Saturday 13 November 2010

House Centipede

I was in the bathroom the other day and whilst standing at the sink washing my hands I happened to glance to the right of me to the little ledge that runs along the wall and I saw this creature.

Now, I feel fine about most small things with more than four legs...except spiders...I don't do spiders; but this particular insect/creature from the depths of somewhere got my ankles as well as my toes a tingling.

I called to Hubby asking if he could just come into the bathroom and have a look at 'this thing'. He sauntered over and asked what's wrong....I said "er, what is that?" and pointed in the direction of said creature. He looked at it and then said nothing for a second or two, because like I was a moment ago, he too was stunned...

...needless to say, I looked at Hubby and said "so, how are you going to get rid of it? I'm assuming its a centipede of some sort with the number of legs it has." He looked in my direction..."me? ah man, why do I have to get rid of it? I get rid of spiders for you isn't that enough?" I gave him a look and then backed it up with "it's your job, part of the small print on the marriage certificate." Hubby sighed heavily and grabbed a lengthy piece of loo roll - "lift up the lid, he's getting flushed." With one swift swoop, said creature was caught up in a velvety robe of cotton and promptly released into a watery end - my hero...but just for the record, I did help said saving by flushing the loo!

Once saved, I headed to the laptop and looked up centipede but I put in American centipede. And that was what it was an American House Centipede....apparently, they like bathtubs, can run very fast which when they do, they lift their heads up (!) and are "good" to have around the house because they get rid of cockroaches. Great...

Now, I appreciate that being in America, things are always bigger - the roads, portions of food...but did it have to apply to the bleedin' insects as well? I mean, this thing had its many legs...but also two sets of antennae (what is the plural for that?) on both ends?!! Both ends...plus it was an inch long. Give me a British centipede any day...at least the ones I encountered were on the walls outside the house; yes I know the GB centipedes can grow to huge proportions just like its American counterparts but I'm glad I've never met one and certainly don't plan to do so.

Nasty thing...still gets me toes tingling thinking about it. I was going to post a picture of it but I'll leave that to you to look up. I have warned you...

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