Centipede stories

[Glen Miyashiro]

The centipede we see in Hawai‘i is called the Vietnamese Centipede (Scolopendra subspinipes). It isn't the biggest in the world -- that prize goes to this South American species -- but it's big enough, thank you very much.

As a Boy Scout I used to run into these guys when camping at Bellows under the ironwood trees. They love the ground cover provided by all those fallen ironwood needles. We'd be taking down our tents at the end of the weekend, and garans we'd find at least one snuggled underneath our ground cloths. Yipes! I tried stepping on one once, but forgot that I was wearing slippers not shoes. My slipper caught it halfway down its length, and the thing whipped its front section around trying to get at my bare foot. Good thing it was a thick kamaboko slipper, not the cheap thin kind! Boy, that was one good adrenaline rush.

[scrivener]

Re: Centipede stories

Oh, I have a bunch of these, but here's my favorite:

When I was in sixth grade, I was in the parks and rec summer fun program at Honowai Elementary. As many of you know, one of the highlights of summer fun is the annual camping trip to Kualoa. We had an archery activity that year, and the archery range was down the road a hike from the campground. I'm not exactly sure where it was, but I believe it was toward the base of the mountain.

Anyway, we had a lot of hanging out time for some reason -- perhaps the archery range wasn't ready or something -- and we were in this grove of young trees arranged in long, neat rows. Hundreds of yards of plastic sheeting had been laid down and covered with soil, and the trees were growing up through the plastic, each tree slender and about fifteen feet high. Grass had grown in the soil atop the sheets of plastic, but the edges of the plastic stuck up here and there through the young grass.

Someone grabbed one of these edges and gave a little yank. The grass came up, and beneath the sheet were at least a dozen centipedes, none of whom was very happy.

"Centipede!" came the cry, and as the freaky creatures came swarming from beneath the plastic, some of the braver boys grabbed long, thin branches from the trees and whipped down upon the centipedes in an effort to cut them in half (which is the fastest way to kill them, by the way). Soon, there must have been twenty or thirty boys, each armed with a thin tree branch, yanking up plastic, hollering, and whipping centipedes to death in what can only be called pure bloodlust. Those of us who were less brave got close enough to see the action, but kept far enough away to avoid any centipedes who made it through the gauntlet. I don't think it would be a stretch to say that we killed a hundred of them before our leaders made us drop the sticks and head back to the campground.

That still gives me the serious oojies, I tell you. All those angry centipedes running toward us only to be mowed down. *shudder*

[lavagal]

Re: Centipede stories

When I first started working over here at Oceanic Institute next to Sea Life Park back in February, there was one particular day that was very rainy. Some of these buildings are like houses with open lanais, etc. So out of the rain and onto the lanai comes this centipede, about 6-8 inches long, nothing spectacular. I kinda got close and was checking it out as I find them a bit fascinating. It was looking back, lifting its head.
Then out comes the secretary, an older gal, pretty much the matriarch of the place. Off comes her slipper and man she whacked that centipede like you wouldn't believe. I was astonished at the energy she put into it. I mean, she must really HATE centipedes! I walked away from that experience with a whole new perspective on the sweet woman who runs the place and how I hope I never piss her off.

[kimo55]

Re: Centipede stories

Off comes her slipper and man she whacked that centipede like you wouldn't believe. I was astonished at the energy she put into it. I mean, she must really HATE centipedes! I walked away from that experience with a whole new perspective on the sweet woman who runs the place and how I hope I never piss her off.

that's the minimal energy needed. Those things are tough! You can't spray em with raid or anything. they just look up at ya and give ya the finger and walk away.
I use channel lock pliers. and squish em to death. each section. cuz ya never know if it's like a lizard's tail;' da buggah grow back anodda head or whatevah and come back next week and getcha!

[Glen Miyashiro]

Re: Centipede stories

Let's not forget cezanne's centipede story from the Cane Spider thread.

[LikaNui]

Re: Centipede stories

It isn't the biggest in the world -- that prize goes to this South American species

Oh... my... GAWD!
(swoon)

[AbsolutChaos]

Re: Centipede stories

Our kittens love to "play with them" and bite their heads off. We're constantly finding beheaded insects all over the house. Obviously we'd prefer the kitties not to play with centipedes, but living on the Windward side makes that near impossible.

[lavagal]

Re: Centipede stories

Let's not forget cezanne's centipede story from the Cane Spider thread.

Wow! Quite a thread! I especially like Eric's post about how when his dad was a small kid they'd tear off the centipedes' antenae and let them run up and down their arms. Like you need to do that to get chicken skin around here!

[Albert]

Re: Centipede stories

My policy with insects is, stay off my body and I'll leave you alone. But after a night when I suffered two really nasty centipede attacks, if I see one of the things anywhere, I stomp it, grind it into the sidewalk.

[Glen Miyashiro]

Re: Centipede stories

Albert, I've never been bitten by a centipede but a friend told me that they're more sore than bee stings. True?

[kimo55]

Re: Centipede stories

bee sting. wasp sting. scorpion sting. centipede sting. they ALL feel different from one another. Bumblebee sting, manini. goes away half hour.
Does not compare.

[Eric]

Re: Centipede stories

Wow! Quite a thread! I especially like Eric's post about how when his dad was a small kid they'd tear off the centipedes' antenae and let them run up and down their arms. Like you need to do that to get chicken skin around here!

When you look at him now, my dad is such a quiet, friendly, easy-going guy. It's hard for me to imagine him doing such cruel things. But I guess there wasn't much for kids to do back then on the plantation.

[kupomog]

Re: Centipede stories

Only time I had to deal with a centipede was a few years ago during summer school. I was at the bus stop by Aala park, that big Tong Fat building. I was sitting on the bench waiting for the bus and I guess there was a baby centipede around. I got on the bus, sat down, put my backpack on my lap, and saw the centipede crawling around on top of it. So I jumped up and ran to the backdoor while the bus was moving and knocked it off. It felt out of the bus through a little space between the door and the stair...I felt kind of bad for it after.

Other than that, I rarely see them. I might find a dead one in our backyard once every 6 months or so. My brother had one sting him in his room a long, long time ago but I don't remember it.

[Fondoo2]

Re: Centipede stories

my wife mentioned the centipede thing but I didn't give it alot of thought because she's so twitchy around our very very small ants but after seeing a picture of a centipede in the bathtub on the cane spider thread I must say GEEEEEZ those things are Big!!
So they have large pinchers for defense/cutting food but no venum?I am imagening very big strong painfull pinchers /shivers

In southern cali we have alot of Black Widow spiders but they keep to themselves but are pretty toxic,one day when I was a kid I had a yard cleaning job for a nieghbor,he asked me to tear apart this small tool chack is was about 6 feet high and only a few feet wide,just big enough to store some rakes and such.Well I decided to flip it over to the center of the yard to have more room to break it up so I nocked it down and when I picked up the bottom to give it a flip I was face to face with about twenty of the biggest black widows all with huge egg sacks eeek I dropped that sucker and ran for the raid!

[Glen Miyashiro]

Re: Centipede stories

Oh no, they have venom, too. Here's a sketch of a centipede head, from the bottom. See the fangs?



We also have black widow spiders.