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Centipedes

How to identify
Centipedes are long, flattened, many-segmented animals that have one pair of legs per segment. The house centipede is 1 to 1 ½ inches long with very long, slender antennae and 15 pairs of very long legs. The body is gray-yellow and has three stripes running its length. The legs are banded in white.

Centipedes invade our homes and may bite
Centipedes become pests when they move inside structures and live in damp basements, sump pits, bathrooms, damp closets, inside humid wall voids, along seams in moist concrete slabs and even potted plants. Centipedes have poison glands used to kill insects upon which they feed, and can bite children and adults, inflicting a painful bite similar to a bee sting.

Over- the- counter treatments kill centipedes they contact, but it usually requires professional expertise to locate all the sources of infestation.

How to limit the conditions that attract or support Centipedes

Outdoors: Remove harborage areas such as piles of trash, stones, boards, leaves, grass, and compost.
Indoors: Basement sump pumps, perimeter drain systems, furnace/water heater closets, bath traps all provide ideal conditions for centipedes inside. Keep them clean and dry.
Seek professional assistance and consider an ongoing, preventive program.

Rochester Exterminating is tough on Centipedes
Centipede management service includes treatment of inside and outside sources such as along foundations and into wall voids, baseboard cracks, sump pumps and drains. To help catch and monitor activity in the future we install our exclusive "Silent Defense" pest detection traps. We will make recommendations to eliminate environmental conditions that attract and support centipedes.

Rochester Exterminating's Preventive Maintenance programs help prevent recurring problems with centipedes.

More information
Centipedes, including the house centipede, live in moist environments. The house centipede can live outdoors as well as indoors and is often found in damp basements, moist closets, or in bathrooms. The centipede's first pair of legs has poison glands that are used to kill such prey as insects or spiders. Centipedes can bite humans, but the bite is seldom worse than a bee sting.

When the larvae hatch from the egg they have four pairs of legs. During the next five molts the centipede progressively increases the number of legs. It then goes through four molts as a 15-legged adolescent before becoming an adult. Active at night, centipedes live from one to six years under normal conditions.