I think I have a mild phobia.

Message

marriedmefliesfree · #1 Post by **marriedmefliesfree** » Thu Mar 12, 2009 4:06 pm

Aside from the obligatory getting-hit-by-a-bus/attacked-in-a-parking-garage sorts of things, I have discovered recently that there's really nothing, with one glaring exception, that I am afraid of. Seriously. Once I realized just how much this one thing messes with my mind, I thought long and hard on it. There's just nothing else that makes me feel so wonky. So I'm curious...do you have any phobias? What are you afraid of?

My thing is the not so innocent looking house centipede. Now bugs don't normally bug me too much, and, nerd that I am, I even think most of them are kind of cool. But these things really just freak my shit out. I'd never seen them before I lived in that 100+ year old house in PA, and there were lots of them there. Big ones, too. I think some of them may have hitched a ride here to our new place in a box or something, because they're here too. I'd looked forward to moving and getting away from them, but found several good-sized ones here last summer and fall. They must sleep through the winter. I hadn't seen them in quite some time and had hoped that they'd died out. But temps are rising ever so slightly, and I've already seen two small ones this week.

Now everything I've read and heard says to leave them be. They're beneficial bugs, really. But the larger specimens can bite humans and, if you haven't gathered it thus far, they FREAK ME OUT.

So now I'm torn. I'd love to call 911 for an exterminator. A serious bug-hater a la John Goodman in Arachnaphobia would do nicely. But I don't really want to expose my pregnant self or my crawling rugrat to the chemicals, and I've yet to uncover a less toxic alternative. But these things (say it with me) FREAK ME OUT and I want them gone. I keep a clean house, vacuum a lot, and we don't really have any other bugs here aside from the odd garage spider. Even the basement is clean as a whistle (not that I go down there much anymore....). Agghghghghgghghghh. Any suggestions?

ulysses5019 · #2 Post by **ulysses5019** » Thu Mar 12, 2009 4:24 pm

marriedmefliesfree wrote:Aside from the obligatory getting-hit-by-a-bus/attacked-in-a-parking-garage sorts of things, I have discovered recently that there's really nothing, with one glaring exception, that I am afraid of. Seriously. Once I realized just how much this one thing messes with my mind, I thought long and hard on it. There's just nothing else that makes me feel so wonky. So I'm curious...do you have any phobias? What are you afraid of?

My thing is the not so innocent looking house centipede. Now bugs don't normally bug me too much, and, nerd that I am, I even think most of them are kind of cool. But these things really just freak my shit out. I'd never seen them before I lived in that 100+ year old house in PA, and there were lots of them there. Big ones, too. I think some of them may have hitched a ride here to our new place in a box or something, because they're here too. I'd looked forward to moving and getting away from them, but found several good-sized ones here last summer and fall. They must sleep through the winter. I hadn't seen them in quite some time and had hoped that they'd died out. But temps are rising ever so slightly, and I've already seen two small ones this week.

Now everything I've read and heard says to leave them be. They're beneficial bugs, really. But the larger specimens can bite humans and, if you haven't gathered it thus far, they FREAK ME OUT.

So now I'm torn. I'd love to call 911 for an exterminator. A serious bug-hater a la John Goodman in Arachnaphobia would do nicely. But I don't really want to expose my pregnant self or my crawling rugrat to the chemicals, and I've yet to uncover a less toxic alternative. But these things (say it with me) FREAK ME OUT and I want them gone. I keep a clean house, vacuum a lot, and we don't really have any other bugs here aside from the odd garage spider. Even the basement is clean as a whistle (not that I go down there much anymore....). Agghghghghgghghghh. Any suggestions?

Don't call Edgar from MIB.

TheConfessor · #3 Post by **TheConfessor** » Thu Mar 12, 2009 4:25 pm

Just remember, the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.

I'm not sure what critter you're talking about. Wikipedia's mention of a "house centipede" refers to a species in Australia. I don't think I've ever seen a centipede in my house. On the other hand, silverfish love hanging around old books and stacks of old papers. Could that be what you're talking about?

I've arranged a lineup of possible perpetrators. Could you point to the one that's been bothering you, ma'am? Take your time. They can't see you.
http://www.anthonyspestcontrol.com/bug-id.htm

marriedmefliesfree · #4 Post by **marriedmefliesfree** » Thu Mar 12, 2009 4:29 pm

Firstly...I was almost afraid to look when I saw that you'd posted, Uly. One never knows what will show up in your avatar box!

And for The Confessor, it's this one: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scutigera_coleoptrata

silvercamaro · #5 Post by **silvercamaro** » Thu Mar 12, 2009 4:38 pm

Mine is not the Buddhist way, but I highly recommend large, heavy boots for stomping and rolled-up magazines for whomping. The centipede that doesn't make it through the day cannot reproduce another day.

My phobia, as I learned the hard way last spring, is snakes -- at least, any snake found inside my house. I don't mind looking at photos of them, or seeing them in my yard as long as I'm a distance away. Anything that slithers inside, however, has entered a war zone. As spring (and the end of hibernation) approaches, I'm getting more and more concerned about leaving any door open for more than a few seconds. I wish I had a friend nearby like VADame, who keeps harmless snakes as pets, as I would much rather become accustomed to them and know more about them than react instinctively with revulsion.

I can deal with insects and spiders rationally. Scaly, crawly critters not so much.

marriedmefliesfree · #6 Post by **marriedmefliesfree** » Thu Mar 12, 2009 4:45 pm

silvercamaro wrote:Mine is not the Buddhist way, but I highly recommend large, heavy boots for stomping and rolled-up magazines for whomping. The centipede that doesn't make it through the day cannot reproduce another day.

They get squished if I can catch them, but they are fast and apparently don't mind hanging upside down on ceilings too. (Actually I much prefer to vacuum them up with the hose from as far a distance as possible....can I reiterate that they FREAK ME OUT?)

What kind of snake was in your house?? I thought that sort of thing was reserved for sitcom plots...!

KillerTomato · #7 Post by **KillerTomato** » Thu Mar 12, 2009 4:51 pm

OK, I'm not ashamed to mention that I have two very very deep phobias, and one is similar to yours: I'm absolutely TERRIFIED of spiders. I hate 'em. Passionately. It's the way they move...it's just really really creepy.

Secondly, I'm afraid of ledges. Not heights, per se, but ledges. I just don't like looking down. When I visited the CN Tower in Toronto, I just could NOT walk on the glass floor, even though I knew instinctually that I was safe.

5LD · #8 Post by **5LD** » Thu Mar 12, 2009 5:06 pm

Common thought in our old apt. building was that you either saw the house centipedes or you saw roaches. I preferred the house centipedes.

TheConfessor · #9 Post by **TheConfessor** » Thu Mar 12, 2009 5:15 pm

Wikipedia provides an easy solution. Just leave your lights on 24/7. Especially your UV glow lights. The better to see your glowing potatoes and Jimi Hendrix posters.

Scutigera coleoptrata's faceted eyes are sensitive to daylight as well as very sensitive to ultraviolet light. [2] They were shown to be able to visually distinguish between different mutations of fruit flies. How this ability fits with its nocturnal lifestyle and underground natural habitat is still under study. They do not instantly change direction when light is suddenly shone at them, but retreat to a darker hiding spot.

kayrharris · #10 Post by **kayrharris** » Thu Mar 12, 2009 5:21 pm

Don't cats take care of most creepy, crawly, little critter thingies such as you just described, Mandy?
I'd get a kitten if I were you. I know they keep the mice away.

marriedmefliesfree · #11 Post by **marriedmefliesfree** » Thu Mar 12, 2009 5:40 pm

5LD wrote:Common thought in our old apt. building was that you either saw the house centipedes or you saw roaches. I preferred the house centipedes.

A friend of mine just said the same thing on the phone a bit ago...asked if I'd rather see a roach on the wall. I was quite torn on the answer!

Really though, I don't think we have any roaches here. Of course I'd hate to get rid of the centipedes and find out I was wrong, but...THEY FREAK ME OUT!

marriedmefliesfree · #12 Post by **marriedmefliesfree** » Thu Mar 12, 2009 5:42 pm

TheConfessor wrote:Wikipedia provides an easy solution. Just leave your lights on 24/7. Especially your UV glow lights. The better to see your glowing potatoes and Jimi Hendrix posters.

Well, I was saving the UV lights for my next dorm party...

marriedmefliesfree · #13 Post by **marriedmefliesfree** » Thu Mar 12, 2009 5:43 pm

kayrharris wrote:Don't cats take care of most creepy, crawly, little critter thingies such as you just described, Mandy?
I'd get a kitten if I were you. I know they keep the mice away.

I thought about that. I'm not much a cat person though, and NN even less so. A lot less so! I guarantee he'd rather have a full on infestation of just about anything than have a cat!

sunflower · #14 Post by **sunflower** » Thu Mar 12, 2009 6:21 pm

I am afraid of heights and ladybugs.

I think for the centipedes, they sell that powder stuff at Home Depot that you sprinkle around the perimeter of your house and/or on the window ledges (outside) and it's supposed to keep stuff from wanting to come in. I can't tell you if it works though.

hermillion · #15 Post by **hermillion** » Thu Mar 12, 2009 7:58 pm

I had an outbreak of brown recluse spiders last summer. Since I'm also not in favor of lots of chemicals in my environment, I called the local "enviro-friendly" critter wranglers. They scurried over with a handful of glue traps -- basically 8" x 4" cardboard pieces with really sticky stuff on one surface. I was instructed to place one on the floor behind each toilet, and one under each bed. You may want to place them under sinks, or in the linen storage areas.

Voy-ola! Caught several in the first month, and threw those traps away. Replaced them and caught a couple more the second. The current set have been down all winter with nary a brown recluse-type visitor. I'm leaving them out this summer, regardless!

Now that I know what to ask for, I'll check at hardware stores.

TheConfessor · #16 Post by **TheConfessor** » Thu Mar 12, 2009 8:12 pm

hermillion wrote:I had an outbreak of brown recluse spiders last summer. Since I'm also not in favor of lots of chemicals in my environment, I called the local "enviro-friendly" critter wranglers. They scurried over with a handful of glue traps -- basically 8" x 4" cardboard pieces with really sticky stuff on one surface. I was instructed to place one on the floor behind each toilet, and one under each bed. You may want to place them under sinks, or in the linen storage areas.

Voy-ola! Caught several in the first month, and threw those traps away. Replaced them and caught a couple more the second. The current set have been down all winter with nary a brown recluse-type visitor. I'm leaving them out this summer, regardless!

Now that I know what to ask for, I'll check at hardware stores.

Let your fingers do the walking! Is this them?
http://www.cleanertoday.com/Spider-traps-s/86.htm

christie1111 · #17 Post by **christie1111** » Thu Mar 12, 2009 8:33 pm

KillerTomato wrote:OK, I'm not ashamed to mention that I have two very very deep phobias, and one is similar to yours: I'm absolutely TERRIFIED of spiders. I hate 'em. Passionately. It's the way they move...it's just really really creepy.

Secondly, I'm afraid of ledges. Not heights, per se, but ledges. I just don't like looking down. When I visited the CN Tower in Toronto, I just could NOT walk on the glass floor, even though I knew instinctually that I was safe.

I am with you KT. Just the way they walk creep me out. And, of course, they have tons of spiders in Hawai'i.

But they also have centipedes and millipedes. I guess what people here on the mainland call centipedes are millipedes in Hawai'i. The centipedes are bigger segments with fewer,bigger legs. The millipedes have smaller segments and a gazillion tiny legs.

One Friday I was getting dressed in my muumuu (obligatory on Aloha Friday) and I elt a sting on my back. I quickly dropped the dress and the most disgusting centipede wiggled away. I almost threw up! I got a different dress and went to school. By mid-morning I was really feeling sick to my stomach, dizzy, etc. Apparently they can cause that type of allegic reaction.

Maybe you can get the fumigation done while you take a three day weekend somewhere else.

Oh, I have a travel related Q I will post in a different thread as it isn't directed at you specifically.

ulysses5019 · #18 Post by **ulysses5019** » Thu Mar 12, 2009 10:35 pm

marriedmefliesfree wrote:Firstly...I was almost afraid to look when I saw that you'd posted, Uly. One never knows what will show up in your avatar box!

And for The Confessor, it's this one: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scutigera_coleoptrata

Were any of these involved?

ulysses5019 · #19 Post by **ulysses5019** » Thu Mar 12, 2009 10:40 pm

I can deal with insects and spiders rationally. Scaly, crawly critters not so much.

I promise to loofa before we next meet.

silvercamaro · #20 Post by **silvercamaro** » Thu Mar 12, 2009 10:43 pm

ulysses5019 wrote:
I can deal with insects and spiders rationally. Scaly, crawly critters not so much.
I promise to loofa before we next meet.

Deal! Caress Evenly Gorgeous works well, too.

ulysses5019 · #21 Post by **ulysses5019** » Thu Mar 12, 2009 10:51 pm

silvercamaro wrote:
ulysses5019 wrote:
I can deal with insects and spiders rationally. Scaly, crawly critters not so much.
I promise to loofa before we next meet.

Deal! Caress Evenly Gorgeous works well, too.

On my lips?????

TheCalvinator24 · #22 Post by **TheCalvinator24** » Thu Mar 12, 2009 11:12 pm

Bees & Wasps

Bob Juch · #23 Post by **Bob Juch** » Thu Mar 12, 2009 11:20 pm

I just watched "The Rock" talking about his phobias on "Tonight". What a wimp!

I have no phobias, but have a healthy respect for anything that is actually dangerous.

minimetoo26 · #24 Post by **minimetoo26** » Fri Mar 13, 2009 9:44 am

It probably surprises exactly no one that Weirdo Me likes spiders and snakes. The kids know to put spiders outside rather than squash them.

I do make sure the toaster and iron stay unplugged when not in use because we had a fire when I was 14 because the iron shorted out, but that's just caution mixed with experience. My head can't handle walking down long, steep, narrow staircases like going down Diamond Head in Oahu or Uncle Tom's Trail in Yellowstone, but I just ask someone to walk right in front of me so their back blocks my view down down down down..........

tlynn78 · #25 Post by **tlynn78** » Fri Mar 13, 2009 11:06 am

I guarantee he'd rather have a full on infestation of just about anything than have a cat!

I'll bet a freaked out baby-mama will tip the scales for him!

I'll take snakes over spiders and roachs, any time.

t.

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