When we lived in NJ I used to peg washing out. It was short lived as one day I found a 6" long praying mantis walking across an item of clothing. That was the last time I dried washing outside.

YOu can spot the europeans in my street - we have those fold up clothes driers either on the back patio or in the garage if it's raining. I still find it difficult to comprehend that some of my Texan neighbours have never, ever hung their clothes to dry - apart from the odd sweater or silk thingy. The humidity though, ugh. I have learned not to bother putting the clothes up to dry when its really humid as they'd take days.

I found an opussum stranded on top of the foldup clothes drier one night. Very cute little thing, I just gently lowered it until it could jump off and run away.

When I had window boxes on my apartment windows I often with have praying mantis visiting my window box. They are great insects to have around and so interesting to watch.

I didn't mind watching them crawl up the windows or patio doors...from the inside. I am errrr...slightly bug phobic...the big NJ bugs grossed me out as did the lizards and bull frogs that used to hang around the pool.

House centipedes?



The first one we ever saw came under the door of our apartment in Westchester Co, NY. ..... And dämn, that think could shift! At least until I hit it with a newspaper, when it exploded into a mass of legs and body parts! I had to throw the newspaper at it because it was moving so fast!

Interestingly, as house centipedes are predators, if you see them frequently it means you probably have a problem with prey species such as silverfish, carpet beetle larvae, spiders, cockroaches, etc.

When we first moved to NJ we lived in a new apartment building. Those evil things used to run across the wall every day or so. I put it down to the building being brand new. As you say...they run like hell and explode when hit. I used bug spray...started spraying it several yards in front of its path...then moving the spray towards it. I read their speed is because their favourite food is roaches.

Oh my ... I believe that is beyond my limit of tolerance! Worst thing I've ever seen here in CA is a 'potatoe bug'
similarly 'delicate' if I recall correctly. Haven't seen one in like 15 years ... and I still remember it quite vividly!

I once stayed at a hotel in Matagorda, Texas (near the gulf coast). I had to stay there for several days, and each day massive roaches (I called them texas longhorn roaches!) came in under the door and wandered about my room. I was on the second floor. I bought bug spray and saturated towels in the spray and shoved them into the (big) gap under the door ... with only limited success. One day, one of them flew ... and that just freaked me out even more. I used to dread coming back to the hotel each day. To this day, I avoid tropical / humid places because of these types of bug!

Don't worry, that was Westchester County, which is along way from Connecticut, .... isn't it?

Anything that has more than four legs should be eradicated. Why this has not already been done, I have no idea.

Good grief...it looks like it spends most of its time at the gym lifting weights.

On my first visit to Florida I found a huge palmetto bug in the room. The hotel was on the beach...palm trees were outside the window and there was a hole in the bug screen. I sat up all night and checked out the next morning.

During a holiday in Fiji I found a roach the size of a mouse in the bathroom. Hubby said my scream woke everyone in the hotel. I insisted we were moved to a higher floor immediately. I know it's silly to think height will make a difference...but it made me feel better.

In Rarotonga there were geckos running around the room after dark. When complaining I was told they are lucky as they eat the roaches.

Those things go like stink. We used to get them in the basement of our old house and they dart around like mad things. All legs too, which makes them look a lot bigger than they are.

The good things is, they are pretty clean and they eat earwigs. Anything that eats earwigs is welcome in my basement. Though we don't see them too much around the new place, just one in our bedroom that freaked out the cat a while ago. That's probably because the cellar spiders keep the pests at bay.

Of that list, nine times out of ten unless a jumping spider has wandered in from outside, or that time we were overrun by fruit flies that wouldn't stop reproducing in our kitchen, the only crawly things you see in our house are the cellar spiders, and they rarely venture up from the basement/garage.

I think our cats eat most of the invaders, to be honest. Or I do, when I'm asleep. Either way, net win.

A what now?

You are making it worse.