Heaven S(c)ent...i... pede?

[pyat]

Twice in the last four days I have come upon an enormous House Centipede, while performing late-night ablutions in the bathroom. They are among the largest specimens I’ve ever seen, larger even than ones I find in the sticky traps in the basement.

I presume the extremely damp summer has given them time to ripen.

I examined the remains of the one I killed last night. While the main body of the beast was “only” as long as my thumb (say, 15mm), it featured some extremely elongated tendrils fore and aft; appendages which were just a few millimeters shy of the length of my outstretched forefinger. Thus, the full length of the creature, superstructure included, was something approaching 60 mm, or about three inches. That is more that large enough for any terrestrial animal which does not bear fur or feathers. It falls into the category of “1/2 HD Monster” in my personal books.

So, in the assumption that these horrid beasties are coming up from the basement, I plan to erect a Stage One barrier across the likely vector of insertion into the bathroom. I will place a strip of double-sided tape around the pipes that ascend to the bathroom, and around the walls of the cavity that contains them. I will also heap diatomaceous earth around the base of the pipes.

If this does not prevent further sightings, I may have to consider the terrifying possible of a sub-floor community – or even culture - of the creatures, existing between the bathroom tiles and the dining room ceiling. No one wants to contemplate that scenario seriously.

Did you know centipedes take care of their young, can live for seven years, and, when they lunge toward you, they are, indeed, actually attacking you? They’re like Klingons.

Comments

[foomf.livejournal.com]

Once, back in around 1981 or 1982, we found a similar monstrosity in our bathtub. In addition to the very long, doubtless poison-bearing fore and aft spikes, it was covered with shorter, half-inch spikes over its entire segmented horror of a body, and it did, indeed, lunge at me as if to threaten my life. I dispatched it with hair spray.

[pyat.livejournal.com]

Wise of you!

These beasties are from Greece or thereabouts, originally, and started spreading across North America in the 19th century - they only arrived on your coast fairly recently, as these things go.

[catsarah.livejournal.com]

I've dispatched puppies in that fashion before. That one sounds like the one that traumatised me as a child. I was using the loo, in the dark, and as I reached for the toilet paper, my sister turned on the light and my hand was mere millimetres away from on that was draped over the top of the toilet roll...my parents who had their bedroom in the basement (ours was on the 3rd floor), heard me screaming and came to see what had broken into our house to kill me *nods*.

[pyat.livejournal.com]

That happened to me, too! Except I was 28, and I put my hand on it...

[catsarah.livejournal.com]

I actually jerked my hand off my optical-mouse when I read that *GAH!*

[pyat.livejournal.com]

There was much *GAH!*ing that night, I can tell you! It was about 2 AM.