For the past three weeks, centipedes - the scary kind - have been popping up through the plug hole in my bath. I pour bleach down there and keep the plug in, but a few nights ago a big one popped up through the overflow hole. What I want to know is firstly, what the hell kills them if bleach doesn't (other than standing on them, obviously)?
Also, exactly how poisonous are they? My baby's room is right next to the bathroom, and I found one that had escaped from the bath heading into my toddler's bedroom.
Any advice gratefully recieved.
Kerys x

If you spray Baygon once a week round the Door Sills, this will kill any that have made their homes there & it'll also kill them as the walk through the "spray area".
You might try spraying Baygon down the overflow of the bath. That'll flush them out & they'll start to die.
Another method is to have music playing with a heavy bass - they don't like the vibration


yes they are very poisonous & a bite can often require hospital treatment.

I have tried yellow sulfer and they crawled right through it.
Normal insecticide works. I find them dead on my doorstep some mornings.
A Phlippines child aged seven was killed from a bite on the head.
I have been paranoid all summer at the threat of my little boy being bitten. My partner was bitten - very painfull and required painkillers from a doctor. Twice we had them in our bed.
Best remedy is to put up a mosquito net in your baby's cot/bed. Make sure it is secure. Stop up any holes and spray liberally with insecticide every day. They are mainly nocturnal and the toxin is apparently akin to that of a scorpion. A true Silurian monster!

Good luck.

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My landlord plugged all the holes by metal cup cover, both on the kitchen and bathroom floor. I only remove them when I clean the floor or need to let the water out. I think the centipedes may come from the door too (I'm living on G/F), I found a product called "BIO KILL" is quite useful, 100% Biodegradable, safe for human and pets. I spray it on the sill where I think the insect may get in, I think it works so far. Even Gecko don't come in from the door - remember one time when I open my door (I didn't have the spray yet), I welcomed a super tiny baby gecko. Yesterday I find another small one at the patio (or the same one), but he didn't come in even I let the door opened.

I've found that the only way to get rid of anything is through boiling a kettle of water. Pour it down your sink, drains, outflows at the first sign of trouble and repeat weekly over a month. They soon fuck off to someone else's drains.

Boiling water is the the best way to kill them. I've tried using shovel, brick and flip-flop but boiling water is the surest method. We're lucky that our Asian centipedes grow no more than 8 inches unlike their South American grandaddies that tip the scales at 12 fuckin inches! Over there they have huge kettles.

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Does anyone know anything about this kind of long legged centipede?

Had a couple creeping around my front door during the last month. My landlord said their bite is much more venomous than that of the regular big nasty centipedes, which sends a shiver up my spine. But on the internet all I can find that resembles it is the House Centipede, which is apparently fairly innocuous.

This little monster'a body was close to two inches long, considerably smaller than the average Scolopendra that I've done battle with. But with all the legs - still very intimidating.

It's a woodland centipede and not particularly venomous.

Thanks Foxy - that's a good start. But when I google "Woodland Centipede" I get nothing. Do you know anything else? A scientific name?

Can anyone recommend a really good reference book on Hong Kong insects? All the ones I have been able to lay my hands on don't include any centipedes.

Boiling water works - if you let the dreadful insect sits in it for a little while.
My husband once captured a centipede in a beer mug, not knowing what to do, decided together with his friends to pour boiling water into the mug ... the centeipede died, eventually - after a minute of swimming in the water trying to get out of the beer mug vigourously and forcefully with the lid on.

Small rocks work as well - so long as you have good eyesight and good eye to hand coordination. Flip flop won't work - too soft on the sole - don't even think about it if you have small feet like mine!

Seemingly, the higher the floor you live on, the less it is a problem (not that 2/F residents are entirely out of trouble - we live on the top floor and I still had a few centipedes in my bedroom, balcony and sitting room in the past 10 months.

A quick note: they like places that are dark and wet (and hairy).

"Colour Guide to Hong Kong Animals" by Dennis Hill & Karen Phillipps.
HK Govt Printer, 1981. ISBN 962-02-0003-9

You may be able to get it here: http://bookstore.esdlife.com/eng/default.asp
There are also several copies available in the <a href="http://libcat.hkpl.gov.hk/webpac_eng/wgbroker.exe?new+-access+top.main-page">public library catalogue</a> you can reserve.

For other books, remember that centipedes are arthropods, not insects.

Anyway, that has your centipede. It's <I>Thereupoda clunifera</i> (or maybe <I>Thereuopoda clunifera</i>) aka "Long-legged centipede" or "House centipede". It says they are poisonous, but rarely bite, even if handled. Unlike the Giant Centipede we all know and fear.

Try "scutigeromorph"

See also other threads in the flora and fauna forum:

creepy crawlies

http://www.lamma.com.hk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3043

Centipede reloaded

http://www.lamma.com.hk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=821

Lamma-zine story about a close encounter with a centipede, July 4

Lamma-Gung Savagely Attacked!

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So you'd stopped sobbing by the time you got to the clinic?

No un-macho sobbing from me!

I think that cryptic NO SOB remark from the Dr. refers to me NOT being a real SOB...

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Open the manhole cover (cesspit) outside and nuke the thing with bug spray, they live there and they like to leave when it rains cos you cesspit fills with rain water, which it shouldn't.

Oh and careful, as soon as you open the cover all sorts of disgusting things will come running towards you, so jump.

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