Or just feel free to relay any bites or stings from any venomous creatures.

Because I'm an insomniac, I tend to wake up at certain times of the night/morning and lately it's 4 AM, almost right on the nose. I got up to do something, walked back in the bedroom and saw my Maine Coon mix with something in her jaws. She went right by the bed, released it, and it was a big ass centipede. It scurried right under the bed. I thought, "Well, guess I'm up now since I have to get up in an hour anyway."

Lemme say, I was extremely arachnophobic as a child and I still hate scorpions and still quite chilopodophobic aka I hate and fear those long ass fuckers with venomous claws and bites. Yes, the ones here in NM are venomous, but not deadly, it's supposed to be like a bee or wasp sting, but I can have bad reactions to bites and stings sometimes. For instance, I accidentally brushed against a caterpillar with venomous spines in the desert by Escalante and it hurt and I was left with bumps and soreness that lasted for a month on my wrist. I spent a summer a decade ago wrapped in bandages because of a reaction and infection to deer fly bites.

BF and I just pulled up the mattress, boxsprings, and cleaned and cleaned and cleaned some more. I even sent the chihuahua I'm watching to try and sniff it out.

I'm trying not to overreact too much, and the cleaning needed to be done (there was an impressive amount of cat fur under there)but I just can't shake the feeling that thing is hiding somewhere and I will be on the receiving end of some venom and pain. I already have enough issues with sleep. When I was a little girl, I used to have night terrors and wake up, hallucinating scorpions, centipedes, and spiders were crawling all over me. Yes, I am neurotic, I own that.

I don't know that centipedes bite. They are creepy.

One scurried across my bedroom floor a couple weeks ago - didn't know what it was at first because it ran so fast. After I sprayed under the dresser where it ran to, the next day I found it lying on its back on the carpet next to the dresser - with all its creepy little legs sticking up in the air. That explains why they can run so freaking fast.

After cleaning up my flying ant invasion this past week, I've been more alert to creepy crawlers than before. Was reading up on some southwestern poisonous spiders since am planning to retire there someday soon, but centipedes wasn't among them.

Tonight as I was cleaning up the kitchen I saw a spider web under the kitchen cabinet over the counter. There was the spider, and below it was a cocoon of something - God only knows what. Before I could freak out, I grabbed some paper towels and swept them both up swiftly. Summertime seems to bring them out more than the rest of the year.

For some reason I thought you lived in Colorado. Or is that where you're from?

Here's some common spiders to Utah and parts of the southwest: #3 is a millipede, which resembles a centipede. It doesn't say they bite or sting however.

http://www.onlyinyourstate.com/utah/bugs-found-in-ut/

Millipedes don't bother me, it's one of these lil bastards:

https://www.desertusa.com/insects/centipede-bites.html Happy dreams!

Okay, that is badass.

It must take forever to tie its shoes.

A very beautiful, colorful caterpillar was on a leaf at my girlfriends home. I took it and felt the soft fur on my lip. It burned for hours afterward.

I don't trust nature's beauty anymore.

That was likely its defense against you eating it. Probably most animals who would have put him up against their lips were about to open their mouths and gobble him down so he's evolved with a defense against those who would feel "the soft fur" against their lips.

Never touch furry caterpillars or ones that look especially pretty. Nature is beautiful, but deadly, painful, cruel, and will embarrass you when you don't respect her.

I cannot imagine why a person would put a caterpillar on their lips, but I used to eat ants as a little girl, so who am I to judge?

I never ate ants whether as a little girl or a grownup (delicacy in some parts of the world.)

As a little girl they made me squeamish. So when I'd be sitting outdoors on the porch and observing the little ants scurrying around I squished them with my little hands. Over and over. That was my means of pest control as a toddler. A prelude of what was to come as I matured and discovered better and more effective measures. :)

I'm from CO and I am less afraid of bears, cougars, raccoons, snakes, and coyotes than these creepy-crawlies (I grew up at the foot of the mountains). Spiders don't bother me too much these days as long as they're not black widows or other venomous ones. Centipede species around here can bite and use their claws to inject venom, it's horrifying! I live right next door to CO, though, in a slightly lower desert region. We also have rattlesnakes in this suburban hideaway.

Some ant species have incredibly painful bites, so it's best to use caution. We had an invasion of some aggressive, meat seeking ones when we lived in AZ. I didn't know they were near the desk and they bit me all over my feet. The 3rd graders I monitor were being dumbass kids and putting ants in their mouths then expressing shock the ants bit them. I sighed, explained that it they are allergic and get bit in the throat, they might go into anaphylactic shock and have to have a hole cut in their necks so they can breathe if their throats swell shut.

I've never been bitten by a centipede. I treated a patient with a centipede bite and borderline anaphylactic reaction. We initially gave the patient epinephrine (patient also used Epi-pen shortly after exposure) and administered oxygen, then administered Toradol (anti-inflammatory analgesic) and Dilaudid (opiate painkiller). The wound site was cleaned thoroughly. I believe the patient may have been given a benzodiazepene at a later point as well, after breathing issues were controlled. She was also given a steroid to reduce swelling, as she had a fairly strong local reaction.

I assume one reason that most of us even living and practicing (or training)in desert areas (I attended med school in Utah, but now live in a non-desert part of CA and never saw a centipede bite case in my internship here) haven't treated many centipede bite victims is that most bites result in symptoms mild enough that they never make it to the E.R. The patient we treated was clearly in distress, but the bite probably wouldn't have been fatal even had the patient not sought treatment. That same patient was treated in our E.R. on another occasion following a bee sting that probably would have been fatal had she not received prompt treatment, including Epi-pen by a relative almost immediately afterward.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 07/08/2017 11:24PM by scmd.

Have y'all seen the "house centipedes"? Big furry black centipedes, terrifying. One attacked me in my kitchen last year, and I had to kill it.

The worst bite I've had in the SW (AZ) was from a kissing bug. If I remember correctly they nest in saguaros. If you already have phobias, this is probably not one you should look up. I suggest regular pest control. I use a home Defense bug spray safe for pets indoor and out twice a year, and it tends to keep most of these critters away. The minute I see a bug, usually an earwig, I spray the whole house down. I also bug bomb any place I move into before I bring any items into the house. I continue to bug bomb every two or three years after that. In fact I bug bombed today (saw earwig yesterday) It's better than the alternative of burning the house to the ground.

I leave the spiders alone, except for black widows, but I realize they are in unintended casualty to the bombs and bug spray.

Also, Teatree oil is a great remedy to have on hand for bug bites. That's how I counteract all of the spider bites I've gotten in my life, because I seem to let them live.

I used to be terrified of spiders, nightmares and all.

I've since learned that they are the good guys. Nearly 1/2 million people die annually of malaria.

Spiders can't touch that, and those sticky webs? A mosquito may not make a decent snack for a spider, but I never, never knock down a web outside. You go, babies!

But it took real work to get here, and I still have a difficult time thinking about tarantulas.

A mosquito got me a couple of evenings ago, and I had a marble-sized lump on my arm. Damned bug spit. Have you ever seen a magnified image of a mosquito's serrated proboscis? omg, talk about horrifying.


http://www.astrographics.com/GalleryPrintsIndex/GP2108.html

I've been bitten by an Australian centipede. Flat & yellow with lots of legs, but only about 12cm long.
Was in a singlet I put on. Got it off in a hurry. Actually it was near a town named StGeorge. There is one in Utah also.

I was in the bush so waited to see what happened and nothing did except for a raised red area about 1cm in diameter on the side of my chest.
I have never heard of any one being killed by a centipede in Australia although the "Shock" of seeing it on your skin might.

Cheers

For me, the only spiders that get killed are black and brown widows. Basically, the brown widow is a lighter version of the black widow complete with the hourglass on the abdomen, and just as venomous. They're originally from South America, and are all over southern California.

Like another ok,said it's more like a "burn" and it hurts like heck.I would be cleaning up a storm also,more been 18 yrs and I still can remember the pain.

The desert wants you dead and gone.

If you had a mole cricket come into your house, you would likely call 911, and nobody would come because they'd be too afraid. But mostly all they do is eat the roots of you lawn and destroy little patches.


https://www.google.com/search?q=mole+cricket+images&tbm=isch&imgil=UyDVEEtfQS2NQM%253A%253BsM4RWiLWWk_YDM%253Bhttps%25253A%25252F%25252Fen.wikipedia.org%25252Fwiki%25252FMole_cricket&source=iu&pf=m&fir=UyDVEEtfQS2NQM%253A%252CsM4RWiLWWk_YDM%252C_&usg=__RAagdYrJ6TF3wYmzGg4cI9Lr3eI%3D&biw=1920&bih=986&ved=0ahUKEwir1K2kyP7UAhWDWz4KHTVSDMgQyjcIPQ&ei=wF5jWav0GIO3-QG1pLHADA#imgrc=UyDVEEtfQS2NQM:&spf=1499684580684

I've never seen any of those bugs before. In fact, i'd never seen a cockroach in my life until I went to NYC. The city is full of them, it's disgusting.

I live a relatively bug free life. The only time I see them is if I go work out in the garden. It's just basic ordinary bugs though. I've never seen a mosquito where I live. That's a wonderful thing after living in the black swamp of Ohio for a few years.