Centipedes-Give it to me straight

Centipedes? You have got to be jocking right? Ha Ha! No centipedes here!!!!! Never fear come on down.

in the 10 years i lived there i only saw one centipede, down by lional roberts stadium. it crawled out of a sewer there and was immediately killed by a machete weilding frenchy. it was about 3 feet long and had pincers the size of your thumb and forfinger. i think you may have centepedes confused with millipedes, which are small (3 inches or so) and are not poisonous. millipedes are quite common on the island, you can easily see at least one per week.

http://www.epestsupply.com/centipedes.htm#Millipedes

http://www.herpo.com/trans-pecos/insects/scolo.html

i think i overstated the length of the centipede i saw, it was a good foot and a half at least.

Haha that sounds like such a joke! Centipedes are more like 8 inches, and the pinchers are very small.

Brandy: To answer your question on the centipedes, check out an earlier post I made about em:

"About centipedes, yes they can get frightingly big (about 7-8 inches), and they're pretty fast. From what I hear, the bite is extremely painful. The only reason why it's "technically" considered a "mild" bite is because you don't actually die or suffer any permanent damage from it. I would describe the bite (from what I've heard) as the most damage you can receive without actually receiving anything permanent. They're not very plentiful. On average, I'd see one every month or so. The only time I've seen more than one centipede at the same time was when I found 13 baby centipedes in my bathroom one time, which is a rarity. You will see them more often during periods of heavy rainfall. Actually, the neighborhood I lived in was known for having a lot of centipedes, since it's a low-lying area and whenever it rains it floods, which causes centipedes to crawl into homes from out of the ground. Where I live now in the rainforest (during summer and winter breaks in college), is also known for having a lot of centipedes, because rainforests have a higher concentration of insects and other critters. To keep them out of the house, I would refrain from keeping the door open and making sure I seal all openings in window screens where they could crawl in. Oh, and another thing, always shake your clothes when you pick them up from the floor, and check under your pillows before you go to sleep, as centipedes like to hide under things."

I actually re-read what I typed and what your question, and my response actually sounds pretty scary! To put it straight, no you will not see them very often, it is an occasional nuisance. You have nothing to worry about, I've never been bitten *knock on wood* .

"The only time I've seen more than one centipede at the same time was when I found 13 baby centipedes in my bathroom one time"

Holy Crap! Well, that makes me feel a little better about the spiders around here 🙂

Bugs of all shapes and sizes are part of the islands. As it happens, bugs are not a major problem in the Virgin Islands. Yes there are flying, biting bugs, but most are not dangerous, just a nausance. My wife gets bug bites...I don't. Maybe because she is sweet and I am ???.

You will see many more bugs here than most places. You will see many more lizards here than most places. BUT almost no truly poisonous animals. I lived most my life in rattlesnake country. Pit vipers crawled through our yard every spring. We never had a scare let alone a bite. The Virgin Islands is one of safest places on earth. No poisonous snakes (almost no snakes),few poisonous bugs and almost no dangerous sealife. Fewest shark attacks in the world...

Be scared if you want to, but it's hard to find a safer place.