House Centipedes: What They Are and How to Get Rid of Them

Table Of Content

• Letter 2 – Cave Centipede from Vietnam
• Seal cracks and openings
• Do Boxelder Bugs Bite? Separating Fact from Fiction
• Centipedes are nature’s exterminator.
• Protecting Your Home from House Centipedes
• Maintaining a Dry Home Environment
• Why Are There No Spiders in Cobwebs? The Mystery Behind the Messy Corner Creepers

Unlike most other centipedes, House Centipedes and their close relatives have well-developed, faceted eyes. The House Centipede, when fully grown, has 15 pairs of very long, delicate legs and a rigid body, which enables it to run with surprising speed up walls and along ceilings and floors. Its body is yellowish grey and has three dark-colored dorsal stripes running down its length.

Letter 2 – Cave Centipede from Vietnam

Centipedes are rarely seen by humans due to their nocturnal activity and the speed in which they move. Most centipedes live for more than a year and some up to six years. House centipedes don’t harm or destroy stored products, fabrics, pets, humans, or the structural integrity of your building and are generally only considered a nuisance. All house centipedes are venomous, but they typically run away from humans, and they very rarely bite. Even if house centipedes bite you, it’s considered harmless.

Seal cracks and openings

Females have been known to survive for several years and produce up to 150 young. During the daytime, the centipedes inhabit dark, damp locations in the home and come out at night to forage for prey. They do not instantly change direction when light is suddenly shone at them, but will retreat to a darker hiding spot. Unlike most other centipedes, house centipedes and their close relatives have well-developed faceted eyes. Newly hatched larvae, which are rarely seen, have four pairs of legs. The larvae undergo six molts and gain new pairs of legs after every molt.

Do Boxelder Bugs Bite? Separating Fact from Fiction

We have selected your submission as the Bug of the Month for March. By eliminating their food sources, you make your home less attractive to these unwanted guests. These centipedes move rapidly and are often seen darting across floors (source). When the lights dim and the moon rises, nocturnal-hunting centipedes spring into action. There are more than 8,000 centipede species in the world, appearing on every continent except Antarctica. Have you ever seen a many-legged creature scurrying so fast across the ground that you take a second look to make sure you actually saw it?

Centipedes are nature’s exterminator.

Getting rid of other pests from your house will go a long way toward reducing the number of house centipedes you see. House centipedes have a pair of legs called forcipules right below their mouths, converted to carry out pincer-like actions. They use these pincer-like legs to discharge a venomous sting at their prey or use it for self-defense. The pair of legs at the end of centipedes’ bodies is very long and resembles the antennae in front. This makes it tough for the centipede’s prey to differentiate the front from the rear. It has 15 pairs of legs, the last pair nearly twice the length of the body on adult females.

Protecting Your Home from House Centipedes

Centipedes typically leave no direct signs of an infestation other than the sighting of the pest itself. Hi Again Fred, Many years ago we posted a similar looking Cave Centipede from Borneo, and there are also similar Centipedes from Vietnam in our archives. Though they are not in homes, we do classify them with the House Centipedes. Mary Marlowe Leverette is one of the industry's most highly-regarded housekeeping and fabric care experts, sharing her knowledge on efficient housekeeping, laundry, and textile conservation. She is also a Master Gardener with over 40+ years of experience and 20+ years of writing experience. Mary is also a member of The Spruce Gardening and Plant Care Review Board.

Empty the vacuum cup or vacuum bag into a sealable plastic bag and dispose of it in an outdoor trash can. Because house centipedes help you control infestations of other, more bothersome pests, there’s little reason to exterminate them. Pesticides are of limited effectiveness in eliminating house centipedes. With their long legs, they hold their bodies high when they move, allowing them limited contact with pesticide-laden surfaces, making most pesticides less effective. The house centipede (Scutigera coleoptrata) is the most common centipede found in the U.S. These centipedes are sometimes referred to as “hundred-leggers,” due to their many pairs of legs.

10 Places You Never Knew Pests Were Hiding

Coleoptrata has developed automimicry in that its tail-like hind legs present the appearance of antennae. When the centipede is at rest, it is not easy to tell its cranial end from its caudal end. Since centipedes are nocturnal, it can be tough to determine whether you have them in your house.

For example, centipedes will have 5, 7, 9, 11, and 13 pairs of legs respectively after each molting stage, while after the final molt, they have 15 pairs of legs. They undergo four post-larval instars before reaching maturity. These predators can contribute to a natural balance and help reduce the number of house centipedes in your home. Overall, understanding the behavior and diet of house centipedes can be helpful for managing their presence in your home. While their appearance can be alarming, gaining a better understanding of house centipedes can help ease fears and promote a more peaceful coexistence with these speedy, unique inhabitants. In this article, we will explore the characteristics, behavior, and natural role of these intriguing crawlers, shedding light on their place within our indoor ecosystems.

Centipedes are found throughout the United States and the world. They are typically found in areas of high moisture, such as in rotting logs, under stones, in trash or piles of leaves/grass. When they invade homes, centipedes are most commonly found in damp basements, crawlspaces, bathrooms, or potted plants. Its body is yellowish-grey and has three dark dorsal stripes running down its length; the legs also have dark stripes.

House centipedes also thrive outdoors and live under logs, rocks, and fallen tree bark. If handled roughly, some larger species can inflict a painful bite that can break human skin and cause pain and swelling, similar to a bee sting. The large Scolopendra can inflict a very painful bite and should be handled with great care. Keeping your basement neat also helps prevent the collection of damp spots around boxes and other items, which could attract these creatures. Dear Paige, Though it was found in a cave, we believe this is a member of the order Scutigeromorpha, the members of which are commonly called House Centipedes.

Inside the home, they can be found in bathrooms and lavatories, which tend to be humid, but they can also be found in drier places like offices, bedrooms and dining rooms. They are usually seen crawling along the ground or floor, but they are capable of climbing walls. The greatest likelihood of encountering them is in spring, when they emerge due to warmer weather and in autumn/fall, when the cooling weather forces them to seek shelter in human habitats. Although they can look disgusting to some, they don’t harm humans. On the contrary, they help you by preying on other common household pests such as cockroaches, silverfish, firebrats, carpet beetle larvae, spiders, termites, bed bugs, and other small arthropods.

You can find one near you with the helpful zip code search below. Some of the plates covering the body segments fused and became smaller during the evolution to the current state of S. The resulting mismatch between body segments and dorsal plates (tergites) is the cause for this centipede's rigid body. Dear Malia, Though it looks quite fearsome, this common House Centipede is actually a shy nocturnal hunter. It is a beneficial creature that will help keep the Cockroach population down.

While house centipedes themselves do not pose health risks, their presence indicates that there are other pests around. Centipedes are generally dark brown or yellow and sometimes have darker colors and markings. Adult centipedes have three dark parallel lines running from their head to the rear end of their bodies and a hair-covered pair of antennae on their heads. While some centipede species have compound eyes containing up to 200 optical units, others have a few simple eyes on each side of the head.

Rare and venomous centipede found in Nottinghamshire for first time - BBC.com

Rare and venomous centipede found in Nottinghamshire for first time.

Posted: Mon, 22 Jan 2024 08:00:00 GMT [source]

They are classified with Insects in the phyllum Arthropoda. Remove leaves and weeds and seal cracks to prevent any seepage of moisture into your home. Centipedes are nocturnal, leaving their daytime cover to find food. They will enter a house through cracks or openings in the foundation, so checking your home for unwanted entrances is crucial to establishing a pest-free home. In North America, you most often will find centipedes outside in moist locations, hiding under protective areas such as stones, leaves, and logs. They will also come indoors, so it’s not unusual to find one in your house.

I am very amused that your friend named her poor dead House Centipede “Satan” which might explain why it is dead. They are harmless, though they often startle people when they run across a floor at night. They are very fast, but will kill and eat spiders and cockroaches and other undesireable household intruders. Using preventive measures will eventually make your home a less hospitable place for house centipedes, and they may just leave on their own, seeking greener pastures (and damper basements). There are a few methods you can use to deter house centipedes from taking up residence in your home.