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Centipede Control
Fast, flat, and alarming to find in a bathroom. They’re predators — which means their presence is telling you what else is in the house.
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The short answer
Centipedes eat spiders, silverfish, cockroaches, ants and other insects. A house with a centipede population has a prey population supporting it, and dealing with the prey is what removes the reason they’re there. They also need humidity, so the same damp conditions that produce their food produce them. Treat them as a symptom rather than the problem.
They eat
Spiders, silverfish, roaches
Presence means
Prey is available
They need
Humidity, like their prey
Larger species
Can bite, painfully
Which centipede
Two you’ll encounter, and only one is worth caution.
Common indoors
House centipede
Long, delicate legs, greyish body with dark stripes, extremely fast. Unnerving to look at and essentially harmless — the bite rarely penetrates human skin.
Care
Larger outdoor species
Thicker-bodied, found under stones, logs and mulch. These can deliver a painful bite if handled. Not aggressive, but worth not picking up.
Not this
Millipedes
Cylindrical, slow, curl into a spiral, two pairs of legs per segment. Harmless detritivores and a different page entirely.
Context
Numbers rather than one
An occasional centipede is normal anywhere. Several regularly means a supporting prey population and a humidity problem.
Reading a centipede as information
Predators track prey. Finding centipedes regularly indoors means there is enough for them to eat — silverfish, spiders, small roaches, ants — and those in turn usually mean humidity and harbourage.
So the useful response isn’t to target the centipedes. It’s to work out what they’re eating and remove that, along with the damp conditions supporting the whole chain. Do that and the centipedes leave on their own, because there’s nothing left for them.
Why they end up in baths and sinks
They can climb rough surfaces but not smooth ones. A centipede that wanders into a bath or basin at night can’t get out, which is why that’s where people find them — not because they came up the drain.
Removing the reason
Prey and humidity. The centipedes follow.
Work out what they’re eating
Silverfish, spiders, ants, small roaches. Sticky traps in problem areas tell you what else is present.
Lower the humidity
Dehumidifier in basements, better bathroom ventilation. It removes both the centipedes’ conditions and their prey’s.
Clear harbourage outdoors
Leaf litter, mulch against the wall, stones and logs near the foundation. Where the outdoor population lives.
Seal ground-level entries
Under thresholds, at utility penetrations, at slab joins.
Deal with the prey species
Whatever the traps showed. That’s the actual job.
Remove individuals as you find them
A jar and a card. They’re not breeding indoors in numbers.
What their presence indicates
Where this stops being a DIY job
Damp you can’t locate. A humidity problem supporting a food chain usually means water somewhere structural.
A significant prey population you can’t identify. If traps show numbers of something you can’t place, identification comes before treatment.
A painful bite with a spreading reaction. Uncommon, but any bite reaction that worsens is a medical question rather than a pest one.
What a competent visit does
Reads
Treats them as a symptom
Anyone targeting centipedes directly is missing what supports them.
Traps
Identifies the prey
Monitoring before treatment tells you what the actual problem is.
Advises
Humidity and harbourage
Which addresses the whole chain rather than one link.
Common questions
Are house centipedes dangerous?
Essentially no. The bite rarely penetrates human skin. Larger outdoor species can deliver a painful bite if handled, which is why not to pick them up.
Why do I have centipedes in my house?
They’re predators, so their presence means there’s enough prey — silverfish, spiders, ants, small roaches. Deal with the prey and the humidity and they leave.
Do centipedes come up through drains?
No. They can’t climb smooth surfaces, so one that wanders into a bath at night is stuck there. That’s why you find them in basins, not because they came up the pipe.
Should I kill house centipedes?
They eat other pests, so there’s an argument for leaving them. If numbers bother you, the effective route is removing their food and drying the space.
Damp you can’t find, or numbers that persist?
Working out what they’re eating, lowering the humidity and clearing harbourage removes the reason they’re there. Water inside a structure supporting the whole food chain is where this needs someone with a meter.
Call (877) 360-4657