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August 31, 2005

Yeeeeowwwwww That's ugly!

Posted at August 31, 2005 04:55 PM in Disturbing Stuff , Pets , Strange Stuff .

Holy Cow! That's a big bug!
That thing is big enough to be a pet!

A few years ago one morning as I was about to take a shower for work, I saw a centipede in my tub. It was trying to get out but kept sliding down the side. I screamed like a girl then ran and woke my wife up to kill it. It scared the living daylights out of me. I don't care much for spiders either. But that's another story.


Briton Finds Venomous Centipede in House

LONDON - Aaron Balick expected to find a tiny mouse rustling behind the TV in his apartment. Instead, he found a venomous giant centipede that somehow hitched a ride from South America to Britain.

"Thinking it was a mouse, I went to investigate the sound. The sound was coming from under some papers which I lifted, expecting to see the mouse scamper away," the 32-year-old psychotherapist said Wednesday. "Instead, when I lifted the papers, I saw this prehistoric looking animal skitter away behind a stack of books."

He trapped the 9-inch-long creature between a stack of books and put it in a plastic container.

The next day he took it to Britain's Natural History Museum, which identified the insect as a Scolopendra gigantea — the world's biggest species of centipede.

Stuart Hine, an entomologist at the museum, said it was likely the centipede hitched a ride aboard a freighter, likely with a shipment of fruit.

"Dealing with over 4,000 public and commercial inquiries every year, we have come to expect the unexpected. However, when Aaron produced this beast from his bag I was staggered," Hine said. "Not even I expected to be presented with this."

The Scolopendra gigantea has front claws that are adapted to deliver venom when it stings, which can lead to a blistering rash, nausea and fever. The sting is rarely life-threatening, but painful.

Comments

OMG I hope that I never find one of those hiding in my place

Posted by dawn at September 3, 2005 12:03 AM

Try having one 13 inches long crawl in your shirt I freaked out

we live in hawaii and they get big

love always
bubbles

Posted by BUBBLES at November 2, 2005 11:17 PM
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