Attack of the Centipede
Last night, Moses and I were attacked.
It was a particularly vicious attack. I was sitting at the kitchen table reading for class (which turned out to be cancelled) and Moses was faithfully sitting on the floor at my side, just like a dog. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw something move. Ohmygoshitwassoscaryijumpedfromthechairandontothenearbybench!
This was in the middle of my kitchen floor scampering about looking for a Nugatory En Fuego to eat:
Moses joined me on the bench. I had my cell phone, so I called KP, who happened to be on business travel in Denver. The conversation went something like this:
If you knew Moses, you would understand why that was a terribly insensitive thing to say. Why, I believe KP was mocking me! I saw Moses, the mighty hunter, catch a bug once. Just once. Admittedly, it was probably an aging fly, but he did manage to snare it in his fluffy little paws. And didn't I mention he was on the bench with me?
After KP's useless suggestion, I formulated a solution. I went downstairs and got the landlord. He brought his 11-year-old kid and a plastic food storage container and a 4-foot yard stick. (I know it's a contradiciton in terms, but what do you call a giant ruler that's 4 feet long?) They caught the bug in under 5 minutes, and proceeded to examine the bug and show me the container (with the bug in it). You could see the creepy legs and its body run about on the inside of the container. I shudder just thinking about it. Albeit, the container was sealed, but I really just wanted them to take the bug and run. Run really far away.
I did some research this morning. Apparently, it was a "house centipede". They say it gets "up to" 1.5 inches. I think they need to correct that. This thing was at least 2 inches, and I'm guessing closer to 2.5. It was HUGE!
Moses and I are safe. Though, it may be a while before I stop giving the refrigerator a very wide berth.
It was a particularly vicious attack. I was sitting at the kitchen table reading for class (which turned out to be cancelled) and Moses was faithfully sitting on the floor at my side, just like a dog. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw something move. Ohmygoshitwassoscaryijumpedfromthechairandontothenearbybench!
This was in the middle of my kitchen floor scampering about looking for a Nugatory En Fuego to eat:
Moses joined me on the bench. I had my cell phone, so I called KP, who happened to be on business travel in Denver. The conversation went something like this:
"Hi, sweetie!"
"Oh my gosh, I have a bug on my floor."
[laughter]
"I'm serious! It's huge! It's the size of your thumb!"
"Ok, Ok. What kind of bug is it?"
"I've never seen one like it before. I don't know."
"Is it a cockroach?"
"I know what a cockroach looks like. This has too many legs."
"Is it a millipede?"
"The legs are too long."
"Is it a centipede?"
"Those bite, don't they? It better not be a centipede. Ack! He went under the refrigerator!"
"Then you're fine. He won't bother you again."
"What if he comes back out?"
"You can just sick Moses on it."
If you knew Moses, you would understand why that was a terribly insensitive thing to say. Why, I believe KP was mocking me! I saw Moses, the mighty hunter, catch a bug once. Just once. Admittedly, it was probably an aging fly, but he did manage to snare it in his fluffy little paws. And didn't I mention he was on the bench with me?
After KP's useless suggestion, I formulated a solution. I went downstairs and got the landlord. He brought his 11-year-old kid and a plastic food storage container and a 4-foot yard stick. (I know it's a contradiciton in terms, but what do you call a giant ruler that's 4 feet long?) They caught the bug in under 5 minutes, and proceeded to examine the bug and show me the container (with the bug in it). You could see the creepy legs and its body run about on the inside of the container. I shudder just thinking about it. Albeit, the container was sealed, but I really just wanted them to take the bug and run. Run really far away.
I did some research this morning. Apparently, it was a "house centipede". They say it gets "up to" 1.5 inches. I think they need to correct that. This thing was at least 2 inches, and I'm guessing closer to 2.5. It was HUGE!
Moses and I are safe. Though, it may be a while before I stop giving the refrigerator a very wide berth.
posted by nugatory | 9:26 AM
5 Comments:
We have these occasionally too. Icky.
They're house centipedes.
We have house centipedes too. They're creepy (incredibly creepy) but they're also "good" bugs - they're harmless to humans but they eat other bugs (cockroaches, spiders, etc). They're normally nocturnal, and will come out at night looking for other bugs to eat. So if you can stomach them, you should probably just leave them be.
I don't think I can stomach them. I think I'll just rely on the landlord's kid if it ever comes back.
Your comment frightens me, though. They eat spiders and cockroaches? Does that mean I have spiders and cockroaches? What else do they eat? What's under my refrigerator that's so tasty?
It doesn't necessarily mean that you have spiders and cockroaches - just that they're looking for them. Do a few web searches for house centipedes. A number of universities and the like have some great information pages on them. I agree though that they're incredibly creepy.
You've never seen one before? Lucky you! Where do you live? I live in southeastern PA and I get them all the frickin' time. They're an important reason why I look forward to winter.
For some reason, I seem to have had more of them last year than this.
I don't have roaches, but I do get spiders sometimes. Since I generally don't like to gratuitously kill other life forms, I have evolved a system where I keep empty peanut butter or mayonnaise jars in each room of the house, along with small squares of cardboard. Most of the time, I'm able to trap the spider against the wall or other flat surface, then slide the cardboard across the opening; then I take it outside and release it.
I also keep flyswatters handy. Those are for the centipedes. But you have to be accurate. You only get one shot. Miss, and they're gone.
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