You definitely do not want to be bitten by this critter! The pain is excruciating.  A friend of mine was bitten on the foot while working in her garden up near Temple. She put ice on it but her foot kept hurting and swelling, which she documented with photos over the next hour. She finally had to call a neighbor to take her to the hospital. 

I was digging out a karst feature full of dirt and leaves, foolishly not wearing gloves, when I pulled out one of them fortunately cushioned in a bundle of leaves, so no bite. Use thick gloves! Centipedes go berserk when they are exposed because they have claustrophillia--fear of open spaces--the opposite of claustrophobia.

Here's one website: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scolopendra_heros

Logan

On 1/31/2019 10:15 AM, Fritz Holt wrote:
David’s comments raises a question I have. I have been wading Hill Country rivers (Frio, Nueces and Sabinal)and exploring their rocky cliffs and caves for 65 years. I have had encounters with rattlers, water snakes, various lizards and centipedes. I love them all but am especially fascinated with the large centipedes. The largest ones I have seen were between four and five inches long. I seem to remember their coloration was black and various shades of red, yellow and orange. I may have picked up one or two without gloves but was never bitten or stung. I assume they can inflict pain but guess I was lucky (as always) and would like some feedback on this. Are they harmful?
Fritz Holt
[email protected]

Sent from my iPhone

On Jan 30, 2019, at 1:54 PM, David <[email protected]> wrote:

People, including cavers, often associate cave animals with bats.

I think we often neglect the other critters.     For example, name a cave
that is devoted to the preservation of Red-headed Centipede.

Or any other cave-dwelling centipede.


I saw a 6 inch long centipede in Brehmer Cave near New Braunfels, around
1996.    I remember the color patter was maroon and black, but can't remember which color was the
dominating color - Maybe black with some maroon parts ?

I can only imagine cavers with lots of experience have seen hundreds of these.

Of course, you probably would not want to crawl around in a cave with 100's of venomous
centipedes.   Would you ?

On a related note, I have not seen a horned-toad in the wild in over 30 years.

And on a totally different note,

Last night, I was driving around 2 a.m. in the morning from Houston to Gatesville ( northwest of Temple )
via the small towns around Milano, and I saw
stars for the first time in almost a year.    I did not have time to even get out of the car and look at
the stars.     There was still too much light on the horizon and from traffic to really get a good look at them.
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