"Find out how to get rid of house centipede for good without resorting to harmful chemicals. Safe for family and pets. Read about it below."
The house centipede is not one of the worst pests in terms of health hazard or danger to the property. For these problems, the common cockroaches, bed bugs or termites cause considerably more damage both to people and properties. In fact, the house centipede is a top invertebrate predator feeding on these very obnoxious bugs. However, even though it has a positive side in killing these other unwelcome pests, there is one reason why any home owner may want to get rid of them completely once they experienced the sight of even just one of them.
The reason is the freaking, revolting appearance of 15 pairs of long legs coupled with their high running speed that make them look like something out of a horror or science fiction movie. They look so alien and dangerous that it begs belief that they are just another kid on the block of mother earth evolution. In fact, their bite is not dangerous to humans, they are not even after people and cannot even pierce human skin, unlike bed begs, for instance. They are just plain revolting, unlike their tropical relative the Scolopendra Gigantea, a monster of the arthropod world that is not just horrific looking but also highly poisonous.
How To Get Rid Of House Centipede - Facts
Know Your Enemy Before Exterminating It
The common house centipede scientific name is Scutigera Coleoptrata. It is original of the Mediterranean area but has spread in most parts of the world through transportation. It is 1 to 2 inches long and develops is 9 molting stages, 6 immature and 3 adult stages. The house centipede is not borne with a full set of legs but just 4. At each subsequent molting it adds 1 or 2 pair of legs until adulthood. The sequence is 4-5-7-9-11-13-15-15-15 plus 2 modified extra legs at the front for injecting venom into its victims. The horror creature life span is 3 to 7 years and preferably lives outdoor in dump places so as not to dry up through its exoskeleton.
It prefers compost piles, wood stacks and rocks and reproduces at spring time coming out of its hiding places, only to retreat at the fall when temperature drops. Because it seeks warmer, humid places for winter it may settle into the dump areas of the house if he gets chance to get in through wall cracks, window gaps or climbing vines. Once inside it ill stay there and multiply if it has no reason to leave, that is food and water.
Food comes as kitchen leftovers and natural preys like ants, termites, bedbugs and even cockroaches. So the bottom line is if you frequently see house centipedes in the night running across the floor it is because there is another bug infestation on which they feed on. With this two basic requirements for the centipede to live on, you are well on the road to succeed in eradicating it. Knowledge is power even for pest control.
How To Get Rid Of House Centipede - Short Term
Solutions for Occasional Encounters
If you experience the sight of a centipede once in a while, say once or twice a year, you may not have a infestation but you may want to prevent the little monster from creeping in by treating the perimeter of the house using insecticides or boric acid.
Boric acid is commonly used to kill all household pests that trample upon it. It works by dehydrating the unsuspecting victims slowly but surely and is not overly toxic to humans.
Insecticides kill fleeing adults right on the spot but only eliminate single individuals, not the root problem. If it is just an adventurous centipede and not a colony it may be the right solution. Better still is preventing the creatures from coming in to start with by sealing cracks on wall with acrylic sealant.
Pay particular attention to pipes getting in and out of the house walls and seal the edges with silicone or acrylic. Plaster air vents with mosquito mesh to keep off the unwanted visitors and check for gaps in window frames, even upstairs as centipedes have no trouble climbing walls.
Also effective are sticky traps, similar to the ones used to catch mice. They should be placed near sighting spots to check if more centipedes are present. If you suffered just one or two occasional encounters this is all you need to take care of your unsightly guests.
How To Get Rid Of House Centipede - Long Term
The Final Solution For Infestations
If your house centipedes are becoming more and more intruding and making you recoil in disgust a bit too often, you may have another problem at the root, not just house centipedes.
If you find more and more of these creatures in places like the bathroom, the kitchen, under the washing machine, in the laundry room, wherever is dump but also just about anywhere like bedrooms or office room, it means the centipedes have found everything they need to survive and multiply, so a spray can or a bit of boric acid will not get rid of the pests anymore. You will need to take a more systematic approach, a 2 step approach.
First, dry up as much as possible all the dump places and clear clutter around, as these conditions mimic the centipede natural environment. You can achieve this in various ways, like stopping leakage, improving ventilation and using desiccators or dehumidifiers.
Next, get rid of the centipede food supply, which is not just kitchen crumbs or leftovers but other household pests, ants, termites, cockroaches, bed bugs and insects. You can achieve this with a simple 2 step process both indoor and outdoor.
