Our Beautiful Houseguest (Bug!)

[SageGrouse]

Did it again. I stayed up rather latish getting some Internets stuff done, and I am so glad I did! It was around 11:30 when I decided to call it a night and I went into the bathroom to brush my teeth and take my blood pressure pill.

As I brushed my teeth, I looked over to my left. There, poised on the wall, was the most beautiful creature! She was (well.. IS) around 1 1/2 to 2 inches long, and an inch wide, from legtip to legtip with a positive *fringe* of delicate long legs. I studied her, trying to figure out *what* she was!

She was resting on the wall, in plain sight (I'd probably caught her mid-scurry when I turned on the light) and seemed perfectly at ease to remain where she was. I couldn't even begin to count her legs, they were so numerous and delicate, like fine hairs. She looked like a jeweled eyelash!

Quietly I finished brushing my teeth and went for my camera. When I returned she was still there, and I got five pictures. Since my camera is not a good one, only two of the shots were really usable.

I debated whether to end her life with a well-aimed shoe, but decided to err on the side of mercy. I'd never seen one of these critters before and we've lived in this house 5 years. So I wished her well and turned off the light and went to bed.

This morning I checked the Internet. It turns out she is a House Centipede. Harmless to humans and a voracious killer of moths, mosquitos wasps, cockroaches, silverfish, spiders, ants and assorted nasties that I really WOULD prefer not to have sharing my domecile. So long as she remains out of sight (she probably feels much the same way) she may dwell here unmolested. Since her kind can live 5 to 7 years, she could even have been here first! She's safe from the drought and welcome to remain.

Here are the pictures.

SageGrouse

 

[DirtyRob]

I put up with them...........ONLY...........because they like to eat spiders.......at least that is what I read about them.

But let me tell you there is no worse feeling in the world than to have a good 3 inch one of these crawling up your leg while you are sitting on the toilet!

 

[Jressman]

Ugly as sin.

I once was in the shower and rinsing shampoo from my hair and I look down to see one the size of a crawfish on the shower floor. I damn near tore the shower curtain down jumping out of the shower.

 

[slider]

Bugs,Bugs, and more Bugs

Boy if you don't like bugs, don't come to Central America. Here we have bugs they have not even named yet! Even what we call a coffee bug will bite the He## out of you. Here we check our beds, boots even our bath towels that are hanging up. But we still love living down here. slider..

 

[turtlefoot]

I put up with them...........ONLY...........because they like to eat spiders.......at least that is what I read about them.

But let me tell you there is no worse feeling in the world than to have a good 3 inch one of these crawling up your leg while you are sitting on the toilet!

 

[007tallguy]

i don't think i've ever seen one of those before. but hey, if it eats some of those nasty, bity bugs then it's got my vote to not have to undergo the shoe treatment.

 

[bornhunter]

I think it would be happier anywhere but my home. I would dispose of it.
BH

 

[Rudy]

I hear that with an ample food supply, they can get big.

Of course, that is the size you really need them to be, to do battle with these beasties, if you happen to have some at home.

 

[frankiefry]

I like your bug, Sage. We had a nice little spider named 'Charlotte' when the girls were younger. She lived in the kitchen window and ate the flys that gathered there. : ) Are you gonna name your friend?

 

[Cherry Picker]

I could use a few dozen of those. I get up to find Brown Recluse spiders in my tub. I'm guessing they fall in the tub and can't get out. Makes me wonder how many don't fall in. Sometime I'll find 2 in my tub in the morning. Here is a picture of one I took a flashlight and it stood still long enough to take the picture.

 

[SageGrouse]

I may call her Cecilia. We used to have a centipede named Cecil, years ago, so Cecilia is a good name.

When I lined in the San Fernando Valley we had a giant slug who lived under a pot by our back porch. He was (naturally) Sluggo.

The thing the soldiers are holding is a solpugid or camel spider. While that phot may be photoshopped, Google "Camel spider" "Wind scorpion" "Solpugid" to see other images of them. We have those, too. My Beloved found one *in* her pillowcase some five years ago. She hit and held E above high C having glissandoed up from a strong A flat above middle C. Such range! Such timbre! Eat your heart out Fay Wray! But then she's a soprano. I'm a mezzo.

The solpugid made it outside safely as well. I never kill any insect UNLESS it's venomous *and* dangerous to humans or dogs. And we never use pesticides or sticky traps. Spiders find a safe escort outside, moths are shooed out as well. Centipedes are encouraged to find a dark nich and go there, where the two-leggeds won't bother them.

SageGrouse

 

[Milhaus]

I could use a few dozen of those. I get up to find Brown Recluse spiders in my tub. I'm guessing they fall in the tub and can't get out. Makes me wonder how many don't fall in. Sometime I'll find 2 in my tub in the morning. Here is a picture of one I took a flashlight and it stood still long enough to take the picture.

So, yup.