The "Cockapeeder"

A scary story from the unpacking process...

As I was getting things organized in the bedroom, I flipped my clothes hamper over, and squealed in shock and dropped it because there was some sort of giant, unfamiliar bug on it. Before I got a good look at it, it shot off under the bed and disappeared. For those of you who don't already know - I have a HUGE fear of creepy-crawlies like that. My usual impulse would have been to run out of the room and wait till James could come kill it... But that is one of the problems with having a husband who is deployed. I was on my own.

One thing was certain - there was NO WAY I was going to be able to sleep with that thing loose in my bedroom... Shaking, I put on some big, heavy shoes, grabbed a flashlight and got down on my hands and knees to try to see where it went. But it was gone. I couldn't see it on the floor anywhere, which in my cowardly mind meant that it had crawled up inside the furniture and could possibly get up in the sheets with me!!! After a 30 minute search, I finally saw it shoot out from under the bed to the crack underneath the dresser. Again, it was moving way too fast to get a great look at it let alone catch it - but it was clear that it was brown and long like a centipede, but that its legs were somehow different than pictures of other centipedes I've seen. So, for lack of a better word, I took to calling it a "cockapeeder" because it seemed to be some strange hybrid between a cockroach, centipede and a spider. (Pretty much my worst nightmare!!)

Deciding there was very little I could do, I went into another room and tried to stay busy until I could think up a solution. When I told James about it later that night, he started searching websites about Japanese bugs to figure out what it was. (We figured it would be good to know whether or not it was harmful before I climbed into bed.) That process of elimination was not fun for me because the pictures he kept sending me were of insects that were about 10 times as big as the very large one loose in my house. I swore he was going to give me nightmares if he didn't cut it out...

But thankfully, we figured out that it was a "Geji" - or Japanese house centipede. They look really scary, but don't bite. They just hang out and catch other small bugs and spiders. That made me feel slightly better. But I still couldn't resist calling one of my neighbors to come over and help me look one last time before crawling into bed. Kendall, a girl from our squadron, came over in her dress clothes and heels fresh from a nice dinner out and got down on all fours and helped me look. Apparently bugs do not bother her so she was kind of laughing at me and my irrational fears. That gave me the kick in the pants I needed to suck it up and go to bed.

I didn't see it again over the next couple days so I prayed that it had died and tried to forget about it. But later that week when I got out of the shower and walked into my bedroom, I stopped short. I didn't have my glasses on so I couldn't see clearly, but there was a long, dark spot on the carpet between the bed and dresser. Quietly, I sprang away into the kitchen and grabbed a large tupperware container, then crept back into the bedroom and - WHOOSH! - trapped the Cockapeeder under it. I grabbed the heaviest thing within reach, which happened to be my iron, and placed it on top so it couldn't escape while I put on my shoes and rain coat and grabbed my camera. I was afraid that if I tried to squish it, it would get away again. So instead I slid a piece of cardboard under it and carried it outside - VERY far from my house. That was SO scary!! I was shaking and kept thinking that if my hands slipped it could get out and crawl up my arm!!! But thankfully, it seemed to be on it's last legs (so to speak) because it wasn't moving very fast anymore. I got some good pictures before running back inside.

When I posted the picture on facebook, everyone freaked out and said they couldn't believe I caught that thing. That made me feel a little better because they somewhat validated my cowardly behavior.

I am very proud that I was able to deal with it on my own, and know that I will probably have more problems with bugs as the summer progresses. But hopefully they will be SLIGHTLY smaller in the future... =^/