Ew, bugs: a memoir 

Growing up, this '90s kid definitely wasn't pro-bug. After age six, I basically despised all living things that stung, bit, crawled, and slithered south of my Betty Boop high-top clad ankles.

Wasps were the mortal enemies of my pop cans. Spiders were relentless in their efforts to scare me out of climbing trees. And I vividly remember the day a snake taught my friends and I never to tinkle in tall grass. Thanks to our moms who made us stay in to do chores if they caught us on a bathroom break, snakes taught us that lesson a few times before it actually stuck.

The chilopodophobia struggle is real, y'all. 

Chilopodophobia is the intense fear of centipedes, an affliction I've endured my entire life. Wasps, spiders, and snakes are one thing. At 38, I'm pretty much over my issues with those guys. Snakes for sure because of Oli, a ball python, my then boyfriend-now-husband, adopted and forced me to bond with in college.

But centipedes? That's a hell-to-the-no until the sun rises in the west and sets in the east, babe.

From their creepy-fast legs that range from 15 to 191 pairs, to their painful and venomous bites, I would sooner eat my ponytail than make contact with the yellowy-grey assassin.

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The "Alleged" Benefits of Having a Centipede in Your House

Do centipedes capture flies and roaches, and are they great for house plants? Yes.

Would I jump out of a moving vehicle to escape one? Also yes.

Centipedes are the only bug in the gallery below I refuse to co-exist with. To be honest, I considered excluding them because even pictures of them wig me out, but ethics, right?

Scroll for 12 Idaho house bugs they say we shouldn't step on. 

12 Idaho House Bugs You Should Never Ever Step On

Who knows? Unless, like me, you despise the existence of centipedes, these bugs could be the most helpful, low-key houseguests you'll ever have.

Gallery Credit: Ryan Antoinette Valenzuela

Keep scrolling for...

  • 15 wildflowers that can cost Idahoans thousands in state fines

  • 19 plants that invite beautiful butterflies to Idaho gardens

  • 6 awesome to trees to plant in Idaho yards, & that destroys them

  • 6 native Idaho animals on the verge of extinction

  • 9 animals in Idaho that don't mind eating their kids

15 Wildflowers You're Forbidden to Pick in Idaho

Before you pull over to pick a bundle of beautiful flowers for your dining room table, think twice. It's actually illegal to gather more than a dozen kinds of wildflowers in Idaho.

Gallery Credit: Ryan Valenzuela

19 Plants to Attract Beautiful Butterflies to Your Idaho Garden

Whether you want to boost biodiversity or amplify the presence of beautiful, fluttering butterflies in your yard, plant one (or all) of the following plants in your Idaho garden!

Idaho homeowners, click here to turn your yard into a monarch conservation habitat for the state of Idaho!

Gallery Credit: Ryan Antoinette Valenzuela

6 Terrific Trees For Idaho Yards & 1 That Destroys Them

Like buying real estate, planting trees is all about location, location, location! To help you avoid the "right tree, wrong yard" headache, we turned to the Gardening Dad to help us choose six terrific trees for Idaho yards. While we were at it, we learned of one tree in particular has the power to destroy your yard.

Before you start digging, make sure you're planting the right tree in the right place! Check out our favorite picks for trees that thrive in Idaho.

Gallery Credit: Ryan Antoinette Valenzuela

6 Idaho Animals That Are About To Be Wiped Out Forever

There are six species on the verge of extinction in Idaho according to the Idaho Governor's Office of Species Conservation.

Gallery Credit: Chris Cardenas

9 Idaho Animal Parents Who Eat Their Kids

Before you judge the filial cannibals in the gallery below, remember:

> they can't escape their homegrown hellions with a therapeutic trip to Target

> there are no babysitters in the wild

> they can't send them off to school five days a week

> and most, if not all of them, were just lonely, h*rny singles looking for a one-night stand who wound up as single parents

Cut 'em some slack, people 🙄

Gallery Credit: Ryan Antoinette Valenzuela

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