#38469: — 09/02  at  12:45 PM
I wouldn't mind a centipede or two if it would eat the roaches. Maybe not a nine inch one, though. (Altough given that the cockroaches around my building are a good 1-2 inches themselves, a roach eating centipede might grow to 9 inches pretty fast.)

#38476: memo — 09/02  at  01:03 PM
looks and responses aside, I think that "scolopendra" is the coolest genus name so far...scolopendraah! sounds marvy when said out loud.

#38484: S.T.R. — 09/02  at  01:37 PM
I find many small frail centipeeds in my house, they disitigrate when you touch them.

I do not know how I would feel if I found a giant one. I think my curiosity would overcome my fear. Just like when I saw a huge spider sitting on the floor. Normally spiders freak me out, and the giant on freaked me out too, but my curiosity made me get closer and check it out, and then let it go, rather than flushing it.

By the way, how bad would a bite from one of those things be?

The most vicious animal I have found in my place is a chipmunk.

#38496: Chris — 09/02  at  02:56 PM
Those things are venomous, but the venom is rarely fatal (you probably have to have an allergic reaction to it), so I wouldn't be so afraid of them. Of course, I'll never find one of them in my home. But I do find these fairly regularly, and I am terrified of them. I kill each and every one I come across anywhere, because I've known people with legs that looked like this. Give me a 9" centipede any day.

#38502: — 09/02  at  03:45 PM
There's probably something a bit wrong with me that I'm slightly jealous of that man. What a beautiful centipede! It's probably just as well that it wasn't me, though, as my husband would probably faint if one showed up in our place.

#38505: — 09/02  at  04:05 PM
I have a strict rule--nobody in the house that has more than four legs. They can have the yard, the porch, and the woods, but I have my limits. The 4" millipedes we get around here are bad enough. At least they're pretty slow. Centipedes are quick.

All the same, being a sort of approximate Buddhist, I'd have to try to scoop the wee beastie up and put it outside...eek.

#38550: — 09/03  at  01:53 AM
Normally I am relatively smug that here in good old Blightly (the UK to you foreign types) the most dangerous wildlife we encounter is a mildly peeved otter. However having seen a picture of that centipede I can only hope the bugger hasn't bred! If it has, there may be some interesting chemicals coming home with me from the lab this week.

Don't get me wrong, I love athropods big and small, but like a previous poster I have my house rules. I have no objection to sharing my domicile with a myriad of spiders (I have never lived anywhere so infested) but they and I have an understanding: I don't see them scare my wife, they don't get buried at sea by way of my toilet. Anything for an easy life!

That beastie would have merited a serious beating with a shoe or at best a decent attempt at capture. That is phylum arthropoda taking the severe piss, and I will not tolerate it! The only thing that would worry me is that the swine would take the shoe away from me and beat me with it.

#38556: — 09/03  at  06:58 AM
We have 'em here in Texas. Only ours are often deep purple when they're that big. No kidding. They're scary-fast, too. As a kid, you're made to believe that every leg can sting you. Not true, of course, but they do have huge, venomous fangs that would probably hurt. A lot.

#38560: — 09/03  at  08:16 AM
I think ol' PZ gotta remember that PETA doesnt stand for People for the Ethical Treatment of Arthropods.

#38573: Alon Levy — 09/03  at  10:05 AM
No, but since arthropods are animals, PETA supports treating them ethically by deduction.

#38697: — 09/04  at  01:01 PM
"That's a spectacular arthropod, and it deserves a little respect."

I am glad someone else is tickled by Scolopendra. I remember my fascination first time I saw it. (In a jar in a museum, of course.) Perhaps some of it at the time was because my mother had learned me to be afraid for spiders, while I was never afraid of the many millipeds and centipedes you meet when digging in rich soils. But the Scolopendra was impressive and a centipede even a few centimeters long have a nasty bite when provoked.

I am happy to say that I come over my spider fear when I met tarantulas in South America. Somehow it pared them down to proper size. Arthropods, reptiles and fish are preferable as pets in my book over mammals and birds that really dish out hurt. But they are not so cuddly so mammals usually win.

And I see that frogs can scream. I thought they could since I accidentally severed a leg from a frog while moving high grass with a scythe. The leg went one way, the frog another and a high sound was made. So perhaps it was not the scythe cut but the poor frog itself instead. (I know, I know, one should always try to repeat 'observations', preferably in controlled form. :-( )

#38729: — 09/04  at  04:50 PM
Well, the UK has nettles. UK nettles are *nasty* as common plants go; they can't kill you but if you fall into a patch you can get a nasty reaction from the sheer volume of toxin. And I was stunned to discover that elsewhere in the world people go for walks in the countryside wearing shorts. In the UK that would be foolish at best.

#38978: — 09/05  at  11:34 PM
I just returned from a vacation in England, and read this story in the national presses while I was there. The thing that bowled me over was that that bloke put the beast in a box overnight, then brought it to the Museum of Natural History in London for identification, then (if I read the stories correctly) he *took it home* again.

(Anyone in Blighty who wants to see a live Scolopendra from a safe distance can go to the Butterfly Farm in Stratford-on-Avon -- highly recommended. They have an equally horror-inducing giant 'bird-eating' spider on exhibit too, and my inner 10-year-old immediately wondered which one would win in a fight.)

#39198: — 09/07  at  12:39 PM
Well, very young nettles make a tasty and nutrious soup. I am not so sure about n-peds. (n >= 6.) Except of course the always useful octopods!