Ugh! Silverfish in my kitchen!

[vixengrl]

OMG--there is a silverfish-mutant-thing in my kitchen, on the wall, above the fridge. It's not really silver, but a light grayish-brown, and it's an inch and a half long and has waaaayyyyy too many legs. I didn't want to disturb it because I thought it might take a run for me. It has a head like a dragon, and I think it senses my apprehansion. For some reason, my house boasts the largest silverfish-mutant-things I have ever seen (I dare not say mere "silverfish"--part centipede and manticore perhaps they be!)

Anybody else see massive big bugs in their house today? Recently?(Floridians, I will let you go in depth about Palmetto bugs on the condition you do not advise me that they like to hang out on shower curtains and just below light switches in the dark for the unaware hand to brush against--for I have been told such ghastly things before, and believe them. Oh all right. If you have a bug-in-bathroom story, I'll hear that, too.)

[1]

1. heh...

i love it when y'all call them "silverfish" and "palmetto bugs".

it really does class up the problem a bit.

[blonndee]

6. LOL...

[1]

12. my first apartment in boston...

was in one of those cute little "brownstones" all attached to one another. it was so infested with "palmetto bugs" that they would charge up to whatever meal i was cooking to check it out. so bold and brazen, they were.

once a month my girlfriend would evacuate us to fire off a smoke bomb thing to stink up the place and drive the roaches away. we would be good for a week or so until a neighbor would fire off a similar bomb.

my entire two years there were spent trading roaches with my neighbors...

[vixengrl]

7. I know some bugs are, you know, just *bugs*

and some palmetto bugs are just roaches, but sometimes a mutant silverfish with a dragon head and too many legs is really just a silverfish with a dragon head and too many legs.

And no, I can't post a picture. They run from cameras and vacuum cleaners. Sometimes you can squash'em with a tissue, altho' they leave a mark. Ick.

[Reverend_Smitty]

2. I never do laundry when I'm home alone...

for fear of coming face-to-face with mutant silverfish thingies in my basement and no one is home to save me. I call them "crawly bugs" (I have no idea why) but in my house if you hear "OH MY GOD ...CRAWLY BUG!!! CRAWLY BUG!!!" you'd better come running to save me

I've personally had to treat dislocated limbs and lacerations so deep that I could see bone without so much as batting an eye, but tiny inch long insects turn me into a shrieking wimpy little girl

[WinkyDink]

13. Hee! I yell, "SCOOTY BUG!"

[boilerbabe]

3. Nothing in the house, but..

Some of the weirdest mutant bugs I've ever seen were at work over in the boiler house! There was this bug that we were finding there a few years ago that had big pincers on it, a huge head, and wings! It would hiss and spit and try to bite. This biggest one we put in a ziploc baggie, where it lived for about 3 weeks! It was about 4" long. I called it a "Betz Bug", since it probably was a result of the chemicals we used for water treatement! I haven't seen any around for a few years, though I would shit if I found one in my house!

Good luck with the Silverfish thingy! And yes, palmetto bugs do seem to hang out in showers from what I remember! They make a nice crunchy noise when you smash them with a shampoo bottle!!

[leeroysphitz]

4. If you called Orkin to remove the infestation would you allow them

to put up an Orkin sign in your front yard in exchange for a discount?

[fizzgig]

5. silverfish seriously gross me out

:puke:

now i'm pretty good around spiders. if my boyfriend sees a spider, he squeals and yells for me to come take care of it :rofl: but the other day, i was taking a shower and notice a spider crawling over the top of the door...it was the biggest jumping spider i'd ever seen.

i swear, he sat there and just stared at me while i tried to figure out how to deal with him...then he started crawling down the door :scared: i finally got myself together, got out of the shower, trapped him and put him outside...but man, i had the heebie jeebies for a while after that.

[Heidi]

8. Are you sure it's not a house centipede?

Not that you'd feel any better if it were . . . :hi:

[vixengrl]

14. Wow--if you type in "house centipede" to AOL search

and click images, it's like your screen is infested--eek.

But that's exactly what it looks like: http://www.ipm.iastate.edu/ipm/iiin/node/107 .

I see about 1 every six months to a year--not a whole lot. They're just...memorable when I do. :hi:

[crispini]

15. Holy cow!

Ok, I may get the horrible palmetto bugs, but at least I don't get THOSE. :scared:

You know there's a palmetto bug in the house when you hear me scream, followed by the WHAP of a shoe. Damn those things give me the CREEPS!

[Whoa_Nelly]

18. Better read up on these critters!

They eat insects, but have a painful bite...

Basic Wiki info:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scutigera

Info and how to treat for them:
http://www.ipm.iastate.edu/ipm/iiin/housece.html

http://www.math.umd.edu/~schris/scutigera.shtml

[Heidi]

20. They can live five years or so.

I see one about once a year in our house, and I normally have CMW put them outdoors. But the one I saw a couple of months ago appeared when CMW wasn't here, and I was too scared to put him outdoors myself. So he's likely still here . . . somewhere. :scared:

[KitchenWitch]

9. Palmetto bugs is a euphemism

They are really gigantic flying cockroaches. Cockroaches large enough to steal your toddler child. Thankfully they do not really infest. But we get the occasional one in the house and I nearly yak up lunch every time.

[grasswire]

10. I don't think that's a silverfish

I think that's a millipede or centipede. And it's my impression that you don't want to touch them because there's a toxicity to them.

I could be wrong, but that's what I've been told. We had some in the basement after a washing machine leak. Up to an inch and a half, many wiggly wiggly legs. And they can run like the wind.

[Gormy Cuss]

11. Dekko silverfish packs.

Get some.

[mike_c]

16. it's a centipede....

Silverfish have the standard six legs.

Palmetto bugs-- well, that's a different story. Look, I don't want to alarm you so I'll just remind you that Floridians should never sleep open mouthed....



















Joke. That list bit is a joke. :rofl:

[old mark]

17. don't feel bad

we have a mouse
he eats bread
whole wheat only
passes up sliced
french bread
to eat the crust
of the whole wheat
only on one corner
but ruining the loaf

we killed a
previous mouse
and now
i must
kill again

a life for a crust of
whole wheat bread

fucking mice

mark

[unpossibles]

19. if it helps

they eat other bugs.

[Inchworm]

21. I always told the kids (and the ex)

palmetto bugs just hunted in the house. They had a cool pad outside.

I ain't sure what a silverfish is. It puts me in the mind of an earwig.

:hi: