Millipede Madness

[yellow]

Aw, c'mon TH, you could keep them as pets! They like watermelon! Just think, you could all sit around together and spit seeds!

But perhaps you should take the test to determine if a millipede is the right companion animal for you.

[aka_kim]

Oh. My. God. Four to 11 inches!? Live 3 years!? 200+ legs!? That's what you have inside??

Welcome home, mate.

[crazycanuck]

Who says the wildlife in Australia isn't exciting

Do you have any bandicoots in your area? I've always searched for them when visiting friends in Roleystone..

I don't like buggies..

[Trekhawk]

Aw, c'mon TH, you could keep them as pets! They like watermelon! Just think, you could all sit around together and spit seeds!

But perhaps you should take the test to determine if a millipede is the right companion animal for you.

Ok yellow now I feel a little ill. That is just wrong and very creepy.

Kim - the Millipedes at our place are nowhere near as big as that. If I had something as big as that coming inside I would be moving tomorrow.

CC - I am told they are around but I am yet to see one.

I went for a ride today and they were all over the road. Pretty much the entire ride had lovely squishy sound effects. My poor bike will never be the same. Just to add another dimension to this gross story they stink when you squish them.

[bouncybouncy]

just....ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!!!!!!

[Starfish]

A couple of weeks ago on the Discovery channel, there was a show about critters in Australia. Something sensational like the top 10 poisonous or dangerous or something. Various spiders, snakes, ocean things, etc.

I went to bed wondering how anyone in the whole of Australia ever goes to sleep at night?

I kinda mean it. I mean, some spider that has teeth/prongs/whatever that stick into your leg so hard you have to pull the thing off your leg before you rush to the hospital? In the house?

I would be a friggin' basket case. You folks are tough.

Are the millipedes poisonous?

[Geonz]

Hopefully this is just a seasonal thing. I don't like those particular critters either. Blleeccch.

[bikerz]

This whole thread just reads to me like the opening scenes in a new mega-monster horror movie "Attack of the Millipedes!"

Just don't go down into your cellar at night to investigate some strange sound (the pitter-patter of millions of tiny feet?) with a flickering flashlight.

(The only thing worse - to me - than large, hairy insects are way too many small multi-legged ones. Ugh. I'm with Jobob - no pictures!)

[SadieKate]

potato bugs!! These give me the creeps.

[firenze11]

All we get is ladybugs and cluster flies twice a year here. I don't think I could handle millipedes! Thinking about them makes me want to do a creepy bug wiggle.

I dunno about how to keep them out. We heard about menthol for ladybugs but that only worked a little bit - apparently they hate the smell. Could be a last ditch effort if you don't find anything else. Do millipedes have a sense of smell???

[SadieKate]

Are the millipedes poisonous?

Only centipedes, and then only mildly.

Editing: actually millipedes are poisonous if you eat them. I think I'll pass.

You should read Bill Bryson's In a Sunburned Country. He had pretty much the same reaction to Australia's flora and fauna as you do (and I would).

Put this on your itinerary for your next trip down under: Australian Venom Zoo.

[jobob]

hundreds of legs: poisonous

thousands of legs: not poisonous. Unless you eat them.

check.

[Trekhawk]

Only centipedes, and then only mildly.

Editing: actually millipedes are poisonous if you eat them. I think I'll pass.

I will pass too although I do have enough around to feed a family of five for a year.

[Jolt]

In college, one of the dorms (Riley Hall) had these really long-legged, fast-moving brownish centipedes that we all called "Riley bugs". They had a tendency to creep people out--one time this girl on my floor suddenly let out this blood-curdling scream and when everyone else on the floor ran to investigate it turned out that she had just seen a rather large specimen scurry past her feet. Sorry I don't have a picture, but if you google "house centipede", which is what these bugs really were, you'll find plenty. Apparently they're actually beneficial--they eat other bugs like cockroach larvae and other pests. Even so, it's pretty darn hard to get past the ick factor!!!