly lowering yourself in front of my face while I’m watching Conan O’Brien at 1:30am? That relationship becomes strained.

            • Gerbler@lemmy.ml
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              1 year ago

              Agreed. I’m not charging you fuckers rent so you better keep to yourselves.

              If you want the privilege of engaging with the paying tenants then you better pony up your share of the rent or get the hell out of my house.

            • butterflyattack@lemmy.world
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              Yeah, right now I got a big meaty spider with a neat little web up in my corner near the ceiling. She wants to chill there and eat flies and I’m cool with that. But the moment she starts getting frisky and scampering around the room is when she’s getting evicted. Rules be rules.

        • Spaz@lemmy.world
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          The spiders living in your house aren’t hunters; they are “wait and catch”. House centipedes hunt those insects, including cockroaches.

      • Vatteck@lemm.ee
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        Yeah well they shouldn’t have so many legs if they want to be in my home!