House centepede in my daughters beetle enclosure

[Praxibetelix]

There is a medium-sized house centepede, approximately 1.5 inches long without antennae, in my daughters blue death feigning beetle (anabolus verrucosus) enclosure.

How can I safely remove it? I mean that I do not want to harm the centepede, I know it is not dangerous to me. Is it dangerous to our beetles?

Any advice would be great, these things move so fast! Also, can it harm the beetles?

Thank you!

 

[Praxibetelix]

Bah my phone misspelled the beetle Latin name, don't judge me I don't have them memorized lol!
Asbolus verrucosus. If my memory is right.

 

[Ratmosphere]

Take out the wood and bring it outside and touch the centipede until it flees. If not, get a deli cup and quickly try to catch it.

 

[Chris LXXIX]

"House Centipede in my darkest hour" -- a perfect title for a novel :-s

 

[CarbonBasedLifeform]

Take out the wood and bring it outside and touch the centipede until it flees. If not, get a deli cup and quickly try to catch it.

Agreed. Be careful if you need to opt for catching it because their legs can easily break off as a defense mechanism. Not the end of the world if it happens but I would try to avoid it if possible

 

[Praxibetelix]

Thank you so much for the replies. I want to keep it in the house, they are so beneficial! Since learning more about them, we stopped killin them in the house and now are free of all unwanted house guests. No flies, stink bugs, or any pests.

When I get home I will try removing the wood. I do find them so creepy though, if it starts to run I hope I don't freak out lol.

 

[Praxibetelix]

Successful catch and release back into it's natural habitat that is, of course, my livingroom.

Thank you for the advice, simply picking up the wood and placing it on the carpet did the trick. It ran off to hide under the computer desk

 

[Abel]

Successful catch and release back into it's natural habitat that is, of course, my livingroom.

Thank you for the advice, simply picking up the wood and placing it on the carpet did the trick. It ran off to hide under the computer desk

wait... u let centipedes run around ur house? lol. Thot u would move it into a garden or smth

 

[BobBarley]

wait... u let centipedes run around ur house? lol. Thot u would move it into a garden or smth

The species they are talking about (Scutigera sp.) are invasive and can't survive the outside temps, here in the U.S. (except perhaps a few select states).

 

[Praxibetelix]

It is invasive? Really...well it is helpful inside the house and garage lol. To my understanding they are harmless to people, in fact I could not even see it's mouth parts.

::Edit:: A quick Google search resulted in this website from Penn State: http://ento.psu.edu/extension/factsheets/house-centipedes
http://ento.psu.edu/extension/factsheets/house-centipedes
Interesting little buggers.

 

[Praxibetelix]

While perusing the internet about my house centipede friends I came upon this comment left on a blog:

"Sweep it into a container? I don't know what kind of wimpy, sweepable centipedes you get, but if I tried to sweep one, it'd be in hiding in seconds, because those [things] are faster than you.

My go to method is more reliable. Slip out of the room as quietly as possible to retrieve your hairspray from the bathroom. Then spray it with hairspray until it slows down enough that you can crush it with several layers of kleenex, all the while whimpering and possibly crying. I then clean up the hairspray that now probably covers half of my living room along with the funerary kleenex. I spend the next 30 minutes in the fetal position vigilantly watching for the friends that the first centipede surely invited over.

Works like a charm!" Comment was found here: http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/the-house-centipede-203064

This makes me so sad that people kill them, is that weird of me?

 

[BobBarley]

It is invasive? Really...well it is helpful inside the house and garage lol. To my understanding they are harmless to people, in fact I could not even see it's mouth parts.

::Edit:: A quick Google search resulted in this website from Penn State: http://ento.psu.edu/extension/factsheets/house-centipedes
Interesting little buggers.

Indeed, they are very interesting, and I hope to keep some one day.

 

[Najakeeper]

While perusing the internet about my house centipede friends I came upon this comment left on a blog:

"Sweep it into a container? I don't know what kind of wimpy, sweepable centipedes you get, but if I tried to sweep one, it'd be in hiding in seconds, because those [things] are faster than you.

My go to method is more reliable. Slip out of the room as quietly as possible to retrieve your hairspray from the bathroom. Then spray it with hairspray until it slows down enough that you can crush it with several layers of kleenex, all the while whimpering and possibly crying. I then clean up the hairspray that now probably covers half of my living room along with the funerary kleenex. I spend the next 30 minutes in the fetal position vigilantly watching for the friends that the first centipede surely invited over.

Works like a charm!" Comment was found here: http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/the-house-centipede-203064

This makes me so sad that people kill them, is that weird of me?

The only animals anybody is allowed to kill in my house are mosquitos and house flys when their numbers are unmanageable. And absolutely no chemicals, if you cannot catch them mechanically, they live. Anything else can be removed or better yet left in the house. I am serious about this shit and I lost it once when a house guest killed a spider, long story short, they ended up leaving.

It is great to hear that you let centipedes wonder around.

 

[Praxibetelix]

We have a lone mosquito in the house that no one can seem to kill! I am hoping the centipede will find it for us.

 

[Crowbawt]

I found one of these guys in the shower being harassed by my cat and dumped it into a little tank. I've kept it for over a month now, they're fun!

 

[Abel]

The species they are talking about (Scutigera sp.) are invasive and can't survive the outside temps, here in the U.S. (except perhaps a few select states).

Thks for the info

 

[AlbatrossWarrior]

I'd never seen one of these guys until I moved into my new house this summer. I used to try and catch them to keep them, since I used to be afraid of them and wanted to get over my fear, but they always seem to die a few days after I catch them :/ I give them tiny crickets but they never catch or eat them. I guess they prefer mosquitoes or something. Now I just leave them be

 

[Crowbawt]

I'd never seen one of these guys until I moved into my new house this summer. I used to try and catch them to keep them, since I used to be afraid of them and wanted to get over my fear, but they always seem to die a few days after I catch them :/ I give them tiny crickets but they never catch or eat them. I guess they prefer mosquitoes or something. Now I just leave them be

I've been able to get one to eat small crickets, but it's incredibly timid and will run from them at first. It's only after it's had a few hours to calm down under its hide from the stress of me opening the lid and putting the cricket in that it seems willing to come back out and eat it. Always seems to be late at night, too.

It definitely won't eat grown crickets, even if pre-injured. It just runs from them.

 

[Praxibetelix]

They hunt at night and I know they eat more pest type prey than the crickets we feed most of our pets. If you click on the website I linked above, it has a list of prey items including: silverfish, carpet mites, and bed bugs. It seems as though their diets would be hard to provide in an enclosed captivity situation.

We co-habitate with our house centipede/s just fine. I know we have two or three in the garage, one of them is really big, relatively speaking. In the house we have at least the one I released from the beetle aquarium. I believe it fell in while hunting in the night. It was unable to climb the glass sides of the aquarium. It must have fallen off the ceiling or the curtain rod that is above the enclosure.

 

[Praxibetelix]

Here is the website, I did not realize this thread had so many replies! Kind of fun to see how many of us actually like these weird little creatures.
A quick Google search resulted in this website from Penn State: http://ento.psu.edu/extension/factsheets/house-centipedes
Enjoy!