Are Centipedes Dangerous?

01/13/2017

Home Pest Control   

In short, most centipedes are not dangerous to humans although they can bite leaving behind a swollen, red, painful wound. The venom that they are equipped with is not typically powerful enough to cause health issues for people aside from an occasional allergic reaction. They can, in fact, actually be helpful in the way they trap some insects and spiders by subduing them with their venom. There is, however, a big problem with centipedes; they are quick, creepy little creatures that can take over your home. I can’t imagine anyone wanting a centipede infestation!

The first step in preventing a centipede infestation in your home is to know how to identify a centipede. While there are varying families of centipedes with varying characteristics, most have these basic traits:

• Adult bodies are yellow gray, but some species may be red, yellow, green, brown, or even colorless.

• Their bodies are flat and up to an inch long.

• They have a striped pair of jointed legs on each body segment. So, depending on how long they are, they can have anywhere from 15 to 171 pairs of legs.

• They are equipped with a pair of long, skinny feelers.

• They are quick runners.

• While they can be seen during daylight hours, centipedes are generally most active at night.

Although they are shy, they do scuttle around up and down walls and ceilings and across floors to seek dark, damp areas for nesting and breeding. They are not the kind of creature that you would want running loose in your home. Finding one centipede in your home is unnerving, finding a few centipedes roaming through your kitchen or bathroom is quite stressful, but an infestation of these pests throughout your home would be horrific! Centipedes can create stress for everyone in the household and may cause loss of sleep and contaminate food sources in your pantry or cupboards.

It’s pretty difficult to prevent centipedes from entering homes. You would have to seal up every entry point, and these little guys can creep into some pretty tiny cracks and crevices in your foundation, vents, windows, doors, and other areas. You can try keeping areas in your home and on your property free from clutter and moisture to make your home less attractive to centipedes, but it’s not a sure fire way to prevent them. Getting rid of them can be very dangerous since you would need to use pesticides that, when administered or mixed incorrectly, could potentially make you and your family sick. The safest, most economical way to take care of a centipede problem is to contact an experienced pest control service like American Pest. We have the experience and training that it takes to get rid of your centipede problem fast, and we can help you to find all those entry points and the conditions that are attracting centipedes to your home in order to prevent a future issue. Give us a call to see how affordably we can help you to maintain a pest free home with your customized, year-round pest protection plan.