House Centipedes

[valpocrewsader]

Time to test the extent of the bf.net knowledge base again. Anyone have any experience getting rid of house centipedes? My house seems to have a lot of them, sometimes to the point where I'm finding and killing one every other night in either my kitchen or living room. I know they're harmless (and actually beneficial) and -- despite their grossness -- it's not really a huge deal to me, personally, but it's an embarassment and pretty unaccomodating when having guests or dates over to the house. (Example, this weekend, sneakily killing one on friday when my date and I returned to my place after bar close and then stealthily dealing with another one on saturday when guests came over after bar close to spend the night.) Right now I'm to the point of being reluctant and fearful to walk into my house with someone at night, on the 10% chance that there's gonna be a big ugly one on my wall somewhere.

 

I try to keep my basement as dry as possible with a dehumidifier that runs and works well. I try to keep the main floor of the house as dry as possibly by running the central air a lot. I even keep lights on at night when I leave the house so it's not a dark centipede haven. I've researched a bit online, but there doesn't seem to be an obvious course to take. Would appreciate any help, especially anyone that's been in the same situation.

[chuckcrim]

Call an exterminator. They are incredible. You will not have to worry about it again. It's completely worth it. I was amazed.

[Brian the Automator]

See figure A:

 

http://www.maniacworld.com/centipede.jpg

[dadofandrew]

We had millipedes or centipedes in MN...the exterminator said they were harmless, and gave us a quote of $350 or so. I bought a gallon of general bug killer with a sprayer at Menards and sprayed inside and out...never saw them again.

[Invader3K]

We get a few of them. Honestly, from what I've seen online, it doesn't sound like there is a great method for getting rid of them...they don't harm anything either, and actually get rid of other bugs. They sure do look nasty, though.

[sgtcluels]

Can't you use Borac acid to kill the centipedes? I believe you can spray it all around the outside of your house and that would keep the bad guys at bay.

[aracko]

RUN! They will get you in your sleep! Ahhhhhhh!!!!!!!

 

Due to my mass Centipete phobia - I called Orkin and they took care of it. Otherwise - I have been using some stuff from any department store - comes in about a gallon bottle and has a little spray handle on it and you walk around and spray all the baseboards and corners and outside the house.

 

The other thing that helps is filling any cracks between your basement and sidewalk with that expanding foam or like I did with Mortar. If you have carpet in your basement and an older house tear it out - they love that stuff.

[trwi7]

I just let them stay by me. They keep away the spiders.

Oh and I don't think you had millipedes in your house Al. Of course I love them, they're great massage therapists.http://static.yuku.com/v2//domainskins/bypass/img/smileys/happy.gif

http://atschool.eduweb.co.uk/sirrobhitch.suffolk/key/images/invertebrates/millipede.jpg

[And That]

I live in the basement of my buddy's house, and I have both spiders and centipedes down here. They go to war with eachother, and I haven't seen another type of bug down here in two years. Centipedes are pretty cool bugs... I have nothing against them living here as long as they don't get in my way.

[dadofandrew]

Yeah, we had the ones like in the pic...they looked a lot like worms, actually.

[trwi7]

Yeah, we had the ones like in the pic...they looked a lot like worms, actually.

 

Really? I swear you should have put them to good use to massage your feet and back. They work wonders.http://static.yuku.com/v2//domainskins/bypass/img/smileys/happy.gif

[Hammer]

My advice - grab boot, swing hard...hear them squish http://static.yuku.com/v2//domainskins/bypass/img/smileys/wink.gif

 

Just swing with more control than Jenkins or Weeks...

[valpocrewsader]

Thanks for the insight. I probably would have already called an exterminator if it weren't for (1) warnings from web sites that they're not effective with centipedes (good to hear otherwise from people here) and (2) I hate the thought of an "Orkin" truck sitting out in front of my house with my whole neighborhood wondering what kind of ghetto infestation problem my house has (an exterminator company that used unmarked cars would be great for me!). This might be the route I end up going, though. I just want them gone.

Aracko or Al, do you recall any more details on the spray stuff you used? A name? A brand? Or even, did the product description / instructions say anything specifically about centipedes or did it just rattle off spiders, ants, etc?

Thanks again.

[dadofandrew]

I guess we did not move it, that was about 7 years ago. It came in a gallon size, had a nozle at the end, and said "indoor-outdoor crawling insect killer", or something like that. The only warning was to keep pets and kids away for 4 hours...we sprayed inside and out and went to lunch and a movie.