Unidentified Bugs In My House

[Julie P.]

an excellent idea. I would not have thought of this at all.

[Julie P.]

thanks for the link. the picture of the outdoor centipede on that site is the one that I *had* seen before I first posted here, and that was not what was in my house. The picture of the house centipede to the right of it was one that I had *not* seen before, and that one *was* the one in my house.

Here is an amazing, and very funny site I found about them:

I could have been the author of that sire, as most of it applies to me! :)

[Julie P.]

I once left a bag of cheetos under a tarp in my backyard by accident. In the middle of the night, I found a skunk going after the cheetos. I had to fight him off with a stick and trash can lid!

[Julie P.]

Let me just say that I appreciate the centipedes effectiveness in killing insects and spiders, but it has gotten to the point where I am paranoid, and any blur or movement I see out of the corner of my eye has me jumping to get the can of insecticide to catch the centipede. So that is why I am going after them.

[Suzie-Q]

You're a braver person than I!

[Amy D]

LOL.. Funny! I remember my first encounter with a centipede! I was living in the middle of Nebraska.....more toward the eastern end. I was in college and renting a house . Anyway, I found one of these horrid things on my wall! This was back before I knew of the internet. I freaked out, spazzed out, swore it HAD to me a centipede or millipede and caught it in a jar and went next door to my landlord/sweet old man neighbor and ranted and raved because I had heard all my life they were deadly poisonous. LOL! That poor old man. He swore up and down they were harmless.....NOTHING with that many legs could be harmless!

Anyway, I toughened up and sucked the next one up in the vacuum cleaner. My "ex" husband -- who was kinda there on a conjugal visit for a few days had to deal with me having nightmares for two nights....LMAO. I made him get up in the MIDDLE of the night and empty the vacuum cleaner bag and sort through all the crud and cat and dog hair to FIND the dead centipede to make sure it was there. He couldn't find it. I THEN had nightmares about a PISSED OFF MUTANT CENTIPEDE that fed on pet dander coming to attack me......LOL

God, now in southern Alabama I am currently dealing with termites, yard fleas , roaches, chiggers or something, a crop of spiders, houseflies and some damn gnat thingies in the bathroom that someone told me were fungi gnats, and the ants are fixin' to make their attack. NOTE TO SELF: Do NOT make the six-year-old catch the next lizard found in the bathroom!

Do ya wanna send me some of your centipedes? :)

To top THAT the dumb CAT that came with the house has left me a dead bird, rat, squirrel or lizard DAILY for the last month on my back step. Dumb ME tossed them in the outdoor trashcan....which now is a vicious cycle of maggots, flies........god....I want to go live in the DESERT!

amy

[Amy D]

What is a SKINK?

In Illinois I had tossed a bunch of Halloween suckers in the trash outside because they were full of ANTS. The next morning the coons had scattered the trash and I found a neat PILE of sucker sticks in the yard! I laughed for a week from the visual picture of coons sitting there licking suckers in the yard! :)

amy

[Suzie-Q]

-> Julie P. wrote:

->

-> >

-> >

-> >>I have skinks,

-> >

-> >

-> > I once left a bag of cheetos under a tarp in my backyard by accident. In

-> > the

-> > middle of the night, I found a skunk going after the cheetos. I had to

-> > fight

-> > him off with a stick and trash can lid!

-> >

-> >

->

-> What is a SKINK?

It's sort of like a lizard, but it more resembles a snake with legs. It's long and sleek and shiny. I'm sure you can find a zillion pix if you do a google image search.

-> In Illinois I had tossed a bunch of Halloween suckers in the trash

-> outside because they were full of ANTS. The next morning the coons had

-> scattered the trash and I found a neat PILE of sucker sticks in the

-> yard! I laughed for a week from the visual picture of coons sitting

-> there licking suckers in the yard! :)

[Vox Humana]

I would have gladly let him have the snacks.

[indago]

040621 2319 - Amy D posted:

The cat is bringing you gifts. I think he wants to get into your pants...

[The Ranger]

[snip]

It's a beneficial reptile.

The Ranger

[The Ranger]

[snip]

There are 1000's of other sites that can offer you information on the benefits and usefulness of this lizard.

The Ranger

[0tterbot]

go after them with a swatter then. the best way to do it is probably to organise the house so there aren't boxes & hiding places everywhere & you can get a clear shot ;-)

in general, most insects & other little creatures are worth sharing your house with. i only draw the line at flies & mosquitoes (both of which spread disease), although i'm glad we don't have cockroaches cos i just can't stand them. the other spiders, insects & small reptiles you might find in an ordinary house should keep one another in balance. there's really no need to wipe them all out chemically (quite the reverse, in fact) although there are exceptions to that rule if something is taking over... :-) kylie

[None]

I hate those frigging things! They are one of my least favorite insects (and this from the only man on the planet who will jump on a table like the stereotypical woman seeing a mouse, but for me it just takes an Earwig or one of these nasty little things).

Not that it matters in the least, but they are colloquially called "thousand-leggers", which is giving them 10x too much credit, but what the hell :)

I don't care how beneficial they are, I'd gladly wipe them out of existence (in my house that is).

Earwigs aren't as icky, but we had an infestation in an apartment a couple of years ago. That was truly horrible. We'd get home from work every night and the first thing we did was kill the 20-30 Earwigs on the walls, floor, whatever else. Then we'd sit on the couch all night and jump the second we caught any movement out the corner of our eyes. Not pleasent, so I know what your going through.

I apologize to the "nature is good for you" camp. I d>Hi, I have had this problem with a strange bug in my house. I have taken

[Julie P.]

Wow! that must hav ebeen hard. They are super fast.

and went

Well, they so actually have venom, but they usually can't penetrate human skin from what I have read on the Internet. Still, I wouldn't want to chance it myself. You had to be brave to actually catch one!

My roommate used to do that with moths. I always worried that they would find their way out. LOL

LOL! My roommate's cat used to steal things like paper clips and the like, and bring them to me.

[Julie P.]

funny! I think the poster meant "skunk". I used to keep garbage in the house until trash day for the reason you mention above, but actually, I think if there is rotting food, I'd rather leave it outside in a tight container than risk bugs in the house.

But one time, I tried cooking lobsters, and when I went to eat one, I found greenish/yellowish blood/ooze or whatever inside the lobster flesh, which grossed me out. Apparently I didn't boil them right, or didn't boil them alive (I didn't have the heart to boil them alive). So I threw them away in metal trash can. That night, a humongous raccoon tipped the can over and went after the lobsters. I wasn't as scared of fighting him off as I was the skunk. :)

[Julie P.]

oh, duh! Sorry, I thought the poster meant "skunk".

[Julie P.]

Thanks Kylie. I agree. The only problem though is that when you splat them, there leave their guts all over. And sometimes, they can get on a pipe or in a crevice, which is hard to swat.

yes. But ever since I saw on the show Mythbusters that daddy long leg spiders are venomous, I am more weary of them. And then there are those big hideous brown spiders that are fast, which totally horrify me. And having a beetle or moth buzz around your room at night while working at your computer is also annoying. Or go to reach for something, and ending up with a handful of spider web. :)

[Melba's Jammin']

Millipede.

[Stara Baba]

Hah! When the little bastards scare me, I whap 'em -- shoe, towel, whatever's closest!!