House Centipede

[AndrewCrown]

Just for interest... my security camera picked up a really unusual insect I’ve never seen before.. Screen shot below... Just by the table leg.



Bit of research and i think its a house centipede...not such a bad resident as it picks off other insects....

[Kawasicki]

Or maybe....

[Berkshire bred]

They can both fk right off!!!

The first one would be getting a strong headache from my size 11's. Second one might be an air rifle job.

[Boosted LS1]

Nice one OP, I'd be well chuffed but I'm civilised :-)

[soad]

Nasty looking creepy crawly. Probably harmless?

[Boosted LS1]

Yes, it'll only eat things you don't want in your house but it scares some of the bigger folk on here, patsies, lol.

[s2kjock]

I didn't think you got these in the UK. See them on holiday in Madeira though. I am fascinated by them. G/f goes mental

[smn159]

Berkshire bred said:

. Second one might be an air rifle job.

Best do that outside if you value your flooring

[anonymous-user]

smn159 said:

Berkshire bred said:

. Second one might be an air rifle job.

Best do that outside if you value your flooring

This is the one time when ‘nuke it form orbit’ is actually the right response.

[Saleen836]

garyhun said:

smn159 said:

Berkshire bred said:

. Second one might be an air rifle job.

Best do that outside if you value your flooring

This is the one time when ‘nuke it form orbit’ is actually the right response.

Wear a full face safety mask so any blood spatter from it doesn't burn your face

[AndrewCrown]

s2kjock said:

I didn't think you got these in the UK. See them on holiday in Madeira though. I am fascinated by them. G/f goes mental

This is in South of France... g/f has gone from mild fascination to fully blown nightmares about it...she did admit she had encountered a small one before and flushed it down the loo...clearly this one is the size of a cat (in her mind) ..

[Kawasicki]

AndrewCrown said:

This is in South of France... g/f has gone from mild fascination to fully blown nightmares about it...she did admit she had encountered a small one before and flushed it down the loo...clearly this one is the size of a cat (in her mind) ..

Some of them get quite big. Are there any eggs visible in the vicinity? Do you have a cellar?

[Kawasicki]

How far away is the window from the camera?

[Kawasicki]

I think they get even bigger than that.

[Boosted LS1]

^ Hmm, pickle :-)

[s2kjock]

Just been googling about them. Impressive beasties Indeed. I can certainly vouch for their speed!

I see they eat spiders so I think that's the approach to take with the g/f next time.

I could usually manage to catch the spiders on holiday to release them humanely somewhere outside. Not sure I ever managed to catch one of these centipedes.

[carinatauk]

There is one centipede in Spain that delivers a painful bite, can't remember what it's called though.

[soad]

carinatauk said:

There is one centipede in Spain that delivers a painful bite, can't remember what it's called though.

The escolopendra?

[Glasgowrob]

does anyone else feel the urge to have a quick edit of Wikipedia before the OPs other half looks this up?

change this

The body of an adult Scutigera coleoptrata is 25 to 35 mm (0.98 to 1.38 in) in length.

to this
The body of an adult Scutigera coleoptrata is 450 to 600 mm (18 in to 24 in) in length.

[Snubs]

carinatauk said:

There is one centipede in Spain that delivers a painful bite, can't remember what it's called though.

The Giant Desert Centipede is considered to have possibly the most painful bite in the insect world above the likes of the bullet ant. There's a video here of a bloke deliberately getting bitten by one that should give you some idea.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nWZMfPP34g8

He's been stung by pretty much every insect going including the tarantula hawk wasp:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MnExgQ81fhU

And bullet ant:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tXjHb5QmDV0

It's worth watching those second two videos first to put into context how bad the desert centipede is. To be fair to him, he clearly has a very, very high pain threshold but the desert centipede pushed him over the edge.