Day three in the new place, and tropical life was already making itself known.
I’m a morning person and after a nice strong coffee and an hour tapping away at the old laptop, I thought I’d stretch my legs and see what new sights our cosy garden was going to present me with today.
The flip flops were sitting there by the back door as usual- and so, it turned out, was something else entirely.
I didn’t notice it immediately. In my defence, it was still early, the light wasn’t great, and the thing was remarkably well camouflaged against my brown flip-flops. But once I saw it, I really saw it. A mass of long, spindly legs radiating outward in every direction, completely unbothered, just… chilling there like it owned the place.
My brain went through several stages in quick succession. First: what on earth is that? Second: a very strong instinct to freeze completely. Third – and this one came faster than expected – I never liked those flip flops anyway… I’ll just go buy some new ones.
Now, I have a thing about long spindly legged creatures. I’m not proud of it, but there it is. From my time in the UK, I came to the firm belief that anything with more than four legs should be viewed with suspicion. I still hold that belief though living in Asia has started to break me down a little. And whilst I have never been a friend of spiders, I have found a whole new respect for jumping spiders – now those little guys are just cute and I swear cleverer than any creature that small should be. Anyway, I digress… back to the centipede…
This particular specimen had legs going in directions that legs have no business going. I took a photo from what felt like a safe distance (the flip flop in the frame gives you a rough sense of scale), and then we did what we always try to do with wildlife that isn’t actively causing a problem: we left it alone. Our house rule is quite simple – you leave us alone and we’ll leave you alone.
A few hours later I checked again. It was gone. No drama, no confrontation – it had simply moved on to wherever house centipedes go during the day.
So what was it?
A bit of research later confirmed it was almost certainly a house centipede – a fairly common visitor in tropical homes across Southeast Asia. They’re fast movers when they want to be (ours was apparently in a relaxed mood), and while they look genuinely alarming, they’re actually considered beneficial in small numbers – they hunt other insects including cockroaches, silverfish, and yes, occasionally mosquitoes.
The sting, however, is real. House centipedes can deliver a bite that’s been compared to a bee sting – painful rather than dangerous for most people, but worth taking seriously. Not something you want to discover barefoot at 6am.
The lesson
Shake out your shoes before putting them on. Especially in the morning, especially if they’ve been left near a door or on the floor overnight. It takes two seconds and it’s just a good habit to build in a tropical home.
We haven’t seen one since – they tend to be shy and nocturnal, and this one seemed to be happily napping away… but I still know it’s out there somewhere… Probably eyeing up someone else’s footwear. Just be careful that it’s not yours
Have you had a house centipede encounter? Drop a comment below – we’d love to know if your reaction was calmer than mine.