Insects & Reptiles.

                                                        Spanish Centipede or  "escolopendra".


The weather here in Spain is certainly heating up, 35-40 degrees, which is lovely unless you want to do anything energetic, which in constant heat is almost impossible.I am not complaining, but the heat does bring with it some unwanted creatures, who are themselves trying to get out of the heat for shelter.

One of the insects here in Spain that I really dislike the most is the 'escolopendra' or Spanish centipede.I have good reason for disliking them, as a few years ago,  not too long after we had bought the house and back in the days when we were very naive about life in the campo, and the creatures we shared our land with, we would often leave all the doors wide open, we had no idea that we needed mosquito netting on the windows, or that you should not walk around barefoot, we have  learned, the hard way unfortunately, these are a couple of things that have happened to hubby and me, and still make me cringe today.

Hubby & I were in bed  one night , the windows were wide open letting in some much needed air, the weather in July was very intense, and as we had only bought the house a month ago, we were not used to it, and trying to adjust to 40 degree heat at eleven o'clock at night took some adjusting to. I was woken up feeling a tickle on my chest, I was tired so did not really think much about it, then to my horror I felt something crawl across my left breast it felt like it was big with lots of tiny feet, it was awful and I could not help letting out a scream , which only made it worse as I could then feel sharp pincers biting into my flesh. Hubby woke up startled. 'Ive been bitten 'I said horrified , by this time the 'creature' had disappeared, a small red scar was beginning to develop on my boob, and it hurt and looked sore. 'well I can't find anything' hubby said,  moving the pillows and bedsheets , finding one of the plastic tags you get on new clothes, 'that's all it was' he said, I was not convinced, suddenly we both heard a scratching sound on the headboard, 'bloody hell' hubby said, not having seen  a centipede before, I dare not look, thinking I would be deformed, as my boob was now swelling up rapidly, 'Shall I get it to bite the other side now then you will be like Jordan', very funny I said not amused at my husbands, untimely sense of humour. Hubby managed to catch it and disposed of it humanely, well to be perfectly honest , he drowned it in the bath which was fine by me.

These horrid creatures are common here in Spain, and are not as dangerous as some of the other Scolopendra cingulata centipedes in the world, they are black & yellow in colour and can grow up to 9 centimetres long, the one that bit me, was approx 7 centimeters long, but you should be  aware as its sting is potent and painful. It injects its poison with its front feelers.it lives in sheltered, stony ground where it burrows ( not normally in peoples bedrooms), it is nnocturnal in habit. I often see them under plant pots, as they seem to like damp dark places.

Next time I will tell you the story of my hubby & the scorpion, but in the meantime, don't forget, shut the doors, put netting on your windows, and wear shoes at all times you don't know what you may stand on, oh and don't forget to shake your shoes first as you don't know just what may have crept inside them, but that's another story.