Hitchhikers In My Bathroom
December 1st, 2007 by Kelley
I caught a hitchhiker in my bathroom this week…
_1.JPG "DSC_0008 (2)_1.JPG")
_1.JPG "DSC_0001 (2)_1.JPG")
There wasn’t a bum or anything like that in my bathroom, it was a pseudoscorpion, which is a tiny little arachnid. Usually you find them in leaf litter or decaying wood material. I think this little friend probably hitched a ride on me in from the woods as they often practice phoresy.
For some reason I had it in my mind that they only used those pincers for transportation and that they fed on decaying matter. But upon further investigation I found that not to be the case at all. They have a venom gland in the pincer (or pedipalp I guess is the correct term) that they use in capturing and immobilizing prey. To aid in digestion, they spit up a fluid that liquefies the prey in order to ingest it.
eww that was on you.
so whats gonna happen to him/her…are you gonna keep him/her for a pet or is he/she going to the freezer to be put on display??
how big is it?
Haha, funny you should ask…the little bugger is already in a vial of alcohol on display at my office
Oh, and it was about 2-3mm big. Tiny little guy, I had a heck of a time trying to photograph it.
Oh my god!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That is the nastiest thing ever! We had a LOT of scorpions when I was at Lackland for Boot Camp, we smashed them with the butt of the M-16…very scary!
Seriously though, that is gross, why is it alive in the cold weather?
I find them every so often in my bathroom too! They always make me smile…so brave, but so tiny!