Brent. wrote:
Well, since everyone is freely including insects and such under the animal heading . . .
I concur that centipedes are freaky. Just killed a decent sized one today. My wife was bitten by one a year or so ago and she looked like death (from the pain, it didn't really cause any major problems). The thing got in the house, as they fairly often do, and decided to sleep in our bed. It wanted my wife to move over a bit I guess and bit her on the neck to let her know.
By the way! Do you guys know how big centipedes can get??? Freaking HUGE!!! Came home one night and noticed one sleeping on the wall outside of my house. But, it was too big, and I thought for sure it was my wife playing a joke on me and she found and bought a fake one and stuck it there. To my surprise, however, it was real. I tried to kill it but couldn't. It was a foot long easily. Part of the reason I couldn't kill it was because I was half wanting not to, but to get it into a jar and show everyone. Really incredibly big.
Huge spiders are creepy. We have what I believe to be a type of brown recluse that get as big as my large outstretched hand. The cool thing with spiders over centipedes, however, is that they are aware of you and try to avoid you. Centipedes are happy-go-lucky and fully expect you to see them and stay clear. Easier said than done, and I've stepped on them while barefoot before. Could have won the Olympic high jump!
Snakes! Got them here too (Okinawa). My workstation computer is on the second floor of my house, but the steps/access is outside. Going down the stairs at night you had better pay real close attention to what may be wrapped around the railing! A couple months back I jumped from a pretty good height down the rest of the steps because I found myself right beside a big snake that was coiled around the railing. It was too dark to spend time deciding if he was poisonous or not. Turned out he wasn't, and luckily I didn't hurt myself from the jump.
He turned up again maybe two months later and I almost stepped on him going down the steps. I thought that picking him up and flinging him with a long piece of lumber would make him shy about coming back, but I guess not.
Frogs and bats often scare me, but I generally don't mind them (though the bats can really be creepy at times).
The Stache wrote:
Good god where do you live so I don't move there?
I've never dealt with big centipedes, but I can't imagine that's be good.
The only animal that currently freaks me out is cockroaches. Jesus H! I hate those damn things. And of course I live in FL, where cockroaches come in all varieties and get up to ~3 inches long.
Brent. wrote:
I tend to think of animals and insects as distinct. If it doesn't creep and crawl then it's an animal. Insects are usually squished without a thought. It's tough, on the other hand, even to kill a poisonous snake. Actually, about the only things I really don't mind killing are roaches and centipedes. Even though I don't like spiders I'd rather just shew them away. The big ones we have, however, will just keep coming back, and since they could potentially bite and be really nasty, they get sprayed and/or squashed.
The Stache getting Rick Rolled! |