Can you exterminate centipedes

Centipedes are invertebrate arthropods. There are more than 8, different species of centipede, and they are also very similar looking to their cousins, millipedes. Centipedes have a pair of legs on every body segment and have anywhere from 15 to pairs of legs. They have long, segmented bodies, and their size reaches up to 11 inches. Thankfully the average house centipede in the United States only reaches up to an inch and a half. Could you imagine trying to kill an inch centipede?

No, thank you! They run 16 inches every second and have hiding places in small crevices, crawl spaces, and closets. One benefit of house centipedes is that they are insectivores, meaning they eat spiders, bed bugs, cockroaches, silverfish, termites, ants, crickets, and other household pests.

Although most centipedes live outdoors, these are creepy looking insects that nobody wants in their home. If you spot a centipede, you have to act fast. The quickest way to kill a centipede and the most effective centipede killer is to stomp on it.

Depending on whether these items are in arms or feet reach, either spray them directly with bug spray or insect killer or suck them up with a vacuum hose. Purchase sticky traps at your nearest hardware store and place them along baseboards or close to corners and small crevices. These traps are less effective on larger centipedes because they may escape by leaving a few legs behind.

As carnivores, centipedes are predators, and they may actually serve a beneficial purpose in or around your home in terms of pest control. For example, house centipedes may eat roaches, flies, silverfish, and even termites. However, many homeowners dislike having any insects or arthropods in the home and are keen to know how to get rid of centipedes.

Follow these simple steps to clear your home of these many-legged pests. Unlike swarming or nesting insects, centipedes are unlikely to infest your home in large numbers, so killing or otherwise eliminating individual adult centipedes is worth your time. If any small centipedes cross the traps, they will stick.

Additionally, you can always relocate them outside. Remember, centipedes kill nuisance insects, so consider removing them from your home instead of killing them. If centipedes keep getting in, you can use a natural or synthetic insecticide to create a barrier that the creatures will have to cross to get inside.

If you discover no such problems, adding a dehumidifier to dry out moist areas like a basement may send the house centipedes packing. Trap a centipede the same way you would a spider, by dropping a cup or jar over it and then sliding a piece of paper underneath to seal it inside.

There are various ways to keep centipedes out of your home—or at least make it more difficult for them to move in—beyond banishing the bugs they eat.

In addition to using a dehumidifier, run your bathroom fan for a solid five minutes after a bath or shower to remove moisture.

Seal up any cracks or crevices where house centipedes may be sneaking in, and caulk all baseboards and door and window casings. A combination of all of these measures is likely to reduce any centipede population you have.

Disclosure: BobVila. You agree that BobVila. Centipedes usually live outdoors in damp areas such as under leaves, stones, boards, tree bark, or in mulch around outdoor plantings. If they are around the foundation of the house, they may wander inside. Most centipedes are active at night. Centipedes legs are usually brownish, flattened, and elongate animals which have many body segments.

Centipedes are flattened, with many different body segments. Centipedes have one pair of legs attached to most of these body segments, they can have up to pairs of legs.

Centipedes differ from millipedes; millipedes have two pairs of legs on most segments and bodies which are not flattened. Centipedes can be prevented from gaining entry into buildings by sealing and caulking gaps around siding, windows, doors, pipes, wires and other structural voids.

An easy to spray foam spray like Pur Black NF Foam has a closed cell foam that seals openings and voids from insects and rodents from entering buildings. Removal of centipedes habitats including trash, rocks, boards, compost piles, and other hiding places around the structure would help reduce the population. The House Centipede will prefer to live in damp areas like basements, bathrooms, behind baseboards, or attics.