#38381: — 09/02  at  06:25 AM
If I found this behind my couch? First, I'd run. Then, when my heart had returned to its normal beat, I'd look for a new place to live.
That would seriously freak me out.
Still, fascinating!

#38382: — 09/02  at  06:30 AM
I don't have the usual aversions to creepy-crawlies; I can tolerate snakes and spiders (as long as they keep their fangs where I can see them). A simple house centipede, however, once kept me away from my computer desk for three days.

A nine-inch venomous South American freak? I would move. Definitely to another apartment, but possibly to another city. Changing my citizenship would not be too far out of the question.

Although not to any country in South America.

#38383: — 09/02  at  06:41 AM
Holy Freakin' Jebus! And I'm usually disgusted with what the cat brings into the house here in northern Maryland.

#38384: — 09/02  at  06:48 AM
Holy Wow! Didn't I see that in an old Vincent Price movie? It looks even scarier in colour.

#38388: — 09/02  at  07:14 AM
"I say we take off and nuke the site from orbit. It's the only way to be sure."

I could be interested in something like that with maybe three inches of glass between us. Bulletproof glass. And if I had a flamethrower. Otherwise, it's time to visit Scenic Antarctica.

#38389: Janice in GA — 09/02  at  07:17 AM
"Some people get all the fun."

Uh, for very low values of fun.

#38391: — 09/02  at  07:22 AM
My former undergrad advisor is a herpetologist who studies caribbean herps. He tells of hearing a horrible shrieking noise one night while he was out collecting. Following the noise, he found one of those centipedes draped across a bullfrog that was objecting to being eaten alive.

#38395: Heliologue — 09/02  at  07:41 AM
I am an admitted coward, and I'm not afraid to admit that this venomous whozimawhatzit would have sent me running for a hammer. It could have been a new species: it would be smashed. It could have housed a cure for AIDS: it would have been smashed. There is no conceivable reason why I would not completely obliterate this creature with a heavy object (attached to a ten-foot pole, of course).

But, that's just me.

#38400: — 09/02  at  08:29 AM
Don't worry Heliologue. I'm sure the bobbies will be along soon to shoot it. After all, it is from Brazill.

#38401: PZ Myers — 09/02  at  08:46 AM
Hey, if I found one of those things, I'd keep it and love it and take care of it and name it George. That's a spectacular arthropod, and it deserves a little respect.

#38402: Heliologue — 09/02  at  08:49 AM
In my defense, mammals and reptiles are fine in my book. Insects and arachnids are a different matter.

#38403: PZ Myers — 09/02  at  08:52 AM
Mammals are fine…for Scolopodendra to chew on!

#38404: — 09/02  at  08:56 AM
When I was little I pulled a piece of bark off a tree (in Australia) and there was a big centipede behind it. According to my memory it was about a foot long, but you can't always trust your memory. I am sure that I jumped more than a foot backwards, however. Despite the shock I still continued to pull bark off that tree when I passed it because I wanted the trunk to look nice and smooth. As far as that tree was concerned, I guess I thought its bark was worse than it's fright.

#38405: — 09/02  at  09:00 AM
I found a 4-inch centipede crawling out from behind my bookshelf once. That was bad enough. I'm pretty cool with arthropods, but enormous centipedes give me the willies. The four-inch horror from behind the bookshelf snuffed it when I hit it with a hammer.

#38406: Alon Levy — 09/02  at  09:00 AM
Just one? When my mom was a kid, the family maid found an entire colony of centipedes under one of the mattresses.

If you're looking for ways to kill them, consider taser guns (the ones with the range, naturally). They're built to knock out an adult male homo sapiens weighing 80 kg; presumably they'll kill a centipede weighing 0.5 kg if that much.

#38409: — 09/02  at  09:08 AM
But the flesh around a tazer wound doesn't actually die, does it? So I doubt Scolopodendra flesh would die. The dart wouldn't do it much good however.

But I agree with P.Z. It's better to love than to hate.

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#38413: — 09/02  at  09:37 AM

That's a spectacular arthropod, and it deserves a little respect.

Respect, yes. From a distance.

(I got out the ruler - and yup, it's big enough that I would robably freak out for a moment if it crawled out of my couch.)

#38416: — 09/02  at  09:55 AM
I'm usually opposed to discharging firearms within a dwelling, but if I spotted one of these things in my house, I think I'd be reaching for the shotgun. Birdshot wouldn't do *too* much damage to the drywall..

-jcr

#38428: Alon Levy — 09/02  at  10:44 AM
But the flesh around a tazer wound doesn't actually die, does it? So I doubt Scolopodendra flesh would die. The dart wouldn't do it much good however.

It would be just like plugging a human into an electric chair, I think.

#38432: tony g — 09/02  at  10:54 AM
i sure hope we get to see this and the octopi at Circus of the Spineless . . .

also, if this centipede is related to the giant ones we have in Texas (which hurt like hell) then i think the genus is going to be Scolopendra.

#38433: — 09/02  at  10:54 AM
i'm glad i wasn't the only one who thought "shotgun".

not sure i'd use birdshot, though; if the thing would hold still long enough for me to make a quick dash to the store, i might look for a blank cartridge, actually. the barrel's length is ample distance between me and Scolopodendra (the length of a shotgun's barrel is enough distance between me and just about anything, i've always felt), and the concussion should kill something that relies on an exoskeleton, right...?

#38434: — 09/02  at  11:02 AM
I used to find those all the time in the apartment I just moved out of.

Ok, well maybe not quite that big, but still...

#38465: — 09/02  at  12:30 PM
On discovering how fond our 6" Hawaiian centipedes are of my compost pile, I decided sandals were a bad idea while working in the yard. They are remarkably tough creatures, but shy and apparently uninterested in getting inside the house. I did get bitten once, at a B&B on Molokai. Not a pleasant way to wake up.

#38466: GrrlScientist — 09/02  at  12:35 PM
Centipedes are the stuff of nightmares. Oh, I forgot to mention, they also live in my apartment, where they apparently eat the cockroaches that infest the building (it's too bad they also don't eat the mice that infest the building). The centipedes use my shower frequently, too, often when my birds and I are in there. Those are exciting showers, I can tell you!

But I have learned that pouring rubbing alcohol on them kills them really quick-like!