# Briton Finds Venomous Centipede in House



## fish_doc (Jan 31, 2005)

Aaron Balick expected to find a tiny mouse rustling behind the TV in his apartment. Instead, he found a venomous giant centipede that somehow hitched a ride from South America to Britain. 

Thinking it was a mouse, I went to investigate the sound. The sound was coming from under some papers which I lifted, expecting to see the mouse scamper away," the 32-year-old psychotherapist said Wednesday. "Instead, when I lifted the papers, I saw this prehistoric looking animal skitter away behind a stack of books."
He trapped the 9-inch-long creature between a stack of books and put it in a plastic container.

The next day he took it to Britain's Natural History Museum, which identified the insect as a Scolopendra gigantea — the world's biggest species of centipede.

Stuart Hine, an entomologist at the museum, said it was likely the centipede hitched a ride aboard a freighter, likely with a shipment of fruit.

"Dealing with over 4,000 public and commercial inquiries every year, we have come to expect the unexpected. However, when Aaron produced this beast from his bag I was staggered," Hine said. "Not even I expected to be presented with this."

The Scolopendra gigantea has front claws that are adapted to deliver venom when it stings, which can lead to a blistering rash, nausea and fever. The sting is rarely life-threatening, but painful.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050831/ap_on_fe_st/creepy_centipede


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## solar-ton (Aug 15, 2005)

i found a 6" milipod in my house once.


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## fishfreaks (Jan 19, 2005)

OMG if i saw one of those in my house i would NEVER come back!!


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## fish_doc (Jan 31, 2005)

I would hate to buy shoes for one of those. LOL


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## mlefev (Apr 19, 2005)

LOL I hate centipedes. I think the largest I've found are about 3-4 inches up in northern Cali. They seem to have an affinity for bath-tubs. Nasty creatures.


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## Lydia (Feb 6, 2005)

We find ones about 3-4 inches long in our whirlpool tub all the time. But only our whirlpool. Not the other one, which is a good thing, lol.


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## blor (Jul 7, 2005)

ughh...nasty buggers


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