Critter contest
I came home tonight to be greeted by a dead waterbug under my air conditioner. (I have to assume he somehow crawled in under the vents.) It was the first one I’ve seen in weeks, and at least was dead, so I am not TOO freaked over it…but of course, it did inspire me to break out my fortress of boric acid and bug spray and go wild.
My friend Rob just emailed, and alerted me it could be worse…I could have a CAVE CRICKET.
In case you, like me, do not know what this is, here is a photo:
Rob assured me his cave cricket is dead and gone (as in down the toilet, in a sea of flush), and cannot travel from NJ to NY to kill me as I sleep. However, this seems to be … the most horrifying insect I’ve ever seen (and makes me feel a little guilty for whining about my dead cockroach…) I’ve decided to open the floor - please share what the scariest insect you’ve ever come across in your own home is. (Including pix is even better!) Scariest, most horrifying picture will win a (surprise) prize!
Fun fact! Aly Walansky wrote this story just for you on August 6th, 2008 |
August 6th, 2008 at 9:55 pm
that picture makes me want to die.
August 7th, 2008 at 10:20 pm
well, the good thing about cave crickets is they pretty much don’t do anything but look ugly. what makes them fun is when confronted, they jump forward almost 2 feet high. so if you’re in front of it, they jump right at you. i also learned that you have to daze them before trying to flush them, other wise they pretty easily jump right out of the swirl. my method is to trap them under a 16oz. plastic cup, slide the cup over a piece of cardboard, carry to the bathroom ,shake well, flush then drop.
August 8th, 2008 at 11:53 am
I don’t have any pictures but had to share this anyway. It actually wasn’t in my home but in my car, thank goodness or I would of gotten no sleep for who knows how long after this. We lived in Phoenix Arizona at this time, I loved Phoenix itself but omg it had some horrible creepy crawlies! Anyway I got into my car to go to work that evening and when I was all buckled in and settled I reached up to adjust the rearview mirror and my hand brushed against something fuzzy!!! There was a huge tarantula there for just a flash then it was gone, guess I scared it as bad as it scared me (doubtful). I jumped out of my car screaming the whole way. Now I had a real problem, there was a tarantula in my car and I wasn’t looking under the seats for it, nor was I driving my car again until I knew it was gone. I went and got a fearless friend of mine and he looked everywhere in the car but couldn’t find it either short of ripping out the seats where he figured it was hiding. I ended up leaving the windows down hoping it would crawl out and my friend took me to work (late but with a very good excuse LOL). I never did find it and after a week of running me around my friend refused to be my taxi anymore, actually made me drive my car and wouldn’t let me wimp out until I finally calmed down about it and came to the conclusion that he was right the beast wouldn’t be there anymore unless it died since it would of needed to eat and do whatever tarantulas do. Didn’t think anything could be worse until I found the inch long scorpion close to my daughters head when she was just a couple months old.
August 9th, 2008 at 2:39 pm
That’s what those are called?! I was visiting my friend in Georgia and there was one in the bathroom and it jumped the like 2 feet in the air and scared me half to death and I climbed up on the sink and half wall and was like screaming. And my friend told me it was just a cricket and I was like “NO FREAKING WAY!”
August 10th, 2008 at 11:09 am
The scariest insect that has ever crossed my path is a quarter-sized spider. While technically not an insect (it’s an arachnid), I think this guy should still qualify. When I say “quarter-sized,” I mean it’s BODY was the size of a quarter…that’s NOT including legs. Talk about terrifyingly enormous. However, I didn’t have the heart to squash such a freak of nature, so I captured it and released it into the wild.
August 11th, 2008 at 10:30 am
I swear I commented on this post. Did it get eaten?
August 11th, 2008 at 3:53 pm
My mother’s house is in a wooded area, and growing up, my bedroom was in the woodsiest corner of the lot. The house was also half underground, meaning my windows were at ground level. As time went on, not a week would go by without at least one encounter with a massive, hairy spider. Did I mention I’m phobic? I am too scared of them still to dig up photos, but they ranged in size from 2-4 inches in diameter (including legs). I’d see mainly 3 different kinds/ shapes, with one memorable exception being a white one. A white spider! And I wasn’t on drugs!
I got a bunkbed and started sleeping under a ceiling net lest one should decide to get in bed with me, and wore earplugs just in case… When we finally had those walls replaced, the contractor discovered there was no insulation in the walls- guess who was living there? Then I moved out.
In my current apartment, the creepiest bug I’ve seen is similar to your cave friend, but longer (3 inches or so), about 1.5 inches tall and with about 8 more sets of legs. I took him outside, but when I put him on the ground, he curled up and died.
August 12th, 2008 at 1:22 pm
When I got home yesterday I was thinking about the post I made here, and how lucky I have been not to live with spiders and crawlies anymore. I got home, and in my bedroom I saw a thin black thing crawling across the carpet- some kind of long black centipede-ish creature with a million legs so tiny I couldn’t even see em. I put him outside with a sheet of paper, upon which he left some ooze. I brought this on myself by posting yesterday! :p
August 26th, 2008 at 11:43 am
The same cricket you have pictured I have in my basement. The size and color does not identify it as a cave cricket (smaller size).My basement friend go up to 4 inches. Cant find in the internet the name or poison to use. If you know please let me in.
September 5th, 2008 at 4:26 am
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