Edit: kill it with fire
House centipedes are predators. They’re only there because there’s food for them to eat — prey animals that they are hunting.
Now, what are their prey animals? Here’s some critters that house centipedes eat:
- Cockroaches
- Termites
- Bedbugs
- Silverfish
- Ants
You have house centipedes because you have these.
The centipedes are eating them.
Now, what was it you wanted to get rid of?
Agreed! I’ve come to love centipedes for all those reasons. They’re the cheetahs of the bug world!
Thank you for your explanation! I feel a tiny bit better about them now despite constantly being startled by a massive one in the sink, etc.
The only bug I’ve seen is small spiders and the occasional but very rare silverfish or pill bug. We certainly don’t have cockroaches or bed bugs. Is it feasible to get rid of their food source or is that a lost cause?
Oh god not silverfish, I had a few in my bathroom a while back and I spent like three weeks spraying all the nooks and crannies with lavender-scented spray every day to make sure no more of them came back. I like bugs but those are some creepy little fuckers. And they eat your books!
Fire? Probably not the preferred method. Diatomaceous earth is good for almost all bugs while also being very safe for households, especially with pets or children as its only dangerous to humans if a very large amount is ingested
chopsticks
yum
Borax tablets. Just hide them around on the floor. Don’t do this if you have loose pets that might eat them.
Napalm
You really shouldn’t do that. They’re harmless to people, and if you’ve got many of them then that means you’ve got worse pest problems to worry about. Pests that the house centipedes are helping to keep under control.
If you mean scutigera, get rid of their food sources. They particularly like roaches. As frightening as they are, the scutigera are our friends.
You could move from a house to a cabin, trailer, or cave. Then you only have to deal with cabin centipedes, trailer centipedes and cave centipedes. But the house centipedes will be a thing of the past.
This has to be bait, right?
You don’t want them around? They hunt pests.
Poison.
