House Centipedes and Russian Tortoises

[Ycul]

Hi everybody!

I tried to look on the forum to see if there was any information about house centipedes and Russian Tortoises, but I only found one thread dealing with Red Foots (which I now think I want to try to help with the problem...).

Anyway, I recently moved to western Pennsylvania from south east New York with my two Russian Tortoises into a basement apartment. We have this terrifying bug that also, occasionally, makes an appearance. Up until about an hour ago, I referred to it as a hell beast, but a friend just identified it for me as a house centipede (if you haven't seen one of these nasties, look it up on google images and you will most assuredly see how my original name for them was dead on, I also included an image). I digress, my concern is for my tortoises. I'm a full time student so I'm not home for too long at a time other than to sleep. While I haven't seen any house centipedes in or around their enclosure, I'm still concerned about what could happen if they come into contact with one another. Does anyone know if one of these centipedes could do harm to my tortoises? One is about four years old and the other is probably a year and a half/two years old.

Thanks for any and all help or insight!

Lucy

 

[Yvonne G]

Wow! That's a very interesting bug. Just look at those back feet. Almost looks like it would help him to be able to walk on water. Very interesting.

Hi Lucy:

I really doubt this bug will harm your tortoises. But, just to be sure, you can put a bead of diatomacious earth around the outside of your tortoises' habitat. If you can't find that product, then you can use borax powder.
I doubt the bug will cross that.

 

[Laurie]

bleh, I hate hate hate centipedes! I think they're pretty harmless though

 

[BowandWalter]

Nightmares. I'll have them now.
My cousin rented a house infested with these. Apparently being horrified runs in the family. Just imagine my 200 pound cousin with his football playing roommates all screaming like girls at this beast.
They are harmless, at least he woke up many times with them on his face, and is physically no worse for wear.

 

[Ycul]

Nightmares. I'll have them now.
My cousin rented a house infested with these. Apparently being horrified runs in the family. Just imagine my 200 pound cousin with his football playing roommates all screaming like girls at this beast.
They are harmless, at least he woke up many times with them on his face, and is physically no worse for wear.

Haha thanks I'm already terrified after researching them and seeing how they are nocturnal and like to live in basements, bathrooms and damp places. Go figure my apartment is a basement in someone's house and there is poor drainage for the shower... So now I'm absolutely dying being here haha

 

[BowandWalter]

Haha thanks I'm already terrified after researching them and seeing how they are nocturnal and like to live in basements, bathrooms and damp places. Go figure my apartment is a basement in someone's house and there is poor drainage for the shower... So now I'm absolutely dying being here haha

It's times like these when I love living in cold and inhospitable Canada. My cousin said that banging on the walls usually scared them off. Arguably one night one of his room mates lost it and attacked one with a frying pan and a computer key board, but I think it was late at night and he'd woken up to it on his face, possibly kinda in his mouth. It inspired them to stay really clean, after there wasn't an abundance of food scraps and pizza boxes the centipedes just kinda became manageable.

 

[ColorfulTortoise]

Wow Bowandwalter that sounds scary. Those bugs sure are freaky looking!

 

[BowandWalter]

Wow Bowandwalter that sounds scary. Those bugs sure are freaky looking!

The way my cousin tells it is hilarious!

 

[fbsmith3]

I did some research on these. There is a bit of bad news, house centipedes feed only on other insects. If they are around, there are other insects.

 

[Ycul]

I did some research on these. There is a bit of bad news, house centipedes feed only on other insects. If they are around, there are other insects.

Yeah I saw that in my research too. So it's kind of good, as we don't have many (perhaps any?) other bugs around. But we had a spider that lived above our fridge that we decided to keep around and named Ned and one day a few weeks ago he was gone. I'm pretty sure the house centipedes got him, and he was a pretty large spider. These things eat arachids, seriously... How terrifying. It's like my nightmares are eating my other nightmares!

 

[ascott]

It's like my nightmares are eating my other nightmares!

LMAO......so true so true....lol

 

[ColorfulTortoise]

The way my cousin tells it is hilarious!

Haha! We have some pretty nasty looking spiders living in the roof and they really freak out anyone who suddenly looks up and..wow! My RT, Shorty doesn't seem to really care what goes on around here, though, as long as there's food involved.