Centipedes and babies

The centipedes here have a nasty sting. Usually they just hurt like heck for about 24 hours or so and then resolve. A 6 month old who has the unfortunate challenge of being stung will be very uncomfortable for a while. Benadryl and children's Motrin are both helpful. Secondary infection is also a possibility and would require antibiotics. If the child is allergic to bee stings and the like, it is also possible to have an anaphylactic reaction, but your health care provider can tell you more about that....

The local pest control companies use sprays that are dog and child friendly. It cost about $35 to $45 to get it done once a month and usually keeps everything out but ants and millipedes (both of which are harmless). If you see one inside its usually dying. When they are alive they are very fast and do try to avoid humans. But they can climb so they will sometimes get in shoes or climb linens that are touching the grounds, etc... If you every lived in a area with scorpions its similar.

Heh, I have levitated out of bed after waking up to a millipede crawling up my leg!

I saw very few centipedes while living on the islands - as far as what Betty said, yes, use a pest control company.

I'm not advocating this on a baby but....spraying WD40 on a centipede bite removes the sting immediately. I didn't believe it until I saw it work on my husband. He'd been bitten 3 times before and it was very painful and swelled up very much. We heard to use WD40 and so I sprayed it on his leg the last time he was bit. The pain stopped immediately and there was no subsequent swelling at all. Since then I have used it on fire ant bites and it works for those too.

greetings and good morning !!!

lawd.....
centipedes......
mercy....
i have an inch wide CRATER (though shallow, still a crater), about an inch above my inner ankle on my left leg...
the remains of a centipede bite to this day.
i also have a few other smaller crater like scars from other bites....i guess maybe the centipedes were smaller that bit me there.

when i was pregnant, living by salt river for a time, i was off from work one day. everyone else that lived in the gates was at work. my best friend was coming over but he had called and said he was going to be late...he was reaching from la vallee.
so i was sitting there in my bathing suit, chilling after having cleaned up.
i saw a great huge centipede.....dark red, almost burgandy in color...this telling me that it was older (the young ones are redder), meaning it's speed might be slower, but it's venom more potent.....anyway it was slithering about.....
my antenneas went up.....
having been bitten before (see above) quite badly, i was instantly on guard and looked for something to try and mash it with.
i went in the kitchen....it FOLLOWED ME!!!!
i skirted around it and went to look for something heavy to drop on it.....it FOLLOWED ME!!!!
in my brain i am freaking because everywhere i went in the gates the dayam thing followed me and when i tried to kill it, it seemed to sense it and would sidle its way to where i could not see it.
i went in day room and found peace.....
or so i thought.
i went to get something to drink and the dayam thing slithered out from under the sofa and FOLLOWED ME STILL!!!!
a flicker of memory from earlier in the fall........an older local woman i was close too and her friends had clucked about me and given me all kinds of advice and so when they found out i was pregnant.
two of them had said to steer clear of centipedes while i was pregnant....they said that if you are pregnant the centipede can sense it and they will search you out....and if they bite you it could potentially harm the fetus.
i scoffed at them.
needless to say, here i was, faced with the shituation and suddenly remembering their words.......i scoffed no more.
i did what any woman would do when faced with this dilemma......i flew from the house and jumped in the pool....which was steps from my door.
i know you will prolly not believe this, but, having left the door to the gates during my flight, the door was left open.
here i was, floating about the pool and everytime i went to get out, the dayam thing was there, as if waiting for me.
by the time my friend arrived i was waterlogged.
he say why was i in the pool so?
i tell him and he laughed, not surprised atal.
he searched around the outside of the pool and sure enough it was there waiting on me to leave the water.
my friend mashed it up and i got out of the pool.
moral of that story is to listen to the elders advice on the island....they DO know what they are talking about.

another time i was walking along the back road (at that time it was a back road, do not know about now) towards paradise to see a friend and there was a group of ras shouting and talking animatedly and waving them arms and so.....they hollered at me with my big belly saying....sista!!!!! nah come closer.....is a great grand bumba_ _ _ _ centipede we trying to mash up!!!! stay back they hollered.
they had their rachets out.
there was a bit of commotion around one of the cars and yelling and so......then they all laughed and tell me to come see.
i tell you.......out of the bush had come a centipede so long, fat and brown that it must have been years and years old....they mashed it with a rachet and it was still moving a bit. one final hack and it done. i HAVE NEVER seen one that big. the idren, after admitting that it had scared them as well said they had never seen one so but had heard that when the things become very old, they venture out of the bush or forest to die and that is prolly what happened. it was a story that made its way around the island for true.

i have another story about an idren i knew that lived up in the hills, but will not go into it right now. needless to say it is a heartbreaking thing what these centipedes did to him.

anyway, the times i was bitten, i did not have to go to the hospital.....most times you do not. you might get a bit sick feeling and so but you will be okay.

it is said that the venom affects youth, elderly, and the pregnant differently. i have never known but one person to die from centipedes, but it was an extreme shituation.

i think i was bitten so often cause i would just go traipsing off into the bush or forest with nothing on but flip flops or bare feet.
try to wear hightop tennies or boots when you venture into those places.

shake everything out, even your delicates, before wearing, using or getting into bed.....this cuts down on stings, cos the little buggers like to hide.

no worries.....usually they do not come out and chase you like the one did me.......just wanted to share a centipede story......

blessings to all
Sis Irijah

I loved reading your story! Thanks for sharing! 😎
Tho I've been pregnant twice here, I never had the misfortune to connect with a centipede until much later on. Was sleeping and my honey picked up my pillow that had fallen on the floor and he put it back on the bed, on my hand. Then come the sting! He was a little guy, only 3" long. No problem! I've never heard tell of a baby getting stung, tho I am sure it can happen.