House Centipede eats Cricket

Happy house centipede with fast food
Location:  Carroll County Maryland
September 29, 2010 9:50 pm
This site is one of the best on the web! I’ve used it many times for myself, and helped to educate my young daughters (and ok, my wife) on some amazing bugs. Thanks for all your work.
Just wanted to submit this beautiful house centipede enjoying a meal, helping us rid our garage of crickets. (It’s a big one – this is September, so that’s not a baby cricket!) I’ve seen many pics of them on your site, but none having lunch – as proof to the frightened humans out there of their beneficial ways!
I’m no bugman, but I do think these are amazing.
Signature:  Barry in Maryland

Hi Barry,
Thanks so much for the compliment.  Though we have countless images of House Centipedes on our website and we always extoll their status as harmless and beneficial hunters, we don’t have many images of them eating.  House Centipedes are fast and they are adept hunters, and though they frequently become Unnecessary Carnage, we always advise our readership to allow them to live in the home so that they can hunt cockroaches and other undesirable intruders.  Thanks for your submission.

Yes, the centipedes are quick- but I actually get this sense that they are smart.  Aside from the neural power it must take for something with 15 pairs of legs to move with that speed, they don’t seem just reactionary.
For a sense of intelligence, I put them right up there in my mind behind praying mantids, jumping spiders, and wolf spiders…just something a little more going on in there!  Doesn’t mean my wife doesn’t shriek a little…!
On a side note, I wanted to thank you for making me look smart on identifying some unusual bugs in the past:  An Eyed Elater that once landed on my leg up on the bluffs overlooking Harper’s Ferry, WV; a huge Dobsonfly I found on my truck hood last year; and the awesome Wheel (Assassin) Bug a few years back – we had a ton of them outside the house, they must have hatched from a nest in our yard somewhere, as I’ve only ever seen one or two since.
With regard to the Wheel Bug, in the Fall that year we capture a giant and pregnant orb weaver, and also a Wheel Bug and pitted them against each other in a bug container we have.  The kids and I watched a fascinating match that was a standoff with the bug as the aggressor (I don’t think we’d have actually allowed carnage), and we eventually released both.
As a bugman, thought you might enjoy that story!  I’m not a bug lover, but I do like to learn about and respect nature, and teach my kids to as well.  Your site really helps with that.
Barry