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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      441 year ago

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

    • @soloner@lemmy.world
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      131 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?

        • @over_clox@lemmy.world
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          51 year ago

          As far as I’m aware, if it’s got upwards of 350 legs, those are called millipedes, not centipedes.

          Also, I’ve never in my life seen either a centipede or a millipede with legs anywhere near that long, so my mind is still stuck on WTF is that damn thing?

          Any which way you go, I’d say kill it with fire! Even though it’s already dead, I wouldn’t wanna take any chances if it happens to have eggs in it or possibly a parasite or anything…

          • @girl@lemm.ee
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            1 year ago

            The difference between centipedes and millipedes actually has to do with how many pairs of legs they have per body segment. Centipedes have one pair per segment, millipedes have two pairs per segment. The centipede with 354 legs is indeed a centipede (: the millipede with the most legs actually tops out around 750 legs! Pill *millipedes seem to be the smallest millipede with only 14-42 legs!

            Also, if you google pics of centipedes, there is indeed a species with terrifyingly long legs just like this picture, the house centipede.

            *pill bugs != pill millipedes, pill bugs are crustaceans apparently, cool!

            • Communist
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              31 year ago

              No, a pill bug is not a type of millipede, they’re actually crustaceans, and not closely related.

              Pill bugs used to be one of the few exclusively terrestrial crustaceans, but now almost all insects are classified as crustaceans, so, i’d have to double check the phylogenies.

              • @girl@lemm.ee
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                11 year ago

                Ah, apparently pill bugs and pill millipedes are different! Thank you for the correction.

            • @over_clox@lemmy.world
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              21 year ago

              Huh, interesting. Well today I learned a little more about creepy-crawlies than I expected. Also, a pill bug is considered a type of millipede? Well hell, I never would have guessed that.

              • @girl@lemm.ee
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                31 year ago

                I was actually very surprised to learn about the pill bug as well, if I’d known they were millipedes as a kid I would not have found them so cute and fun lol

              • Communist
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                21 year ago

                No, a pill bug is not a type of millipede, they’re actually crustaceans, and not closely related.

                Pill bugs used to be one of the few exclusively terrestrial crustaceans, but now almost all insects are classified as crustaceans, so, i’d have to double check the phylogenies.

                • @over_clox@lemmy.world
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                  11 year ago

                  Oh? Okay then, well either way I’ve learned something new today. Interesting, not like it’s going to change the price of weed in Colorado for my daily life, but thanks for sharing. 👍

          • So while I’m sure there are thousands of different kinds of milli- amd centipedes, in general:

            • Millipedes have shorter legs
            • Millipedes are slow. Like, slow enough to see them move unlike centipedes, creepy bastards
            • Millipedes are vegetarians, and while crushing them can be bad news, they don’t bite
            • Millipedes look kinda like long pill-bugs, whereas centipedes look like hell had a nightmare and it was given flesh and form
          • Echo Dot
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            21 year ago

            I’d say a small asteroid impact will take care of it. Something about the size of the tanushka event seems appropriate. Just be sure to pre-warn all of the neighbours within a 500 mile radius.

      • @Etterra@lemmy.world
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        21 year ago

        That’s why you always find dead garden millipedes curled up in a spiral. The odd number of legs makes them walk in circles until they die from it. “True” story.

    • @Umbrias@beehaw.org
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      51 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.

        • @Umbrias@beehaw.org
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          31 year ago

          You have way more beetles than you think you do, and far more beetles than you believe can bite. If you can find a spider, there are dozens of beetles that it’s feeding on, in an over simplified way.

    • @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.

    • @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.

    • @Floey@lemm.ee
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      21 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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      21 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.

  • @Haphazard9479@lemm.ee
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    1171 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.

  • iesou
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    1011 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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        331 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.

      • @MystikIncarnate@lemmy.ca
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        91 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
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          11 year ago

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

          • @MystikIncarnate@lemmy.ca
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            21 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
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              21 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!

    • NotErisma [they/them, any]
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      1 year ago

      From the wikipedia machine:

      >They use both their mandibles and their legs for holding prey. This way they can deal with several small insects at the same time.

      Final boss energy

      • Turun
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        31 year ago

        But silverfish are not bad either? They don’t carry disease.

        • iesou
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          161 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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          51 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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      131 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.

  • @Chefdano3@lemm.ee
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    561 year ago

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

  • Cadenza
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    391 year ago

    My brother/sister in christ, have you considered nuking your neighborhood from orbit ?

    • @Eudaimonia@lemmy.mlOP
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      91 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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        131 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.mlOP
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          51 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

    • ddonuts4
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      301 year ago

      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.

  • @RalphFurley@lemmy.world
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    281 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
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      201 year ago

      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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        221 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.

        • Spaz
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          81 year ago

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

          • prole
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            111 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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              11 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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              111 year ago

              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.