Monday 8 October 2012

We're Back!

House Centipedes Scutigera coleoptrata are one of those creatures that send all the primitive synapses in our brains jangling on full red alert, but actually they are more or less harmless and earn their keep in the house by eating undesirables such as cockroaches and silverfish. They are very much more visible in the cooler months, when they tend to be active inside the house. In the summer they often move outside.

For some really professional pictures of house centipedes and a properly knowledgeable blog post on them, go to Piotr Naskrecki's Smaller Majority. You will be amazed and fascinated.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

I had one of these in my house a few weeks ago - hopefully it is out and about keeping nasties under control.

Tim said...

Silverfish ain't nasty.... primitive yes, but nasty... no! Not unless you have old wallpaper that could probably be better replaced, than hanging loosely on the wall.
In my view, silverfish [and their cousins, Firebrats] are marvels of evolutionary survival... and adaptation... seeing that the habitats they now frequent didn't exist at all when they evolved.

Never ever seen one of these centfeets... indoors, or out.
I must look out for them.

Fab Fungus Foray on Saturday... thanks Susan.

Tim said...

And... is he facing down the wall... or up?

Susan said...

Tim: down, I'm fairly sure :-)

I can tell you that silverfish are the enemy if you are in charge of a collection that includes an historic library (or indeed, historic wallpaper...)

Glad you made it to the fungi foray in the forest -- I would have, but our wood was being delivered.

Tim said...

Having looked at Smaller Majority... definately down! Fab site that... now marqued as a favourite.

Susan said...

Tim: isn't The Smaller Majority fantastic?!

Ken Broadhurst said...

We certainly had silverfish in North Carolina, and they were famous for eating books (glue, I think, or maybe paper).

Susan said...

Ken: they will eat both paper and glue. Old glue is made from plant or animal material, not synthetic, so they will go for it.

Simon said...

I'm not so ambivalent. I have been bitten, and it isn't pleasant. And if it wasn't one of these that bit me, then I don't know what did (and the scuties are paying the price)

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