A First for Me
I can’t believe it happened to me. There was no warning at all. A few weeks ago we were with a group of people and the conversation turned to the subject of centipedes. We all agreed that before one encounters a centipede, there is usually a dream or some sort of premonition-type incident. It’s happened to me before. For some reason the though of a centipede enters my mind and shortly thereafter, I will see one scurrying across the floor.
Quite a few years ago while I was asleep in bed, a centipede walked across my foot. My subconscious knew exactly what it was and I woke with a start and kicked that leg hard so the critter went flying out of the bed and into the corner of the room. The lights were turned on and I was able to kill the bugger before it did any damage.
Last night, I received my first actual centipede bite. We had been sleeping for a couple of hours when I felt a pain in my lower left calf. I said aloud that I’d just been bitten, but Michael thought I was talking about a mosquito bite. It didn’t hurt that much at first, but I did shuffle around to turn the light on because I was pretty sure what it was.
Michael was startled by the bright light, but he got up and moved the covers aside exposing the 4-inch long culprit. He grabbed his flip-flop and hit it. The centipede merely sunk into the soft sheets and quickly wriggled away. My leg was starting to hurt by now, so I went into the bathroom to get something to put on it, while he tried to find it again.
He finally did and was able to dispatch it quickly while I applied “wounded warrior” to my injury. It soothed and cooled the bite for a minute. Then I put benedryl sting stop on it and Michael got me some ice. It was throbbing and painful, and I knew I wouldn’t be able to sleep for a while. Finally after an hour and a half of reading, we were able to drift back off.
This morning it was still a little sore, but we walked the Southgate beach in search of turtle activities (a leatherback had come up during the night!), and the leg was fine.
My first real centipede bite in almost 16 years of living here. And without warning. I need get my mojo back or something….
June 22nd, 2010 at 12:59 pm
Wounded Warrior…made in North Carolina. Did Michael take a teeny flip flop from the centipede and strike him or did Michael use his own flip flop?
June 22nd, 2010 at 7:27 pm
Yes, the WW was a gift from my wonderful friends up there in NC.
Looks like you had a few extra letters from spill cheek that you used to ask your silly question!
(Cracked me up, though)
June 24th, 2010 at 7:54 am
Glad you didn’t get a reaction.
Knock on wood, so far I haven’t been bitten. Probably because my husband lived in the back of Cotton Valley as a kid where there were lots of them and still does a bed and pillow check every night. The bed and covers are away from the walls and do not touch the floor. No worn clothes ever stay on the floor.
There are long metal “decapitators” (Closet Maid braces) in stratigic places around the house, especially the showers. I have seen them come up out of the drain. Lighter fluid is the thing that causes them to stop moving so much, even with the head gone. Supposedly papaya leaves will negate the poison, so I have Aldolf’s meat tenderizer that has the enzime (sp?) in the medicine cabinet along with a little pillow pack of Benedryl that I try to renew as it expires so fast.
Ah life in Paradise!
May 28th, 2011 at 5:41 pm
I used to live on St. croix and encountered many of these multi-legged beasties. I was bitten on the foot my first night there. Nothing more than a bee sting for me but for others, who are allergic to such bites, it could prove fatal. I once caught one in a stack of rotting wood and removed its head with me knife. The next day, the severed head was still trying to bite!!! These suckers are hard to kill. Watch out for them.