What is This Terrifying Bug in Your House Called? Don’t Kill It
Have you ever seen one of these terrifying little creatures in your house? Was it going Mach 2 when it moved? Were you like me and had no idea what it was called?
I was greeted with a good morning from this guy yesterday morning. It was clinging to the wall above a door in my house. It was huge, probably the biggest one I've ever seen in my house. Its leg span was about the width of a slightly used bar of soap.
I had no idea what this thing was called, even though I have occasionally seen one here and there in our house over the last 13 years. I googled "bug with lots of legs" and it was the first result that popped up. It's commonly (or uncommonly) called a house centipede. Its scientific binomial name is Scutigera coleoptrata.
I was surprised that when I googled this little demon I found many articles that said things like "Don't kill house centipedes" or "Why you shouldn't kill house centipedes." How this creepy-crawly creature deserves such a reprieve from slithering all over my house?
House centipedes feed on a bunch of other bugs you really don't want in your house and can cause a much bigger problem or infestation. Spiders, bed bugs, termites, cockroaches, silverfish, and ants are all food for them. And since they don't transmit disease or cause any damage to your house, killing one of these disgusting-looking things will actually be a negative in your house.
Unfortunately, I did not spare this guy. He got swatted with a magazine and dropped it in the trash. From now on I'm just going to tell them to get back to work.
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