After writing, how to get rid of cockroaches?, how to get rid of ants?, and how to get rid of fruit flies?, we are now writing the ways to get rid of centipedes in house naturally. There are more than 2,000 species of centipedes in the world, most of them live nearly exclusively outdoors. At times, they venture within, mainly during the colder months and cold places. In this article, we will tell you the best ways to get rid of centipedes in house naturally and fast. Although, they are not dangerous to humans and help kill lots of insects and spiders around the house. Their bite does contain poison, and they aren’t the most pleasing to the household guests. They look ancient and horrible. There are few methods to keep centipedes away from entering your property.
The house centipede has many legs and two long antennae that attach far out of their bug bodies. Like the silver fish, they like damp, dark places like the basement or beneath the bathroom sink. They move rapidly and love to come out at night, with no intention to scare humans. Read the article to know about all the best ways to get rid of centipedes in your house naturally.
Where Centipedes Are Found And How They Look Like?
Centipedes generally live outer surface. You will find them inside as well. Centipedes generally live outdoors in moist areas such as stones, under leaves, tree bark, boards, or in mulch around outside plantings. If they are near the foundation of your house, they may stroll inside. Most centipedes are active at night.
Centipedes are of brown color, flattened, and elongate insects, which consists of several segments. They have one pair of legs attached to their body segments. Centipedes and millipedes both are different, millipedes consist of two pairs of legs on most sections and the body is not flattened. Centipedes are about 1-6 inches in size, and the house centipedes is 1 to 1 and 1/2 inches long. Big centipedes can bite and damage if they are injured. You should consult a doctor if the bite has penetrated on the skin. Well, a centipede also beneficial, when it comes to getting rid of other insects in your home. Centipedes do not interfere or damage food supplies or household furniture.
Best Ways to Get Rid of Centipedes In House Naturally:
Contents
1.) Kill Centipedes on Sight
Their ugly long legs make them run very fast so you also have to be quick. Centipedes don’t frequently attack homes in large numbers. Thus, you may be able to get rid of your trouble just by speeding up, or bug-spraying, anyone you see. Note that if you are frightened to even move towards or be near the centipede, even vacuum cleaners won’t be helpful. If you don’t want to kill the centipede, you can try to grab it in a jar and let it go outside. This is one of the effective methods to get rid of centipedes fast and naturally.
2.) Try Setting Up Sticky Traps
This is another effective method to get rid of centipedes in your house naturally. Try putting up sticky traps around. Just place them in a corner and cracks, where centipedes are usually found. You may also catch other insects this way. You should know those big centipedes that walk above sticky or glue traps may run away by simply leaving behind a couple of legs. Sticky traps are most helpful for smaller centipedes, not for the bigger ones.
Take setting sticky tape and place it in every one of the spots, where you have spotted centipedes. Placed it in corners along floorboards, and you will be astonished to find all the concealed creepy crawlies you catch. Not just will your home clear of these undesirable creepy crawlies, this sticky pads will help you to control these centipedes from entering your house.
3.) Use The Mothballs
To repel a wide range of bugs use mothballs. The experimental reality of the situation is, mothballs will things to resist centipedes. Mothballs are unsafe to youngsters and pets, so whenever you are putting these mothballs under all dark places and damp try to be careful with them keep these mothballs away from the reach of children and pets. These moth balls smell quite strong and so, the smells make these insects irritating and they don’t enter your home and stay away from your living area.
4.) Use an Herbal Repellent
Use Herbal leaves such as indica, mongoose urine or kingsnake they prove to be effective and these aren’t available to normal grocery store. Many of wildlife trappers have access to such materials. You can get this thing from any herbal shop or from any garden care shop. There are in fact many centipedes repellents marketed and sold but they’re consists of poison qualities so, be careful while using them.
5.) Sulfur to Get Rid Of Centipedes
Go to your drug store and purchase sulfur powder to get rid of centipedes in your house. Sprinkle this powder at all entryway doors (like a line). What’s more, you have to re-apply after some time or after a downpour. Sulfur keeps centipedes away. What you need to do is like just spread some sulfur powder near entrance area and other damp and darker place in order to keep all kind of centipedes and insects away from your home.
6.) Put Down a Barrier
Whether its natural insecticide, chemical insecticide, or other, think about making a barrier around and outside of your house to get rid of centipedes in your house. Because centipedes come from outside and move inside. When they enter, they’ll move into the insecticide barrier. If they make it inside, they should be killed or near death by the time you see them. Try using the organic pesticide having cyhalothrin, which is used mostly for ants but it is double effective for centipedes. Try this effective way to prevent centipedes at home fast.
7.) Keep Your Home Dry
Centipedes simply dry out and die if they don’t live in a moist environment. Clean up your closets, basements or any other moist areas, and use a dehumidifier. Place small packages of silica in the moist places of your home. Silica is an absorbent that draws away moisture from the ground and air. You can find silica packets in new shoes. Keep them in the dampest places of your home to get rid of centipede naturally.
8.) Use The Dehumidifier
This is one of the best remedies to repel centipedes. All you need to do is reduce humidity in your house. For this, you can use a good humidifier. There are various other steps to reduce the humidity in your house. Make sure you check water pipes so that no moisture is escaping, remember to close the shower curtains and bathroom doors.Take other precautions also to keep centipedes away from your home.
9.) Remove Organic Material
Remove all the organic materials from the side of your house. Place logs, tarpaulins, mulch, and compost bins away from the outskirts of the house and as far away as possible. Remove any dung, leaves, organic and wood debris. Regard as getting rid of moist items like compost bins if feasible.
10.) Close Off All Entrance Points
this is one of the easy and simple method to keep centipedes away from your house. try the following steps to get rid of centipedes in your house fast and naturally:
- This will keep all the insects away from entering your home in the first place. Close any cracks in concrete, brass tacks, and caulk spaces around windows and doors.
- Apply climate stripping to the exterior of your house to reject centipede interruption. Fill any holes between walls.
- Look at downspouts and gutters. They should be covered. Keep away, branches, leaves, or other material that may be jamming the water’s natural run down the gutter. This could be a possible home for centipedes.
11.) Try Cayenne Pepper
This is a natural way to get rid of centipedes from entering your home. Try to put down a thin layer of cayenne pepper at entry points, both inside and outside your home. Keep your dogs and cats away from it. Even though they won’t be badly hurt if they get in contact. But still prevention is better than cure, so prevent it from happening.
12.) Reduce Clutter
The best thing that you can do to keep centipedes away from your house is to reduce the clutter in your house. Make sure there is no clutter in and out of your house. Make sure that your clothes and boxes are not lying on the floor. Clean everything and de-clutter everything so that centipedes don’t find any place to hide. If ivy is growing nearby your house, then tear it down. Centipedes loves hiding in it. Keep glass clippings, building materials, compost etc. away from the house.
13.) Clean Your House and Avoid Dampness
When you clean your home and dispose of numerous creepy crawly bothers, you will kill the wellspring of centipedes’ nourishment. This implies they will leave the zone, as well. Centipedes don’t care for dry airs, but instead lean toward and flourish in dampness. On the off-chance that you clean your clammy storage rooms and storm cellars and use dehumidifiers, centipedes will go away from your home.
14.) Try an Insecticide to Control
If none of the natural remedies work then go for insecticides. Know that insecticide are only short-term solutions. Any medical store will have these products. Just make sure to follow the instructions given on the pack. If you wish to kill the centipedes, but you don’t want to toxic the house, your pets or yourself, you can use natural pesticides. It includes boric acid or food grade diatomaceous earth. This remedy is useful to get rid of centipedes in your house fast and naturally at home.
15.) Centipede Extermination Through Chemicals
Sometimes you are not satisfied with the just keeping centipedes out of your house and you just want to get rid of them completely. Drione is one of the powerful insecticides that kill centipedes easily. You can sprinkle powdered drione on places where centipedes usually hide such as in the wall crevices, under the furniture, dark corners of the basement etc. If you want to stop centipedes from coming near you house, then you can coat the side of your house with an outdoor residual insecticide Talstar or Demon WP. Spray it in your yard and make sure you keep your yard clean and dry otherwise these creepy creatures will find the way again.
16.) Poison to Kill Centipedes
Poison is one of the most easiest and effective remedies to kill centipedes. It can be an unsafe remedy if you have children and pets in your house. If this is the case with you, then select such places to keep the poison where centipedes come but at the same time it is away from children and pets.
There are variety of choices but remember to read the reviews before you buy one. You can use insecticides such as raid to get rid of centipedes in your house overnight. You can also deter many insects by using a professional spray poison. It is very difficult to kill centipedes using poison in their hibernation months. So, in this case, you need to use poison that can kill centipedes on coming in contact.
17.) Cleaning Your Garden
Trim any existing vegetation back away from the structure of your home. Don’t over water your lawn or flowerbeds. Prepare your cleaning list this year in order to make your home and yard less attractive to centipedes by doing activities such as, rake flower beds and clean up dead or overgrown vegetation.
Remove any overflowing or standing water sources. Close or cover cracks and crevices on the foundation of your home, paying close attention to window wells, screens, doorways, etc. Keep grass trimmed at particular intervals. Plant bushes or shrubs at least 2 feet away from the house so that the branches don’t grow to touch or fall on the house. Trim any existing vegetation back away from the structure of your home. Don’t over water your lawn or flowerbeds.
Other Useful Tips to Prevent Centipedes Outside The Home:
- Make sure there are no cracks in the foundation of the house and if you find, then fill it up with mortar or caulk.
- Centipedes love damp areas. So, make sure the landscaping drains are away from your home. Make sure no sprinkler heads and gutters are broken otherwise the landscaping will become too wet.
- Go for some effective pesticide barrier treatment so that you can stop the entry of centipedes in your home.
- Centipedes stay and hide themselves in dark areas. So, make sure there no piles of lawn debris and leaves outside your home. Don’t keep wood piles near the foundation of your home.
Other Useful Tips to Prevent Centipedes Inside Your Home:
- The body of a centipede is very flat so they can enter the house even through the tiniest opening. Make sure there are no cracks in the walls and inspect each and every door and window of the house.
- Centipedes feed on other insects. So, make sure that there is no cockroach, silverfish and crickets in your house. Keep sticky traps in areas where centipedes are seen frequently such as in basements, closets and other areas.
- Keep your house neat and clean and cut of the dark places to get rid of centipedes in your house. Don’t keep piles of clothes or bedding on the floor. Make sure there are no leaky pipes in your house and invest in a good dehumidifier.