Eeek! Monstrous insect

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PW in Polemi
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Eeek! Monstrous insect

Post by PW in Polemi »

Warning - if you're squeamish, don't read this.
Warning - if you're an entomologist, don't read this.

So there I was yesterday, down on hands and knees in the cottage shower cubicle, scrubbing away when I saw a movement out of the corner of my eye.

It was orange, it was about 6"/15cm long, very wriggly, very fast (well, it had the advantage of loads of legs :roll: ), very unhappy, and heading towards me! Help! A huge centipede on the rampage, what to do?

I don't pick up insects unless I'm certain they won't bite - and this looked like a biter to me. My usual course of action is to resort to the vacuum cleaner - but that meant taking my eye off the creature to fetch the vac, and where would it have scuttled to in my absence? :shock:

I was shut in the cubicle with this irate thing (I'd earlier closed the shower door to vinegar the water stains) and I was not wearing footwear suitable for stomping and squishing. :(

However, help was at hand in the shape of the shower head and hot tap - fortunately the hot water tank is just above the bathroom and shower room, so hot water arrives quickly.

I gave my unwelcome intruder a very hot shower that he did not appear to appreciate at all. Perhaps he'd have preferred shower gel rather than vinegar and Cif. :lol:

When I showed OH the body, he was amazed that I had coped on my own - I used to scream and run a mile from anything larger than a money spider :oops: - but I've got a bit more accustomed to creepy crawlies over here, and they have to be about the size of my palm before I begin to panic - unless it's a mosquito whining in my ear :lol: :lol:
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Nemo
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Post by Nemo »

Rather you than me for that one, but I too have found hot water to be my friend on occasions. :wink:
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Casscat
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Post by Casscat »

Bleugh! A centipede that size would give me the heebie-jeebies. I hope that in time I also develop a less squeamish response to finding critters lurking in and around the house. My managers recently reported finding a dead snake under the chest of drawers in the bedroom occupied by my mother when she visits. I suspect that had she been the one to find it that would be the last time she ever stayed there!
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PW in Polemi
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Post by PW in Polemi »

Don't worry, Casscat. You'll soon harden up - I used to be so scared of spiders, I could barely bear to watch "Arachnophobia"! We've got an integral garage here and when we finally moved in, there were 2 large black tarantulas in residence in the garage. That's a bit too close for comfort, even though they are pretty slow moving. They were so big that OH could barely fit a whisky glass over their curled up bodies :shock: and for a long time I would check for more arachnids before venturing into the garage from the kitchen (tricky, when your arms are full of washing and you can't see what's near your feet!). Now, I don't bother. If there's a spider in the garage, good luck to it. If there's one in the bedroom, well, I've got a good vacuum cleaner and if I can't reach (high ceilings), then there's always OH and a stepladder :lol:

As for snakes, well the only really dangerous one is the Blunt Nosed Viper and only about 7 people per year get bitten, necessitating several days in intensive care. Providing you tread heavily, and especially if you stay on the path, they will stay away from you. We suspect our cat got bitten because he put his paw in a hole where a BNV was sleeping. Traumatic for him and us, but thanks to the vets, he survived and only has a furless stripe up the inside of his front leg and shoulder to show for it!

And if your mother had seen the dead snake, well, you could have comforted her with talk of snakeskin handbags :lol: :lol:
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greenbarn
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Post by greenbarn »

PW in Polemi wrote: If there's a spider in the garage, good luck to it. If there's one in the bedroom, well, I've got a good vacuum cleaner and if I can't reach (high ceilings), then there's always OH and a stepladder :lol:
Spare a thought for the Aussies and one of their pretty but deadly inhabitants, the Redback Spider.

Apparently, if you see a Redback on your toilet seat, that's considered lucky.
If you don't see it, that's unlucky...... :shock:
AndrewH
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Post by AndrewH »

PW, here's your boy (or girl):- http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=Gre ... EA2D1BE953

We get them too, but not in the house (so far!). We have seen them in the garden and have heeded the locals' warning to keep ones distance. They have venom claws.
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Casscat
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Post by Casscat »

I'm not sure if it's the same type of centipede, but this article from the Olive Press made me laugh and squirm all at the same time. The bit about it escaping the flames! Eeek! :shock: http://www.theolivepress.es/spain-news/ ... way-comes/

I can't open your link Andrew - our office firewall prevents it as 'streaming media'. Funnily enough it allows streaming media when it's YouTube!
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PW in Polemi
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Post by PW in Polemi »

greenbarn wrote: Spare a thought for the Aussies and one of their pretty but deadly inhabitants, the Redback Spider.

Apparently, if you see a Redback on your toilet seat, that's considered lucky.
If you don't see it, that's unlucky...... :shock:
:lol: :lol:
Yes, I know, no laughing matter if you get bitten, but toilet seat antics are reminiscent of "Arachnophobia" which I now consider almost as amusing and over-the-top as "Snakes on a Plane".

AndrewH - I'm having difficulty opening your link too but fortunately it wasn't Casscat's scolopendra - just a very large centipede with a potentially nasty bite.
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Nemo
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Post by Nemo »

Here it is on you tube Casscat just for you :wink: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IW6IjPWSjOY
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Casscat
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Post by Casscat »

Aw, I felt a bit sorry for it - it looked petrified :( Actually it looks very similar to one I saw dead on the bottom of my swimming pool. Dead I can cope with, but a living one moving at speed would probably have me shrieking hysterically.
annedab
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Post by annedab »

I've just been down to our pool as it was making a gurgly noise (never a good sign) and have spent the last half hour trying to extricate a very large and very distressed hedgehog from the skimmer opening :(
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Anne

If there's no such thing as co-incidence, then why is there a word for it?
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Normandie
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Post by Normandie »

Casscat wrote:...but a living one moving at speed would probably have me shrieking hysterically.
...and moving at speed away from it! I would be, anyway. When things are scared, they bite first and ask questions later.

Well, I do... :wink:
annedab wrote:...and have spent the last half hour trying to extricate a very large and very distressed hedgehog from the skimmer opening :(
I caught a bit of Springwatch during the week - the hedgehog is so endangered in the UK now that it could be extinct within 10 years. Worst case scenario but the species is under great stress. So well done on saving him / her.
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Casscat
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Post by Casscat »

Normandie wrote: I caught a bit of Springwatch during the week - the hedgehog is so endangered in the UK now that it could be extinct within 10 years. Worst case scenario but the species is under great stress. So well done on saving him / her.
Noooo! Really? Aw, I love hedgehogs :( I had no idea that they were under threat, although in urban locations the trend towards hard landscaping and no wild corners is bound to have a negative impact.
annedab
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Post by annedab »

He was huge, and he really didn't want to come out. He was too big to get out through the basket side so I had to persuade him to get back in the pool so I could catch him with the net. He stayed in the sun shivering for a long time, but he was gone in the morning and the cat isn't full of prickles so I guess he made it. Definitely didn't realise they grew that big though.
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Anne

If there's no such thing as co-incidence, then why is there a word for it?
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Mouse
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Post by Mouse »

I have a love hate relationship with a hedgehog who has decided to live with a feral cat colony I feed. He/she constantly craps in the dried food I leave out for them (not nice) and I am forever trying to find a way of preventing him/her from climbing in to the food :roll:

I have now got it up on a small table that thankfully has remained inaccessible.

Mouse
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