House centipedes are common household creatures, recognized by their elongated bodies and numerous legs. While their appearance can be unsettling, these arthropods are a natural part of many indoor environments. Understanding their activity patterns and reasons for their presence helps homeowners manage them. This article explores when house centipedes are most active, why they are found indoors, and practical steps to reduce their appearance.
Understanding Their Activity Patterns
House centipedes are primarily nocturnal. They hide in dark, damp places during the day and emerge after dark to hunt for food. This behavior allows them to avoid the heat and conserve moisture, as they lack a waxy outer layer to prevent water loss.
While present year-round, their indoor activity increases during specific seasons. They are observed inside homes in late summer, fall, and winter. During these periods, changing outdoor conditions like colder temperatures, heavy rain, or excessive dryness prompt them to seek stable indoor environments. This drives them inside, making them more noticeable.
Reasons for Indoor Presence
House centipedes enter homes primarily in search of three things: prey, moisture, and shelter. As predatory arthropods, they are drawn to environments with abundant insects. They hunt and feed on common household pests like spiders, silverfish, cockroaches, ants, and flies. An existing pest problem makes a home an attractive hunting ground.
Moisture is another significant factor attracting house centipedes indoors, as they thrive in damp, humid conditions. They rely on a moist environment to survive and are unable to tolerate dry settings for extended periods. Common indoor areas that provide this humidity include basements, bathrooms, crawl spaces, laundry rooms, and areas with leaky pipes or poor ventilation.
Beyond food and moisture, house centipedes also seek shelter from extreme outdoor temperatures. Homes offer a controlled climate, providing refuge from conditions that are too hot, too cold, or too dry outside. They find their way inside through small cracks and crevices in foundations, walls, and around windows and doors, seeking dark, undisturbed spaces to hide.
Reducing Their Appearance
Control Moisture Levels
Controlling moisture levels within the home is a primary step in deterring house centipedes. Repairing plumbing leaks, using dehumidifiers in damp areas like basements and crawl spaces, and ensuring proper ventilation in bathrooms and kitchens can significantly reduce humidity, making the environment less appealing. Maintaining indoor humidity between 30-50% is effective.
Reduce Food Sources
Reducing the availability of their food sources makes a home less attractive to house centipedes. Managing populations of other household pests like spiders, silverfish, and cockroaches removes the centipedes’ primary diet. Regular cleaning, including vacuuming, helps eliminate food crumbs, debris, and other insects that centipedes prey upon.
Seal Entry Points
Sealing potential entry points prevents house centipedes from getting inside. Inspecting and sealing cracks, gaps, or holes in foundations, walls, and around windows and doors with caulk or sealants creates a physical barrier. Ensuring window screens are intact and adding weather stripping around doors also blocks their entry.
Minimize Clutter
Reducing clutter, especially in areas like basements, storage rooms, and closets, removes hiding spots where centipedes can reside. Keeping outdoor areas maintained by removing leaf piles, wood, and other debris near the foundation discourages them from approaching the house.