If you see a bug running across the floor, your first thought might be to grab a shoe and squash it. You might want to get rid of that scary crawly before you do, though. It could be the owner of your house.
The house centipede is a small animal with many legs that people often get wrong. This little bug looks scary, but it’s actually a good thing to have in your home. Eating cockroaches, spiders, ants, and other small bugs is what it does for a living.
To put it another way, the house centipede keeps bugs out of your home without you even knowing it. Your home is protected by a quiet guardian that works hard to keep animals out. So, the next time you see one running across your floor, don’t kill it. Let it keep doing its good work.
There are, however, other bugs that you should be careful of besides the house centipede. Some insects can spread diseases that can kill, and others can bite and sting you very badly. If you think about the bullet ant, its sting is so painful that it can feel like you’re being shot. Then there’s the botfly, whose eggs can get deep into skin and make it very sick.
So, even though you might want to squash every bug you see, you should be careful. Please do not hurt the house centipede. It is doing a good job. On the other hand, you should be careful around other insects and stay away from them. You will feel better and your house will thank you.
