How to get rid of centipede and millipede?

How to get rid of centipede and millipede?

How to get rid of centipedes and millipedes from your home?

Has any of your neighbors ever come to you and said, ‘my house is infested with millipedes or centipedes,’ can you help? If yes, did you encourage them to take home remedies to get rid of millipedes or centipedes problems they face? Do you refer them to an exterminator who professionally handles centipedes and millipede infestation? Either of the two options helps, but the latter is better.

If you have a centipede infestation outside your building or an indoor plant infested with millipedes, keep reading to learn how to remove the infestation. In this article, we’ll tell you why you should not allow these creatures to stay in your home or garden and what you can do to prevent their invasion and eliminate them.

Centipedes and Millipedes: What Are They?

Centipedes and millipedes are multi-legged insects belonging to the same phylum (Arthropoda) and subphylum (Myriapoda) but have separate classes. Millipedes belong to the class ‘Diplopoda’ due to their possession of two pairs of jointed legs per body segment. On the other hand, centipedes have a pair of legs per body segment, and therefore belong to the class ‘Chilopoda.’

Centipedes and millipedes are two common occasional crawling insect pests that invade homes and gardens in the spring or fall. They’re usually outdoor creatures that feed on decaying plant materials (millipedes) or small insects (centipedes). These creatures will try to enter your home or garden to seek shelter, especially when outdoor conditions have become hot and dry.

Why Are Centipedes Pests?

Centipedes are unwelcomed guests in most homes because they can inflict pain through their bites. While centipedes don’t damage property or transmit diseases, issues can arise when they live close to humans. Most species of centipedes are venomous and can bite if provoked.

Centipede bites, in most cases, do not pose a severe threat to humans and larger animals, with the worst side effects from their bites being mild pain and swelling around the biting area. However, their bites could cause severe allergic reactions in people with allergies to bee and wasp stings, leading to serious health complications.

House centipedes are the most common species of centipedes known worldwide to live and reproduce in human homes. These species of centipedes can inflict a bite when cornered or handled aggressively, causing slight pain and swelling. These particular centipede species possess small, weak jaws (forcipules) that can hardly penetrate human skin.

Besides their toxic bites, centipedes’ fast movement and alarming appearance make many people uneasy and would therefore do anything to shut them out of their home and garden for good.

Why Are Millipedes Pests?

Often called ‘thousand-legged’ worms, millipedes are the slower-moving and less cumbersome cousin of centipedes. While they are generally harmless and pose no direct threat to humans, some species of millipedes are considered household or garden pests.

They are detritivores, feeding primarily on decomposing vegetation and other dead organic matter. They can cause severe damage to soft-stemmed plants, emergent seedlings, and even crops in your garden through their feeding behavior.

Millipedes don’t bite, but some of them secret irritating fluids for ‘self-defense’ against predators. These defensive fluids are known to cause minor skin irritation in some individuals if they contact their skin. Their defensive fluid can also be hazardous to the eyes. It’s best to keep this nuisance pest out of your garden to protect your plants from their damage.

Home Remedies to Get Rid of Millipedes and Centipedes

You can keep your house or garden safe from centipede or millipede infestation by following these simple DIY tips:

1. Minimize moisture

These multi-legged creatures thrive in moist and humid areas. Minimizing moisture around your building’s foundation will make your garden and home less suitable for centipede and millipede invasion. This will also help reduce their entry. Preventing water accumulation near your building foundation and discouraging over-watering of your garden are effective measures to reduce the entry of centipedes and millipedes.

2. Remove debris from your home and garden

Another home remedy for getting rid of millipedes and centipedes is by removing anything that can provide a hiding place for them outside your home. These crawling creatures love to hide under leaf piles, compost piles, mulch piles, grass clippings, boards, stones, boxes, trash piles, and similar materials laying on the ground near your building foundation. Removing detritus and all these items would expose their hideout and keep them away from entering your garden and home.

3. Seal their entry points

Centipedes and millipedes can get indoors through the cracks, crevices, and other openings in your building. Inspect your outside foundation wall for cracks and gaps and carefully seal them off if you find any. Ensure your doors and windows fit tightly and cover any opening above the building foundation. Once all openings in your house are sealed, there’s no way these crawling creatures can gain entry indoors.

4. Application of Chemicals

You can try to get rid of centipedes and millipedes with non-commercial insecticide from nearby stores. Before using you need to follow instructions on the label.

There are many publicly sold insecticides for millipede or centipede removal from your home.

Any pesticides and insecticides can help control your pest issue when applied in the right amount. However, applying publicly sold pesticides to control insect, only offer temporary control, and in most cases, repeated use of non-commercial pesticides could make your millipede/centipede problems untreatable. Even publicly sold non-commercial pesticides can be not safe for indoor use and could expose your children and pets to danger if not followed label.

Best Way to Get Rid of Centipedes and Millipedes Infestation due to the poisonous nature of centipedes and the irritating fluid produced by millipedes, you should not handle their infestations on your own. Instead, it’s best to contact a pest control company that knows how to deal with the population of these creatures professionally.

If you’re in Toronto (GTA), Ottawa (Metro Area) and you need the service of a reliable pest control company to help with your centipede or millipede problems, you should contact Provincial Pest Control (PPC).

We are a pest control company in Canada that helps homes and gardens with house centipede extermination, centipede removal, millipede extermination, and millipede removal. We serve homes and businesses in Toronto, Ottawa, Vaughan, Richmond, Burlington, Oakville, and other cities in Ontario.

We have well-trained and experienced professionals who know the nature of centipedes and millipedes and can help make your house and garden free of these multi-legged creatures. We provide customized pest control services, including millipede treatment, millipede insect control, centipede treatment, house centipede pest control, house centipede removal, centipede and millipede removal from your cozy home and commercial unit.

We can enlighten you on the latest and standard recommendations concerning insecticides and pesticides application for centipedes/millipede control. Contact us today for a free inspection of your home, office, for signs of millipede and centipede infestations and same-day customized treatments. Book your free pest inspection (in which we help search your building for over 30 pests) here.