Difficulty: Moderately Easy
Instructions
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Step 1
Remain calm. The bite will hurt and may cause swelling, but is treatable.
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Step 2
Wash the area with soap and water.
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Step 3
Apply a hot compress to reduce the pain. Or, if you have swelling, use an ice pack or cold compress to help relieve it.
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Step 4
Try taking acetaminophen or ibuprofen to counter the pain.
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Step 5
Treat the itch of a healing centipede bite with the application of a hydrocortisone cream.
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Step 6
Watch the area of the bite for infection. While an antibiotic is not a first step for treating a centipede bite, it is important if an infection develops.
Comments
mythbuster1 said
on 10/11/2009 pals145 is way off on his knowledge of centipede anatomy! Both the Hawiian red and blue centipedes have a set of jaws located immediately behind their heads that look like pincers. They use these to grasp and inject venom through the hollow pincers into their prey somewhat like a hornet uses it's stinger to inject venom. They do not always inject their venom and sometimes just bite but don't count on it should you disturb one!
Both have a posterior (tail end) "psuedohead" that is a fake looking "head" to confuse the centipede's preditors. The tail end has no ability to bite or sting as many a preditor has found out the hard way when when attacking the tail end only to find the real head arching back to bite and inject venom into the attacker.
As for the folklore medicine practice of placing the dead centipede into a bottle of alcohol and then rubbing the stuff on the centipede ...
pipsqueaks said
on 8/11/2009 I was on the big island of Hawaii in a house on the Puna Coast. At about 4 in the morning, asleep in bed, I was suddenly on fire! It was like being burned -- maybe with acid -- rather than being stung or bitten. Didn't find the culprit at that time. I had been bitten at the junction between my arm and my trunk, with bites in both. By the next morning, the bite locations were each yellow fluid-filled sacs or blisters about 1-2 inches across and maybe half an inch or more above the level of my skin. When I got to the emergency room, they took me right away! (Was it Richard Pryor who said that you know you're in trouble when the doctor looks at you and goes "Ahhh!").
The next day, we found the centipede which was about 2 to 3 inches in length. I smashed it with my shoe. As a postscript, when I was coming back through airport security to go back to the mainland, that shoe must ...
yoyoyo1234 said
on 7/23/2009 omg my mom just got bit by a centipede and she wont believe me. i even found a pic that looks exactly the same as her bite. sorry mom, i'm right :(.
ladyreino said
on 2/13/2009 2/13/09 What a Friday the 13th, my son was bite by a centipede while he was driving, he said it was huge, he is on a mission wit the Marines in Hawaii the Capital of Centipedes. The EMT;s gave him a ride to the hospital for the shot, he said it hurt so bad, it crawled up his pant leg and stung him real good. Today it is red and a lil swollen, He was told just a 2 inch Centipede could kill a small child. This came from the Dr. at the hospital.
pals145 said
on 12/14/2008 man i am so tired of reading a lot of suppost experts about centipedes that I had to write this, Centipes have two ends one is the mouth that bites and the other is stinger just the same as the mouth with two picks. Now, if it bites nol problem, but if it grab/bite and with the other end stings you, then you are into serious pain/trouble. Depending how big is the animal is the pain you will suffer. I have seen as wide as a rule and as lon, red or black, those are the bad boys, the pain is felt in your heart and is so painful that can kill a child, easily, do not believe all those book heads that doesnt know anything based on experienses, I Live in an infested area and we do deal with this on a daily basis. HERES THE REMEDY: Get a bottle with alcohol and after you kill that thing put it inside, rub that into your stong area and is the best we know shy of a hospital waiting for a shot, a