BigBuild: April 2008

Tuesday, April 8, 2008

Unwelcome Visitor at the Big Build

Last night we had another centipede come for a visit. The attached pictures are from another visitor that stopped by last year or so. This specimen was spotted a couple of times in the house but ultimately met his demise in the pool. So the photos were taken after his drowning. At a distance or when they are dead, I find them very fascinating.

We typically see them once or twice a year. Usually outside or occasionally in the house. All that we have seen in the house have been in the dining room or living room. But last night he came crawling across the bedroom floor! He came out from hiding at about 10:45 PM. I was totally freaked. I don't mind seeing them crawling about when I'm at a distance and very mobile and when I'm wearing shoes. This time this was not the case, I felt very vulnerable mostly because I'm usually sleeping at 10:45 PM on a week night. Basically the thought of one crawling on me in the dark when I'm asleep gives me the heebee geebies! Plus this one was the biggest yet. It had to be 10 inches long.

The tricky part is catching them. When they are crawling around exploring they move in a predictable manner at a reasonable speed. But once they are alarmed, they go nuts. Running all over at lighting speed. Plus another not so nice feature, they sting. And we've been told their bite is bad. Worse than a scorpion. The key was to capture him and get him outside ASAP

without startling him. Note you really don't want to/can't kill them because if you don't get it right on the first pass (which is difficult because of their hard exoskeleton) they will go nuts. So luckily it crawled into Joker's bed. When it made that move Dave quickly swept up Joker's bed, opened the door to the balcony and beat the bed on the side of the turret until the critter fell to the ground.

I'm happy to report there were no casualities :)