Help identifying pest?

Matrias

So I have this thing living under my couches, and it only makes itself known while I'm playing Ogre Battle.

I couldn't get a good look its super fast, and the two times I saw it blinked in and out. I thought it was a trick of the light at first - the room was darkened and I thought it was a flash from my game the first time. After seeing it twice I know it was something. It zoomed under my coffee table and back in just a blink. Its REALLY fast, and it seemed too fast to be bug, so I thought it was a lizard or something.

Flipped the couch and it scurried into the corner where my A/V stand was. Now I think its a bug again, because it looked big and round, and I thought it was a moth, like its size was attributed to the wing span. Still couldn't get a good look at it, so I left to borrow my dad's flash light. Came back, up turned every piece of furniture but couldn't find it again.

So what could it be? Its big and gross and fast and I want it gone, but because I don't know what it is I don't know what to do about it.

Matrias

Should add I live in the pacific northwest, in a suburb of Vancouver.

King Riptor

It's most likely a mouse or a rat. Pretty mundane.

Easiest thing to do is get a UV light and look for urine trails or check your cupboards for droppings.

If it actually flew and is as big as you're saying I have no idea.

Matrias

It might have been a mouse, but this was really fast. Never seen a rodent bolt that fast. It was literally a blink - from couch to coffee table, back to couch. I thought it was a flash from the FX on my Wii.

None of my groceries/food appear to be disturbed, and I can't any mouse poop. I don't eat a lot at home or stalk a lot of groceries anyways, so any rodents are likely to die after too long.

HeraldS

Cockroach perhaps? They can move when they want to. If it were smaller I'd say maybe a centipede.

McJohnstable

Matrias wrote: »

It might have been a mouse, but this was really fast. Never seen a rodent bolt that fast. It was literally a blink - from couch to coffee table, back to couch. I thought it was a flash from the FX on my Wii.

None of my groceries/food appear to be disturbed, and I can't any mouse poop. I don't eat a lot at home or stalk a lot of groceries anyways, so any rodents are likely to die after too long.

That doesn't sound like mice or rats to me. We actually just got rid of mice in our new house recently (renovation work provided entry points), they generally leave a lot of feces around certain areas (where food has been).

Even though it's not relevant to OP, I'll post this here: If you have mice, buy peppermint oil and sprinkle it around doorframes / around your bed / a bit on your bedsheets / pillows and food cabinets etc. The smell is strong and they hate that stuff - helped us out a lot.

Also, this mouse trap worked much better for us than any bought mice traps / poisons / etc :

http://journal.chrisglass.com/2005/09/how_to_catch_a_.html

Hope this helps someone out.

Lilnoobs

Maybe the wings were just extra arms

and it was really this guy
prowling your yard

Matrias

with how fast it was moving, it totally could have been a spider... but I don't think we have things like that in Canadia?

Afty

That spoiler picture made me cry.

Mice can move SUPER fast when they want to I recently had to try to shepherd one out of our living room after the cat bought it in. That took a while.

tarnok

Unless you've had experience with mice before I wouldn't discount a mouse on the grounds of speed. Those sumbitches are fast. On the other hand, as someone upthread mentioned, if you have mice you _will_ find droppings somewhere. Probably in your kitchen drawers and cabinets.

Matrias

Well I still haven't found any droppings, but I put out a pair of traps.

One humane and the other not-so humane. I ONLY WIELD MERCY WITH ONE HAND.

Muzzmuzz

I was going to say a centipede, particularly one of the long legged fast ones that freak me out in the middle of the night. Unfortunately, they're not very round, so that's probably not it.

Spoiler image for those bugiphobes

Essee

Incidentally, for anybody not in the know, the bug in the spoiler is a house centipede. Those guys are totally harmless, they just look a little creepy (being bugs) so they freak people out. They eat other bugs so you if you do happen to run across them, it's better to leave them alone if you can. "Real" centipedes do in fact hurt when they bite, by contrast, although I guess from the last time I googled about them they're not any more dangerous than that (except to babies maybe)? I think that's what I read?

MichaelLC

Yeah, those fuckers are fast and will come after you if cornered.

True about being good pest control for homes, though. My general insect/bug rule is I don't seek them out, but anything that I see must die.

DkKingly

Sounds like a huge cockroach or a mouse to me.

E.Coyote

Could be a giant house spider too. Their range is in the pacific northwest.

Matrias

I forgot about this thread. I think it was a house spider, as I caught one 3/4 the size of what I saw a month later.

But seeing that picture of a house centipede, it resonated. It could have been that.


Whatever it was, I never heard from it again, so high-five!