• Facepunch, what kind of bug did I just encounter on my toilet paper?
    9 replies, posted
I decided to go have a leak in the middle of the night, but when I was finished and reached to grab some toilet paper, I saw a black smudge on it. I thought it was just some random dirt till it moved. I grabbed a small flashlight from nearby and shone light on it to get a better look. It seemed like a tiny, tiiiiiny (Less than 1cm, I think?) and regular bug at first, but then I saw its surprisingly prominent pincers that didn't appear like mandibles either. It looked kinda like an extratiny crab, or a scorpion without a tail. I'm not sure though, I didn't take a picture (both because I felt squeamish {yes laugh it off, squeamish about <1cm invertebrate} and because it kept zipping around) before setting it outside. Normally I'd just shrug a "whisk a bug out of the house" incident off and continue along my business (especially after having to help a bumbling moth to an open window earlier), but because this one looked like a unique specimen with so visible pincers, I thought I'd ask any biology expert in here.
Probably a silverfish. They like to eat paper. They have real delicate scales like a butterfly or moth, stuff comes right off if you touch them.Completely harmless except to paper based stuff like books. [IMG]http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-8j_ZLC_tcVA/Us5uQCifDCI/AAAAAAAAAX4/xfXwPj8oha8/s1600/eol.jpg[/IMG] Also actual fish love to eat them lol.
Another possibility is it could've been an earwig. [t]http://pointe-pest.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/earwig.png[/t]
[QUOTE=Kartoffel;52518086]Another possibility is it could've been an earwig. [t]http://pointe-pest.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/earwig.png[/t][/QUOTE] As soon as I read pincers I thought of earwig.
Sounds like a pseudoscorpion [t]https://6legs2many.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/pseudoscorpion_on_finger.jpg[/t] They're tiny, like humid spaces such as bathrooms, and while their pincers have venom glands they're much too small and weak to puncture your skin
[QUOTE=Thunderbolt;52518463]Sounds like a pseudoscorpion [t]https://6legs2many.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/pseudoscorpion_on_finger.jpg[/t] They're tiny, like humid spaces such as bathrooms, and while their pincers have venom glands they're much too small and weak to puncture your skin[/QUOTE] That's exactly the one I saw! Thanks!
[QUOTE=Thunderbolt;52518463]Sounds like a pseudoscorpion [t]https://6legs2many.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/pseudoscorpion_on_finger.jpg[/t] They're tiny, like humid spaces such as bathrooms, and while their pincers have venom glands they're much too small and weak to puncture your skin[/QUOTE] Wait this a thing? In Europe? Also it kinda looks like a weaponized bedbug.
Kind of a cool bug. Didn't know that was a thing lol.
Pseudoscorpions are super cool! They're very chill, and have pretty much the same benefits of spiders by taking care of smaller pest insects; they also have those bigass pincers for badass value. They're also called "book scorpions" because they enjoy being in or around old, dusty books and eating dust mites found in them. [img]https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/72/Ar_1.jpg[/img]
you should have eaten it to show dominance to any other bugs in the vicinity
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