I need to let the other people in the office know about this centipede, who lives on a diet of spiders, who live, in turn, on smaller arthropods— it speaks of a complex ecosystem the size and elegance of this creature: deadly, delicate, a muderous chandelier with racing stripes. (for those of you in tropical climates please rest easy, this is not one of those snake like creatures it can’t hurt a human)

At the bottom of the ecosystem are messy middle school students.

I thought of putting a sign on the box, but that seems in contravention of “Project Try To Be Normal”

I just don’t want anyone to be startled by the creature and kill it. I’ve seen that happen before and it’s very upsetting. I find if I let people know how helpful they are it’s possible to get people to leave them be. I hope no one needs to look up any old exams today!

In my office there is the most glorious house centipede. I see them each morning as I’m the first one to get in, and startle them from their nightly creepings when I switch on the lights. I’ve tried to catch them several times, but they are swift, and I don’t know if they would be safer in the basement than our office. I am terrified one of my coworkers will see them and crush them or toss them outside where it is too cold.

Today they have bunkered themselves in a box of old exams.

In my office there is the most glorious house centipede. I see them each morning as I’m the first one to get in, and startle them from their nightly creepings when I switch on the lights. I’ve tried to catch them several times, but they are swift, and I don’t know if they would be safer in the basement than our office. I am terrified one of my coworkers will see them and crush them or toss them outside where it is too cold.

Today they have bunkered themselves in a box of old exams.

Did you know that house centipedes can live to be 7 years old? It takes them 3 years to reach adulthood, depending on how much food they can find. So, when you see an adult they have lived a long life and seen many mostly basement-themed things.

The more legs they have the older they are.

Seems unfair, I've gotten pretty old and still just have four limbs like when I started... hmph.

Seems unfair, I've gotten pretty old and still just have four limbs like when I started... hmph.

@futurebird so I have been thinking of you as I deal with bugs in my house. I have a carpenter ant issue. They are eating the walls and flooring. What would you do? I also have a recurring silverfish issue. Do I... Catch the silverfiah and let them go into the ant holes? Can I lure the ants to leave so they don't destroy my apartment? Do I catch the cob spiders and put them next to the ant holes?

The ants are all over the house and I don't think I've been bitten, but they leave little piles of drilled through wood and poop? places and I have to clean it. I feel bad killing bugs, but I worry the wood chewing ants will cause structural damage over time.

@domo

That sounds annoying and alarming. Since you have evidence that ants may be nesting in the wood this means the wood is VERY soft. They can't generally make nests in wood that isn't very damp or dry rotted. Basically to get them to leave you need to find the source of the dampness or dry rot. Do you have any sense of how water might be in contact with the wood? Pipes? A leak? The silverfish are also there because of moist conditions.

@futurebird well, I live in the basement level apartment of a row house built in 1880 in Amsterdam, NL. My apartment sits about half underground, such that my only window in the living room, is at my eye level, which is the street level outside. You have to go down a few steps to get in, so we always deal with moisture issues. Amsterdam has swamp like conditions during the non-winter months, and it's only gotten worse as climate change has worsened. The silverfish and ants have been here from day 1 since I moved in 5 years ago. I've alerted the landlord from day one and they have sent exterminators, which have put poison everywhere and it typically results in the visible ones no longer being visible for a few months before both come back stronger than ever.

We mostly see them around the bathroom, and the vent broke about a year ago and the landlord still hasn't fixed it, so maybe that's been worsening the problem? Last year was the first year we finally broke down and bought a heat pump that can also do dehumidification, but that only works in the living room, and doesn't reach the back of the apartment where the ant problem is the worst. Next to the bathroom is also where the little laundry nook is where we have one of the combined washer dryer units where it's a single machine that has two settings for wash/dry. Maybe the whole area is just too damp? The ants and silverfish are both only really a problem during the warm months, so for the past 4 or 5 months, I have only seen a couple of very baby silverfish, and otherwise not found any ants, but just yesterday, our bathroom sink had 6 ants and I tracked them down to a little hole outside of the bathroom door.

I need to let the other people in the office know about this centipede, who lives on a diet of spiders, who live, in turn, on smaller arthropods— it speaks of a complex ecosystem the size and elegance of this creature: deadly, delicate, a muderous chandelier with racing stripes. (for those of you in tropical climates please rest easy, this is not one of those snake like creatures it can’t hurt a human)

At the bottom of the ecosystem are messy middle school students.

@futurebird well, I live in the basement level apartment of a row house built in 1880 in Amsterdam, NL. My apartment sits about half underground, such that my only window in the living room, is at my eye level, which is the street level outside. You have to go down a few steps to get in, so we always deal with moisture issues. Amsterdam has swamp like conditions during the non-winter months, and it's only gotten worse as climate change has worsened. The silverfish and ants have been here from day 1 since I moved in 5 years ago. I've alerted the landlord from day one and they have sent exterminators, which have put poison everywhere and it typically results in the visible ones no longer being visible for a few months before both come back stronger than ever.

We mostly see them around the bathroom, and the vent broke about a year ago and the landlord still hasn't fixed it, so maybe that's been worsening the problem? Last year was the first year we finally broke down and bought a heat pump that can also do dehumidification, but that only works in the living room, and doesn't reach the back of the apartment where the ant problem is the worst. Next to the bathroom is also where the little laundry nook is where we have one of the combined washer dryer units where it's a single machine that has two settings for wash/dry. Maybe the whole area is just too damp? The ants and silverfish are both only really a problem during the warm months, so for the past 4 or 5 months, I have only seen a couple of very baby silverfish, and otherwise not found any ants, but just yesterday, our bathroom sink had 6 ants and I tracked them down to a little hole outside of the bathroom door.

@futurebird My middle school students *Flipped out* whenever a house centipede made an appearance. Oh, the screaming! And they just won't believe you if you tell them that the poor things are harmless.

@valen1

I have worked so long and hard to get our students to be less excitable in that way. It's a multi-year project but it is possible. I start with pointing out that screaming won't do anything to help us calmly move the creature back where it belongs.

Having them look at macro photos of common creatures where you can see their *eyes* and when they are doing something calm, like eating or cleaning themselves helps a LOT.

The more legs they have the older they are.

@futurebird The only time we see our centipedes is when there is torrential rain and they come upstairs from the soggy basement. They're so fast!!

@sbourne

Do you put up a little tent for them and hand out MREs like when there's a hurricane?

Did you know that house centipedes can live to be 7 years old? It takes them 3 years to reach adulthood, depending on how much food they can find. So, when you see an adult they have lived a long life and seen many mostly basement-themed things.

@futurebird No, but I do keep the kitties away!