# GAAAAH! Need help fast! Spider?!
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gaaaah-need-help-fast-spider/450741
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [May 27, 2008, 10:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gaaaah-need-help-fast-spider/450741 "2008-05-27T10:19:32Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@brujaja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brujaja)
#### Post date: [May 27, 2008, 10:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gaaaah-need-help-fast-spider/450741/1 "2008-05-27T10:19:32Z")
I live in Oakland, in Northern California.
Just now, I turned out my light, took off my clothes except for a tank top, and got into bed. I felt a kind of prickling pain in several spots on the side I was laying down on. Then I ran my hand along my abdomen and felt – something – there. It felt about the size & shape of a foxtail. (a whole one.) I snatched it up & threw it alongside the bed.
Turning on the light, I found a BIG GIANT WELT on my butt, a smaller welt on my thigh and a bite on my upper calf, all on the side in question.
Careful examination of the approximate area where I threw whatever it was reveals nothing. Now I am scared to get back into bed. (my bed is on the floor, & right underneath an open window on the second story. I live in the flats of Oakland, not too far from the Bay.)
What could it have been that bit me? AND WHY ISN’T IT DEAD? GAAAAAAAAH!
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### Author:  [@shijinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shijinn)
#### Post date: [May 27, 2008, 11:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gaaaah-need-help-fast-spider/450741/2 "2008-05-27T11:41:43Z")
[QUOTE=brujaja]
I live in Oakland, in Northern California.
Just now, I turned out my light, took off my clothes except for a tank top, and … _white noise_ …
[/QUOTE]
so you took off your clothes except for a tank top and …
…
so you said you took off your clothes except for a tank top and and …
…
…
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### Author:  [@An\_Arky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Arky)
#### Post date: [May 27, 2008, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gaaaah-need-help-fast-spider/450741/3 "2008-05-27T12:36:08Z")
Sounds like a [House Centipede](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_centipede) to me. Unless you have an allergic reaction to the bite, you should be OK.
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### Author:  [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)
#### Post date: [May 27, 2008, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gaaaah-need-help-fast-spider/450741/4 "2008-05-27T13:34:00Z")
Yeah, definitely something of the extreme multilegged genre, to feel “foxtail-ish”. Gross but not deadly.
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### Author:  [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)
#### Post date: [May 27, 2008, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gaaaah-need-help-fast-spider/450741/5 "2008-05-27T13:49:29Z")
Hold on a moment, by “foxtail” do you mean the tail of a fox or… something else?
_Googles_
Grass?
Cos if you mean the actual tail of an actual fox, I would be worried, and think you got into bed with a weasel or something!
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### Author:  [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)
#### Post date: [May 27, 2008, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gaaaah-need-help-fast-spider/450741/6 "2008-05-27T14:47:10Z")
[QUOTE=Colophon]
Cos if you mean the actual tail of an actual fox, I would be worried, and think you got into bed with a weasel or something!
[/QUOTE]
Yeah, that would be stoatally different.
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### Author:  [@chowder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chowder)
#### Post date: [May 27, 2008, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gaaaah-need-help-fast-spider/450741/7 "2008-05-27T15:43:02Z")
I think you should ferret about a bit under the bed.
Ermine opinion anyway
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### Author:  [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)
#### Post date: [May 27, 2008, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gaaaah-need-help-fast-spider/450741/8 "2008-05-27T15:52:15Z")
House centepedes are easily the most horrible-looking form of house dwelling creature commonly encountered, and they can bite. ☹
Killing them can turn the strongest stomach, because their various thin, hair-like legs and feelers quiver in the most revolting manner after they are dead.
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### Author:  [@vetbridge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vetbridge)
#### Post date: [May 27, 2008, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gaaaah-need-help-fast-spider/450741/9 "2008-05-27T16:31:20Z")
Situations like the OP’s are why I keep a few cans of permethrin premise spray in the cupboard. Turn the lights on, spray the room liberally, close the door. Return in 10 minutes and go back to sleep knowing that you are the only living creature in the room. 😃
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### Author:  [@brujaja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brujaja)
#### Post date: [May 27, 2008, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gaaaah-need-help-fast-spider/450741/10 "2008-05-27T16:33:03Z")
Gee thanx, **Malthus** , I needed that image! 😃
Way to use up all the good puns, guys!
_sigh_ Mongoose only pawn in game of life.
The bites are much better this morning. No further mishap. But, allow me to just say – GAAH!
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### Author:  [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)
#### Post date: [May 27, 2008, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gaaaah-need-help-fast-spider/450741/11 "2008-05-27T16:47:24Z")
When I stayed with friends in Oakland, CA, I found a Wolf Spider scurrying along the floor. It’s possible that’s what you felt, but these spiders were only\* about the size of the palm of your hand, not as big as a Fox Tail. So I suspect the “centipede” answer might be correct.
\*“ONLY” in comparison to the size of a Fox Tail. That’s still more than big enough to me.
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### Author:  [@vetbridge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vetbridge)
#### Post date: [May 27, 2008, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gaaaah-need-help-fast-spider/450741/12 "2008-05-27T17:09:01Z")
A foxtail:
[http://www.caberfeidh.com/Images/foxtail.jpg](http://www.caberfeidh.com/Images/foxtail.jpg)
Verdad?
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### Author:  [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)
#### Post date: [May 27, 2008, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gaaaah-need-help-fast-spider/450741/13 "2008-05-27T17:42:00Z")
[QUOTE=vetbridge]
A foxtail:
[http://www.caberfeidh.com/Images/foxtail.jpg](http://www.caberfeidh.com/Images/foxtail.jpg)
Verdad?
[/QUOTE]
That’s not a foxtail, that’s a flea dart, as any fule kno. 😛
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### Author:  [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)
#### Post date: [May 27, 2008, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gaaaah-need-help-fast-spider/450741/14 "2008-05-27T17:55:25Z")
[QUOTE=Malthus]
House centepedes are easily the most horrible-looking form of house dwelling creature commonly encountered, and they can bite. ☹
[/QUOTE]
Yeah, but they are also highly efficient killers, and will do a great job of keeping down the rest of the pest population in your house.
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### Author:  [@nd\_n8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nd_n8)
#### Post date: [May 27, 2008, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gaaaah-need-help-fast-spider/450741/15 "2008-05-27T17:58:51Z")
Yeah, yeah… Foxtail, Spider, whatever…
I want to hear Marmot the whole “nothing but a tank top” part of the story.
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### Author:  [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)
#### Post date: [May 27, 2008, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gaaaah-need-help-fast-spider/450741/16 "2008-05-27T18:02:08Z")
[QUOTE=mhendo]
Yeah, but they are also highly efficient killers, and will do a great job of keeping down the rest of the pest population in your house.
[/QUOTE]
True, but what I most want dead is _them_. 😛
I’d rather have cute little spiders do the insect clean-up, if I had a choice …
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### Author:  [@Beadalin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beadalin)
#### Post date: [May 27, 2008, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gaaaah-need-help-fast-spider/450741/17 "2008-05-27T18:17:56Z")
(From Wikipedia)
> [@](#):
>
> In Japan, these creatures are referred to as gejigeji and enjoy a level of popularity. They can often be seen for sale in pet stores.
Oh sweet Jeebus.
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### Author:  [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)
#### Post date: [May 27, 2008, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gaaaah-need-help-fast-spider/450741/18 "2008-05-27T18:56:32Z")
I had never even suspected the existence of house centipedes until this thread. I just did a Google Image search. :eek:
Some of them look kind of fuzzy and cute in the pics, but I certainly wouldn’t want one in my bed.
I suppose they’re a bit like the Olsens in that respect.
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### Author:  [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)
#### Post date: [May 27, 2008, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gaaaah-need-help-fast-spider/450741/19 "2008-05-27T19:32:09Z")
[QUOTE=Colophon]
I had never even suspected the existence of house centipedes until this thread. I just did a Google Image search. :eek:
[/quote]
I had never seen one until i moved to the US.
Perhaps the most alarming thing about seeing one for the first time is not just their appearance, but the fact that they are FAST. If you startle one, it will zoom across the floor or walls at a remarkable speed, and sometimes they will come running straight at your bare feet, forcing you into a crazy, terrified dance to avoid them.
[QUOTE=Colophon]
Some of them look kind of fuzzy and cute in the pics, but I certainly wouldn’t want one in my bed.
I suppose they’re a bit like the Olsens in that respect.
[/QUOTE]
😃
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### Author:  [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)
#### Post date: [May 27, 2008, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gaaaah-need-help-fast-spider/450741/20 "2008-05-27T19:55:55Z")
According to Wikipedia they originated in the Mediterranean region and have spread to much of Europe.
In recent years quite a few European species have migrated to the UK (warmer summers, milder winters, Channel Tunnel…) so I wouldn’t be surprised to start seeing these little critters over here before long.
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