What Are Centipedes?
Centipedes are unsightly visitors that can live in the moist areas around your home. Many centipedes live outside, but the common house centipedes prefer to share your home with you.
What Do Centipedes Look Like?
Centipedes typically have between 15 and 177 pairs of legs. The centipedes’ legs are attached to a flat and long body that measures at more than an inch long. Their long body has many different segments, to which a pair of legs is attached. The centipede’s body is a brownish-yellow color with brown or black lines down their back. The centipede’s legs have black and white color bands on them. The centipede gets its name from the number of legs it has: centa meaning 100.
Where Are You Likely To Find Centipedes: Inside And Out
You will find centipedes in and around your home. They prefer dark, wet places. Centipedes will hide in the pile of woods outside your home, under garden bricks and your garbage cans, and under leaf debris. When centipedes move into your home, they prefer to live in your basement, kitchen, bathroom, drains, and in crawlspaces.
What Do Centipedes Eat?
Centipedes have a powerful, venomous jaw that helps them bite and eat their prey. In your home and outside, centipedes will feast on the insects that are already in your home. Centipedes eat flies, silverfish, cockroaches, spiders, and crickets. When the centipede captures its prey, it does so with its front legs. It holds the insect still while it injects a paralyzing venom into its meal so it’s easier to eat.
Are Centipedes Dangerous?
No, not normally. Humans and their pets do have to watch out for their venomous jaws. If the centipede is jostled or feels threatened, it will deliver a painful bite that can break the skin. These bites feel similar to that of a bee sting.
Will Innovative Pest Control Help Get Rid Of These Occasional Invaders?
Innovative Pest Control is ready with the tools and know-how to remove centipedes from your home. Remember that the centipede feeds on other insects, so if you have centipedes in your home, you likely have another infestation on our hands too. Innovative Pest Control can address and eliminate both. Innovative Pest Control will also assist with exclusion and centipede control methods. To find out what centipede control services we offer, call (903) 326-7395 now!
Centipede Prevention Tips
To prevent house centipedes, try the following prevention tips:
- Clear yard and leaf debris from the perimeter of your home.
- Remove centipede habitats by removing trash, rock piles, and compost piles on your property.
- Vacuum often indoors where centipedes seek refuge such as your bathroom, basement, kitchen, and attic.
- Address the insect infestation that provides centipedes with a constant food source.
- For professional home pest control in East Texas, call the professionals at Innovative Pest Control to invest in quality pest protection.
