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[–] 77 points 1 month ago (17 children)

We get these:

Tarantula Hawk Wasps. Fortunately, they only attack tarantulas, unless you antagonize them.

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  • [–] [S] 13 points 1 month ago (3 children)

    I suppose they're better than tarantulas... Ugh

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  • [–] 20 points 1 month ago (2 children)

    Tarantulas are wonderful little creatures. I'd have one as a pet, but I don't think they should be kept as pets.

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  • [–] 10 points 1 month ago* (5 children)

    They absolutely do NOT only attack tarantulas. They will sting the ever living fuck out of you, and have one of the most painful stings of any insect on the planet.

    I have been stung by one and it hurts like a mother fucker.

    Those wasps are dead. They don’t just chill like that.

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  • [–] 3 points 1 month ago (2 children)

    Dang can I ask what you were doing when you got stung? Also what was that like? That's supposed to be like one of the most painful things ever!

    We have them where I live (tho it's pretty rare to actually see them out and about) but it's pretty hard to get them to sting you here. You have to basically accidentally squish it or something

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  • [–] 7 points 1 month ago* (1 child)

    I was pulling a calf out of a momma cow in the field. I’m guessing her stomping around had already pissed it off since they burrow in the ground. Thing came out of nowhere and got me in the side of the neck lol. It was excruciating. Felt like I got stabbed in the throat.

    I also got stung by a cow killer/velvet ant/ground hornet as a teenager by being a dumbass. That one hurt like hell too.

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  • [–] 5 points 1 month ago

    Dude! Those are both on the list of most painful insect stings in the world. You are probably one of the few humans in the world to be stung by both of those lol. I dunno if that makes you unlucky or maybe you've got nothing but good luck in front of you after getting that out of the way. Either way, you are one tough customer!

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  • [–] 4 points 1 month ago (3 children)

    are they going to be okay?? they seem a little stiff

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  • [–] 8 points 1 month ago (2 children)

    I showed this exact pic to my students and they were convinced all the wasps are dead.

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  • [–] 16 points 1 month ago (1 child)

    I think they're dead, too. They don't just hang out with legs splayed and wings extended. But it shows how big they are, so I picked this image.

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  • [–] 1 point 1 month ago

    I was hiking one time outside and saw what looked like a wounded mouse slowly limping across the trail or something. When I got closer it was one of these dudes dragging a tarantula to its burrow! It was like living thru a planet earth scene or something. I never thought I'd ever get to see that in person!

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  • [–] 53 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (6 children)

    If bugs stay out of my way i let them live. When they get in my way i can't overcome my level of creeped out and things go wrong.

    I try, i really do.

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  • [–] 59 points 1 month ago (5 children)

    you're helping them evolve. you kill the ones you see, while the smart ones hide until you are asleep and then crawl over your body at night.

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  • [–] 27 points 1 month ago (4 children)

    How do I unread what I just read. YELP!

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  • [–] 36 points 1 month ago (3 children)

    They do crawl over your body but it's just because they're tucking you in and giving you some good night smooches.

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  • [–] 38 points 1 month ago (9 children)

    House centipedes. They have a lot of fast delicate legs and are quite creepy. I think they eat spiders.

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  • [–] 51 points 1 month ago (4 children)

    These little guys can live for up to 7 years so be sweet to them.

    I look at them like this: If a company made a little robot that does it's best to stay hidden from your view, crawls through the innards of your home in search of spiders, bed bugs, termites, and ants, it would probably cost thousands of dollars.

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  • [–] 22 points 1 month ago (3 children)

    In my experience, I see them an awful lot for something trying to stay hidden. I get them in my basement and they inevitably come upstairs. My cats try to eat them when they come upstairs. I also have spiders in my basement. So they aren't doing the best job at eating all the spiders.

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  • [–] 29 points 1 month ago

    I moved in (and quickly out of) a place infested with critters I had never even heard of (wtf is a carpet beetle). The day I moved in, there was a house centipede and a sizeable spider in the bathub, fighting to the death. I didn't know which side to take so I left them alone. I came back later to find them both ostensibly dead and not moving. I came back even later to find the centipede gone but the spider still dead. I felt like David Attenborough. I still think about those lil gladiators sometimes

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  • [–] 38 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

    I live in an attic. There are lots of creepy crawlies. House centipedes are fren despite lack of fren-shape; I pet.

    Assume that for every one house centipede you see, there are a hundred other nasties they eat living in your walls. Go my fren: munch!

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  • [–] 21 points 1 month ago (5 children)

    I accidentally picked one up once. I had just stepped into the shower, naturally didn't have my glasses on, and saw a piece of what I thought was lint. I picked up the lint to put it in the garbage, saw that it was squirming then threw it against the shower door so hard it splattered.

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  • [–] 7 points 1 month ago (3 children)

    In India I bent over to pick up a sock from the floor in the shower but it was a butterfly with one half of its wing chewed off.

    Thing was big as two palms.

    (I never found the sock)

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  • [–] 4 points 1 month ago (2 children)

    Hand palms or tree palms

    You know what I just decided palm fronds like off those really big palm trees

    How did you survive?

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  • [–] 18 points 1 month ago (2 children)

    Yeah, those bugs are scary, but they eat other bugs. They are still scary though

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  • [–] 18 points 1 month ago (2 children)

    House centipedes are creepy looking things, but they are nocturnal so you don't really seem them while they're going about their job of taking out the other creepy crawlies.

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  • [–] 8 points 1 month ago (1 child)

    These guys give me a fright whenever I see them - especially out of the corner of my eye. I never kill them, though, because they are totally harmless to people and they kill actually nasty bugs.

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  • [–] 15 points 1 month ago (1 child)

    Engrossed saying that they eat other bugs is completely missing the fact that these things only show up if there are other bugs to eat.

    If you spot one of these mfers it means you have a pest problem you're completely unaware of. It's the same with a lot of house spiders too. If you see a bug predator that means you have a lot of bug prey

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  • [–] 12 points 1 month ago

    it can also just mean that you have a bunch of holes in your house, allowing anything to just waltz right in if it catches their fancy

    these fuckin house centipedes keep coming in through the electrical socket or the gap next to the closet, then getting lost in my bedroom until i vacuum them up. istg there are 5 or 6 of them every day, i can see them wandering around outside my windowsill and two minutes later they're running around on my ceiling

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  • [–] 100 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (4 children)

    Into the vacuum they go!

    They are good, they eat spiders and other bugs

    The spiders go into the vacuum too! They can eat them there.

    Wait, spider bro keeps away other bugs too.

    Vacuum. Bugs go in the vacuum.

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  • [–] 13 points 1 month ago (1 child)
  • [–] 12 points 1 month ago (1 child)

    Ungodly fast things. But I have no problem with them in the basement, it's everywhere else that bothers me.

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  • [–] 21 points 1 month ago (16 children)

    House centipedes are always welcome in my house. They usually stay out of sight, eat other bugs, and can't really harm humans. Win, win, win as far as I'm concerned.

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  • [–] 19 points 1 month ago (9 children)

    It also depends on the species of centipede. In Hawaii they get big (6-14 inches) and can absolutely pierce your skin, and they are FAST. Like, when you try to stomp them they scurry out of the way and attack your foot sort of fast.

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  • [–] 3 points 1 month ago (1 child)
  • [–] 3 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

    I have never found any centipede in any house looking like that. Centipedes here are an inch long and scurry away when you turn on the light.

    That one looks like it hitched a ride on an asteroid and is about to burrow into someone's skull as food source for its spawn to eat when they hatch

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  • [–] 4 points 1 month ago (5 children)

    Plus very nutritious, as part of a balanced diet of the dozen or so bugs you eat in your sleep every year.

    ^(don't worry, this is a myth)

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  • [–] 10 points 1 month ago (4 children)

    i am fine with anything except cockroaches. Those get genocided

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  • [–] 7 points 1 month ago (3 children)
  • [–] 8 points 1 month ago

    House centipedes will eat any intruders in your house, even spiders.
    They do not leave noticeable poop either, so they are very clean. They may leave less tasty parts of their prey if they are full, tho.
    They prefer darker and damper places than spiders, so if you keep dark and damp corner spots near the floor, like plant pots with humid soil in a corner, or a cool basement, you can reduce the chances of them eating your house spiders that prefer higher locations.
    That way, your spiders will be safer, letting them eat the moths, flies, and mosquitoes that house centipedes have a harder time catching, while house centipedes will be more likely to stick to to silverfish, cockroaches, ants, termites, and the like.

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  • As someone who likes and appreciates insects, I will definitely admit that scolopendromorphs give me the fucking heebie jeebies bigtime

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  • [–] 6 points 1 month ago (1 child)

    I let house centipedes and the spiders around my door live. Those spiders catch so many gnats and small bugs its insane. And I have a lot of springtails and small ants in my area which I figure the house centipedes probably help with.

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  • [–] 1 point 1 month ago

    I think they're fascinating.

    It's like this insect that flew in my window the other day to collect pollen from a flower I had on my kitchen table.

    I thought of shooing it away, but I let it bee.

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  • 11 comments in c/science_memes@mander.xyz view that post
    [–] 27 points 1 month ago (3 children)

    Apparently they don't live or breed in your house. They just come in, munch down, and peace out. Hard to look at, though. 🫣

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  • [–] 19 points 1 month ago

    This is the biblical accurate angel that bible told you about.

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  • [–] 26 points 1 month ago

    "Yes, Hermaeus Mora pest control? Yes, the other pest control company referred me to you."

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  • [–] 10 points 1 month ago

    fuck that scared the shit out of me OwO

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  • [–] 18 points 1 month ago (1 child)

    Would you rather deal with a larger number of the things these guys were supposed to eat?

    Hey bébé!

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  • [–] 8 points 1 month ago

    looks friendly

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  • [–] 6 points 1 month ago

    It's this anti-science propaganda?

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