Bug identification website

[Cynth]

Late last night I started to take a shower and I found one of these horrid-looking very big things
staring me in the face when I happened to look at the shower curtain. Dang!!

Slipping and sliding, screaming and cussing (of course my husband was asleep and couldn't hear me because of all the fans and the air-conditioner), trying to figure out what to do---I finally got out of the shower and got the bug to run down into the bathtub and smashed it with Kleenex. It was running really fast. The floor was all wet from the shower because I was so freaked I forgot to turn it off and I was dripping. I smashed it again because it was still wiggling. I was just about to smash it with my shoe, but I didn't want my shoe to get all wet. One of its giant feelers came off in the tub, I bet that feeler was two inches long. Forget about the shower making me relax. Now I not only have to inspect my shower cap and towel for earwigs but I have to look for these things too.

Anyway, I found a neat website that helps to identify bugs and has really good pictures (just in case Rod Sprague isn't around):

http://bugguide.net/node/view/15740

Here is what one person said about this bug:

Hey you guys--these are your friends!
The common house centipede eats lots and lots of roaches, silverfish, and any other bugs it can catch. They won't hurt you-they keep your house pest population down. And they're not monsters, they're quite benign to creatures larger than themselves (you, for instance)--also NOT poisonous.....
… xsquid, 25 January, 2007 - 1:58pm

So I wonder if they eat earwigs? I guess I won't kill the next one I find.


It took a lot of looking but at that website I was even able
to find out what this bug is that I've been finding on my plants.
I've never been able to find anything that helped me identify it.
That was going to be the real test of the website.

It's a nymph of a planthopper, Acanalonia bivittata. I found it by searching on the word "fluff"!
I guess I will see if I can find some adults just to be sure.
It might explain at least one of the problems with my plants.
Okay, I guess I might be pushing the envelope of "boring" here. Sorry .

[fyffer]

Hi Cynth - I've been killing these things for years in my house. I don't care how many other critters they eat. The more they eat the BIGGER they get! That is just not acceptable. I've killed some of these things up to three inches long (and I live in the Northeast!).

I (being the husband and father, a.k.a. he-who-fixes-broken-things-and-kills-wiggly-crawly-things) am responsible for protecting my brood, and these things, once found in the light of day (or lamp of night) will not escape my shoe, or closest magazine, etc. I totally sympathize. I kill lots of buggies, but I get the willies *every time* I squash one of these. I think the "ick" factor is directly proportional to the number of legs. And besides, they remind me of this critter from Monsters, Inc.:

[Steamwalker]

I hate insects and especially arachnids. It's my only phobia (although mild). Speaking of, how would you like finding one of these in your house? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OeNggIGSKH8

[djm]

When I first moved into this dump, there were plastic matts on the carpet just inside the front and back doors. The first few nights were a bit restless for me as I got used to all the new night noises, figuring out what they were, and determining whether they were benign or of serious concern. One night I was up and about when I was accosted by this strange rustling/rattling noise. It would stop as soon as I turned on the lights. In the silence of a residential neighbourhood at 2:00 am, the sound was alarmingly loud. It took me quite a while of turning the lights on and off and hunting around until I finally looked down at my feet to discover a centipede going back and forth over this stupid plastic matt. I got rid of the matt and slept soundly after that.

Okay, I guess I might be pushing the envelope of "boring" here.

No way. Wait till Lamby and Caroluna find this thread!

djm

[Denny]

Okay, I guess I might be pushing the envelope of "boring" here.

No way. Wait till Lamby and Caroluna find this thread!

djm

yep...it'll grow some legs then

[Caroluna]

Okay, I guess I might be pushing the envelope of "boring" here.

No way. Wait till Lamby and Caroluna find this thread!

It is a subject of intense debate. Some will swear that one configuration sounds better than another, but there are as many who will swear the opposite. Probably the reeds have more impact than the shape, but there are those who would argue that point, as well.

One person's "fascinating" may be another person's "boring"...
But seriously-- carry on guys, cool thread!!

(edited to make myself more clear, a hopeless task, I know)

[anniemcu]

... Now I not only have to inspect my shower cap and towel for earwigs but I have to look for these things too....

I would imagine I'd have to inspect something else as well.. but you weren't wearing them at the time. It would have scared the ummhum out of me.

[sbhikes]

I only kill moths. Everything else gets a kindly escort out the door.

[Cynth]

....I've been killing these things for years in my house. I don't care how many other critters they eat. The more they eat the BIGGER they get! That is just not acceptable......

BIGGER!!! Oh geez. I never thought of that Eeeek! Bigger than what seems giant already. Not acceptable? I totally agree. I mean you have to have some size limit or you could really lose your mind. Maybe I won't see any more of them. That would really be the best thing.

I hate insects and especially arachnids. It's my only phobia (although mild). Speaking of, how would you like finding one of these in your house? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OeNggIGSKH8

I've watched that video many times now since you gave the link. Is the Bolivia Bug real? That is really, really big . Could it be a toy? That fur looks sort of like polyester, but you never know with insects. I found this one:

but the website is in Dutch, I believe, so I'm not sure what it is saying about it. I like the part at the end of the video when the woman's voice says "Don't touch it." Like I would have to be told not to touch a giant caterpillar !

...One night I was up and about when I was accosted by this strange rustling/rattling noise. It would stop as soon as I turned on the lights. In the silence of a residential neighbourhood at 2:00 am, the sound was alarmingly loud. It took me quite a while of turning the lights on and off and hunting around until I finally looked down at my feet to discover a centipede going back and forth over this stupid plastic matt. I got rid of the matt and slept soundly after that.

Well, I'm glad you could sleep soundly. The idea of a bug being big enough to make enough noise to keep a person awake, just that idea alone, is enough to keep me awake tonight . I mean, the centipede was still going back and forth, right? Removing the mat just made it quiet. How could you sleep knowing it was doing that? I guess you could think of it as guarding the door from other insects. I would have to really make some adjustments in my attitude to deal with these giant centipedes on any regular basis.

Okay, I guess I might be pushing the envelope of "boring" here.

No way. Wait till Lamby and Caroluna find this thread!

It is a subject of intense debate.....

But seriously-- carry on guys, cool thread!!

I was thinking he meant there were fertile grounds here for your imaginations. I know Lamby was growing some really poisonous creature in her house and then you probably have covered some horrific insects while doing home schooling.

... Now I not only have to inspect my shower cap and towel for earwigs but I have to look for these things too....

I would imagine I'd have to inspect something else as well.. but you weren't wearing them at the time. It would have scared the ummhum out of me.

It's good to know I'm not alone .

I only kill moths. Everything else gets a kindly escort out the door.

Why are you picking on moths? Also, if earwigs get into your house I can assure that there are such vast numbers of them in my yard that squashing them will not affect their population numbers in any way. In fact, I really think there may be TOO MANY EARWIGS in the world. They fall on our heads when we open the door! I do appreciate your feeling that insects can be beneficial. Earwigs are beneficial to the soil, but I still think there are more than necessary once they start eating your plants to the point of destruction and you start finding them in your shower cap .

[Coffee]

The only bugs I'm actually afraid of are wasps, due primarily to a traumatic experience with yellowjackets when I was three.

[Doc Jones]

I hate insects and especially arachnids. It's my only phobia (although mild)....

The good news, of course, is that the humble centipede is neither and insect nor and arachnid but a member of the class Chilopoda.

Whew...I was afraid the thread was in danger of a being locked for "hate speech".


Doc

PS: Before I was a veterinarian I was an entomologist.

[Steamwalker]

I hate insects and especially arachnids. It's my only phobia (although mild). Speaking of, how would you like finding one of these in your house? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OeNggIGSKH8

I've watched that video many times now since you gave the link. Is the Bolivia Bug real? That is really, really big . Could it be a toy? That fur looks sort of like polyester, but you never know with insects. I found this one:

but the website is in Dutch, I believe, so I'm not sure what it is saying about it. I like the part at the end of the video when the woman's voice says "Don't touch it." Like I would have to be told not to touch a giant caterpillar !

It is said to be a caterpillar of this family: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megalopygidae It is indeed real, bizarre but real.

[Cass]

Glad I live in the UK...we only get big house spiders indoors in the Autumn (I quite like those!)
Your variety of "big game" would give me the screaming ab-dabs!
At the moment, it's soooo wet over here, we've got slugs (big, slimy orange ones), at least 4.5 inches long! YUK!!! I sliiiiiid on one on the garden path yesterday. Not nice.

Cass.

[djm]

I have seen banana slugs out in British Columbia at 5-6". That's some serious goosh when you step on one of those. I can well imagine Cass getting a few yards out of one.

Earwigs (along with lots of other garden nasties) can easily be trapped in a beer trap. You need a container with very steep sides, at least 10-12" tall. Bury it half way. Fill about a quarter full with beer (something cheap and tasteless that you wouldn't drink yourself, like American beer). This will attract all manner of slugs, earwigs, and other creepy crawlies, who enter the trap drawn by the scent of the beer, but can't get out and drown. Empty and reset as required.

djm

[Steamwalker]

Earwigs (along with lots of other garden nasties) can easily be trapped in a beer trap. You need a container with very steep sides, at least 10-12" tall. Bury it half way. Fill about a quarter full with beer (something cheap and tasteless that you wouldn't drink yourself, like American beer).

In the US, that would be Canadian beer.