Have lots of these around the house right now, it looks like a milipede / centipede or possibly a caterpiller. Can someone tell me what it is?

I keep on sweeping them up and moving them but they keep reappearing.

T.

Two legs on each side per body segment (except for the first segment) - it's a millipede.

Ugh, it's a ta-khab, and the only thing I'll go after with a flamethrower having been bitten by one some years back. It'd hidden in some clothing I was wearing and spent the entire evening with me on my jaunt around the island on Loy Kratong until it decided to come out and introduce itself some hours later. 12 hours of pain. There's a thread running in General re 'Nature invading your house time of year'. Seriously, my house is open to every other living creature to the point of Jainism, but not this one. Don't piss one off

I don't believe that it is a Dta Khab. We have thousands of these things over here and I have never seen one larger than 4cm. They appear to be harmless.

They do look more like a centipede than a millipede, but they are slow as mud like a millipede. I never knew the leg per segment ratio before, thanks for that.

This is a milliped, genus Orthomorpha. In Thai millipedes are called กิ้งกือ (gingoe), while centipedes are called ตะขาบ (takarb) .(Sorry I don't know how to romanize these Thai words for English speaking people). This type is absolutely harmless...

Erwin

Harmless:

Millipede

Ugh, it's a ta-khab, and the only thing I'll go after with a flamethrower having been bitten by one some years back. It'd hidden in some clothing I was wearing and spent the entire evening with me on my jaunt around the island on Loy Kratong until it decided to come out and introduce itself some hours later. 12 hours of pain. There's a thread running in General re 'Nature invading your house time of year'. Seriously, my house is open to every other living creature to the point of Jainism, but not this one. Don't piss one off

funny how many people cant tell the difference. Though i suppose it is safer to err on side of prudence.

they are harmless, but some secrete a hydrocyanic acid that can be very irritating to skin and eyes so should not be handled

Edited September 14, 201213 yr by tinfoilhat

Dta Khab is redish, the one in OP is harmless.

Edited September 15, 201213 yr by PoorSucker

Dta Khab is redish, the one in OP is harmless.

they can be black too, (though never seen a black one in asia) and most of the gingus (millipedes) around my area are this same red.

the pincers/fangs up front, trailing back legs, and single pair o' legs per segment usually make em pretty easy to distinguish. that and the fact they can do 0-60 in 2.3 seconds and are big and scary as <deleted>.

I read somewhere they always have an uneven number of pairs of legs

Dta Khab is redish, the one in OP is harmless.

they can be black too, (though never seen a black one in asia) and most of the gingus (millipedes) around my area are this same red.

the pincers/fangs up front, trailing back legs, and single pair o' legs per segment usually make em pretty easy to distinguish. that and the fact they can do 0-60 in 2.3 seconds and are big and scary as <deleted>.

I read somewhere they always have an uneven number of pairs of legs

Next time I cut off ones head I will count and verify, these and mosses are the only creepy crawlies I kill in Thailand, pure pain.

funny how many people cant tell the difference. Though i suppose it is safer to err on side of prudence.

Yes, funny how a local Thai electrician couldn't tell the difference between a tah-kaab and a ginlur (millipeed) and looked at me in horror as I picked one up and put it outside the bathroom. Also funny how the OP (who didn't mention the length by the way), could mistake this for a bloody caterpillar.

I've never seen this smaller species here on Phuket in all the time I've been here. And I've seen most everything else. Funny.

funny how many people cant tell the difference. Though i suppose it is safer to err on side of prudence.

Yes, funny how a local Thai electrician couldn't tell the difference between a tah-kaab and a ginlur (millipeed) and looked at me in horror as I picked one up and put it outside the bathroom. Also funny how the OP (who didn't mention the length by the way), could mistake this for a bloody caterpillar.

I've never seen this smaller species here on Phuket in all the time I've been here. And I've seen most everything else. Funny.

ginlur?, you mean 'ging gu' dont cha?

Dta Khab is redish, the one in OP is harmless.

they can be black too, (though never seen a black one in asia) and most of the gingus (millipedes) around my area are this same red.

the pincers/fangs up front, trailing back legs, and single pair o' legs per segment usually make em pretty easy to distinguish. that and the fact they can do 0-60 in 2.3 seconds and are big and scary as <deleted>.

I read somewhere they always have an uneven number of pairs of legs

Next time I cut off ones head I will count and verify, these and mosses are the only creepy crawlies I kill in Thailand, pure pain.

Guaranteed to get the wife into Ninja mode. She had one on her body a few years ago. Luckily it didn't bite.

About the big nasty red one, does anybody know if they survive a lower section amputation? He ran away and I can't find the bugger.