S. heros bites are very painful to vertebrates.[4] A rat bitten by S. heros in the leg showed signs of excruciating pain, followed by soreness, but returned to normal after five hours.[11] For humans, a bite from S. heros usually causes sharp, searing, local pain and swelling,[11][12] but has never caused any confirmed deaths.[4] S. heros bites are known to occasionally cause nausea, headache, and localized skin necrosis.[4] However, there are individual cases of severe symptoms and injury (including kidney failure due to rhabdomyolysis, and heart attack) in humans resulting from Scolopendra bites.[4][10]