Residential Pest Control – Should You Kill the Centipedes in your Home?

Centipedes are certainly not something you’ll be happy to find in your home. They terrorize people when they dash across the floor and can make quite a mess wherever they go: the very definition of a creepy-crawly. Some of them can even cause painful bites to humans. Using all of their legs they can be incredibly quick and scuttle across your living room floor before you know it. In spite of this, centipedes can still serve a valuable purpose in your home. Sometimes, they don’t need the drastic residential pest control that you might think they do. Before you reach for the squishing-shoe, consider whether or not you’ll benefit from having them around.

What Benefits Do Centipedes Have in Your Home?

Let’s just cut straight to the chase: house centipedes are expert hunters and masters of killing and consuming other insects in your home. Thankfully, they even tend to feed on the pests you’ll be most desperate to get rid of. This includes termites, moths, flies, and cockroaches. Centipedes will normally use their unique attack system to first of jump on their prey, poison them and wrap them up with their legs, then carry them away. House centipedes can climb sheer surfaces and like we mentioned, they’re extremely fast. They’re dangerous to other pests and need to eat several insects a day to survive. For this reason, they can be very good at maintaining the pest population of your home without you even knowing it. They won’t create a nest like other pests and are not known carriers of diseases.

But What If There Are Too Many?

In the case of centipedes, despite the pest-control service they’re providing, you still won’t want too many in your home. But why are they there? Chances are, you’ve unknowingly made a very comfortable home for them in the first place. If you’ve made it easy for them to access warmth, water, and shelter, then they’re there to stay. Typically, they can’t survive the cold winters in North America – your warm home gives them shelter from that. They also prefer to stay in places where they won’t be disturbed: warm, damp and dark places are where you’re likely to find them. If you want to get rid of your new centipede infestation, then you’ll need to get rid of their food source first. Try using the recommended techniques to remove the pest they’re feeding on – this will be different for whatever pest is most prevalent. Seal any cracks and gaps in your home, and make entry to your home as difficult as possible. Keep cooking areas tidy and install dehumidifiers if you need to keep moisture levels low.

How Truly Nolen Can help

Like many other residential pest control problems, no matter what you do, it may be out of your control. Another thing to consider is that if you have centipedes, it’s likely that you have other insects in your home too. Cockroaches, fleas, and termites that centipedes feed on are a serious pest control problem and extremely difficult to remove alone. At Truly Nolen, we have a tried-and-tested Four Seasons Approach for residential pest control. This proactive pest solution is a program which addresses the changes in pest activity throughout the year, adding adaptive protection against all of their seasonal behaviours. High-quality materials, advanced technique, and expert knowledge are combined in this highly effective package to not only remove your current infestation issue but future-proof your home from any potential attacks in the future too.