Korean Job Discussion Forums

[barbaricyip]

This morning I found a centipede of about two inches in length skittering about on the floor of our bathroom. That's pretty itsy in the way of centipedes, at least so far as I'm familiar with them, but we're on the eighth floor of our apartment building and I don't know how this little guy could've come up so far unless there's an infestation of some sort.

Where I come from - and I suspect this is a general rule worldwide - the big bugs don't come into your home unless they come in from the outside (or unless you've got some deep abiding issues with cleaning up after yourself). So a big centipede would actually have me worried less than this little guy. There's also the fact that there are no windows in the bathroom! How did he get up here? Should we expect more? We've been living here for two months and have cleaned the apartment more thoroughly than our predecessors ever did, so if this is an infestation then I'm almost positive it's not a recent development. But if it is an infestation, and not a recent one, how could have hidden itself for so long without us noticing a creepy-crawly or two? Ack!

What have we done, folks? What can we do? Should I be worried at all?

[BaldTeacher]

They scare the absolute hell out of me. If I had one crawling on me I would seriously toss myself out of a window if there was one nearby. Luckily I've never seen any in either of the apartments I had in Korea. However, the apartment I had the first year had a massive roach infestation when I first got there that took me about a month to fix. Roaches I don't mind though. I woke up with one of the little pricks trying to get in my mouth and I just blew him away from my face and went back to sleep.

[n�fara]

Centipedes are predators, so that one is probably after other bugs that might be in your apartment building. If you are seeing a lot of centipedes, I'd be less worried about them and more about what the abundant food resource is that is allowing them to multiply so much.

I wouldn't worry about just the one. I also find them creepy, but they are useful and so should not be killed offhand.

[barbaricyip]

Thanks for the input, folks! I'd be way more freaked out by roaches (mild phobia, erk), so having a predator about is actually kind of comforting. Here's hoping it's not an indicator of something to actually flip out over.