Legs to Spare

During our morning routine, my son calls out, "Ew Mommy, a bug. Look at him go! Get him!" Wishing peace on the house centipede's little soul, I approached with a wad of toilet paper in hand and was told, "Wait a minute. I want to watch him. Squish him when I say, 'Go.'" Well, he never said, "Go." My son had to dismiss himself from the situation for a few minutes, so I was left in charge to monitor the bug. Scheming, I got my tweezers and planned to gently snag Fuzzy by the leg and capture him in the bug house conveniently at hand for such situations. Little did I know, Fuzzy had a few tricks up his jointed legs. When in the grasp of a predator, house centipedes can drop their captured leg(s) and keep on running on all of the remaining 15+ pairs of legs. I successfully scared two legs off of him and decided to stop before my son emerged to find a legless Fuzzy. With a tulip poplar flower for a water dish, Fuzzy is still hanging out in the bug house waiting for his eminent release into the backyard tonight. 

House centipede. Photo by Laura Jesse 

Every day I add another factoid to my noggin.