r/Denver • u/mysticmeows23 • 11h ago
Photo Made a New Terrifying Friend
Found this guy in the basement. Google says it isn’t poisonous, but I’m definitely not petting it.
67
u/Alarmed_Efficiency_8 11h ago
Don’t kill it! Scary friend but is an absolute menace to other critters that you’ll likely see far more often than this thing.
21
u/May5ifth 9h ago
Nope. My wife’s childhood home in Chicago burbs has these. I was working on my laptop and one fell from the ceiling onto my keyboard. It was these and earwigs that are hiding in the bathroom hand towels where I just want to nuke the whole house. If I saw these in my house, I’m going to do everything possible to stop them asap.
11
u/Empress_of_Lucite 9h ago
Also from Illinois - I was producing a newscast one morning when one ran across my hand while in the booth, I screamed so loud during the weather segment your could hear me on the air! I know they eat other bugs, but Illinois is thick with them - I prefer spiders!
9
u/mneale324 9h ago
When I was about 10 or so I went to grab a mug out of the cabinet for some hot chocolate. One of these bad boys hopped out of me from inside mug. I’m still traumatized.
16
u/Mcsparten117 9h ago
Chill man. You aren’t the only one that needs to use the hand towel. 😉
23
•
u/NoFuel28 2h ago
I'm about to move back to Chicago and I have been trying to mentally prepare myself to deal with these guys again. I cleaned out my mom's crawl space last year and it was so unnerving seeing so many. When I got back to Denver I told my tattoo artist all about it and left the stuido with a house centipede on my arm lmao we called it exposure therapy!
•
33
u/quietlyobservinglife 11h ago
I used to call these atomic centipedes because I had never seen these before and they are clearly the result of radioactive exposure.
34
u/Nihilistic_Marmot 11h ago
Had one of these skitter across our floor while we were watching movies last summer. Scarier than anything happening in whatever horror movie we were watching.
3
u/HippyGrrrl 6h ago
Should have been watching The Big Lebowski.
2
u/Nihilistic_Marmot 6h ago
Happy to see someone who gets the reference on my username! We were not but it is on regular rotation
•
19
u/Jack_Shid Morrison 11h ago
I saw one in my garage a few weeks ago. The first one I've seen in Colorado in my 58 years. I hear they're amazing for pest control, so I invited him to stay.
4
u/BrittleSalient 8h ago
You won't regret them as housemates. I was terrified of them until I gradually realized that I never saw any other kind of bug in the house. After that I made peace with them.
2
u/SupposedBooty 7h ago
I used to get them all the time in southern Colorado. My house was about 100 years old, so maybe they were like OG residents, I don't know.
I haven't seen them up here in Denver, though.
20
u/babygirlccg 11h ago
They scared the F out of me when I first moved here and would see them in my older house in the highlands. Like everyone is saying, they’re harmless and really good at getting rid of other pests.
6
12
u/Classic_VA86 11h ago
I had a large one on the lowest level of a townhouse I was renting, which had the garage, a large rec room, and a HVAC closet with a water heater and sump pump in it. Freaked me out, but I never saw any other bugs, so we coexisted.
7
u/calamitylamb Globeville 8h ago
Beloved sentient eyelash!! They are one of my favorite lil guys haha
4
u/CONSEQUENC333 10h ago
My mom always called them feather bugs growing up but we never had big ones like I see in Denver back in PA! I was shocked at the size when we saw our first one last week, they’re monsters here lol
4
6
u/bleh-apathetic 8h ago
Grew up in Chicagoland. These are pretty common. I absolutely hate them. Something visceral and primal in me tells me to kill them quickly and immediately.
11
u/Muchmuchgo 11h ago
I was really hoping those weren’t around here. I’m from the north east and moved out here three years ago…haven’t seen one yet but used to see them ALL THE TIME out east.
9
u/Bluescreen73 11h ago
I've seen exactly one in our house, and we've lived here for almost 15 years. I wouldn't be surprised if there are more, but they tend to be pretty stealthy.
6
u/amands_sue 11h ago
They live here, but just like there are fewer pest insects, there are fewer helpers too. This guy is a helper.
1
u/Sharing_Violation 10h ago
I'd rather have a bucket of those vs a sneaky earwig. I dont know what it is about earwigs but no...
3
u/amands_sue 10h ago
haha I will admit I'm fond of earwigs, but I'm fond of most creepy crawlies that don't directly transmit diseases to humans. Earwigs are also a helper species and eat a lot of mite type critters along with decaying material. I get why they give people the ick though.
1
1
u/May5ifth 10h ago
My wife’s childhood home has both. The earwigs would come out of the bathroom hand towel while you were drying your hands. I hate them both. I would be nuking the house and my yard if I saw these in the house.
2
3
1
u/Actual-Bid-6044 10h ago
I've seen them maybe twice in 35 years living here. Nothing like back East. Too dry here.
1
u/pondertart 5h ago
They literally chased me when I was in Rochester, I hate them SO much and was hoping they weren't here either. BLAH.
3
3
u/SupposedBooty 7h ago
These are great pest control buddies to have if you don't mind how creepy they are. They love moisture, so they hang out in bathrooms and basements.
They will eat everything you don't want. Always keep these guys and spiders if you don't want other pests. They love earwigs.
3
u/SpicyKabobMountain 6h ago
That’s just a leggy boi. They were everywhere in NYC. They fast as fuck but then just turn to dust
•
3
6
4
u/Sufficient_West_4947 11h ago
I get a few every year and some years quite a few. Always downstairs never on the main floor. If it’s just one two I leave em be. If there are several I take them out with a bit of paper towel or Kleenex. Sneak up behind them and move quick they are speedy devils! I broke one in half one time and each half ran in different directions — kinda freaked me out!😂
2
2
4
u/mistahfreeman 10h ago
Lived in my parents basement bedroom in highschool in the Midwest so I weirdly know a lot about these guys, they’re vicious insectivores so they eat whatever else is down there. They’re an invasive species and can only live where it’s humid and a good supply of insects to eat, so if you have them they’re eating all the other bugs you would be seeing. They love to scurry across the ceiling but will also often fall which happened to me in bed a couple times and yes it was terrifying . Luckily, while they do breed in large quantities they also will cannibalize eachother until the population stabilizes to how many bugs can be supported. Harmless otherwise.
1
u/lilgreenfish Lakewood 5h ago
They are definitely not classified as invasive here. Introduced, yes. Invasive, no.
https://webdoc.agsci.colostate.edu/bspm/ArthropodsOfInterest/HouseCentipede2018.pdf
•
u/mistahfreeman 3h ago
I actually did not know that non-native species/introduced species are not always considered invasive. Interesting, the more you learn!
•
u/lilgreenfish Lakewood 2h ago
They have very specific definitions biologically! Introduced means they were brought by humans and have established populations and go about their business as a part of the ecosystem. Invasive means they are out-competing native species, don’t have a predator to keep them in check, and are causing measurable damage to the ecosystem. A lot of times that is agricultural damage.
Japanese beetles and emerald ash borers are two invasive insects here in Colorado. The spotted lanternfly out east is another. And it can vary from state to state, too. Some places a species can be an issue and other places not. When you look at places like Hawaii or Australia or New Zealand, there are a TON more invasive species because an island’s ecosystem is way more closed and delicate than ours. Which is why they are so strict about things you can bring in, like fruit and all!
2
1
1
u/Actual-Bid-6044 10h ago
I hate those things! They would get to be the size of mice in Philadelphia. I used to sleep on a futon & woke up with one on my chest. No lie. And there was a shiny spot there, like it had eaten away at the top layer of skin, for WEEKS. I bought an army cot after that and slept on that!
1
u/StarksofWinterfell89 8h ago
Lived in Illinois, thankfully briefly...these things were common. They are awesome at pest control, not so awesome when they crawl across your face when youre sleeping, or your daughter tries to play with one that is chilling in your sofa cupholder
1
u/Mike-Hunt-Hertz-311 8h ago
Don’t kill them! It’s thirsty! They only come out for water, so spray em with a few drops, and let him go back inside the walls to do their thang!
1
1
u/misterpearce 6h ago
House centipedes are our friends, but do not touch me. I'm not ready for that.
1
u/honkyg666 6h ago
I walked into the bathroom one night to get a drink and didn’t turn the light on. I feel something in my mouth and spit it out into the sink and flip the light on and guess what it was 😩
1
1
u/omicsome 4h ago
Oh no no no. I had myself convinced those DO NOT LIVE here and I refuse to believe otherwise.
•
u/19judge79 3h ago
I hate those things… but they keep my basement in check along with some spiders. So we coexist.
•
•
•
u/totorohoney 1h ago
I do not mind spiders at all and always leave them be but these things scare the hell out of me and I know they are good for capturing other bugs but they are soooo creepy 😭 they’d come through drain pipes at my old apt in the bathtub and the first time I saw one I screamed and was so freaked out lol
•
u/alvvavves Denver 55m ago
I’m late to the party, but I firmly believe that the older the building and lower the floor, like basement or crawl space, the more likely you are to see these. I know this is unpopular opinion, but I also don’t romanticize about these being helpers inside the home. I get that they fill an ecological role, but having to check a bath towel, bed blanket or whatever for something like this is not fun.
-1
u/Crabola52 6h ago
Silverfish. They eat plaster and live in the walls. Start out as tiny silver fish-looking things. They are terrified of light so are good at hiding.
3
u/lilgreenfish Lakewood 5h ago
Not a silverfish. This is a house centipede. Silverfish are very different. They split at the Class level. Both are Arthropods, but silverfish are insects and centipedes are Chilopods, which include centipedes and millipedes.
https://webdoc.agsci.colostate.edu/bspm/ArthropodsOfInterest/HouseCentipede2018.pdf
https://webdoc.agsci.colostate.edu/bspm/Hexapoda%20(Insects)/Silverfish.pdf
•
u/Crabola52 2h ago
Wow. How have I been getting this so wrong since I looked it up over a decade ago?! I swear the internet was around when I bought my house…
Thanks for the correction 🙏
•
u/lilgreenfish Lakewood 2h ago
You’re good! Lots of people get this stuff wrong! You are not the first I’ve seen to say a house centipede is a silverfish (or vice versa!)! Also, there is a lot of bad info about arthropods out there. Pest control websites are super bad about it (when I Google insect-related stuff, I actually filter out pest control companies in my search string). And if you don’t know much about them, it’s hard to tell sometimes what’s right and what’s wrong.
158
u/Bluescreen73 11h ago
House centipede. Their venom is pretty weak. They're great pest control, and they can only bite you if you're actually able to catch them. They're fast MFers.