this post was submitted on 09 Oct 2023
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submitted 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
 

Found it dead in my dishes

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[–] [email protected] 98 points 10 months ago (4 children)

That's a house centipede. They will leave you alone and eat lots of pests.

[–] flambonkscious 36 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (2 children)

Thanks for taking the useful approach, rather than parroting the usual drivel

Edit It turns out they feed on bed bugs - surely that should sway a few people.

...And they can detach their legs? I want one!

[–] [email protected] 33 points 10 months ago (2 children)

Just so people who see them aren't worried, they don't just eat bed bugs. They will eat basically any insect that is smaller than they are up to and including spiders. I even saw one eating a yellowjacket once. So having house centipedes in your home doesn't mean that you have bedbugs.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Yeah it means you have house centipedes which is only slightly less bad.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago

Very very very very wrong

[–] [email protected] 4 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Spiders are creepy but they're not bad either. Get rid of flies and mosquitos

[–] [email protected] 7 points 10 months ago (1 children)

This advice may not apply to Australia but in general, it's true.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 10 months ago (2 children)

Do those giant spiders even make webs?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago

Actually Huntsman's don't! They're the big hairy brown ones that you've seen carrying mice on social media. They're non-venemous and their whole schtick is that they run to catch their prey. They're incredibly creepy but when I see one I cup+paper it and put it outside. It'll probably find it's way back in eventually but not before taking out a few insects in the process.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago

Underground ones sometimes.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I want one!

Don't worry, you already have more than one, probably hiding in the walls.

Unless you live in a high rise building...

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago (1 children)

They probably have two, regardless of where they live. Unless they are in a wheelchair.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 10 months ago (1 children)

When I lived in a concrete high-rise, I never saw any centipedes. Now that I reside in a mostly wood/drywall house, I've seen at least three.

I lived in that high-rise for ~4 years, I've lived in this house for ~1 year.

I do what I can to leave the centipedes alone so they can do their thing. We also have spiders, which are all considered bro's in our home.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 10 months ago

It was a joke on

…And they can detach their legs? I want one!

The "one" can refer to both a leg, as well as a complete centipede.

I realize the joke didn't land at all. Oh well!

[–] [email protected] 21 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

From the wikipedia machine:

>They use both their mandibles and their legs for holding prey. This way they can deal with several small insects at the same time.

Final boss energy

[–] [email protected] 14 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I wish I had a few of those instead of a multitude of disgusting silverfish }:

[–] [email protected] 3 points 10 months ago (3 children)

But silverfish are not bad either? They don't carry disease.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Silverfish eat the glue that's used to bind books. So they're a pest to someone with a personal library.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 10 months ago

Huh. So that's why they're found in Minecraft strongholds.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 10 months ago

They only have six legs, so very uncool. Also, they're jumpscare experts. Chillin' on the frickin' ceiling, in packs of toilet paper, my dirty laundry bin... I despise them for it.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

I've got regular silverfish in the bathroom, but gray silverfish (or paperfish as they are called here) in the rest of the house. Those things are larger and much more destructive, some found their way in my collection of sheet music.. They literally eat their way through paper and even damage untreated wood, nasty critters. And worse, where ventilating your house helps against silverfish, it only seems to create even better living conditions for those buggers. I'd trade for house centipedes happily.