Strange Housemates
Admittedly, my house is a zoo!!! I have hordes of horny cats outside the house. I have rodents in my ceiling, which I kill with racumin-treated palay grains. Funny how those cats and those rats never seem to meet for dinner or brunch. I used to have a brown, palm-sized spider that roams around the house whom I’ve lost track of its whereabouts.
I believe there’s some ecological reason why I should live with them in harmony. They should balance out something in my house. All in all, it has something to do with the food chain and the web of life.
And now, while I was doing my emails...a brown, 6-inch centipede just slithered inside my room. It probably came in by way of my bathroom. It settled beneath the chair where I'm seated right now. Curled just beside one of my journals I'm trying to review. I'm crouched on my chair looking at it, legs clipped under me, trying to decide what to do with it.
EEEUUUWWW!
What's it doing in my room, anyway? Judging from the size of it, it's as big as the ones I'd normally pass by on the way to some mountain peak. It shouldn’t be in my room.
I JUST VACUUMED THE ENTIRE PLACE!
What's it doing in my room?!!!
Maybe if I drop something on it, it might go away. Let's see what's on my table now... how about a pen? Nope, it won't move. Maybe something bigger. A rolled up resume that I never got to use. Nope, it still wouldn't move. My computer keyboard?
Hmmm...
I can't kill the poor guy. Roaches I can kill but not something as rare as this one. Hmm...
So I decided to get a broom and dustpan, hoping that I can scoop it up and throw it away outside where it would not bother me. Me and my "save the world from extinction" instincts.
FYI, I sleep on a mattress on the floor. I love the floor, I sleep on the floor even without the mattress or the mat. I am ONE with the floor.
Got my broom and my dustpan. Come here, little fella... Oh no, don't go there!
Great! Now it's under my computer table. Right under where I'm typing right now. Passed thru the CPU and disappeared.
I should've gotten the vacuum cleaner... or the keyboard (to hit it with).
Ramshacked the internet for google.com...
...searched for “centipede”...
...came up with “House Centipede”...
“Are you a House Centipede?,” I called under my desk.
Geez. You learn something new each day.
“Centipedes are common arthropods with long, flattened, segmented bodies with one pair of legs per segment. The house centipede is up to 1 1/2 inches long and has 15 pairs of very long, almost thread-like, slender legs. Each leg is encircled by dark and white bands. The body is brown to grayish-yellow and has three dark stripes on top.”
Yes. It did look something like that. But it’s not 1 ½ inches long!!!! It was longer! And bigger! The ones I’d normally see when I go around the foothills of Banahaw! It’s probably one of those mutated, wilder version.
“Centipedes prefer to live in damp portions of basements, closets, bathrooms, unexcavated areas under the house and beneath the bark of firewood stored indoors.”
I have certain areas on my body that’s damp...
“House centipedes feed on small insects, insect larvae, and on spiders.”
And probably add me to the list!
“They can be red, orange, or brown with venomous claws beneath their head. They use these claws to poison the insects they eat. Most centipedes will try to run away instead of biting you”.
I’m supposed to be thankful?!!
“Thus they are beneficial, though most homeowners take a different point-of-view and consider them a nuisance. Technically, it is considered harmless to people.”
I'm not taking any chances. I think I’ll pitch my tent outside.
I believe there’s some ecological reason why I should live with them in harmony. They should balance out something in my house. All in all, it has something to do with the food chain and the web of life.
And now, while I was doing my emails...a brown, 6-inch centipede just slithered inside my room. It probably came in by way of my bathroom. It settled beneath the chair where I'm seated right now. Curled just beside one of my journals I'm trying to review. I'm crouched on my chair looking at it, legs clipped under me, trying to decide what to do with it.
EEEUUUWWW!
What's it doing in my room, anyway? Judging from the size of it, it's as big as the ones I'd normally pass by on the way to some mountain peak. It shouldn’t be in my room.
I JUST VACUUMED THE ENTIRE PLACE!
What's it doing in my room?!!!
Maybe if I drop something on it, it might go away. Let's see what's on my table now... how about a pen? Nope, it won't move. Maybe something bigger. A rolled up resume that I never got to use. Nope, it still wouldn't move. My computer keyboard?
Hmmm...
I can't kill the poor guy. Roaches I can kill but not something as rare as this one. Hmm...
So I decided to get a broom and dustpan, hoping that I can scoop it up and throw it away outside where it would not bother me. Me and my "save the world from extinction" instincts.
FYI, I sleep on a mattress on the floor. I love the floor, I sleep on the floor even without the mattress or the mat. I am ONE with the floor.
Got my broom and my dustpan. Come here, little fella... Oh no, don't go there!
Great! Now it's under my computer table. Right under where I'm typing right now. Passed thru the CPU and disappeared.
I should've gotten the vacuum cleaner... or the keyboard (to hit it with).
Ramshacked the internet for google.com...
...searched for “centipede”...
...came up with “House Centipede”...
“Are you a House Centipede?,” I called under my desk.
Geez. You learn something new each day.
“Centipedes are common arthropods with long, flattened, segmented bodies with one pair of legs per segment. The house centipede is up to 1 1/2 inches long and has 15 pairs of very long, almost thread-like, slender legs. Each leg is encircled by dark and white bands. The body is brown to grayish-yellow and has three dark stripes on top.”
Yes. It did look something like that. But it’s not 1 ½ inches long!!!! It was longer! And bigger! The ones I’d normally see when I go around the foothills of Banahaw! It’s probably one of those mutated, wilder version.
“Centipedes prefer to live in damp portions of basements, closets, bathrooms, unexcavated areas under the house and beneath the bark of firewood stored indoors.”
I have certain areas on my body that’s damp...
“House centipedes feed on small insects, insect larvae, and on spiders.”
And probably add me to the list!
“They can be red, orange, or brown with venomous claws beneath their head. They use these claws to poison the insects they eat. Most centipedes will try to run away instead of biting you”.
I’m supposed to be thankful?!!
“Thus they are beneficial, though most homeowners take a different point-of-view and consider them a nuisance. Technically, it is considered harmless to people.”
I'm not taking any chances. I think I’ll pitch my tent outside.
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