Millipede Madness

[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.

[jobob]

Okey dokey, I'm creeped out now.

[7rider]

potato bugs!! These give me the creeps.

Camel crickets!!!!

{{{{{shiver}}}}

But...I do have a pic of a big ol' millipede from our backyard that looks frighteningly similar to some posted in yellow's links...

[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!!!