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Chilopodophobia
- Thread starter ZiggyPastorius
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Actually, S. coleoptrata isn't that big. It appears huge because of the way the legs are placed on the body, but they're pretty much harmless (plus, they eat roaches).
I'm by no means an entomology guru, but having a pet centipede myself (yes, one of those big ones) I can say that they dislike being disturbed, and basically any pest spray will make them run for dear life (or kill them if they get sprayed with enough of the stuff).
Seeing that my pet is longer than almost every shoe I own, I'm a bit reluctant to try that out.
I live about 400 miles from the Amazon, and I still see them. Then again, I live in Bugtopia, where you can find almost any kind of bug you can think of.
[entomologist mode]
Millipedes aren't insects
[/entomologist mode]
You don't have to have had traumatizing experiences to be scared of something. I'm afraid of cats and dogs and I haven't had a childhood trauma or anything. Maybe you simply dislike bugs in general, and since centipedes are fast, venomous, aggressive, look scary and have a lot of legs that fear/repulsion may get heightened. One of my students (I'm a Zoology TA, specializing in arthropods) told me that centipedes reminded him of snakes and worms, and many people tend to dislike both. While I may not be able to explain your fear, I can most certainly understand it.
Interesting facts?
They have venomous "claws" (actually modified legs) called maxillipeds.
Even though they aggressively pursue prey, they're usually quick to run away when disturbed.
They make very awesome pets
They eat roaches and any other small arthropod.
If you feel up to it, feel free to look through my gallery for some up-close-and-personal pics. Be warned though, they are really close pics! Feel free to e-mail/PM me if you need to know more about them, or would just like to chat about them.
Just a thought, I think you felt compelled to post this to see that you're not alone. Heck, I can give you a list of over 50 people (most of them my students) that are as creeped out by them as you are, if not more. One of my students had an asthma attack, almost fainted and started crying when we entered the lab for our first arthropod practice (every major group of arthropods except insects and crustaceans). So you're not alone!
That bug is actually really pretty. Get a scarier one.
Sure thing! This is a pic of my pet eating a katydid.
I kill on sight in the house. I don't like spiders/centipedes. I know they are helpful and keep the other bug population down, but when they are in the house they are the prey. mwwwahhhhaaahhaaaaa.
I don't like to kill bugs and I think some are cute but the 8-legged buggers are the exception.
You're obviously not familiar with phobias... they're an irrational fear of something, to the point of totally freaking you out and not allowing you to do anything. So it's unlikely that someone with chilopodophobia will suddenly snap out of it and go crush the thing, or that someone with arachnophobia will walk up to a tarantula and step on it, or... you get the point.
If he was a little further North, he would just beat the **** out of it with a hockey stick, and think nothing of it.
BTW, isn't "bug juice" green?? Interesting choice of font colour, then.
dllavaneras, thanks for all the interesting information. You're probably right in my seeking to find other people...It's just weird. I am not afraid of any other insects (though, I will admit, some of the really freaky ones do creep me out a bit), and my phobia is unique (as far a s I know) to centipedes. I can even stand to look at Millipedes (I guess it depends on what millipede. Those black roundish ones don't bother me much). I want so bad to confront it and not be bothered,but until I can get one in a closed environment like the box experiment someone mentioned earlier, I don't want to test it out. Though, I will say this: the very very baby ones don't bother me much. They still creep me out, but there was one in my dishwater one time (I'm always afraid to do dishes because they like to be in our sink...and a couple of times, I've come really close to touching one reaching in...), but it was TINY! and when I say tiny, I mean smaller than a pea. I know it was a Centipede, because I got closer and could see its legs and such, and it was scurrying about.
I'm not gonna try to look at your nature pictures, though I am kind of interested. Thing is, is I find them to be interesting creatures, they just scare me. I had my friend Joe copy the wikipedia page and send it to me so I could read about them, because I was afraid of seeing the pictures. It's even so much as when I looked up centipede in OS X's dictionary, I shut it back down when I saw
*gulp*
[Edited it out because it was bothering me a lot, just open spotlight and type centipede then open dictionary to see it.]
That. It was even hard to look that up and post it...fortunately, I can kind of stand that because it's not too graphic, but I had to look away from it while I was posting it on here, because it was making my stomach hurt.
So, anyways, don't take it as me not being interested, I just won't be able to take seeing up-close centipedes.
I remember in seventh grade, in computer class...someone knew I was afraid of them, and decided it'd be funny to post a picture of one as my desktop background...
Oh my god, I freaked out. I ran to the other half of the room and someone had to change it for me. Actually, the cedar point bus ride I was talking about earlier, it was really weird, because, right when I got off the bus and went to put my instrument away in the band room...Lo and behold, a centipede ran out from by my bass case, so of course, I yelled "Jesus Christ Jesus Christ Jesus Christ Oh My God, No, No, No, No, No" and stuff of that nature really loud, covered my ears, and ran to the closet on the other side of the room.
Anyways, just some fun experiences sharing xD
I'm not gonna try to look at your nature pictures, though I am kind of interested. Thing is, is I find them to be interesting creatures, they just scare me. I had my friend Joe copy the wikipedia page and send it to me so I could read about them, because I was afraid of seeing the pictures. It's even so much as when I looked up centipede in OS X's dictionary, I shut it back down when I saw
*gulp*
[Edited it out because it was bothering me a lot, just open spotlight and type centipede then open dictionary to see it.]
That. It was even hard to look that up and post it...fortunately, I can kind of stand that because it's not too graphic, but I had to look away from it while I was posting it on here, because it was making my stomach hurt.
So, anyways, don't take it as me not being interested, I just won't be able to take seeing up-close centipedes.
I remember in seventh grade, in computer class...someone knew I was afraid of them, and decided it'd be funny to post a picture of one as my desktop background...
Oh my god, I freaked out. I ran to the other half of the room and someone had to change it for me. Actually, the cedar point bus ride I was talking about earlier, it was really weird, because, right when I got off the bus and went to put my instrument away in the band room...Lo and behold, a centipede ran out from by my bass case, so of course, I yelled "Jesus Christ Jesus Christ Jesus Christ Oh My God, No, No, No, No, No" and stuff of that nature really loud, covered my ears, and ran to the closet on the other side of the room.
Anyways, just some fun experiences sharing xD
I know! Ew! Ew! Ew! Ew! Ew! EWWW!!!!!!! They used to crawl in my hair at night! I'd wake up, freak out and couldn't go back to sleep. It was literally like "Joe's Apartment", except they weren't nice!
Damn! I had the same thing happen to me, but with another gross insect. I grabbed something off my head and threw it down onto the ground before I had really even woken up. Once I realized what had happened, I looked and realized that it had been a Jerusalem cricket (potato bug) that had been crawling around on my head moments before. These are fairly big bugs that live underground and therefore don't have eyes. My sisters used to scream whenever they saw one when we were young.
It doesn't sound like the usual fear response. You might consider talking to a pro about it if your own attempts at bucking this one don't work out.
Hey, no problem
Just be warned: If you ever choose to see them, they are pretty intense macros.A broom can be used to get it outside without hurting it (unless you squish it, but then again you wouldn't use a broom for that
), and you can keep your distance.Um, they do have eyes... Granted, not large like a dragonfly's, but still visible.
Hey, no problem
A broom can be used to get it outside without hurting it (unless you squish it, but then again you wouldn't use a broom for that
Um, they do have eyes... Granted, not large like a dragonfly's, but still visible.
What do you mean by that?
And no, I meant the picture...The picture in the dictionary, while still scary, was small and didn't bother me too much..I looked away while I added it (stupidly), not thinking about the fact that it's there now, huge, and I can't get rid of it..and it's really bothering me (the picture in the thread up there).
I kill every insect that looks somewhat hostile. If its a common roach or something then I'll just step on it, same goes for scorpions and such, but spiders.... I must look like a 12yr-old sissy fighting with a spider
Once its dead I'll burn it, I absolutely hate spiders. I'm "ok" with centipedes, I spray them, they look rather hostile. Also wasps.... I've been bitten or stung (not sure what the heck was it) on a firing range, we disturbed them and they wanted revenge... sucker got my ear, swollen as hell and there was blood were the effin creature bit/stung me; one of the worst pains I've felt.... I avoid wasps at all costs, hate 'em less than spiders though.BTW, dllavaneras awesome pics! some gave me chills and all haha. I know what its like living in a tropical area (Costa Rica here), perhaps too many crawling things lol.
Victor
Well, there are some pretty graphic images of a centipede eating, up close and personal.
Thanks! I'm glad you like them! I'd love to visit Costa Rica, the arthropod diversity there is fascinating!
You're welcome! Oh yeah, we have a lot of arthropods (and other creatures) here... perhaps to many lol.
Victor
Me too. I like them alive, cause then they run away! Men in Black made me want to throw up. And wasn't there a Stephen King short story about roaches?
Is that why you have no hair now?I know! Ew! Ew! Ew! Ew! Ew! EWWW!!!!!!! They used to crawl in my hair at night! I'd wake up, freak out and couldn't go back to sleep. It was literally like "Joe's Apartment", except they weren't nice!
I like snakes.
You can never have too many creatures.
I wonder if the OP managed to get the centipede out of the house...
You can never have too many creatures.
I wonder if the OP managed to get the centipede out of the house...
Well, fortunately, I didn't have another encounter with him. Though, you should've seen me going downstairs. I turned all the lights on as I went downstairs, scanned all the walls, the usual hiding spots, et cetera. Then I turned the corner, I turned on the light, checked, then turned the kitchen light and stayed back, moved in, opened the door..nothing, so I went in and got my food, then went back upstairs. THEN, I thought I saw him on the floor, but I'm not positive. I didn't see him again, so I assume not, but I was hiding with my legs pulled up on the chair for a while.
By the way, I don't know if it's a bad thing, but, I've become so paranoid about Centipedes, that every time I use the restroom, I pull up the seats one by one with a finger to check the lid before I sit down, and sometimes even check around back of the toilet and stuff. I don't want one getting me...
Edit: By the way, thank you very much Rower for removing the picture...I know it was stupid, and a hassle, and I apologise, but thank you very much for taking it down