An Additional Roommate
This morning while I was brushing my teeth, the rabbits settled outside the door in the hallway, as they frequently do when determined to get more petting. I was about to join them when I realized that there was a LARGE BUG in front of Orion (not that this seemed to bother him in the slightest).
I didn't find it ugly, but I had never seen its like, which made me nervous. It was at least an inch long and was multicolored with all sorts of feathery-looking appendages. So, being brought up to attack first and ask questions later, I tried to dispose of it, but as I didn't know whether it would bite, I wasn't very fierce and it ran away into the closet with astounding speed.
It didn't look like any centipede I had ever seen, but a little research indicates that it is in fact the kind of centipede most often found indoors, and that so long as it stays out of your way, it's a very beneficial creature. It eats things like ants and bedbugs. Now I grant that, fortunately, I have no ants or bedbugs or indeed pretty much any other insects in the apartment, but I'd love to make sure that any remaining carpet beetles are exterminated, so I think that the centipede is welcome to continue living in the closet. They do bite, so I hope it stays out of the bedroom.
I didn't find it ugly, but I had never seen its like, which made me nervous. It was at least an inch long and was multicolored with all sorts of feathery-looking appendages. So, being brought up to attack first and ask questions later, I tried to dispose of it, but as I didn't know whether it would bite, I wasn't very fierce and it ran away into the closet with astounding speed.
It didn't look like any centipede I had ever seen, but a little research indicates that it is in fact the kind of centipede most often found indoors, and that so long as it stays out of your way, it's a very beneficial creature. It eats things like ants and bedbugs. Now I grant that, fortunately, I have no ants or bedbugs or indeed pretty much any other insects in the apartment, but I'd love to make sure that any remaining carpet beetles are exterminated, so I think that the centipede is welcome to continue living in the closet. They do bite, so I hope it stays out of the bedroom.
Labels: daily life, Pittsburgh
posted by Karla at 7:23 AM
3 Comments:
I find one of those creepy house centipedes in my apartment about once a year. I don't care about their bug-eating propensities, I squash them. I try to "liberate" most insects that find their way into the house, but they and cockroaches (fortunately I've never seen a one of those in this apartment) are on my immediate removal list. {shudder} I'm sure it is some atavistic reaction.
That thing looked like the infrastructure of a bug! I'd remove too I think, just on the biting feature alone.
My understanding is that they're shy and that there's not much chance of getting bitten (they're sold in Japan as pets). The bite is only significant if a person is allergic to bee stings, which I'm not.
I don't think they look especially creepy, just surprising when you haven't seen one before. Mine was handsomer than the one in the photo, although clearly the same species.
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