# Killing Centipedes **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 12, 2011, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/killing-centipedes/578114 "2011-04-12T17:10:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Meatros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Meatros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meatros)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2011, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/killing-centipedes/578114/21 "2011-04-13T13:25:02Z")
> [@YogSosoth](#): > > Release centipede-eating spiders into your basement. Then, when the centipedes are dead, importing Chinese needle snakes will take care of that problem. To get rid of the snakes, smuggle a type of gorilla that eats snakes. The good part is when winter comes around, the gorillas simply freeze to death This had me rolling. Good one YogSosoth, good one. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2011, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/killing-centipedes/578114/22 "2011-04-13T13:31:06Z")
> [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](#): > > The fact that you have centipedes means there is centipede food in your house. As much as I hate centipedes, I have to let them live. If you kill them, you’re asking for a population explosion of roaches, termites or whatever the centipedes are living on. Not necessarily. My parents’ house was always clean enough to eat off the floor and they had centipedes in their basement all the time. When I was young, I used to dance semi-professionally and used to rehearse in the basement - sans glasses. It’s much more scary when it’s just a giant blur. I hate the little fuckers, mainly because they run so fast and leave legs everywhere when you kill them. That is a job for my SO. And here is the story I always tell about centipedes: One lazy Saturday night the SO and I had been up until around 4 am playing some video game or other (Borderlands). We woke up the next morning and got right back into it. Around 10 am or so, I went to the kitchen to fix myself a snack, and was chopping some radishes on a cutting board. I was pretty bleary, and I had cut about six or seven for myself when I looked up to see a centipede about six inches away from my hand, sitting on? licking? the foil top from a creamer bottle that had been left there. I screamed and dropped the knife. From the living room I clearly remember hearing his controller hit the table with a thud and his voice, “What’s in there?” In _my_ mind, I quite clearly stated that there was a centipede on the table about six inches and could he kill it please. He said later he couldn’t even understand what I was saying, I was going so fast. He did see where I was pointing though, and manfully killed it. I never left a creamer foil top on the counter again, not even by accident. And I generally manage not to scream at bugs but it was _six inches away_. ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2011, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/killing-centipedes/578114/23 "2011-04-13T15:19:00Z")
This house was vacant for awhile before we moved in. Sitting at the desk, feel something crawling up my leg. Stand up, shake my pants leg, nothing falls out but I still feel the crawling. Drop my drawers, see the fucker, scream and jump around until it falls off. Spiders are **way** better than centipedes. ---
**Author:** ![Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/96bed5/32.png) [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patty_O_Furniture)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2011, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/killing-centipedes/578114/24 "2011-04-13T15:22:05Z")
Wow, that is unusually aggressive for a house centipede. I always thought they actively avoided warm environments which is why they’re typically only seen in basements, crawlspaces and the stud space behind sheet rock. ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2011, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/killing-centipedes/578114/25 "2011-04-13T21:07:48Z")
> [@Meatros](#): > > This had me rolling. > > Good one YogSosoth, good one. 😃 Ah, I wish I could take credit for that but its from an episode of the Simpsons. You can continue to think of me as a genius jokester though! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![typoink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecb155/32.png) [@typoink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/typoink)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2011, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/killing-centipedes/578114/26 "2011-04-13T22:33:19Z")
At least two posts on this thread suggest killing them because they’re terrible (partly) because they leave a mess when you kill them. That’s…well, that’s not a great argument. House centipedes are generally not a problem. They’re not inclined to bite people, eat much worse bugs, and have an odd beauty to 'em that you can learn to appreciate. We get them in our apartment occasionally, and I let 'em be. Sometimes I’ll trap 'em and let 'em go on our patio. ---
**Author:** ![Autolycus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/22d042/32.png) [@Autolycus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Autolycus)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2011, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/killing-centipedes/578114/27 "2011-04-14T00:59:58Z")
Is your basement strewn with flotsam and jetsom. Can you only move left or right? If so, you may have a serious problem. ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2011, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/killing-centipedes/578114/28 "2011-04-14T02:58:23Z")
Is centipedophilia a recognized fetish? ---
**Author:** ![Ograbme](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Ograbme](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ograbme)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2011, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/killing-centipedes/578114/29 "2011-04-14T03:13:48Z")
Kill all centipedes, everywhere, forever. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2011, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/killing-centipedes/578114/30 "2011-04-14T14:26:37Z")
There is, I admit, a picture floating around the Interwebs in which a centipede looks almost cute. He is looking straight at the camera with his beady little eyes. ---
**Author:** ![Headrush042](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a5b964/32.png) [@Headrush042](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Headrush042)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2011, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/killing-centipedes/578114/31 "2011-04-14T16:17:21Z")
> [@Anaamika](#): > > There is, I admit, a picture floating around the Interwebs in which a centipede looks almost cute. He is looking straight at the camera with his beady little eyes. [Oh, hi!](http://hangedman.files.wordpress.com/2008/04/house_centipede_1.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2011, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/killing-centipedes/578114/32 "2011-04-14T16:21:17Z")
> [@Headrush042](#): > > [Oh, hi!](http://hangedman.files.wordpress.com/2008/04/house_centipede_1.jpg) Squeeeeee! ---
**Author:** ![pbbth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f9ae1b/32.png) [@pbbth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pbbth)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2011, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/killing-centipedes/578114/33 "2011-04-14T18:47:22Z")
> [@levdrakon](#): > > Squeeeeee! I didn’t know we changed the meaning of Squeeeee from “OMG, cute!” to “OMG, kill it with fire!” ---
**Author:** ![robardin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/43a26b/32.png) [@robardin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robardin)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2011, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/killing-centipedes/578114/34 "2011-04-14T20:44:48Z")
> [@Jaledin](#): > > My first year of grad school I moved into a part of the country where these new (to me!) creatures existed in plenty. I used to trap them in a cage and pit them against each other, and sometimes bring pieces of insect flesh to dine on. Of course, I was reading a lot of Spinoza at the time. Uhhhh… As someone who has read at least some Spinoza in my life time (not “a lot” but certainly about his thoughts on epistemology and ontology), I’m curious what works I may have overlooked that would lead to trapping centipedes for gladiatorial games. This is BARUCH Spinoza we’re talking about, right? Not, say, a putative 18th Century privateer _converso_ named Eli “Mad Dog” Spinoza? ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2011, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/killing-centipedes/578114/35 "2011-04-14T20:48:59Z")
> [@levdrakon](#): > > Squeeeeee! That’s the bunny. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/killing-centipedes/578114.md?page=1)