ToiletDuk said:

Careful not to let them in your ears. They'll burrow into your brains and lay eggs there.

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a few years back i woke up to the most horrific pain in my ear, i was screaming and punching the walls.. my mom eventually came in and asked what was wrong.. all i could do was writhe in pain while holding my ear.  she pulled my hand away and flicked out an earwig.  fucking bastards are no joke

Quote:

Although earwigs are an important predator of some pests, they can cause damage to peaches and apricots by boring into ripening and over ripened fruit. Their feeding damage to soft fruit increases the risk of brown rot infection by wind or water-borne spores and by their suspected transfer of spores as they feed. They also found hide in bagged apples where they feed upon fruit damaged by eyespotted bud moth larvae. They feed at night, and during the day they hide in cracks and crevices and under leaves and twigs next to fruit. Rolled or crumpled newspaper tucked into limb crotches is useful to monitor earwigs. Place plastic bags over the newspaper to keep it dry. Removal of debris and weed growth from the base of trees will aid in earwig control.

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I hear they taste like chicken

mellowrubberduck said:

Earwigs are one thing, but those creepycrawly bugs that scurry around in the dark, brownish looking with a shitload of hair strands covering their body, and run like a bat outta hell when it sees a foot coming down on it, whatever those things are called, always scare the shit out of me.

I hate when things like these don't just run around on the ground so you can step on it and crunch it, but run around on the walls or the ceiling. Then you gotta pick it up with a napkin and crunch it inbetween your fingers. No one should have to go through that. I hate insects.

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kosmic_charlie said:

I think you're talking about millipedes. Those aren't hair strands but legs! A thousand of them! They're the worst.

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Quote:

Monkeys in Florida Get High on Millipede Hallucinogen

http://www.shortnews.com/shownews.cfm?id=24260&CFID=4417381&CFTOKEN=96553521

A species of millipede which originated in the West Indies but has recently appeared in parts of South Florida seems to have a hallucinogenic effect on Monkeys. The monkeys "bite the millipedes, then reach behind their backs and rub it on their fur."

"Their eyes glaze over and they're completely focused on what they're doing" said the head of the primate conservation group based at the Monkey Jungle, a Miami-Dade tourist attraction. He likens it to the way that cats react to catnip.

Monkeys even pass the bugs around, five members of a monkey family shared a millipede and they turned into a "writhing mass." So now when they see primates rolling around at the bottom of their cage caretakers know they are just under the influence.

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Quote:

http://www.pvmirror.com/nature/potions.html

For its part, the brown lemur of the Isle of Madagascar appears to enjoy the little bites it gives millipedes with its lips. It turns out that every time the lemur bites the millipede, it is stimulated because the latter releases a toxic compound based on cyanide, as a means of self-defense. The primate uses this to fumigate its own fur coat, thus keeping free of parasites and malaria-carrying mosquitoes. But besides helping to get rid of parasites, the compound also has a narcotic effect on the lemur that can last for as long as 20 minutes, and which manifests itself as an expression of happiness: The eyes pop out, the head droops and the lemur is on another plane, away from reality.

Something similar is practiced by South American Capuchin monkeys, but instead of making this activity a solitary one like the lemur, it becomes an entire social event. Groups of up to four monkeys get a hold of a millipede, giving it little bites to stimulate the secretion of the narcotic and then pass it along to the next monkey in line. Like human drug addicts, the monkeys are taking a big risk with their health when they indulge in this practice because the cyanide produced by the millipede is highly toxic and carcinogenic.

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