How Do You Control House Centipedes?
The most effective way to control house centipedes is to dry out the damp areas where they live, seal the cracks they use, clear debris around the foundation and reduce the insects they hunt; insecticides are rarely needed on their own. House centipedes are predators, so a steady supply of silverfish, cockroaches and spiders keeps them coming back. Fix the moisture and the food supply, and centipede sightings usually drop.
Saela Pest Control is a residential and commercial pest control company that provides the best centipede control for homes and businesses, with protocols developed by Board Certified Entomologist Dennis Weiss. This guide explains how house centipedes live, the signs of a problem, what professional centipede control involves and the steps you can take yourself. It replaces trend talk with the practices extension entomologists recommend.
House Centipede Biology and Behavior
The house centipede (Scutigera coleoptrata) is a fast, many-legged predator with a grayish-yellow body about 1 to 1½ inches long, three dark stripes along its back and 15 pairs of long, banded legs. Penn State Extension’s fact sheet on house centipedes notes that it hunts at night and feeds on silverfish, firebrats, carpet beetle larvae, cockroaches, spiders and other small arthropods. Females can live several years and produce up to 150 young. Newly hatched centipedes have only four pairs of legs and add more as they molt.
House centipedes depend on moisture, which explains where they turn up. They live in dark, damp spots such as basements, bathrooms, closets and crawl spaces, and in colder climates like Pennsylvania they can’t survive winter outdoors but breed readily in heated buildings. That combination of damp shelter and indoor prey is what turns a single sighting into a recurring one.
Signs of a Centipede Problem
The clearest sign is seeing house centipedes repeatedly, especially at night or in damp rooms, often along with the small insects they eat. Musty basements, condensation on pipes, leaky fixtures and clutter on damp floors are the conditions to look for. Because centipedes follow their food, regular sightings often point to silverfish, cockroaches or spiders living nearby. Saela’s article on why professional centipede control can help covers when a sighting is worth a call.
How Professionals Treat Centipedes
Professional centipede control focuses on the conditions that support centipedes rather than on the centipedes alone. A typical plan combines three steps:
Moisture Management
Reducing moisture is the most important step, because house centipedes need damp places to survive. A technician checks crawl spaces, basements, bathrooms and plumbing for leaks and standing water, then recommends fixes such as repairing drips, improving ventilation or running a dehumidifier. UC IPM’s pest note on centipedes and millipedes notes that airing out damp places may help.
Exclusion Techniques
Sealing gaps keeps outdoor centipedes, and the insects they hunt, from wandering inside. Penn State recommends sealing cracks and crevices in concrete slabs, and the same applies to gaps around pipes, doors, windows and foundation vents. Saela’s integrated pest management approach includes sealing entry points and reducing accessible food, water and shelter.
Clearing Outdoor Harborage
Outdoors, centipedes shelter under leaves, mulch, stones, boards and firewood near the foundation. UC IPM notes that removing debris aids centipede control outdoors. Keep a clear strip next to the house, store firewood away from walls and direct downspouts away from the foundation so the soil stays drier.
Where Insecticides Fit
Insecticides play a smaller role in centipede control than most people expect. UC IPM notes that although some pesticides are labeled for centipedes, using them is rarely justified, because removing moisture and prey does more. When treatment is warranted, it should be targeted and follow the product label.
Targeted Applications
When a treatment is used, it belongs in cracks, crevices and voids where centipedes and their prey hide, not sprayed across open floors. Penn State mentions labeled products such as pyrethroids or diatomaceous earth dusts applied to suspected harborage areas. A licensed technician chooses the product and placement based on the label and the home.
Outdoor Perimeter Treatments
A treated band around the foundation can reduce the number of insects and centipedes moving indoors, but it works best alongside sealing and moisture control. No outdoor treatment makes a home permanently centipede-free. Ask your provider how often the perimeter is serviced and what the plan covers.
Integrated Approaches
The most reliable results come from combining moisture control, exclusion, prey reduction and targeted treatment. Saela uses an integrated pest management cycle of pest identification, activity monitoring, targeted treatment and evaluation, adjusting the plan based on the results.
Centipede Activity Through the Year
House centipede activity follows temperature and moisture, so what you see changes with the season. Indoors, in heated buildings, they can stay active and breed year-round. Here is what to expect and what to do in each season:
Spring
As the weather warms, centipedes and the insects they eat become more active around foundations. Spring is a good time to clear winter debris from beds, check for foundation cracks and fix any leaks that developed over the winter.
Summer
In summer, house centipedes sometimes appear outdoors near buildings, and humid weather makes basements and crawl spaces damper. Run a dehumidifier where needed, keep gutters clear and check bathrooms and laundry rooms for leaks.
Fall
In fall, Montana State University Extension notes that many insects and spiders look for protected places to spend the winter, and the centipedes that hunt them can follow. Seal gaps, install door sweeps and repair screens before temperatures drop.
Winter
In winter, the centipedes you see indoors are living in the house, often in the basement or near warm, damp areas. Keep humidity down, reduce clutter on basement floors and keep an eye out for the silverfish and spiders they feed on.
Monitoring Tools That Help
You don’t need special equipment to track centipedes; a few simple tools show where they live and what they are eating. These are the ones professionals rely on:
Sticky Traps
Sticky traps placed along basement walls, under sinks and in closets show where centipedes travel. Penn State recommends sticky traps to identify the prey arthropods present, which tells you what else needs control.
Flashlight Checks at Night
House centipedes hunt at night, so a flashlight check after dark in basements and bathrooms shows where they come from. Note the spots, since those are the places to dry out and seal first.
Humidity Readings
An inexpensive humidity meter shows which rooms stay damp enough to support centipedes. Use it to decide where a dehumidifier or better ventilation will help most.
Long-term Management Strategies
Long-term centipede control depends on keeping the house drier and the prey population smaller over time. A good plan includes:
Regular Monitoring
Scheduled inspections catch new moisture problems and gaps before centipede numbers climb. Every Saela plan includes a 50+ point property inspection covering entry points, structural gaps and basements.
Preventive Maintenance
Ongoing maintenance means checking vapor barriers, drainage, caulking and door sweeps, and fixing leaks quickly. Small repairs made each season prevent the damp conditions centipedes need.
Treatment Adaptation
A plan should change when monitoring shows it isn’t working, for example by shifting focus to a damp crawl space or a silverfish problem. Saela plans include no-charge return visits for covered pests between scheduled services.
Protecting Beneficial Predators
House centipedes eat other household pests, which is why many experts consider them beneficial. The goal is usually to keep them out of living spaces, not to wipe them out everywhere.
Lower-Impact Choices
Start with drying, sealing and decluttering before any product, since those steps address the cause and don’t affect other wildlife. If a product is needed, a licensed technician should explain what it is and where it will be applied.
Leaving Outdoor Centipedes Alone
Centipedes living outdoors in mulch and leaf litter hunt insects there and rarely cause trouble. Focus effort on the house itself and the strip right next to the foundation.
Fixing Conditions First
UC IPM notes that household centipede numbers fall when their food source, other household pests, is reduced. That makes controlling silverfish, cockroaches and spiders part of controlling centipedes.
Are House Centipedes Dangerous?
House centipedes are a nuisance rather than a serious danger to people. UC IPM notes that centipedes never damage plants or household items, though some large centipedes can bite when provoked.
Child and Pet Safety
House centipedes rarely bite unless they are handled, so teach children to leave them alone rather than pick them up. If a treatment is used indoors, follow the technician’s instructions and the product label on keeping children and pets out of treated areas. The National Pesticide Information Center suggests asking any company for the names of the products it will use and the preparations it recommends.
Bites and Sensitive Individuals
UC IPM notes that a bite from a large, provoked centipede can cause localized swelling, discoloration and numbness. Anyone with a strong reaction should contact a health care provider.
Damage to Homes
Centipedes don’t chew wood, wiring or fabric, so they don’t damage homes the way termites or rodents do. The moisture problems they point to can, however, cause damage of their own and deserve attention.
Common Questions About House Centipedes
These are the questions homeowners ask most often once they spot a house centipede.
Does a house centipede mean I have other pests?
Often, yes: house centipedes hunt silverfish, cockroaches, spiders and other small arthropods, so regular sightings usually mean there is prey nearby. Saela’s silverfish pest control guide covers one of the most common.
Should I kill house centipedes?
Killing the occasional centipede doesn’t solve the problem, because more will arrive as long as the moisture and prey that drew the first one remain. Catch or remove it if you like, then fix the damp area where you found it.
Are centipedes and millipedes the same?
No: UC IPM explains that centipedes have one pair of legs per body segment, while millipedes are brownish, cylindrical creatures with two or four pairs of tiny legs per segment.
Getting Help With Centipedes
Saela’s protocols are developed by Dennis Weiss, who holds the Entomological Society of America’s Board Certified Entomologist credential and also trains technicians and audits service quality. In a February 2024 Google review, Terry Sotta wrote that the technician “checks to determine if we have any issues & addresses them.” Saela’s pricing page explains how plans are quoted by pest type, location, property size, visit frequency and treatment products.
If centipedes keep showing up in your basement or bathrooms, book a call with Saela to schedule an inspection. Saela’s Lakewood, Washington location is rated 4.8 out of 5 from 1,164 reviews on Google as of October 2026.
Who wrote this article?
Devin Hutchings (Marketing Director at Saela Pest Control) wrote this article.
Devin leads Saela’s marketing and growth strategy. He brings more than 15 years of marketing experience across Uber, C.R. England, Lugg, and Neighbor. His background spans customer acquisition, retention, and developing marketing channels for service businesses and consumer marketplaces.
