Is there any invertebrate creepier than the house centipede (AKA “thousand-legger”)? I grew up in Upstate New York, and had never encountered one of these until I first moved to southeastern PA around 1993. The first time I saw one skitter across the living room while I was watching TV, I thought for sure I’d seen some kind of demon–a lesser demon, granted, but a demon nonetheless.
Turns out it’s just Scutigera coleoptrata, a fast-moving type of centipede that lives mostly within human homes and eats spiders, roaches, bedbugs, silverfish, and other small insect-types that also invade human dwellings. Doesn’t sound like much, I know, and if you’ve been fortunate enough never to have encountered one, you have no idea just how disconcerting the sight of fifteen pairs of legs moving in a coordinated wave can be as this sizeable critter slashes across a floor or wall.
Since we got our dog, a Rhodesian ridgeback mix, we haven’t had much problem with these little guys. We just say “Copper, bug!” and he goes into full-on hunting dog mode, enthusiastically sniffing out the centipede before crushing it to death with his paws, and then typically tossing it around a bit before eating it. Unfortunately, he’s recently taken to retching — and I mean, retching — after eating one, so we’re not letting him do that any more. I looked up information on the house centipede, and it appears that their venom is not dangerous to house pets, though their bite is recorded as painful. After finding a close-up photo of a house centipede face, all I can say is yikes. I’m not surprised their bite is painful, check out those fangs!
(Photo after the jump)
If you do have these around, you might like to know that they are generally considered beneficial (see the list of undesirables that they are doing away with?) and that a concerted effort to kill off house centipedes might reveal a bug problem of another sort that you never knew you almost had… That, and their bites are apparently really painful to people, too. At least as painful as a bee sting.
On a related note, my search for information and photos of Scutigera coleoptrata led me to Dope on the Slope, a pretty cool Brooklyn-based blog of invertebrates and photography. It’s not many blogs that really catch my interest, so I figured I’d give this one a plug.
My husband and I just moved from New Orleans to Northern Kentucky to get away from the hurricanes, crime, and filth. Much to my surprise I found two of these on the wall in our new garage and when I got closer to check them out they took off like a bat out of hell. They are soooooooo creepy. I think I would rather the crime and hurricanes than having to deal with these creatures from outer space!!!!
They taste great dipped in chocolate.
Kills em in seconds, just use the direct spray not the mist and spray the crap out of em
Yuck. These creatures are definately the creepiest bugs I have EVER seen. I see them constantly in my bathtub, so I guess they like moisture. I get goosebumps whenever I see one. My family calls them million leggers. I saw one in my bedroom the other day just hanging out on the ceiling. I just can’t stand them. I live in southwestern PA.
WTF, im from NY and I’ve never seen one of these, now i live in TN and im in my room and i see one just coming towards me, and it looked like it had more legs than 15. So i grabbed my boot and smashed it, but it was very fast and all i got was a few legs! I was like wtf is that, i thought it must be some new species or alien or something i didnt know what the fuck it was, it was like neon green with purple in it. idk its fucking ugly though
.. jason are you serious? NY? it has the most centipedes. i see them everytime at my house, and i’m trying to find an exterminator
but yeah last night there was at least 2 inch crawling and had the mother kill it, and right now i just killed a baby one. bastards
Chris,
It was good of you to mention that the centipede is a rather beneficial arthropod. A lot of people just want to get rid of centipedes because of their overall creepiness.
If you want some helpful hints about getting rid of centipedes and other pests, please visit my website http://www.getridofitall.com.
Thanks,
Ted Curtis
You have really great taste on catch article titles, even when you are not interested in this topic you push to read it
These bugs are ridiculous…they jump,they avert,the throw up smoke screens…they are very very adept at getting away from an impending foot(or in my case soup can) I dont care WHAT bugs are in my house having this guy around to eat them up doesnt make me happy at all in the least.
Have u ever rode one? Sonsofbitches r fast
Most bugs don’t scare me but this one, I cannot deal with. I moved into a new home and the first bug I saw in the home was this one! I thought, oh man if this is going to be the common pest of this house, i gotta move. Goosebumps upon goosebumps and then I freeze.
i thought it was a roach the first time I saw it. Smashed it and then got a closer look of it on the bottom of my shoe. Freaked me out. Next day I saw a live one in my new home. Had PTSD with it, froze in one place. Don;t want to see one ever again.
AGAHA!!!!!!!! My husband was “seeing a man about a horse” and one of these creepy things was staring at him from the bathroom wall! Im in California… this shouldnt live here… PA resident’s please come retrieve your bug. It NEEDS to go back… it’s way too creepy!
See these every once in a while in the basement. Found a quick knife through the back works well.
I LOVE these things. they kill all the spiders that i ever come across (except for this huge wolf spider thats way too big). i see about 2 or three of them every night and i’m very used to them. before these little buggers started inhabiting my room in the basement i would get several spider bites a week. but not now they’ve completely killed of the black and orange spiders, then the white ones, and then the black jumping ones,and then most of the wolf spiders. but there are a few of them that are way bigger than the eyelash bugs and eat them, witch scares me.
I ve killed a few in the last few days, some 2 inches long, some smaller.
I think these things come from a weird looking spider thingy i had in my home. This was a very very small body, and very very very very long legged creature that looked like a spider but had no abdomen, and I think they transform into these centipede demon creatures. I may stop killing them if they are doing the house cleaning even though they give me the fuckin creeps..because if these things kill spiders, why do they not kill the daddy long leg type that I think are part of the metamorphism of the centipedes?
It is because they know their kin !
just moved in to my new house at school. I got the basement which I thought was a big pick up cuz the room is huge, but these fucking things are everywhere. After researching these little buggers I dont know whether to kill them on sight or allow them to hunt and kill other bugs that may be lurking in my room. but they freak me the fuck out. I was soo fucking high the first time I found one and was convinced aliens had finally landed. I plan to form an alliance with these creatures. Together I feel we can rid my small dwelling of all other creepy crawlies. Keep your friend close but keep your freakishly creepy house goddamn centipedes closer.
peacee
Anything that eats roaches, silverfish, & ESPECIALLY spiders is MORE than welcome in my home. I’ve only seen 2 & I put the 2nd one in my closet for a silverfish snack. Bring ‘em ON!!
Thank you so much for a great article. I’m so happy to read your book and meet you. I hope keep ruling on great work………. Thanks again.
Its been an exciting week in my little studio apartment. First came the mice in the night. So I bought a few of those sonic outlet nightlight rodent deferential systems that claim to rid you of rodents and insects. So t
Last night my girlfriend claims she heard the mice move out to the neighbors. So as we were boasting a out our success this morning, my girlfriend looks up a screams with a fear I’ve never seen from her. I come looking half expecting to see a cobra in full striking coil, but instead saw a centipede lazily clinging to the wall. I assured her it was nothing and tried to pick it up with a wad of toilet paper. Well that didn’t work and the fury sucker jumped on me. I knew it was a centipede, the exact one you have pictured here. I started to step around and the little monster scurried like lightening under some clothes on the floor. I picked up the clothing and walked lightly out the front door where I released it.. Hoping not to see it any time soon. After reading your info, I am stunted to learn that it could have bitten me with a bite equal to a bee sting. All in all, I’m glad it didn’t bite me and it is equally lucky since it is living another day.
O gawd i’v seen ones up to three inches in length. let me say, every time i see one, i scream loud enough to wake the dead N cnt run away fast enough. I love bugs bt i cnt stand these. my mom and me usaully put any spiders outside, bt wen these nasty things start showing up, we let the spiders live in the house thinks they’ll eat the creepy bastards. Nw tht I kno its the other way around i feel srry for the spiders! my boyfirnd wudnt even kill one for me, he made my lil sis do it
yyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu would never like these!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I HATE THESE CREEPY THINGS I CAN ONLY IMAGINE IT WALKING ON ME AT NIGHT! :’(
I JUST SEEN ONEFOR THE FIRST TIME TODAY IN MY HOUSE IN CONNECTICUT THE SCARIEST THING EVER!!!!!!!!!!!
urgh urgh urgh urgh urgh urgh