I found a centipede in my apartment. Or it found me. I was very dutifully beginning to wash my dishes when it sprung on me. Only I didn't know it was a centipede. At the time it was just a fast and sinister-looking bug.
See this photo.
It was the middle of the night, too, or I would have called Entomologist Brother and asked him what the heck it was, why it was in my sink, and should I be worried.
It turns out that there is really only one sinister-looking bug that answers to the description, "big bug lots of legs" when you search with Google.
According to Wikipedia, centipedes can sting, but it doesn't hurt as much as a bee (but who wants to be stung by a sinister-looking bug with that many legs?). And they prey on spiders.
I clearly need to rethink my room mate discrimination policy. My spider population has grown undeterred. But if a large spider population equals a large centipede population, I'm going to have to draw some lines. I can't have a complete ecosystem living with me.
The centipede spent the night trapped under a cup in my sink, and this morning when it was clearly still living and thriving, I managed to set it free by initially sliding a sheet of paper under, but the crease in the paper allowed it to escape, so I dropped the paper and retreated. Then, gathering my courage, I trapped it under the cup again, this time on the floor, and steered it to the front door. Home invader successfully evicted.
I also have a tentative plan to go with some friends to a beach famous for being a habitat for sea turtles. This is fantastic.
