Centipedes love houses, although outside, they do prefer damp spaces. You usually see them more as the weather turns colder. As creepy as they are, they do eat other bugs, so they are fairly beneficial. There isn't much you can do to get rid of them. Sealing up cracks leading to the outside, making sure you don't have any other bugs around, and keeping the house dry will help.
These look like the type of bugs that we used to have in our old house all the time (and we've found a couple in our new house as well). They sometimes go on ceilings, which is so gross because you don't notice them until you are standing under them. I just always called them "Creepy Crawlies".
I have the most horrific story about this bug. A bit TMI - I was sitting on the toilet (so pants were down, obviously LOL). One of these things fell from the ceiling, into my pants, through my pants leg and came out by my foot. I am still traumatized by this event. I don't think I have ever screamed so loudly.
Post by heyrebekah on Nov 12, 2012 11:28:23 GMT -5
Ahhhhhhh! I hate those fuckers. I had so many of them in one of my old apartments. I used to spray them with hairspray to get them to stop running so I could scoop them up with like an entire ROLL of toilet paper.
The first one I saw in that apartment was the freakiest most disgusting thing ever. I swear it was 3 inches long. I was moving in & saw something that looked like a branch and when I went to pick it up it ran away. I never saw it again. :-| :-| :-| :-| :-| :-| :-| :-| :-|
I've always heard them called "house centipedes". I found a couple in my apartment once when I first moved in. Freaked me the hell out. I don't know if my cats took care of them after that, or what, but I never saw any again.
This is the least comforting thread I've ever read.
OP, if you can kill them, fine, if not, you should still be fine. I wouldn't call an exterminator unless you start seeing more of them. They like to eat bugs. They are an unfortunate part of life, especially when it starts getting colder, bugs like to try to find a way inside where they can escape the freeze.
We have these in PA! I've only ever seen them at my work, so I call them "work's name" bugs. I actually saw one yesterday and my colleague smooshed it and then told me he found one in his sink recently. Creepy!
Post by phunluvin82 on Nov 12, 2012 13:01:02 GMT -5
My parents get these in their house every now and then, especially in the basement. They live on a lake. I think it is the type of thing where a few just find their way in every now and again.
They're, IMO, not as bad as cave crickets. I HATE cave crickets. Lol, silver lining?
My parents get these in their house every now and then, especially in the basement. They live on a lake. I think it is the type of thing where a few just find their way in every now and again.
They're, IMO, not as bad as cave crickets. I HATE cave crickets. Lol, silver lining?
We had loads of these in the cellar under our house this summer. It was insane. None made it inside the house though, fortunately!
Well if it comforts anyone the centipedes I was bitten by didn't look like this. The legs are shorter and the babies are about an inch long and super skinny.
The adults are about 3-6 inches long and 1/2 inch wide. If you ever see one of the big ones kill the heck out of it before it bites you.
I do believe those are the tropical kind though I have not seen them since I moved to the US.
I agree. I this must be a US centipede b/c the ones I saw growing up do not look like that at all!
Ugh-- they are so gross. We get them in our basement on occasion (in New England). I have also heard that they are beneficial because they eat spiders. Personally, I'd rather have 1,000 spiders than those things...
OP, we used to get these in our house all the time. We live in a house that was built in the 1950s. It happens. They liked high places in our house - we much more frequently would see them on walls and ceilings than the floor.
We started a) killing absolutely every single one we saw, even if it meant moving furniture they had just crawled behind and b) we used Spectracide. Big gallon, you can find it at most hardware stores. Cheap. Safe indoors and outdoors. And effective. We only get these bugs during the summer - this year, I sprayed once at the beginning of the summer, and once in the middle of the summer, and the number of bugs we saw DRASTICALLY decreased. Also, they were often dead when we did see them. I just went around the house and sprayed along all baseboards, all around all door frames, and all around all window frames. The only drawback is that in places susceptible to influxes directly from outside (for us, mainly our basement) you'll have to vacuum up the bugs it kills, lol. But it really does work. I also think next year I'll spray outside around the foundation to help prevent them from getting inside in the first place.
The stuff works for basically any bug. The list of bugs it kills is gigantic. There a few bugs - namely, spiders - that you are supposed to have to spray directly in order to kill, but honestly, it still kills some spiders for us. And I'd rather have spiders be the ones that survive so that they can kill everything else.
Good luck.
ETA: I only just realized the pregnancy aspect. I think Spectracide should still be fine - it is supposed to be safe indoors and outdoors, odorless/stainless, and you are just supposed to keep pets and small children away from sprayed areas until it dries. So I would think that would mean you'd be fine if someone else did the spraying for you - but check the label to be sure.