so there is a gigantic insect in my house.

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no, really gigantic. i mean it. like, naked lunch rub some powder on my lips huge. i tried to trap it under a box, but it outsmarted me. now i'm sitting here in terror, unable to do anything but eat corn chips and stare at the spot i think it ran off to. seriously, you guys... it's making a whirring noise!

― lauren (laurenp), Sunday, 1 August 2004 05:52 (twenty-one years ago)

call up woody allen to come over and kill it for you

― Kingfish von Bandersnatch (Kingfish), Sunday, 1 August 2004 05:57 (twenty-one years ago)

name it fido and train it to make you a cup of tea

― gem (trisk), Sunday, 1 August 2004 06:13 (twenty-one years ago)

i dunno if i can help you, my reaction to bugs in the house is always panic.

― latebloomer (latebloomer), Sunday, 1 August 2004 06:20 (twenty-one years ago)

Bugs that large only hunger for one thing: human flesh.

― Dan I. (Dan I.), Sunday, 1 August 2004 06:38 (twenty-one years ago)

what kind of bug is it?

― gaz (gaz), Sunday, 1 August 2004 06:57 (twenty-one years ago)

you have any hairspray? just spray the whole bottle in the general area where the guy was seen last. (I assume you don't have any Raid handy)

― oops (Oops), Sunday, 1 August 2004 07:11 (twenty-one years ago)

it's a meta-bug, loads of little bugs have joined up to make a super-ginat bug. It's kinda Manga-ish.

― jel -- (jel), Sunday, 1 August 2004 08:07 (twenty-one years ago)

Do some dishes.

― Kenan (kenan), Sunday, 1 August 2004 08:14 (twenty-one years ago)

Describe your bug? We have these things which look like baby wasps and chill on the ceiling.

― suzy (suzy), Sunday, 1 August 2004 08:53 (twenty-one years ago)

silverfish?

― Kenan (kenan), Sunday, 1 August 2004 08:57 (twenty-one years ago)

No, I know from silverfish. These have the stripey backside but it is not as obvious as real bees/wasps/hornets, and like to fly.

They're not those weird daddy longlegs/mosquito crossbreed things which do 'push-ups' while sitting there - my mom calls these wombats - either.

― suzy (suzy), Sunday, 1 August 2004 09:26 (twenty-one years ago)

Hoverflies?

― Alba (Alba), Sunday, 1 August 2004 14:03 (twenty-one years ago)

yeah, there are lots of hoverflies about this year.

― jel -- (jel), Sunday, 1 August 2004 16:04 (twenty-one years ago)

it's a waterbug. at least, that's what i call them. i think they're called palmetto bugs in the south, a very nice name for an utterly foul creature. they look like enormous cockroaches, and they can fly. i suppose i misspoke upthread when i said that it outsmarted me - i should have said that it moved too quickly for the box i threw at it from about six feet away to be of any effect. in any case, i have no idea where it's gone and am anticipating bug horror at every turn.

― lauren (laurenp), Sunday, 1 August 2004 16:19 (twenty-one years ago)

They are around where I am too. They make such a racket when they fly around. And they are monstrous.

― scott seward (scott seward), Sunday, 1 August 2004 16:20 (twenty-one years ago)

His name is Gregor Samsa.

― Girolamo Savonarola, Sunday, 1 August 2004 16:21 (twenty-one years ago)

there is some water bug talk on here as well:

How Are The Bugs Where You Are?

― scott seward (scott seward), Sunday, 1 August 2004 16:21 (twenty-one years ago)

they seem bad-tempered, which freaks me out.

― lauren (laurenp), Sunday, 1 August 2004 16:22 (twenty-one years ago)

Ugh, those things. Hate 'em -- they should leave humans alone, as I have no reason to despise them so, but they insist on appearing.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Sunday, 1 August 2004 16:23 (twenty-one years ago)

They get really freaked out when they can't get outside. They don't like being cooped up.

― scott seward (scott seward), Sunday, 1 August 2004 16:24 (twenty-one years ago)

Is this the critter?

http://www.admaso.com/bluestar/8.jpg

― Markelby (Mark C), Sunday, 1 August 2004 16:25 (twenty-one years ago)

that's a really great thread. i had found a waterbug in the bathroom that morning, which is not the best thing to face first thing half-asleep.

xpost - IF THEY HATE BEING INSIDE SO MUCH THEN WHY DID ONE DECIDE TO COME OVER LAST NIGHT??

― lauren (laurenp), Sunday, 1 August 2004 16:25 (twenty-one years ago)

they're more free-range insects, then¿

― dyson (dyson), Sunday, 1 August 2004 16:26 (twenty-one years ago)

You know not terror until faced with the dreaded potato bug.

― Gear! (Gear!), Sunday, 1 August 2004 16:40 (twenty-one years ago)

that's fairly close to life size too.

iso there is a gigantic insect in my house.

― Gear! (Gear!), Sunday, 1 August 2004 16:41 (twenty-one years ago)

LAUREN ILL BE RIGHT THERE WITH A LARGE SHOE

― cutty (mcutt), Sunday, 1 August 2004 16:42 (twenty-one years ago)

er wait, what? hang on one second

― Gear! (Gear!), Sunday, 1 August 2004 16:42 (twenty-one years ago)

ahh better

http://www.potatobugs.com/pix/images/potatobug_10.jpg

― Gear! (Gear!), Sunday, 1 August 2004 16:42 (twenty-one years ago)

On the son-of-a-bitch-insect front -- ENZO GOT STUNG BY A BEE. (Enzo = my parents'/my kitten.) I took him outside on his little harness and he pounced on a bee and it stung him. He jumped three feet in the air and screamed. I started to cry. Now he's favoring his other paw. Jesus Christ. I might have to take him to the vet. I don't know.

― Je4nne ƒury (Jeanne Fury), Sunday, 1 August 2004 16:42 (twenty-one years ago)

LAUREN ILL BE RIGHT THERE WITH NEW YORK TIMES WEEKEND EDITION

― cutty (mcutt), Sunday, 1 August 2004 16:43 (twenty-one years ago)

goddammit why are insects such assholes?

― Gear! (Gear!), Sunday, 1 August 2004 16:43 (twenty-one years ago)

CUTTY PLS HURRY IM SHAKING WITH FEAR AND ALSO WANT TO DO THE CROSSWORD

― lauren (laurenp), Sunday, 1 August 2004 16:46 (twenty-one years ago)

Also, Lauren, I had my fare share of waterbugs when I was at F0rdh4m up in the Bronx. Motherfuckers were the size of mice. And it takes half a can of Raid to kill them.

― Je4nne ƒury (Jeanne Fury), Sunday, 1 August 2004 16:47 (twenty-one years ago)

(how about "fair," not fare. I'm so bent out of shape because of that fucking bee, I can't spell.)

― Je4nne ƒury (Jeanne Fury), Sunday, 1 August 2004 16:48 (twenty-one years ago)

Back in my parents' house in Illinois, there's a yearly invasion of earwigs that just about takes over the whole damn house. Those fuckers get everywhere.

― Gear! (Gear!), Sunday, 1 August 2004 16:49 (twenty-one years ago)

Cutty, C on that bug's Ts!

― Markelby (Mark C), Sunday, 1 August 2004 16:50 (twenty-one years ago)

C: KILLS B'S D

― lauren (laurenp), Sunday, 1 August 2004 16:53 (twenty-one years ago)

― Paul (scifisoul), Sunday, 1 August 2004 17:01 (twenty-one years ago)

viewing that potato bug photo made me shiver

― oops (Oops), Sunday, 1 August 2004 17:01 (twenty-one years ago)

should =
http://www.richard-seaman.com/Wallpaper/Nature/Horrors/HouseCentipede.jpg

― Paul (scifisoul), Sunday, 1 August 2004 17:02 (twenty-one years ago)

i don't think i want to look at that.

― lauren (laurenp), Sunday, 1 August 2004 17:04 (twenty-one years ago)

ugh. you don't. double shivers.

― oops (Oops), Sunday, 1 August 2004 17:06 (twenty-one years ago)

Lauren, I hate to invade your thread like this, but I'd just like to say that Enzo's right paw is swollen so it looks like he's wearing a boxing glove. Fucking asshole bee. I hope it died a horrible, agonizing death.

― Je4nne ƒury (Jeanne Fury), Sunday, 1 August 2004 17:08 (twenty-one years ago)

aww kitty. give him some tuna and melted ice cream to compensate.

― oops (Oops), Sunday, 1 August 2004 17:10 (twenty-one years ago)

poor enzo. : (

― lauren (laurenp), Sunday, 1 August 2004 17:13 (twenty-one years ago)

you may have to ice your kitty

― dyson (dyson), Sunday, 1 August 2004 17:14 (twenty-one years ago)

as in put ice on enzo's paw.
not the other kind of "ice".

― dyson (dyson), Sunday, 1 August 2004 17:15 (twenty-one years ago)

i keep thinking that i hear it, scuttling around waiting to attack.

― lauren (laurenp), Sunday, 1 August 2004 17:32 (twenty-one years ago)

please people:

ins3ct5!

― cutty (mcutt), Sunday, 1 August 2004 17:40 (twenty-one years ago)

i don't think i want to look at that.

No, do! It's really cool-looking. Yeah, a little ooky, but nothing as bad as that... that... THING that Gear posted.

― Kenan (kenan), Sunday, 1 August 2004 17:41 (twenty-one years ago)

I think if you pour a cup of dilute bleach down all your drains once a month it's supposed to help prevent waterbugs hatching. I used to get them in Chicago until I started doing this--they come up the drains when mature--fuckers would hide under the towel rack in the bathroom. The scuttling is horrendous.

Of course, none of this will help you after the fact, sorry.

― sgs (sgs), Sunday, 1 August 2004 20:39 (twenty-one years ago)

Actually I find that centipede kind of beautiful.I usually hate centipedes, but the way that one's legs are long and spread out makes it look like a sea creature or something.

― Alba (Alba), Sunday, 1 August 2004 21:55 (twenty-one years ago)

I think it's the most frightening thing I've ever seen, and I hope I don't get nightmares.

― Wooden (Wooden), Sunday, 1 August 2004 21:59 (twenty-one years ago)

Imagine if, just when you've gone to bed and put off the lights, you realise one of them is crawling on your tummy...

Sorry.

― Tuomas (Tuomas), Sunday, 1 August 2004 22:01 (twenty-one years ago)

http://www.fabriclondon.com/previews/fabric17/packshot.jpg

― Alba (Alba), Sunday, 1 August 2004 22:03 (twenty-one years ago)

― Gear! (Gear!), Sunday, 1 August 2004 22:03 (twenty-one years ago)

Still think the centipede thing is scarier.

― Wooden (Wooden), Sunday, 1 August 2004 22:05 (twenty-one years ago)

Jesus, yes. It looks like something that would crawl down your throat in a sci-fi movie and implant itself or something.

― latebloomer (latebloomer), Sunday, 1 August 2004 22:43 (twenty-one years ago)

The centipede upthread I mean.

― latebloomer (latebloomer), Sunday, 1 August 2004 22:46 (twenty-one years ago)

Imagine if it laid it crawled in your ear while you slept and laid its eggs in your nasal passage.

― Wooden (Wooden), Sunday, 1 August 2004 23:00 (twenty-one years ago)

Imagine that first 'laid' isn't there.

― Wooden (Wooden), Sunday, 1 August 2004 23:02 (twenty-one years ago)

This should make you guys feel better:

Centipedes prefer to live in damp portions of basements, closets, bathrooms, unexcavated areas under the house and beneath the bark of firewood stored indoors. They do not come up through the drain pipes.
House centipedes feed on small insects, insect larvae, and on spiders. Thus they are beneficial, though most homeowners take a different point-of-view and consider them a nuisance. Technically, the house centipede could bite, but it is considered harmless to people.

― Kenan (kenan), Sunday, 1 August 2004 23:28 (twenty-one years ago)

that's just pro-centipede propaganda. They're here to steal our women, take our jobs and lay their eggs in our nasal passages. They should be rounded up and deported post-haste.

― Wooden (Wooden), Sunday, 1 August 2004 23:31 (twenty-one years ago)

dudes I once lived in a house INFESTED with SCORPIONS so I'll just talk to y'all later.

― teeny (teeny), Sunday, 1 August 2004 23:32 (twenty-one years ago)

we had rats before. they left after a while. I suppose we could have been nicer.

― Ronan (Ronan), Sunday, 1 August 2004 23:35 (twenty-one years ago)

My apartment is at basement level and, as I discovered upon moving in, if I leave my window open, house centipedes will get in my room. There is nothing like walking in at night and turning on the light to discover a huge one of those about a foot over your head. Usually my involuntary reaction is to start hyperventilating, which is not fun.

― daria g (daria g), Sunday, 1 August 2004 23:51 (twenty-one years ago)

I'm not real afraid of bugs and bees. It's sharks, gators, bears; things that can eat you that give me the squirms.

― jim wentworth (wench), Monday, 2 August 2004 00:53 (twenty-one years ago)

I can handle spiders as long as they're small, and certain other tiny bugs don't bother me as long as I don't see them often. Cockroaches freak my shit, though, not just because they're squirmy and icky, but because they're a genuine health risk. Filthy, filthy things. VERY hard to get rid of, too. Even if you cut off their supply of human food (like dirty dishes and garbage), they'll just eat dust and paper. (Though admittedly, if they're eating dust and paper, they're much less of a health risk. The filthiest thing about them is when they eat spoiled and contaminated things, then carry and spread that bacteria around for, like, the rest of time.)

― Kenan (kenan), Monday, 2 August 2004 03:47 (twenty-one years ago)

i like spiders. they're a pretty important part of the ecosystem too. i have a pet one that lives in the back of the sidemirror of my car and makes a new cobweb every day, i have chats with him when i'm stuck in traffic.

― gem (trisk), Monday, 2 August 2004 03:48 (twenty-one years ago)

There's a little baby spider hiding under the barcode scanner on my desk. I'm living and letting live because I'm feeling surprisingly chilled given that it's Monday.

I wasn't a fan of cockroaches as a child - walking to the bathroom in the night over the bare concrete kitchen floor was made horrible by the skittering sounds of the beasts lurking in the corners. Ecch Nigeria.

― Liz :x (Liz :x), Monday, 2 August 2004 08:12 (twenty-one years ago)

jeanne, how's your enzo? did you take him to the vet?

― beanz (beanz), Monday, 2 August 2004 08:55 (twenty-one years ago)

there was a medium sized spider with only 5 legs on my computer screen the other day, i took a photo.. will post pics soon.

i have no idea how it lost all those legs.

― ken c (ken c), Monday, 2 August 2004 09:58 (twenty-one years ago)

it was like


\  /
-*
-*
/

poor wee thing

― ken c (ken c), Monday, 2 August 2004 09:59 (twenty-one years ago)

http://www.foothill.com/potato_bug.shtml says that potato bugs have a HUMANOID head!

ack.

i hate spiders tremendously. I know they're beneficial, but i cant stand them.

earwigs are gross because they're so slippery, so you cant pick em up to throw them out.

i remember being terrified of the cockroaches in israel. about 5cm long, wide, brown, and they fly. they were all over my grandmothers place. i hated having to get up in the middle of the night to pee because there'd always be one or two in the bathroom scuttling around. eiw.

stephen r donaldson has a short story about a 10 inch centipede that crawls up a guys pants and bites him in the nads.

― AaronK (AaronK), Monday, 2 August 2004 12:42 (twenty-one years ago)

kitten harness???

― kephm, Monday, 2 August 2004 13:00 (twenty-one years ago)

Once a friend and I were cruising around town (it was night), when I suddenly felt a weird clenching on my index finger.. it felt like a little person was giving it a big bear hug. Anyway I turned on the lights and it was A POTATO BUG HUGGING MY FINGER anyway I shrieked in horror and we nearly got in a car wreck.

― Homosexual II (Homosexual II), Monday, 2 August 2004 13:53 (twenty-one years ago)

Euw!

― PinXor (Pinkpanther), Monday, 2 August 2004 13:54 (twenty-one years ago)

Or...it just wanted a hug mandee!

― PinXor (Pinkpanther), Monday, 2 August 2004 13:54 (twenty-one years ago)

ugh! that reminds me of the beetle incident. i used to spend summers at my friend's house (situated in a field in surrey), and the windows would be open all of the time to let in the breeze and whatever happened to be flying around. one morning i was brushing my teeth and felt something prickly on my foot, so i moved it. i felt it again, and once again shifted around. the third time, i looked down and there was a HUGE black, horned beetle thing charging at my toes.

― lauren (laurenp), Monday, 2 August 2004 13:58 (twenty-one years ago)

I remember at summer camp while I showered huge gypsy moths would come and land on my wet body. At the time it didn't bother me. NOW I SHIVER IN TERROR JUST THINKING ABOUT IT.

― Homosexual II (Homosexual II), Monday, 2 August 2004 14:06 (twenty-one years ago)

Enzo has recovered. His paw was massively swollen yesterday. He limped a bit and often just lifted it up and wouldn't step on it. It made him look like a foofy gay cat. Thankfully, no vet trip was required. His breathing was fine and no welts developed on his body. He was back to his old maniac self this morning. (And yes, "a harness." Just like the kind they put on dogs. I put one on my cat.)

― Je4nne ƒury (Jeanne Fury), Monday, 2 August 2004 14:13 (twenty-one years ago)

It made him look like a foofy gay cat.

http://i.walmart.com/i/p/00/08/53/92/44/0008539244972_150X150.jpg

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 2 August 2004 14:14 (twenty-one years ago)

I experienced Gear!'s earwig infestation in Toronto many times. Scary. The worst part about them is those damn claws! ewwwww
http://www.agf.gov.bc.ca/cropprot/tfipm/images/earwig.jpg

― Rob Bolton (Rob Bolton), Monday, 2 August 2004 14:19 (twenty-one years ago)

That thing's head looks quite sweet and innocent, like an ant, and then your eyes move down and there's this BIG EVIL FUCK-OFF PINCER. It's almost as if a kitten had a mess of foul, sucker-covered tentacles coming out of its arse.

― Wooden (Wooden), Monday, 2 August 2004 14:24 (twenty-one years ago)

Glad to hear Enzo's ok Jeanne.

There are gigantic flying things in s. France (and, I expect, elsewhere) which scream when thwacked or swatted. Ugh.

― beanz (beanz), Monday, 2 August 2004 14:26 (twenty-one years ago)

On the subject of evil mutant kittens...

ihttp://users.med.up.pt/pedrommf/two-faced-kitten-l.jpeg

― Wooden (Wooden), Monday, 2 August 2004 14:27 (twenty-one years ago)

i've heard the bugs in south africa are out of hand. enormous spitting cockroaches!

― lauren (laurenp), Monday, 2 August 2004 14:28 (twenty-one years ago)

yeah, wtf is the deal with earwigs having pincers on the ASS?!

― Kim (Kim), Monday, 2 August 2004 14:29 (twenty-one years ago)

Sorry, that didn't work, I can't get that image up. probably for the best.

― Wooden (Wooden), Monday, 2 August 2004 14:30 (twenty-one years ago)

honestly though the bug population in NYC isn't nearly as hellish as some other places I've lived. It's so nice to go all summer without a mosquito bite.

― hstencil (hstencil), Monday, 2 August 2004 14:31 (twenty-one years ago)

My friend is from South Africa & she used to tell me stories about the cockraches there actually making a screaming noise & spitting out a black goo that stained the carpet!!

― PinXor (Pinkpanther), Monday, 2 August 2004 14:37 (twenty-one years ago)

hissing cockroaches are cool.

― hstencil (hstencil), Monday, 2 August 2004 14:38 (twenty-one years ago)

my friend said the spitting roaches were called pikeville (peakville?) prawns. bleeeurgh.

― lauren (laurenp), Monday, 2 August 2004 14:43 (twenty-one years ago)

the dad of one of my best friends growing up is an entomologist, so he had all kinds of great live insects and arachnids - hissing cockroaches, black widow spiders, etc. And a kick-ass butterfly and moth collection. He wrote the Peterson Field Guide to North American Butterflies and Moths, 1984 edition. Rad.

― hstencil (hstencil), Monday, 2 August 2004 14:47 (twenty-one years ago)

http://www.stampede-entertainment.com/monstermakers/a-bug-1-l.jpg

― amateur!st (amateurist), Monday, 2 August 2004 14:49 (twenty-one years ago)

I'd almost forgotten about it, but I used to have all the 70's versions of those guides. They were great!

x-post PLEASE tell me that's fake.

― Kim (Kim), Monday, 2 August 2004 14:49 (twenty-one years ago)

Surely that's plastic or something... Right?

― Tuomas (Tuomas), Monday, 2 August 2004 14:50 (twenty-one years ago)

check the picture properties, yo.
thankfully, fake.

― Rob Bolton (Rob Bolton), Monday, 2 August 2004 14:53 (twenty-one years ago)

Phew! I'll get down from the desk now!

― PinXor (Pinkpanther), Monday, 2 August 2004 15:02 (twenty-one years ago)

sorry if i caused anyone to lose their lunch.

― amateur!st (amateurist), Monday, 2 August 2004 15:06 (twenty-one years ago)

Surely that's plastic or something... Right?

It's the bug from the biology class in Starship Troopers.

― Kenan (kenan), Monday, 2 August 2004 15:26 (twenty-one years ago)

It could just be a tiny table.

― Alba (Alba), Monday, 2 August 2004 16:55 (twenty-one years ago)

I'm thinking Mimic. *shiver*

― Je4nne ƒury (Jeanne Fury), Monday, 2 August 2004 17:19 (twenty-one years ago)

I've kinda grown to love spiders. I feel good when I catch them with a mug and a beer mat and return them to the wild.

― jel -- (jel), Monday, 2 August 2004 17:39 (twenty-one years ago)

i'm a bit less squeamish about spiders. a friend of mine had a tarantula for a while, and it was fun to watch although i always thought that it would bite us and run away to freedom if it got the chance.

― lauren (laurenp), Monday, 2 August 2004 17:43 (twenty-one years ago)

Lauren, you live a frightful life.

― Typhoon is Coming!!! :O (ex machina), Monday, 2 August 2004 17:44 (twenty-one years ago)

why is ilx so profoundly boring today?

(new answers:

1. "today"

2. "you suck," etc.

3. "ROFFLE")

― amateur!st (amateurist), Monday, 2 August 2004 18:49 (twenty-one years ago)

actually no amateur!st it's probably because ilxor is not re-routing to new server.

― hstencil (hstencil), Monday, 2 August 2004 18:58 (twenty-one years ago)

I was wondering why it was so quiet. David Raposa registered the ilxor.com address -- would he be the one to contact?

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 2 August 2004 19:01 (twenty-one years ago)

I dunno, but I guess he doesn't know about the change either, otherwise I'd see more action on ILB. But this is probably for a different thread.

― hstencil (hstencil), Monday, 2 August 2004 19:07 (twenty-one years ago)

I saw a Dobson Fly in the garden this weekend -- dark black, easily five inches long with four lace-patterned, teardrop-shaped wings, and sickle-shaped mandibles AS LONG AS ITS BODY! Frighteningly beautiful, but harmless, according to the bug book. The mandibles are used in mating! Of the genus neuroptica, or nerve-wing.

― briania (briania), Monday, 2 August 2004 19:22 (twenty-one years ago)

i would have passed out.

― lauren (laurenp), Monday, 2 August 2004 19:44 (twenty-one years ago)

This thread should surely be marked NSFW (not safe for wimps). The pictures are VILE.

― Eyeball Kicks (Eyeball Kicks), Monday, 2 August 2004 19:46 (twenty-one years ago)

I lived in a house infested with Republicans once. I had to move.

― Michael White (Hereward), Monday, 2 August 2004 20:04 (twenty-one years ago)

http://www.67diecast.com/carpics/ydiaherbiewhite.jpg

― amateur!st (amateurist), Monday, 2 August 2004 20:06 (twenty-one years ago)

I remember at summer camp while I showered huge gypsy moths would come and land on my wet body. At the time it didn't bother me. NOW I SHIVER IN TERROR JUST THINKING ABOUT IT.
-- Homosexual II (mandeewrigh...), August 2nd, 2004 8:06 AM.

Mandee, I think the insect world is just attracted to you for some reason.

― Gear! (Gear!), Monday, 2 August 2004 20:17 (twenty-one years ago)

ihttp://www.forces.gc.ca/health/information/health_promotion/Images/BeetleJuice(1).jpg

these are evil, produce a condition known as 'nairobi eye' basically if you crush 'em they secrete acid which peels off the top layer of skin, cause bliters and burns. why? its so unnecessary, no? http://www.forces.gc.ca/health/information/health_promotion/Engraph/BeetleJuice_e.asp

― H (Heruy), Monday, 2 August 2004 21:31 (twenty-one years ago)

I'd be quite up for burning an assailant's skin in my dying seconds. I think it's fair enough.

― Alba (Alba), Monday, 2 August 2004 21:32 (twenty-one years ago)

H, isn't that like bees that die after they sting? It's like a Spock thing.

― Kim (Kim), Monday, 2 August 2004 21:54 (twenty-one years ago)

Spock thing?

― H (Heruy), Monday, 2 August 2004 22:02 (twenty-one years ago)

Are you saying that's all geek to you? The needs of the many > the needs of the few.

― Kim (Kim), Monday, 2 August 2004 22:23 (twenty-one years ago)

Richard Dawkins was never able to account for Vulcan behaviour.

― Alba (Alba), Monday, 2 August 2004 22:44 (twenty-one years ago)

Have you ever noticed that most of the evil aliens in movies and TV are just human-sized (or larger) insects? Yes, I suppose you have.

― oops (Oops), Monday, 2 August 2004 22:48 (twenty-one years ago)

It's just TV - don't take it out on the real insects.

― Alba (Alba), Monday, 2 August 2004 22:49 (twenty-one years ago)

We must stop them before they grow! Haven't B movies from the 50s taught you anything?

― oops (Oops), Monday, 2 August 2004 22:54 (twenty-one years ago)

i found starship troopers, with the giant ugly mean bugs, far scarier than anything ever. i think there's a basic bug-fear that it and other things enjoy tapping into.

― amateur!st (amateurist), Tuesday, 3 August 2004 01:16 (twenty-one years ago)

i think he was trying to link to this http://javagamecenter.com/cool1/twofacedkitten.jpg it doesnt really look all that gross. im not sure i would mind.

― AaronK (AaronK), Tuesday, 3 August 2004 12:06 (twenty-one years ago)

Strangely I find this arousing. Well maybe not so strangely, except for the moth part.

― latebloomer (latebloomer), Tuesday, 3 August 2004 13:34 (twenty-one years ago)

Ignore that post, people.

― latebloomer (latebloomer), Tuesday, 3 August 2004 13:34 (twenty-one years ago)

three weeks pass...

i just saw another one, scuttling around the hallway when i got home a few minutes ago. it ran and hid under my neighbor's athletic shoes, like the little bitch that it is. GROSS. really. isn't life hard enough without this kind of thing?

― lauren (laurenp), Friday, 27 August 2004 05:28 (twenty-one years ago)

http://www.geocities.com/redhalcyon/weirdbug.txt

― Leeeter van den Hoogenband (Leee), Friday, 27 August 2004 05:30 (twenty-one years ago)

ugh. do you still walk around barefoot?

― oops (Oops), Friday, 27 August 2004 05:31 (twenty-one years ago)

did you figure out what kind it is?

― Gear! (Gear!), Friday, 27 August 2004 05:36 (twenty-one years ago)

does it look like this? because this thing just showed up on the screendoor of another acquaintence and left eggs behind.

― kyle (akmonday), Friday, 27 August 2004 05:45 (twenty-one years ago)

i'm attending school in new orleans. the cockroaches and various other creepy crawly creatures here are much bigger and more creepy crawly than they ever were in st. louis or indiana (the other places where i've lived). i always always ALWAYS wear shoes in new orleans. i don't slide out of my flip-flops until my feet are UNDER THE COVERS in my bed. and i've fainted a grand total of four times as a result of making some sort of contact with some sort of enormous bug here. (And I'm not counting the mouse, which is obviously a varmint and not a bug).

so, my solution to bug problems is as follows: 1)always wear shoes. 2) be obsessively clean (they'll still come for you if you live in a swamp like i do, but if your floors and counters are coated with bleach and all your uneaten food is moldering in the fridge instead of on the counter or in the cupboards, they're less likely to declare statehood in your apartment). 3) Live in fear. 4) Always sit on your feet. 5) Faint as needed.

Hope this helps.

― jewelly (jewelly), Friday, 27 August 2004 05:55 (twenty-one years ago)

but if you faint aren't they more likely to declare statehood on your unconscious frame?

― Gear! (Gear!), Friday, 27 August 2004 05:57 (twenty-one years ago)

but if you faint aren't they more likely to declare statehood on your unconscious frame?

that's where getting a boyfriend and/or a butch roommate comes in. guess i should have mentioned that. my bad.

― jewelly (jewelly), Friday, 27 August 2004 06:09 (twenty-one years ago)

http://www.lightupthesky.com/issue7/pics/yb20.jpg

― x j e r e m y (x Jeremy), Friday, 27 August 2004 06:12 (twenty-one years ago)

ok. i've experienced the hell of the "water bug"/"palmetto bug"/king hell cockroach - i lived in florida for 3 years and there, they don't even try to hide until you spray them with half a can of wasp spray. they are freaking evil.

if you see these bastards around your house, chances are they're coming out of the drains in your bathroom and kitchen. keep them closed! especially if it's raining outside. check for holes around the baseboards and around windows, too, but 99% of the time it seems to be the drains.

also - it could be worse. one morning i was waking up to a beautiful, 106% humidity florida morning and felt a...distinct...tickling feeling. below my equator. more specifically, betwixt my cheeks. it was a palmetto bug. i practically bathed in bleach and burned the house down after that.

― el sabor de gene (yournullfame), Friday, 27 August 2004 08:35 (twenty-one years ago)

(and just be glad you don't have the small 'german' cockroaches - those things are supposed to be nightmarish to get rid of.)

― el sabor de gene (yournullfame), Friday, 27 August 2004 08:36 (twenty-one years ago)

one year passes...

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f83/swestlake/6b9a7cf7.jpg

WHAT IS IT????

― teeny (teeny), Thursday, 23 March 2006 23:10 (nineteen years ago)

it was abt 2" long.

― teeny (teeny), Thursday, 23 March 2006 23:11 (nineteen years ago)

silverfish? too many legs, maybe

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Thursday, 23 March 2006 23:32 (nineteen years ago)

argh! ick! yuck! aieee! i found one of those once when i was a small child! and i'm just as disgusted right now as i was then! ugh, this is like post-traumatic stress disorder!

― lauren (laurenp), Thursday, 23 March 2006 23:37 (nineteen years ago)

prob in that family. This is useful:
http://www.einsteins-emporium.com/life/animal-info/insects/insect_identification.htm

oops sorry lauren!

― teeny (teeny), Thursday, 23 March 2006 23:38 (nineteen years ago)

argh fuck those things
i'm pretty sure it's a type of centipede

― sleep (sleep), Thursday, 23 March 2006 23:39 (nineteen years ago)

I think it's a centipede. Here's a similar on What's that bug: http://www.whatsthatbug.com/cent_2.html

xpost

― Jaq (Jaq), Thursday, 23 March 2006 23:41 (nineteen years ago)

you are right! it is a house centipede!

http://www.uky.edu/Ag/Entomology/entfacts/struct/ef647.htm

― teeny (teeny), Thursday, 23 March 2006 23:42 (nineteen years ago)

And now I am jumping around my office with heebie-jeebies from looking at all those!

― Jaq (Jaq), Thursday, 23 March 2006 23:42 (nineteen years ago)

omg jaq and that one is from st louis too! it must just be the season. I am so glad I know about whatsthatbug.com now though.

― teeny (teeny), Thursday, 23 March 2006 23:44 (nineteen years ago)

I set it free outside, I am such a softie.

― teeny (teeny), Thursday, 23 March 2006 23:45 (nineteen years ago)

Ugh - I hate those guys - they're fast - they can see me coming and don't seem to like being killed.

xpost - you know it's going to come back!

― Thermo Thinwall (Thermo Thinwall), Thursday, 23 March 2006 23:47 (nineteen years ago)

With all it's many-legged friends!!

― Jaq (Jaq), Thursday, 23 March 2006 23:49 (nineteen years ago)

well I did spray it with hairspray first, maybe I am not a softie.

― teeny (teeny), Thursday, 23 March 2006 23:49 (nineteen years ago)

aaaaaagh i can't believe i looked at this thread while eating dinner.

but i posted about a year ago about these bugs! But to some other thread, I will have to look for it. HOUSE CENTIPEDES! aagh, they are fast too. I have since moved houses and I hope they are not in this one... My key advice: shake your towel out before you wrap it around you after a shower.

― rrrobyn (rrrobyn), Thursday, 23 March 2006 23:52 (nineteen years ago)

Imagine waking up staring face to face with this:

HI DERE!
http://dracoverdi.home.mindspring.com/pictures/shinyPotatoBug.jpg

― Steve Shasta (Steve Shasta), Thursday, 23 March 2006 23:59 (nineteen years ago)

oh, that's not that terrible. i mean, there are worse.

ah-ha - it was just over a year ago! the house centipedes HAVE RETURNED.
Insects: Search and Destroy

― rrrobyn (rrrobyn), Friday, 24 March 2006 00:01 (nineteen years ago)

Is that a queen ant? I found one of those in a bin of records in my room once. It was making horrifying clicking noises. I trapped it in a cup, then put it in a garbage bag to carry it outside, and it crawled up the inside of the bag and touched my hand through the plastic, and I had a full panic attack.

― Tiki Theater Xymposium (Bent Over at the Arclight), Friday, 24 March 2006 00:05 (nineteen years ago)

house centipedes are nasty fast fuckers. they blend into household colors way too easily.

― AaronK (AaronK), Friday, 24 March 2006 00:07 (nineteen years ago)

IS A POTATO BUG

― R.I.P. West Village Bird Shaman ]-`: (ex machina), Friday, 24 March 2006 00:07 (nineteen years ago)

I think he looks sorta friendly.

― Thermo Thinwall (Thermo Thinwall), Friday, 24 March 2006 00:15 (nineteen years ago)

in a slimy, wanna-eradicate-his-kind-from-the-face-of-the-earth-way, yeah

― latebloomer (latebloomer), Friday, 24 March 2006 00:19 (nineteen years ago)

i never liked lethoceruses
http://image.space.rakuten.co.jp/lg01/02/0000000402/19/img9f60f86f198w23.jpeg
ihttp://creatures.ifas.ufl.edu/misc/bugs/belostomatid02.htm
they are mad predators with a good bite .
they fly in a clumbsy-chaotic way so you are never sure if things will take a turn into your face

― rory@, Friday, 24 March 2006 00:28 (nineteen years ago)

xpost; awww how could anyone want to eradicate that widdle face?

ihttp://img.photobucket.com/albums/v622/dysign/ilx/friendlybug.jpg

― Thermo Thinwall (Thermo Thinwall), Friday, 24 March 2006 00:29 (nineteen years ago)

http://static.flickr.com/6/7838600_8caf1d1a3c.jpg

We had several of these guys visit us when we were in Thailand.

― Rotgutt (Rotgutt), Friday, 24 March 2006 01:11 (nineteen years ago)

whaty?!?1?!

― R.I.P. West Village Bird Shaman ]-`: (ex machina), Friday, 24 March 2006 01:24 (nineteen years ago)

Potato bug is the most classic 'bug' looking of all the bugs. It looks like that kid's game, Cooties or whatever it was called.

― andy --, Friday, 24 March 2006 01:29 (nineteen years ago)

Aw so ya think you got big ol' bad waterbugs in New York..

OBVIOUSLY YA NEVER BEEN TO OZ MATE!! AUSTRILIAN WAWTERBUGS WILL GO YA!

http://www.ento.csiro.au/publicity/pressrel/2004/images/waterbug.jpg

― Yoo Doo Steve Irwin (donut), Friday, 24 March 2006 03:19 (nineteen years ago)

i ouldn't live in Australia, with all your crazy venomous critters!

― latebloomer (latebloomer), Friday, 24 March 2006 03:21 (nineteen years ago)

Oh, it's just building up a tolerance to the neurotoxins... Sure, the first time you have puffyface for about a month or two the first two or three bites, but many who survive those become better after that.

― Yoo Doo Nut (donut), Friday, 24 March 2006 03:23 (nineteen years ago)

:( is that a Thai spider?? Or just an insect? if insect, ick, if spider, i'm feeling kind of ill and almost crying and running away. really. why does the brain make this distinction? 6 legs fine, can deal, 8 legs FREAK OUT.
xpost to the thing in the bathroom in thailand aaaah!

― rrrobyn (rrrobyn), Friday, 24 March 2006 03:28 (nineteen years ago)

I don't know...bugs are "icky" but you can crush them as easily as a giant would crush a twinkie. Just mind they dont sleep in your genital

― Mr Jones (Mr Jones), Friday, 24 March 2006 12:08 (nineteen years ago)

you cant crush them if they're too fast for you, either by runnin or flying.

or if they come in swarms.

― AaronK (AaronK), Friday, 24 March 2006 13:32 (nineteen years ago)

i once had a house centipede (i call them silverfish) drop from the ceiling down onto my shirt collar ! fuck!

― o -- (eman), Friday, 24 March 2006 13:51 (nineteen years ago)

fuck! i would have freaked out.

it would have been worse than the time a wasp got stuck in my shirt and stung my back several times before i could rip the shirt off (thankfully it was one of those light summer shirts with snaps down the front for easy removal).

― AaronK (AaronK), Friday, 24 March 2006 15:06 (nineteen years ago)

Its a spider.

― Rotgutt (Rotgutt), Friday, 24 March 2006 15:47 (nineteen years ago)

aaaaaaagh.

― rrrobyn (rrrobyn), Friday, 24 March 2006 17:01 (nineteen years ago)

Some biting, stinging bug flew down my cleavage in the grocery produce section a few years ago. I was freaking out, wanting to rip my shirt off, but not daring to. I thought I was going to faint. I did the heebie-jeebie dance, pulled the hem of my shirt out and got the thing dislodged, but not before it bit me.

― Jaq (Jaq), Friday, 24 March 2006 17:09 (nineteen years ago)

haha Jaq, for some reason I never figured you for a lady. i dont know why, i just thought you were a dude.

― AaronK (AaronK), Friday, 24 March 2006 17:52 (nineteen years ago)

i supose you could have man-boobs, in which case, i meant no offence :)

― AaronK (AaronK), Friday, 24 March 2006 17:53 (nineteen years ago)

Haha - SURPRISE! Definitely XX chromosomes.

― Jaq (Jaq), Friday, 24 March 2006 18:02 (nineteen years ago)

googling thai spider produced:

http://www.thai-toku.com/v2/pretonium/pictures/heroes/spiderman/SPAIDER_ATTACKING.JPG http://www.thai-toku.com/v2/pretonium/pictures/heroes/spiderman/Spider1.jpg

― smokemon (eman), Saturday, 25 March 2006 21:51 (nineteen years ago)

Or it could be the ass-cleavage of Jaq that had a bug in it.

All in all bugs are unacceptable and should be destroyed.

― Mr Jones (Mr Jones), Sunday, 26 March 2006 05:33 (nineteen years ago)

(hmmm - do I make the self-deprecating joke about having the occasional bug up my butt, or something about c(ockroaches) on t's, or just post the gratuitous cleavage shot with photoshopped bug? OR GOATSE with BUGS!!!!!???? Decisions, decisions.)

― Jaq (Jaq), Sunday, 26 March 2006 05:50 (nineteen years ago)

Just wear a thong to prevent future such encounters. Thongs prevent cleavage issues I think. That is why there is no thong bra

― Mr Jones (Mr Jones), Sunday, 26 March 2006 06:02 (nineteen years ago)

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